Lines on IBM Thinkpad T42 screen

[thehobbitech]

Hi everybody! I have a problem with an IBM Thinkpad T42 laptop. It started a while back while I was playing Flight Simulator X demo. Suddenly, the airplane and the sky got weird green patchy lines. (it might be important to note that the main problem was the airplane and sky, I think the ground was pretty much fine) I thought it was a problem with the game, but then I went back to windows, and It had strange lines on the screen too. The lines on the screen are mostly very small, vertical, dotted lines, While I am writing now, I have difficulty viewing the text because there are small pink lines around the words. What can it be? Some more details: on startup, on the windows loading screen and on the bios screen, the lines are much worse. After logging on, it's not all over, but mostly around icons, when viewing a picture, the picture itself only has lines around the edge, but the main part is fine from what I have seen. This laptop is about 5 yrs old by now, so I don't know, maybe it's just giving out
Anyway, I would be gratefull for any help. I have tried installing the drivers again, but it says it can't install the ATI driver so anyway..... Thanks, thehobbitech

 

[EXCellR8]

since it's a laptop i want to say the GPU is overheating (very common) or the screen itself is going bad, unless BIOS or POST screen is clear of artifacts. you can try uninstalling the current display drivers first and then installing the latest set. if that doesn't help with the artifacting you could very well be looking at faulty video memory and thus it may be new time for a new laptop. 5 years is a decent lifespan...

 

[thehobbitech]

thanks

My brother connected the laptop to our flatscreen monitor and it did the same thing, that would seem to indicate that it's not the screen, I also did what you said as to uninstalling the drivers (at least the ATI driver). I did it because when I downloaded the new ATI driver, it said to uninstall the current one and install this one. So I uninstalled the old one and now it says it can't install the new one, It also says something about trying with a standard VGA something-or-other, and then trying to install the new driver. (where would I get that VGA thing?) We have tried several things, but it still is shot. And, yes, as you say, 5yrs is a decent lifespan, but it's still kinda hard to let something go like that. Thanks, thehobbitech

 

[EXCellR8]

You are correct, if the external display shows the same artifacts then it's probably not the laptop screen itself. Since the computer is older, the display driver may correspond to what is referred to a "legacy" driver. You could try installing a generic one by running the New Hardware Wizard which would attempt to install a MS-issued version. I would only try this if you are 100% sure you have downloaded the correct driver package.

 

[thehobbitech]

Thanks, I'll try that when I get time. I am almost sure I downloaded the correct driver. I downloaded it from here: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-41918 I imagine that would be the right one, being the IBM/lenovo website and all.

 

[EXCellR8]

yes, that is the correct driver... and there isn't a direct link on ATI's site so i guess that's the best resource for drivers with that computer. can you confirm that the computer is using the 32MB ATI Mobility Radeon 7500?

 

[thehobbitech]

No, actually, it's running a 128MB ATI Mobility Fire GL...... The bios screen is actually worse than it is in Windows after logging on, if that is any help.

 

[thehobbitech]

No, actually, it's running a 128MB ATI Mobility Fire GL...... The bios screen is actually worse than it is in Windows after logging on, if that is any help.

What I mean is: The problem is worse in the bios screen than it is after logging into windows...