I am trying to sort out a friends laptop for him, its a Toshiba tecra 8100, and a few years old now, I have re-formatted it but the screen goes off after a few minutes, the warmer it gets the sooner it goes off. However if you press the plunger that OPERATES when it closes then the screen comes back on but goes off again soon after. It does flash as if its trying to come back on if you leave it, it was doing this before I messed with it, just thought starting with a clean slate might improve things. Any ideas.When you say you re-formatted it what does that mean ? ?
Is there an OS installed ? ?
Did you re-install the Toshiba DRIVERS for everything ? ?

Laptops can be finicky...they tend to shut themselves down if every little thing isn't hunky dory in order to protect themselves from the user...When I say re-formatted, I mean re-installed XP, formatting the HDD as I went. This problem was occuring before I touched the laptop, the screen shuts down at any time even in the boot menu, actually on closer inspection its not the screen that goes off, just the back light, if you look closely you can still make out the screen still working.Check the Windows Power Options:

Click Start > Control Panel > Switch to Classic View > Power Options.

Ok, the screen only goes off when it is connected to the mains power supply, as soon as you connect it the screen goes slightly brighter and within 30 seconds it goes off, it also seems to stay on longer the more you tilt the screen back but this could be just a coincidence. Is there a way to adjust the brightness, MAYBE that would help.This is different for different laptops. Usually it is accomplished by pressing and holding a special KEY and then pressing another key to adjust the brightness.Maybe a look at the MANUAL or on the Toshiba site would be helpful.You might also check the Fn key combination for the video output mode. Unfortunately, it doesn't tell you which mode is in operation. The output modes are: 1. laptop screen 2. external monitor 3. both. Hook up an external monitor and try the key combos to get it in the proper mode.

<---- Agrees with GX & 2K 8-)