moss@cs.umass.edu (Eliot Moss) (05/20/91)
My father has a Tandon NB 386SX laptop with the following problem he demonstrated for me: if he makes any use of expanded or extended memory, then the screen blank button fails to work correctly. What happens is that the creen goes blank for about a second and then comes back on. If no use is made of expanded/extended memory, then screen blanking works correctly. I recalled a similar problem reported here in the past, but could not recall if it was reported for the Tandon, and what the fix was (if any was posted). My guess is that it is a BIOS problem and my father will have to get a new ROM if/when it becomes available. Here are the ROM version details: PhoenixView VGA support version 1.00 00 Phoenix BIOS A386 1.01 Phoenix BIOS 82340SX, P112I115 In the meantime, Dad had the following idea. Since he does not use an external monitor, and since switching to external blanks the LCD screen, can he use that as a reasonable way to save power? I'm assuming that running external with nothing connecting will produce no ill effect, but it's not clear that it reduces power consumption. Any help with either question would be appreciated. Thanks! -- J. Eliot B. Moss, Assistant Professor Department of Computer and Information Science Lederle Graduate Research Center University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA 01003 (413) 545-4206, 545-1249 (fax); Moss@cs.umass.edu