Thanks, I'll do the light trick see what I can see.  No, it doesn't shut 
off, just the screen.  I just thought it was weird that I could just shut it 
off myself and turn it back on and the screen was fine.  That the longer it 
was off the longer it would go before blanking out again, that and the lack 
of fan noise had me wondering if overheating would cause it.  Thanks again, 
I'll try and post back.

"BillW50" <BillW50@aol.kom> wrote in message 
news:egvq17$fno$1@emma.aioe.org...
> "Smith" <noemailplz@cox.net> wrote in message
> news:_IJYg.261$uF.178@dukeread12
>> Having some issues with my Tecra 8100.  First, it wouldn't power on
>> with the power cord nor would it charge the batteries.  The charge
>> light would blink amber.  I had like 3 minutes of battery life and it
>> booted fine, then died so I figured it was the power cord.  Sure
>> enough the power cord when shook sounded like it had a piece rattling
>> around in there so I bought a new one. Used it and it booted no
>> trouble and charged the batteries (I have a select bay battery too). Was 
>> using it for about an hour tonight when the screen went off,
>> wouldn't come back on.  Clicked around, pushed some keys, nothing.
>> LED lights stayed the same, screen just went out.  It flickered once,
>> for second but stayed out.  So, I pressed the power button to shut it
>> down.  Was using batteries at the time, just for the hell of it I
>> plugged it in and then I turned it back on, screen went black halfway
>> through boot.  Powered it off again.  Thought for a minute. Unplugged the 
>> cord, plugged it back in, reset the batteries, took off
>> the USB mouse, and turned it back on. Booted fine, but then the
>> screen went out after about 5 minutes.  So at first I'm thinking the
>> back light, but then I remembered that for the entire hour it was on
>> I didn't hear the CPU fan running.  It was never loud, but I could
>> hear it when it kicked on, tonight no noise, no air shooting out the
>> side vents.  Could the screen blanking on me be related to
>> overheating?  If it was the back light then I wouldn't be getting a
>> screen no trouble at every boot would I?  With this problem the
>> screen goes out after time, not immediatly.  Any thoughts?
>
> I might be misreading this, but it sounds like your computer is still 
> running. To check whether your fluorescent lamp is just out is to hold the 
> laptop up to strong light (like the sun or a flashlight) and you should 
> faintly still see the screen display.
>
> If it is just the lamp is out, it can be the lamp, the inverter (makes the 
> high voltage for the lamp), and/or cables. It can be something else, but 
> that would be very rare.
>
> If you laptop does shutdown. Then that sure does sound like a heating 
> problem. Dust and dirt is usually the cause of this. And there are usually 
> little copper air ducts that gets blocked too. A can of air usually works 
> well for this task.
>
> -- 
> Bill