Hello,

I have an IBM Think Pad, which is pretty old.  It's always plugged in and charged and within the last couple days, it has been going into hibernation/sleep mode, even while i may be actively working on it.  All my power settings are switched to never turn the monitor or harddrive off.  There is no screensaver either.  I have noticed that the screen has been flickering but not very often.  Does anyone have any advice?

Thank you,

FrankI have seen this before when the battery runs LOW and it SHUTS itself down into this mode. Are you sure that the battery is healthy and that when the power supply is connected to the laptop, its getting power from the OUTLET?

I helped a client about a month ago with a similar issue and come to find out the problem was intermittent power to the laptop because the clients cord between the power supply and laptop was wrapped around the base of the office chair 1 too MANY times and damaged internally. While I was assisting I saw the power LED go out and started carefully working the cable to find the break. I found the break in the cable at a flex point. The client had to buy a new used power supply for their Core i3 Thinkpad. They were able to get a used one for $20.Do you have another desktop monitor you can try on the laptop. Sounds more like it has screen fault like the back light or invert er is failing.
If it keeps an image on the external monitor then it is a problem with the laptop display.
The powersupply is easily checked, there is a power light that is green when the laptop is running and charging the battery it goes orange when the there is a power problem.
I'll check my power cord tonight but i think it's ok as it just hangs down from my DESK.  When you say new power supply, are you talking about a new battery or a new power adapter?  I know when i looked at the settings, i noticed that it said something regarding the battery but i can't remember. 

I have it hooked up to a secondary monitor and that monitor also goes down when the laptop goes into sleep mode.  To see if the battery is failing remove it and run on A/C for 24 hrs...if it doesn't drop into sleep mode then the battery is not taking a charge and needs replaced.I'll give that a try Patio. 

I checked my connections last night and my power cord had no abstructions and was in the outlet securely.  Well, it didn't take 24 hours, but only about 20 minutes till it went into sleep mode without the battery.  When i bring it back out of sleep mode, the screen continues to flicker a bit.  Any suggestions?  Is it worth getting fixed if it's a back light or inverter as mentioned previously is failing? OK so we know it's not a hardware issue...
That means it's a Win issue...and you need to provide more info to see if we can fix this issue...
Sounds like Win isn't retaining your changes...that could be alot of things.What info do you need? Ok, now i have a new issue.  My screen to the monitor is black but i can see a little faint image of my desktop if i look very closely.  However, my second monitor i have  hooked up is working.