Inspiron 1525 display blanks on battery power (After LCD replacement?)

[ClickRight]

I have a client with a Dell Inspiron 1525 laptop running Windows Vista. When on battery power the LCD will turn off frequently, say once 30 seconds. I also saw one vista error come up about the video driver crashing. The display is normal when the laptop is running on AC power.

I have already updated the chipset and graphics drivers, and the BIOS in attempt to resolve the issue with no success.

The client said it started happening after I replaced their LCD screen last may; I don't know why they won't have brought it up much sooner though.

Any ideas what might be causing this before I go in tomorrow and take a look at the screen?

 

[sjlplat]

Just shooting for the easy stuff first...Did you check the power options? Is it set to turn off the display on battery power? Is the screensaver set to blank the screen?

 

[MrUnknown]

As suggested, I would check the easy and simple things if it is something regular happening.

The client said it started happening after I replaced their LCD screen last may; I don't know why they won't have brought it up much sooner though.

That's because they are lying. I hope you don't work on it for free. 9 months and it is now starting to become an issue? Nope.

 

[MobileTechie]

I was doing some web development on Saturday and then on Sunday I got a cold. So the web development must have caused the cold.

I see no probable cause between the two events myself.

 

[diggauk]

If it is only happening when on battery power, could it be the LCD inverter drawing too much power from the battery? When the screen goes off, does the whole computer turn off, or just the display?

Also, what happens if running on battery with an external monitor plugged in. Do both go off?

 

[zchehi]

I give a 30 day guarantee and that's it anything after that and they pay!

 

[NYJimbo]

That's because they are lying. I hope you don't work on it for free. 9 months and it is now starting to become an issue? Nope.

+1 . We see this kind of thing all the time. Client returns months later and says "Oh, its been happening since you worked on it." when we ask when it started. Sometimes its something that you can tell couldnt have been happening the whole time so you are sure they are lying, but you cant get them to tell the truth, so you just shake your head and start working on it.

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

That's because they are lying. I hope you don't work on it for free. 9 months and it is now starting to become an issue? Nope.

++1. If its more than 90 days, they pay..At least it states in our paperwork. Do you have a known good test battery?

 

[arrow_runner]

If you DO end up looking at it, one route I would try is slapping a different hard drive in there and loading the OS and drivers from scratch.(Acronis Universal Restore would make that a bit easier)

But I do love a customer that brings up the "12 years ago you fixed this and it hasn't worked right since. Please do it right this time." card.