Graphics Corruption - death of a graphics card?

Surfer

Surfer

Surfer

Soldato
Joined
31 Dec 2005
Posts
11,179
Location
Glasgow
This problem suddenly appeared after a crash on my Laptop (after playing Bf2142)

I restarted laptop (M1710) and when Windows XP is loading there are green vertical lines on the screen. Even more worringly the screen after the windows logo (login screen) is completely white but with some black sortof distortion.

This looks to me like my graphics card is going **** up? (7900GTX Go)

I get the same problem if i switch to integrated graphics (from setup)

So..

I launch the laptop in safe mode and i can get into the desktop no probs (albeit at a reduced resolution) with no screen corruption at all. It looks fine.

I tried rolling back to previous graphics drivers (didnt help)

Next step is: i get in touch with DELL support (so that'll be fun!)

Note before this sometimes my laptop would crash out of Bf2142 (restart comp) and when the system loads up again my resolution would be my "game resolution" not my desktop resolution.

Any ideas? Do you reckon irq conflicts could cause this? (ie increased instability of system)

or is it my graphics card in its last days of life? :(

thanks folks

edit: oh yeah i got an error code when i did the system diagnostics

Error Code 2300:0124 Expected 64h but found 0h
 
after a bit of googling - found this

http://www.notebookforums.com/thread216856.html

images at the bottom of page - thats exactly what it looks like on my screen. Looks like video card memory is fried. Bummer i used i8fangui to control temps as well and its usually pretty good. (didnt prevent a few BSOD though)

oh well ill have to disable the video card and hope i can still use the laptop. (dont use it soo much for hardware heavy games anyway)
 
yep :( just came off phone with dell support

doing a quote for a new fan assembly and replacement graphics card.

We were able to load up the system but the screen would go BLACK after about 20 seconds or so.

I think it was highish temps + poor airflow which over time made problem worse. I didnt see it because i was manually keeping the temps down using i8fangui but there mustve been air blockage or smt.

anyway we shall see how much its gonna cost me lol. Least i still have access to the internetz - yay for PS3 :D
 
Ah, the old dell laptop video card fail problem.

I recently replaced the 7800GTX in my M170 for the same reason. It was out of warranty so I bought a new GPU off eBay and installed it myself. Total cost was about £230.

When you get it fixed, use I8KFanGui (not sure if it works on more modern lappies) to force the fans to full when gaming, and get yourself a notebook cooler pad.
 
reflux said:
Ah, the old dell laptop video card fail problem.

I recently replaced the 7800GTX in my M170 for the same reason. It was out of warranty so I bought a new GPU off eBay and installed it myself. Total cost was about £230.

When you get it fixed, use I8KFanGui (not sure if it works on more modern lappies) to force the fans to full when gaming, and get yourself a notebook cooler pad.
Click to expand...

Ive been using the i8fangui and a notebook cooler for months to keep temps down basically because the bios doesnt do a good enuff job tbh! Initially i would be getting idle temps of 70 ish degrees gpu and the fan only kicking in high when it got to high 70s and 80s. Often i would see the gpu temp in the 80s and 90s

with i8fangui it idles at 40 - 50 degrees. And on full the highest ive seen it was in the 70s

Strangely enuff temps were fine. There is a slight drawback with using i8fangui in that when on full speed sometimes the fans would pause - ie they wouldnt be full blast continually.

bought the lappy in 2006...so 2 or 3 years intensive gaming which basically kills it...is convincing me not to get another gaming laptop... certainly not a dell one anyway. (just the way there is not much airflow in the design...its common problem for overheating dell laptops :( )

thats what killed it imo - poor airflow, poor temp control, overheating, increases instability. So eventually something has got to give.
 
Ah, I see....yeah, to be fair, I had been using I8k as well and it still died. They just aren't designed for the heat, especially over longer periods of time.

I've said it before and I'll say it again....gaming laptops are a total waste of money. I'd certainly never buy one again. Hope you can get yours sorted :)
 
Sounds like Graphics RAM to me, although sometimes you can damage a screen so that you have vertical pixelated lines going through it.
 
ok ive been quoted by dell

£376 total inc vat for

replacement graphics card 7900GTX

replacement fan asssembly

replacement keyboard


price includes labour.

Decent enuff deal?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom