I am having a serious problem with my Gateway Solo 5150 laptop (about 5 years old). I was trying to get the screen to turn off while in the console in order to reduce power consumption. I issued the following commands:
# setterm -blank 10 # setterm -powerdown 20 I issued these commands from a remote ssh session, so I did not see the immediate results. When I got home, I noticed that the laptop screen was off; however, I could not get the screen to turn back on! I restarted the computer, and the screen would still not come back on at boot. The laptop did, though, boot without problem, because I could later ssh into it again. What really perplexes me is the fact that the screen is now totally dead, ie. the screen does not come on during POST or boot at all. I can enter the BIOS using <F2> during boot, but I cannot see anything.I removed the AC adapter and the battery to try to reset the laptop, but the screen still does not work. I don't understand how any changes to the screen could survive during a hard power cycle, let alone how a software change would blank the screen during POST. Or is it just possible that the screen happened to break at just the exact time I issued these commands, a possibility that I find highly improbable, but possible. The only thing left that I think I can do is somehow clear the CMOS memory by removing the CMOS battery or clearing the BIOS through a jumper setting. However, having never tried to open up and service a laptop before in this manner, I am hesitant to do this if there is another fix possible. Has anyone else every experienced these problems? Does anyone have any possible solutions? Thank you in advance for any help, Matt -- [email protected] mailing list
