Hello

I wonder if you can help? I look after a friend's Packard Bell EasyNote 6100 laptop, which is about 3-4 years old now. For the past few months, the screen display has a tendency to "flash", going from dim to bright and back again. I know that the battery is a problem (it isn't holding charge and I am trying to see if we can recalibrate it before purchasing a new one), so it is usally on AC power and it still happens.

Is this a major problem with the laptop screen, or signs of a problem with perhaps the video card? Grateful for any advice, as we want to try to eke another 12-15 months life out of the old dog before replacing, in the hopes that most of the Vista problems have been ironed out by then! Besides, we have just upgraded the RAM and wouldn't want that money wasted...

Many thanks
Sorrow

Have you tried running the laptop just on AC power ( Removing the battery )? The faulty battery may be causing power surges. Also check the power options for the laptop it may be turning the brightness down to save on battery power and when you move the mouse or touch a key it brightens back up to full power.

Thanks Sneakycyber

I will try removing the battery tonight, and see how that goes.
I don't think it is power options as these have not changed and the display was OK before; also, the display goes through this "flashing" look when I am not touching anything - unless a process is running in the background and causing this to happen?

I will post again when I have taken another look at it all.

Bi
Sorrow

Have you tried updating the video display driver? This may help.

Usually this is a sign of a bad AC adaptor plug (also known as a weak point on most laptops). It's either the plug from the AC Adapter that goes into the computer or it's the receptacle on the inside of the laptop. The dim/bright occurs whenever the current changes from battery power to AC power (it's the computer trying to save power by dimming the display).

You can check the AC Adapter with a multi-meter. While checking it, wiggle the cord near the plug to see if the readings change - if so, then that's likely to be the problem. Check the receptacle in the laptop to see if it appears to be loose - if so, then that's likely to be the problem. It's been my experience that it's most often the receptacle that goes bad. And it's an expensive repair at the major service centers (they just replace the entire motherboard). The part itself (from what I've seen) is about $50, then there's some delicate soldering involved - a small local computer shop may be able to do this without diving too deeply into your pockets.