Maximum PC

Back in October 2010, I bought a PowerNotebooks PowerPro I 7:22 (a customized MSI-1656) w/ Windows 7 Pro 64-bit, and I was having problems with it.

My laptop works fine on AC power, but when I switch to battery power, it boots as normal, but on subsequent boots, I get a black screen after the boot screen (with no sound, welcome screen, etc.), even after I switch back to AC power. Thinking that it's the OS's problem, I switched to Ubuntu Linux (10.04 LTS, 64-bit), where I haven't had any problems.

Recently, I went back to Windows 7 once SP1 was released, and I reinstalled Win7, plus SP1, to see if it fixes the black screen problems, and, surprise, it happened again. I don't know what's wrong with my laptop, but I think that it's more likely that it's on Win7's side.

OH, and here's my laptop config:

Intel Core i7-720QM
8 GB GSkill DDR3-1333 RAM (2x 4 GB) (upgraded from 4 GB DDR3-1333 RAM [2x 2 GB])
500GB Seagate HDD (7.2K RPM)
DVD burner
1 GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850 video
Realtek audio
Realtek Gigabit NIC
Intel Wireless-N NIC

I also installed the then-current drivers in both Win7 installs (pre- and post-SP1).

I contacted PowerNotebooks tech support and they mentioned that I had to update the BIOS for the video chipset (ATI Mobility Radeon HD5850 w/ 1GB RAM) from MSI's website. I did that, and it fixed the problem.

Now, the screen begins flickering black after a couple of minutes after booting successfully. Meaning, I can't access my laptop, and this happens even outside the OS (e.g., in the BIOS, UltimateBootCD, etc.).