Black Screen Issue

[BK Warrior 63]

Hi I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this question, but I have a Dell Inspiron M5010 running Windows 7 that I've been having issues with. So, recently I started getting a random black screen. The screen just turns black while I'm using it. Sometimes this lasts for a few seconds, but other times its an hour or so.

At first I thought it was a driver issue so I checked to see if my video drivers where up to date and they are. Next I thought that it was an issue with some of my settings in Windows because I recently changed a few, so I'm currently running Ubuntu 13 to test that idea and I'm having the same issue (less frequently tho).

I have no idea what to try next, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Update:
I was just running Try Ubuntu when I was having the black screen issues. I have since actually installed Ubuntu and the issue is gone. This is of course only a temperary fix because I still want to use my Windows OS, so any help for what I should look for in Windows is still appreciated.

I almost forgot I made another discovery. The screen isn't actually black, it's just very dim and you can't see anything unless it has a white background.

 

[darkbreeze]

The first thing I'd try is going into Control panel, power options, and reset the power options to default or to performance. Reboot and see if the issue persists. It may be that the screen is being dimmed and the dim level is set to almost zero.

The next thing I'd try, and might be worth doing anyhow, is updating the BIOS to the latest version, if there is a more recent firmware version that what's currently installed on your unit.

Next, I'd uninstall the graphics drivers completely and reinstall the OEM drivers. It may be that windows update has automatically installed a driver update that doesn't work well on your rig. Download display driver uninstaller from here: http/www.wagnardmobile.com/DDU/ and the display drivers from here: http/www2.ati.com/drivers/legacy/13-9-legacy_vista_win7_64_dd_ccc_whql.exe.

Run the DDU choosing the AMD option and allow the safe mode reboot when asked during the uninstall. After the uninstall is completed install the driver package.

 

[BK Warrior 63]

Thanks for the help!

 

[darkbreeze]

No problem.