I also have an Insp 8100 and haven't run into the particular problem you're seeing, but I wouldn't think it would be related to the battery itself. When the battery hits 100% charge, the system is changing modes, and if it causes other oddities, then I would think it's more a system board problem. Try changing some of the BIOS settings that relate to the AC/Battery settings to see if they affect the symptom.

Another thing to try is to boot from a floppy disk or something to see if it happens when simply sitting at a command prompt and it changes modes when the battery hits 100%. If it doesn't, then it's almost as if the OS is not interpretting the mode change properly and telling the system to do something dumb.

One other thought that just came to mind... when it dims, close the lid for a bit, then re-open it to see if it lights back up.

A bit of general advice for notebook owners, it's always a good idea to pay extra for a 3 year on-site warranty. That way, you are sure to get a long life out of the unit, and you never have to ship the thing off somewhere when oddball issues like that come up. You still get the use of the notebook unless it's completely dead, and even then, you can watch everything that the tech does to be sure they don't wipe out your hard drive or something. That's a common complaint from notebook owners that send their systems in to be serviced... when they get it back, it's wiped clean as part of their "testing" process. Not always the case, but better safe than sorry.

I do not go for a 3 year warranty with desktops because less usually goes wrong with them, but as expensive as notebooks are, and for how much we really come to depend on them, it's very well worth an extra couple hundred bucks.

-Furo

Hi Furo. Thanks for the very detailed response. I'm waiting on a replacement AC adapter. I think you are right and this is a board issue of some sort. But, ruling out the AC before sending it away could not hurt, I guess.

I've come to notice that this problem occurs only after the unit has been in use for at least an hour. So maybe temperature has something to do with it. Dunno.

I did play with the power settings in the BIOS. No success there. I'm sure it's not an OS issue, because it has the same problem when just sitting at a command prompt (as you have suggested). I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the new AC adapter fixes the issue. But, I bet I'll be sending the whole unit away for repair soon enough. I'll miss it while it's gone. It's going to be pretty difficult to sit on the couch with my desktop computer and 21" monitor on my lap.

Thanks again, Furo. Love the Lockergnome tech specialist news letter. I usually just read that one on the web site, but I just re-subscribed. Can never read too much Lockergnome. You do great work!

hi guys. u know the piece of plastic that goes from the left side of the system to the right side (the part that's between the keyboard and the bottom of the lcd that surrounds the power button)? remove that plastic piece by gripping your finger underneath the plastic on the left or right side and pull the entire piece away from the system. there will be a thin cable on the right side with a white handle that u can use to pull the cable away from the board. make sure nothing interferes with the cable connection and reseat the cable. put the plastic piece back on and you should be fine after that.
please email me if that fixes your problem.
tj

Tj: Thanks much. But, Dell repaired it a while back. I just have not updated this post. The LCD was replaced and the video card was re-seated.

I have a dell 8100 with 15 inch screen, updated bios and video card drivers. I have a quick question because my screen flickers a lot when ever i the computer on for a while and i use a program constantly, I have had my LCD replaced once because of a defect but,it now has this problem.

McDeb could u explain to me what u had done to fix your problem with the screen flickering?

Spider210: You may want to try re-seating the video card. That was one of the things that was done to mine. I remember seeing do-it-yourself instructions somewhere, but I just can't think of where that was. I would send it back to Dell, just to be safe.

I'm having a problem with my LCD also, and I wonder if it's the same problem some of you are having. It's an Inspiron 8100. The screen stays "black" even when the laptop is on. But if you very closely at the screen, you can sort of see the items on the desktop. Everything else seems to be fine. I've e-mailed Dell about it already just waiting for them to reply.

Sounds similar to the problem I had. Does the screen come back on when you UNplug the AC? I'm sure you will be sending it back for repair. Probably an LCD replacement. Wonder what's up with these sceens.

Hard disk drive is not detected.

Hello

I have an IBM 390 (2626) ThinkPad and everything works fine but computer cannot detect the hard disk. Although I bought a new HDD still same thing when I go to BIOS there is CD-ROM but there is not HDD which suppose to detect automatically

I check the interface or (connector) between HDD and system board I did not find any problem. During POST HDD is spinning and there is normal HDD noise.

Please I need your advice.

Thank you

i have a dell inspiron 5000 laptop and its been running great for the last 2 years that i have it, and all of a sudden the screen is black and the hard drive turns on then 5 seconds later shuts off, can this be a motherboard problem? pls
i dont know what to do.

I have the same laptop as in the original post. Just got it and every so often the screen will go completely white. All I have to do is lightly tap the plastic piece under the screen on the left side that tj reffered to in his post. Might be a common problem. Anyone tried to fix it the way TJ described?
Chris

hi,

I have sony laptop PCG-F590 and the screen is flickering,what may be the reasons of the flickering.

thanks
anamika

hi,i have a tooshiba laptab,satellite,the manitor of my laptab is full of finger prints i was wondering how can i clean it?can i wipe it with windex and paper towel?

RE: DELL 8100 Inspiron and other laptops which have a problem with flickering may need a replacement LCD invertor - this part is inside the LCD screen cover (nearly always seated near the left of the LCD when you open it - just be sure you have a small saucer or cup to hold the screws so you don't have them hidden in the carpet pile where you cannot find them.

Find the LCD parts by searching on on EBAY.

If this is what fixes your LCD from flickering just send me a thank you, but if it does not, don't blame me for it not working.

Hey TJ:

Sleep well tonight knowing that you helped a brother out. For the last 3 days my Dell laptop (8100) screen had been all fuzzy, and I was having trouble accessing the LCD connection to the motherboard. Your instructions allowed me to reseat the connector and all is fixed now. Thanks!

i have a dell inspiron 5000 laptop and its been running great. However, within the last year, when it is plugged in all the sudden the screen will turn black and the hard drive will turn off. I called Dell and they said it was a Motherboard problem which would cost me $799 to replace. What do you think I should do? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

THANKS, TJ. I followed your directions to the letter and my problems with the "faded-out" screen on my Inspiron 8100 was solved.

You are the best!

I've got similar problems with mine. Resetting the cable has worked in the past, now it's not working so well. If I wiggle it around, LCD works fine. If I set it in, it's no good. Should I replace the cable or the actual card on the motherboard? Thanks!

In my case, reseating the lcd cable worked ok for a while but stopped working after a few months.I ordered a new lcd ribbon, opened the lcd panel to replace it, then, noticed the original lcd ribbon had slightly 'detached' from it's connector inside the lcd sceen itself.It is very poor design on dells part and should ideally be covered by them as it is a manufacturing error.If you can be bothered, download the 8100 maintenance document from dells website and it will show you how to dissamble the lcd panel. It is easy enough but i stripped one screw so be careful.

My Sony vaio pcg-k23 laptop has a screen flickering problem, too. They "fixed" the problem months ago, but now it's back. Now they want me to pay for it, yet it's their own design problem. I'm trying to fix it myself, but I can't seem to figure out how to remove the plastic cover and adjust the LCD cable, etc. HELP!