Laptop help

Retroholic Joined: 12 Feb 2004 Posts: 5685

I have me a toshiba satellite laptop an a few months ago the screen started goin funny on with all sorts of colours and shit comin up on it. I reinstalled the drivers for it but that didn't help. Eventually it got so bad xp kept shutting down and when i'd reboot it'd say somethin about not bein able to complete a drawing operation

I formatted and reinstalled a week or so ago and it was fine, now its started doin it agaon but not near as bad.

http://retro-renault.com/gallery/albums/album01/laptop.jpg

If ye look at that you can see the colours. The strange thing is you can take a screen capture and they're in it. I guess that rules out a problem with the screen but what does it mean??

The laptop uses a nvidia gforce (sp?) card but its using whatever drivers xp install after the reinstall, before it was using the proper ones.

Any ideas??

FCS Event Manager Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 3680

get the latest drivers for the nvidia from the nvidia site and install those.
Are you having a direct draw problem ?
could also try installing latest version of direct x.

looking at the toshiba site, the gfx cards they use are either intel or ATIÂ® Mobility Radeon 9000 IGP.

you sure yours uses an nvidia card ?

u may be able to get the latest drivers for ur card from the toshiba support centre.

Retroholic Joined: 12 Feb 2004 Posts: 5685

Just looked it up, its a nVidia GeForce4 440. Its quite an old laptop now and i think originally american

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000646PQ/103-0945135-1635850?v=glance

I'll try the nvidia and toshiba sites when i get home and also the direct x thingy

You reckon its not a hardware problem then?

Level 10 User Joined: 18 Jun 2004 Posts: 614

Might be a Memory Prob. I've had this with desktop PC's. It goes like that. then a few week's later the Grahpics card die's. Guess with it been a laptop it be shared memory. If it is and two got two bank's or more I'll try each one on it's own.

Site Subscriber Joined: 10 Jun 2004 Posts: 2317

Looks like a hardware problem.

Level 6 User Joined: 20 Jun 2004 Posts: 155

In your pic it seems that you don't have the graphics card installed, and those "Base System Devices" usually mean that the motherboard/system drives aren't all there either. If you have a SIS or VIA or nForce chipset system, then you may find that you need to install their special "chipset software" to get the computer to behave properly.

Having said that, it does look like it could be a memory issue - since its a laptop, the graphics card will be built into the main motherboard PCB inside, so no chance of a loose graphics card causing the corruption (I've seen a computer which had seriously scrambled graphics occasionally, that was tracked doen to a cable inside the computer that was knocking into the RAM chips on the graphics card and scrambling them).

If either the system RAM or the graphics card RAM is a big dodgy then you can get that kinda effect. Laptops are a bugger to work on (a bit like Renaults really Wink

) but somewhere there will be a cover which you can unscrew and remove, under which will be the memory sticks. They look pretty much like regular DIMMs, but they are shorter. As Mad Pierre said, laptop will have shared graphics memory and system memory, so if you are lucky and have two SODIMM memory sticks in your laptop, and you can actually locate them and figure out how to remove them, then you can take one out, run the system and see if the problems still occur. If they don't, then the memory stick you have removed is most likely duff (or it was loose before you removed it). If you still get the problems, then swap the memory sticks over, and run the system again (making sure you fully power off the system while removing the memory sticks of course!!). Also, when handling memory sticks, always earth yourself before you touch them (or anything else inside a computer for that matter) to get rid of nasty static leccy, and when you remove them, grab them gently from the ends - don't touch the actual lil black chips on them. Also, make sure you put any that you remove onto something that is relatively static free - never put em on the carpet!!!

Good luck with it! Take it to a local computer shop if you can't do it yerself - don't bother with the big chains like PC World. As with cars, the small independants generally have much better knowledge and will give you better service at cheapers prices!

Retroholic Joined: 12 Feb 2004 Posts: 5685

Ok, found me memory sticks. Pulled one of them out and booted it up and the problem was there straightaway (normally it takes a while to happen, if at all) I turned if off and switched the sticks and now theres no sign of the problem. That suggests i have a dodgy bit of memory? Thats a good sign?

Forum Moderator Joined: 18 Feb 2004 Posts: 7432

yeah, get a new stick of memory, sorted. Smile

Retroholic Joined: 12 Feb 2004 Posts: 5685

Nice!

So where the hell do i get some of this little stuff then? It'd prob be ok on 256mb for a while anyway would it?

Level 6 User Joined: 20 Jun 2004 Posts: 155

The place I buy memory from is Crucial - they are a proper brand in the computer world, and so they have a guarantee and generally never go wrong. Their website is www.crucial.com/uk - if you use the search thing that comes up inside the red dotted box on the main page, then it should guide you to the right module for your system. Since its a laptop, it will be some variant of a 200 pin SODIMM that you will need, but like I said - use the Crucial search engine to find the exact module you need. The also do free next day delivery on most items Smile

BTW You did put the dodgy memory module back in to check that the problems come back didnt you? I have seen cases where the module comes loose or whatever and simply removing it and replacing it can fix the problem (although I will also say that this is quite rare). Worth double checking before you splash out your cash on new RAM.

Let us know how you get on!

Cheers
Alex

PS - 256Mb is fine for Windows 98 or ME (or earlier), but I would recommend 512Mb for Windows 2000/XP - see what modules are compatible with your system on the Crucial website, and then decide how much extra you need to top up your existing one good memory stick.

Retroholic Joined: 12 Feb 2004 Posts: 5685

Top site, 31 inc. delivery to here for a replacement 256, can't be arsed upgrading.

Strangely the problem made a brief appearance about 10 mins ago...maybe i should replace both of them?

Does the memory go bad after a few years or somethin?

Level 6 User Joined: 20 Jun 2004 Posts: 155

Crappy unbranded memory does sometimes just fail - the tolerances involved are quite tight, so if they a not the best quality to start with, then over time they can degrade very slightly but this can be enough to stop them working within the required tolerances.

With Crucial I wouldn't expect this though - I've got sticks I've bought from them in PC's that are 7+ years old that are still working fine, and I've never had a bad stick outta probably more than 50 that I've bought and used at various times. If the memory does go titsup then you can always use their lifetime guarantee to get a replacement!

Sounds like you have quite a new system, if you have two sticks of 256Mb (giving you a total of 512 obviously, which is what I was meaning to recommend - 512Mb in total is enough for normal Windows 2000/XP use), and since its a well known brand I'm surprised that the memory has gone bad - I would have thought they would use decent stuff. Makes me wonder if its something else - it might be worth calling Toshiba and seeing if they have had any other people reporting problems on that model, especially if the new memory doesn't fix it. It could be that they had a batch of dodgy memory - it does happen sometimes.

Incidentally, the only other thing that comes to mind as being a cause of this kind of general system weirdness is overheating, so you might want to experiment with that. I've had laptops do all kinds of wierd stuff and have traced it down to heat issues. The problem with em is that the only space to put fans and vents is on the bottom usually, which obviously is a pretty crap place if you sit the laptop on a glass table for instance. I had a friend who had to sit their laptop on makeshift stilts to stop it overheating!

What I would recommend is that when you get the new memory, take out both the old modules and run it with just the new one in at first. That will conclusivley tell you if its the RAM or summit else.

Here's hoping its the memory Smile

Cheers
Alex

Site Subscriber Joined: 10 Jun 2004 Posts: 2317

Kingston memory is good, we use it in work and out of about 300+ sticks of the stuff we've only had 2 or 3 faulty.

Retroholic Joined: 12 Feb 2004 Posts: 5685

Overheating...when i'm using the laptop its sitting on my bed... a less than ideal place to have it and it does get damn hot Embarassed

I'm not sure exactly how old it is, from what reviews etc i can find its about 3yrs old

Excellent advice so far, i'll get this puppy workin right soon Very Happy

Retroholic Joined: 12 Feb 2004 Posts: 5685

Poxy piece of shit, finally bit the bullit and bought 2x512mb sticks and the problems still there Mad

Any suggestions with the fucker now?

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

if its insured do a number on it, theres various amusign methods to do.

george had a 200 quid laptop and he done a number on it, put it in a box poured emulsion in with it worked it right in there and they came out collected it and said after stripping it down yep its knackered he got a new one then sold it.

Water doesn't damage them enough btw

Down the stairs is good but you really need to chuck them hard.

Retroholic Joined: 12 Feb 2004 Posts: 5685

lol no, not insured unless its covered under the house policy which i doubt would fork out enough for a decent replacement

Level 8 User Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 278

Claim culture.... tut tut

Put a flat book or something under the laptop as this will enable the air to flow around it. Also make sure the vent at the back is not obstructed as this can cause overheating.
There is thermal protection on them though, just in case...

Retroholic Joined: 12 Feb 2004 Posts: 5685

Ha well its fucked now

Forum Moderator Joined: 02 Mar 2004 Posts: 19978

well Geo done the 200 quid laptop in and got a 900 quid new effort back under his house insurance.

Site Subscriber Joined: 18 Jun 2004 Posts: 470

iv seen that prob before when i was a computer tech, it usally a problem with the graphics card, we changed that and then the computer was fine, but in your case thats no so easy as the graphics card is part of the mainboard so the best bet would be to get hold of another mainboard or another laptop.