For the Computer Gurus...

So, my main machine is starting to crap out on me... 

Here's the specs:
Inspiron 8200
UXGA 1600x1200 screen
1.7Ghz Pentium 4-M
60GB Hitachi 7200RPM HD
Original 40GB IBM 5400RPM drive in modular bay
NEC slimline DVD+/-RW DL drive in fixed bay
1024MB Kingston Ram
Intel Pro/Wireless 2200b/g
ATI Radeon 9000 Mobility 64MB - Most up-to-date available drivers from OmegaDrivers.net
Windows XP SP2 w/ all updates


I have a video corruption problem (see pictures attached) that I think I have traced to a faulty video card.  Here is what I have done to trouble shoot the problem.  When I press on the center of the keyboard, it gets better.  I have removed the keyboard and powered up the PC with an external keyboard connected.  Problem still was present.  Fixed temporarily by pressing on either of the front mounted RAM chips.  The corruption is very flakey and comes and goes.  Again, if I press on the keyboard, it will go away for a bit.  After hooking up my monitor for my workstation in the basement, I have concluded that it is independant of the monitor on the laptop as the external monitor reacts in the exact same manner.

I thought that this was initially caused by the 5+ years of use and abuse that I have put this thing through as I use it more like a desktop than a laptop.  Now I was thinking that it was just time to get rid of the old dog, but it has served me very well and is still doing everything that I require of it.  The only things that I have replaced on this to-date is the fan module once (although it needs to be done again) to the tune of $15 delivered from Dell!!  I have upgraded the ram from 512MB to 1GB (for free - Gotta love the Best Buy - Geek Squad misprint a few years ago).  The HD has been updated as well ($150 at the time).  Both of these upgrades have eliminated two rather large bottle necks in this machine.  And the last modification I did was to upgrade to a DVD-DL burner.  I can play Counter Strike: Source at a decent resolution with decent frame rate all from the comfort of my recliner so I am VERY happy with this laptop. 

So anyway, I have a new nVidia GeForce 4Go 440 with 64MB ram on the way ($80 eBay) to replace the often problematic even when it is working as designed ATI Radeon 9000 Mobility 64MB.  Anyone have any other comments/concerns or am I headed in the right direction?



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The corruption shown is extremely light...  Sometimes the screen blanks to white and black static'y blocks and other times it just gets all static, but you can still make out the open windows, etc...  Really no rhyme or reason to it...

It could be either your power supply or its the graphics card. What it is doing is something called "Artifacting" which could be caused by the power supply of your laptop not feeding your card anymore. I would boot up and go into your bois and look for something called +12 Volt or ATX +12 volt and see what that shows. If thats not it then your card is crapping out. That nvidia card should be fine.

BTW Omega drivers are evil.

I don't think it is anything with the power due to the fact that if I lightly press on the ram chips, it will correct the problem.  Seems to be a faulty connection that is causing it...  I have a voltage monitor that shows what is going to the card and when this is happening, the voltage never waivers.

Also, the more I checked into this online, the more I found that the ATI cards are crap...  Guess I have just gotten lucky with this thing for it to be good for this long.  5 years of desktop use with a laptop that was already refurbished when I bought it is damn good in my mind.  Heck, I haven't put $250 total into it up to this point for 5 years of hard use.  Heck, I'm still on the original battery and it holds a charge for 80-90 minutes worth of battery time.

And the ATI Omega drivers have been excellent up until ATI decided to not support my card any longer. 

My secondary monitor started doing that recently.  It turned out to be the monitor, but I was thinking video card or a RAM chip crapping out on me as I have seen both cause this.  You are on the right track.
 
Out of all of my PC's the ones with ATI cards have caused the most pains.  Mainly the drivers are crap with ATI's.

bad video card ati sucksss

Yeah I would agree with the comments mentioned above, on it either being the graphics card, or a powersupply / connection problem.

Also I was wondering how you got such a nice, high resolution screenshot? or was that taken with a camera?

Good luck on getting the computer fixed.

Print screen!  Here's another one for ya...  This one won't refresh away!  LOL 

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From everything that I have been able to find, all signs point to the video card, specifically the RAM chip closest to the palm rest on the front side.  Seems that, through flexing of the laptop chassis, the card gets flexed and there is a weak point on the printed circuit board right under this particular chip.  That's why when I pushed down on it, everthing went back to normal...  The new card should be here by Wednesday next week.

I'll be using my Latitude D600 running Ubuntu 7.10 for the most part until then.  Just have to figure out if my Logitech VX Revolution will work in Ubuntu...  Then I have to get Samba working so I can get to the rest of my files!  LOL

Yeah, I would definately say its the video card, if not maybe something with the connection between the video card and the motherboard.

I was asking how you did such high resolution/clear screenshots. I have been trying for a long time now and did some research but didnt want to buy any programs to do it so I was wondering what your method of screenshotting was?

Search for an app called printkey2000.  I've had it since it came out in 2000.  It even allows you to crop to exactly what part of your screen you want to show.  And the resolution is just the resolution of my desktop, 1600x1200!

 Kyle, My VX revo mouse DOES work with ubuntu 7.1

Samba is set! Print & file sharing is all a-ok!!

I haven't tried to plug in the mouse yet, but I did find a tutorial on the ubuntu forums that I'll go over after I get back from the firehall later tonight.