Dell Latitude d620 screen goes blank when shut-opened

Hey - to all who are searching about this problem...
This seems to have happened to a number of people, but people asking about it far outnumber useful answers as to what to do.
For me it happens when I shut the laptop screen and open it again right away. If I wait a few beats before I open it, the screen lights up again just fine.
But if I open it right away after closing it, the screen goes blank, though the laptop seems to be running just fine.
Hitting Fn-CRT/LCD does nothing, nor do any other of the function keys.
I even tried hooking up an external monitor and banging away at the CRT/LCD combo, but the external monitor is just as blank as the laptop LCD.
Hard power-down will restart the laptop and the screen comes back fine, but you've lost any unsaved work.

There is a discussion of this in the Dell tech support forum if you dig for it (have to log on, so a link won't work). This seems to be some kind of OS/driver software bug in how it reacts to opening/shutting the screen. The reason I say that is that there is also discussion on various Linux fora where they describe how to edit config files to make it go away.

The most likely permanent solution for us poor powerless XP users (though I haven't tried it yet) seems to involve replacing the video driver with a back-revved version. This is mentioned in the last of the Dell forum posts, though they don't mention which version they had trouble with and which version solved it. If I try it and get more info I'll post back here. Unless, of course, one of you beats me to it.
Good Luck All,
- John

 

Ha-ha, wow.
I've been having the same problem and was suspecting it was hardware/driver related, but didn't care to look into it. I only started getting the problem after reformating my computer (two reformats back, so 6-12 months ago).
For me, it's the reverse of your situation, however. If I open the lid within a few minutes of closing it, I have no problems. If I wait over an hour, I'm just about guaranteed a dead screen, but otherwise running laptop. Makes me curious as to why our issues vary (I got the most up-to-date driver a few weeks ago, fyi).

 

Do you guys have your machines set to standby when you close the lid? Or just to do nothing?

 

No standyby. Simply close the lid.
I don't need a solution, though. My new laptop that I ordered arrives on Thursday. I'll just have to find someone who wants to buy this laptop. Or give it charitably, I haven't decided yet.