I recently updated the display driver on my laptop and not long after doing this the screen has started to go black after login. It stays black for about 10 seconds and then returns to normal.
Any idea why this is happening? Or what I should do about it? Thanks

What problems were you having before that prompted you to change drivers?

Did the problem start immediately after upgrading the driver? If so, you might try to restore your system using System Restore to the restore point created before the driver upgrade.

Some programs were freezing before I updated drivers and I was getting error messages. This has all stopped. The black screen didn't start immediately after update, or I would have done system restore. I can't help feeling the two are connected though..

How much time between driver upgrade and you started to get these black screens? How do you recover from the black screen? What are your temperatures? Have you scanned for malware?

And what OS are you using and tell us the specs of your laptop.

Can't remember exactly how long, but I think it was about 2 weeks between update and black screen.
Computer recovers automatically from black screen- I login, my desktop appears, goes black for about 5 seconds and then returns to normal.
OS is Windows XP Home Edition, Service Pack 2
Pentium M Processor 1.6Ghz 504MB RAM
Thanks for your help

Then that sounds like the inverters are going out on the laptop's display. It generally cost $85 - $100 to fix. Next time it goes black, look closely and see if your desktop is still there - just very dark - sometimes, even shining a flashlight on it will show the desk top.

If it is the inverters, they may last a few days, or many months - it's hard to tell. If you enter laptop inverter repair in Google, you will learn more about it.

Inverters are only for the that LCD display. All laptops have a secondary graphics output - you should be able to attach an external monitor and use the laptop with it with no problems.

Thank you- so far I can't tell if this is the problem- the screen doesn't stay black long enough for me to see if the desktop is still there, but will keep a watch on this.
Thanks again.

You are welcome. You might try connecting an external monitor and running with both for awhile. If it happens on the external monitor too, then the problem is in the graphics of the computer, and not your laptop's monitor.