Btw, ATI HD 6450 is a really shitty card.
And then my ATI chip got damaged.Īnother fact: I even put a ATI HD 6450 on my desktop and needed to update the driver - did it to a 11.x preview version and it started the crashing-and-recovering scenario - luckily I got a v12.x version which was not a preview one, and the problem stopped. I did the same thing before trying games like NFS The Run, and Battlefield 3, because any game running on the FROSTBITE2 engine forces you to update the driver to a latest version. Well, correct me if I am wrong, but I think you must have used a " preview" version of the updated ATI driver. It seems funny but I am clueless as to why it should happen this way!
CPU temp is always in the range of 35-70 deg C.īut since the problem now occurs at random - sometimes even with the slightest hint of GPU usage (for example, the last time it occured was when I tried to change my WIn Aero theme - GPU temp was around 52 deg C at the time - the display got corrupted with dots and the machine freezed), so I am not really sure if overheating is the problem, because I have seen laptops running fine at higher temperatures than this (including mine) before.Īlso, as I was mentioning about the Dell 32bit-Diagnostic Ulitity strangely fixing up the video problem, I think it somehow happens every time, because I did it again when the display got corrupted and just booting up into the Dell Diagnostics flash drive that I created, fixed the display - so that I could again boot into Windows and everything was fine for the time being - well, till it gets corrupted again.
The ATI GPU temperature for me runs at a range of 50-55 deg C most of the time and at a maximum of 82-88 deg C when I use it extensively (like when I used to play a hi-graphics game like NFS The Run previously). Overheating is a very valid assumption and so I have been monitoring the GPU (also the CPU) temperatures all the time. I know I should be happy that the problem's solved for now but the reason I am puzzled is that this is the second time the thing fixed itself and so strangely - which makes me think that its about to get broken again any moment, especially if I try to run some graphics intensive application.Ĭan someone please help me to understand why/how such a strange thing could happen repeatedly?
as if the video test flipped some kind of reset switch.Īlso, my laptop's the one with a i3, so as suggested I guess I might be able to run using Intel video, but for that I must separately install the Intel graphics driver right? Otherwise I don't think that I might be able to get a widescreen resolution and it will end up at the best. Since I had once replaced the hard disk and the diagnostics utility partition wasn't present anymore, I had to take a detour but finally when I ran the 32-bit diagnostic ulitities, specially the video test ones, the video adapter as (like magic) automatically repaired itself in a flick and the screen became fine and crystal clear as new. So what I did is, I followed your advice and started to try using the Dell Diagnostics. In that case, is there any option to recover/repair - like disabling the ATI card and working using the onboard intel graphics chipset if any - or do I have to replace the motherboard, since the ATI cards are as far as I know, soldered and fixed permanently to the motherboard ?Īlso, since the warranty period is over, if I need to replace the motherboard, can anyone help me estimate the expense for the replacement? (I live in India)
Also, if I load a Linux Live Cd, say ubuntu, then it loads and at least shows the desktop, but the discolorations are always there, so it isn't a software problem either - I had also tried restoring to factory settings and the problem is still there. It is not a LCD problem since I tried attaching a separate monitor using a VGA cable and the exact same problem is reflected on this external monitor also. What bugs me is that, right from the point of start of booting (when the dell logo shows) and after which you can get the boot options etc, all the time, the screen is discolored and gibberish - even inside BIOS, and the basic diagnostics thing that Dell offers. I am not being able to load windows as it immediately ends up crashing with always the same bluescreen error.
Then, the display got discoloured, showing random dots, blue vertical lines and discolorations and gibberish characters here and there. Yesterday, the computer crashed suddenly and started mentioning ATI driver crash, soon after which bluescreen errors followed - mentioning a failure of the atimkdag.sys file. I have a Dell Studio 1558 with ATI Mobility Radeon HD5470 graphics card on it.