Flashing?

[hermetic]

Toshiba laptop, XP, 6 yrs old. Whenever there's a dark background, the screen flashes. This happens on the internet and off, like playing solitaire. Flash, flash, flash. I tried Googling for an answer but was overwhelmed by all the possibilities. Think my graphics card is going? Would a driver update help? I seem to have plenty of memory available. Any suggestions for troubleshooting would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[steve2470]

1. a few steps you could take...

1- First thing, use two different malware programs to eliminate that possible cause. Spybot Search and Destroy (http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/ ), SuperAntiSpyware (http://www.superantispyware.com/download.html ), AVG Antivirus ( http://download.cnet.com/AVG-Anti-Virus-Free-Edition-2012/3000-2239_4-10320142.html?tag=dropDownForm;productListing ) or Avast ( http://download.cnet.com/Avast-Free-Antivirus/3000-2239_4-10019223.html?tag=dropDownForm;productListing )
are a few of the good ones. There's others, of course.

2- Once you've eliminated malware as a possibility, I'd uninstall your video drivers with Revo Uninstaller ( http://www.revouninstaller.com/revo_uninstaller_free_download.html ) just to make sure you do it cleanly, and then reinstall the latest drivers for your operating system and your particular video card. Reboot after you've installed the video drivers.

If the problem persists, we'll go from there and get more input from others. Good luck.

[hermetic]

3. Had a nightmare

about this last night. Dreamed my screen went dark so I went back to my old alma mater and tried to use the computer lab so I could log on here. They wouldn't let me in because I wasn't signed up for a computer course although I was taking one called Shakespeare for some reason. Anyhoo....

Happy to report I can still see so I updated and ran a full Malwarebytes scan which found nothing. I have Avira and Spyware Blaster running constantly for protection. I feel the driver is the most likely suspect so I will try that once I've located for sure the correct one to reinstall.

I'll let you know how that goes.
Thank you.

[ChromeFoundry]

2. Does your BIOS have a diagnostic option?

If so, run the full set (minus anything that is a write to hard drive test).

[hermetic]

4. I don't know

I searched for BIOS and got 49 matches, none of which appear to be a diagnostic tool. What would it be called? I did find a website called BIOS Central which looks helpful so I've bookmarked it.

And thank you.

[ChromeFoundry]

5. When your laptop is booting up...

you should see an option to enter the BIOS configuration/setup.
Toshiba's usually use the ESC or F1 key.

In the configuration screens there is usually a built in system diagnostic mode that will test out the hardware of your system.

Choosing this option, you should be able to run continuous diagnostics to test out all of your system hardware.

Make sure you do not select anything that states a hard drive write test or it could overwrite your Windows operating system.

If you have a Model name/number for your laptop someone may be able to provide additional instructions.

You should not need to download any additional utilities.