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General discussion

Black "sheer" screen

Nov 19, 2009 11:50PM PST

I posted about this a few months ago and thought I had bookmarked/saved the topic but I guess I didn't.

I have a Dell Inspirion 1500 and it was running perfectly since the last incident and yesterday it happened again.

Everything loads in perfectly and it allows you to get as far as getting online, thought this morning it only loaded Windows XP and then this black screen appears. I've shut it down a few times and it would go load perfectly, get online and stay on for a few hours then suddenly the black screen would appear again.

This black screen is sheer...you can see the website that your on thru it...almost like a curtain.

For the life of me I can't remember what the tech told me was wrong and how I fixed it. Like I said, its been running perfectly for months.

Any help would be appreciated.

Discussion is locked

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Hi, RavenBleeds:
Nov 27, 2009 6:08AM PST

Your description sounds like the power inverter. If you use the computer without going online, does it behave like this or does this only happen when you're on the internet?

BTW, an inverter is pretty cheap and relatively easy to replace, so if that's the problem, consider yourself fortunate.

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Online
Nov 27, 2009 10:38AM PST

It has happened both online and offline.

Very strange.

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Any ideas?
Dec 4, 2009 12:49PM PST

Was wondering if anybody had any ideas to the cause of this issue.

I ran all spyware, malware and antivirus programs and it came up clear. I did a system restore thinking it would take it back to before the issue but that didn't do anything.

It was occasionally allowing me to get online but now the "black screen" comes up as soon as Windows is finished loading.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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Forgot to state....
Dec 5, 2009 1:49AM PST

The laptop works perfectly if the AC Power Adapter is disconnected.

The laptop will work fine as long as the adapter is removed and its running on the battery. I normally don't use the battery for everyday use.

I checked to make sure the adapter is plugged in, it is and the green light is solid.

I just tried powering it up, on battery only, it worked perfectly. So I thought why not try attaching the adapter...as soon as I did the black screen appeared.

Could this be a issue with the adapter and not the laptop.

Sorry I forgot to add this with my original posts.