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Mobility Radeon 9000 Laptop?

Discussion in 'Audio and Video' started by Devaster, Oct 21, 2004.

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  1. Devaster Newcomer, in training

    Okay, just yesterday I purchased the new A75-S209 Toshiba Laptop at Best Buy. I was informed that it would be an all around laptop for entertainment and business, which is what I need since I am going to Australia for an Internship. Everything works except when I go to play any type of game: Dark Ages of Camelot, Doom 3, heck even the an old classic like Forsaken and Warcraft, the game plays for 2-4 mins and then crashes. Screen goes blank and keyboard no longer works, have to restart laptop. (Sorry, I know this is going to be long, please bare with me). So I have updated all the Toshiba updates, which included the new BIOS program, updated the new ATI driver, increased my UMA Frame Buffer to 128MB and the problem still happens. DVD Movies play fine with no problems. The laptop specs are Pent 4, 3.2 gig processor, original 512MB+256MB (I added) of memory. From this I would gather it would be a decent playing machine aswell as business. I am out of ideas, so if you know any or have had the same problems, please tell me your thoughts. I am still within the return policy period, but if it is a minor fix, I would rather save myself the trip of 80 miles to take it back.
    Devaster, Oct 21, 2004
    #1

  2. Rick TechSpot Staff

    What you need is better drivers.

    I just bought a Dell 600m with a 64MB Radeon Mobility 9000. It works very well - Even plays Doom III (although it runs better on my desktop for sure).

    Rather than download the latest crummy video drivers from Toshiba, download the latest Omega Catalyst drivers or the latest official Catalyst drivers from www.ATI.com. Omega is an alternative Radeon driver, Catalyst is the official Radeon driver set.

    BUT... ATI does not support mobility chipsets out of the box. You'll need to use this tool ( http://www.driverheaven.net/patje/ ) to install the driver if you choose to use the official Catalyst.
    Rick, Oct 21, 2004
    #2

  3. Devaster Newcomer, in training

    Thanks for the tip Rick. For some reason I am not able to download the Mobility Modder. Keep getting an error saying I am unable to download the file from users.skynet.be. Soon as I am able to download it I will give it a shot, in the mean time, do you know any other spot where I can retreive the modder? I was also wondering, can incoming house power cause a laptop to crash? Reason for this, is because, when I am plugged into power cord from other places then my house, I don't have any problems running a game.
    Devaster, Oct 21, 2004
    #3

  4. Rick TechSpot Staff

    As far as the drivers go, try the Omega drivers. They are optimized for performance and will probably offer faster gaming on your laptop.

    http://www.omegadrivers.net/

    Not sure where else you can find the utility to install the official Catalysts, but 'goooogling' it might yeild some results.

    I would assume the crashing is just coincidental. See if you can consitently reproduce it first, before considering this a problem.

    If it does turn out to be true, I've never seen anything like it. I might suggest having your home electrical outlets / wiring tested. I know voltage can vary based on a number of things, including distance from the substation.. etc.. High-tech electronics are pretty senstive to electrical anomalies, so (although I don't know much about it) I find it reasonable that electrical problems could cause crashing... Simliar to a failing power supply on a desktop PC. Any problems with your electronics before?
    Rick, Oct 21, 2004
    #4

  5. Devaster Newcomer, in training

    Can't seem to access the Omega Driver Download section, it might be since I am connected on my laptop on a college wireless line currently. This might cause me not able to download material. I will try it again at home. BTW, I was just running a gaming test on my laptop and it did crash at school, so I know it isn't a power problem now. It crashed while I was running Doom 3. So soon as I get that omega driver downloaded, I will see what happens.
    Devaster, Oct 21, 2004
    #5

  6. Devaster Newcomer, in training

    Tried someting else this time. I unplugged the power from the wall and ran just off of battery. Every game ran perfectly. /shrug. Crashes when I have power plugged in. I am almost out of ideas.
    Devaster, Oct 21, 2004
    #6

  7. Rick TechSpot Staff

    Just a long shot, but perhaps the crashing has something to do with your laptop's power saving features. Laptops on battery power will scale down processor and FSB speeds (etc..) to save energy while on battery.

    You should be able to ignore this possibility though if it happens while it is plugged in as well.

    What kind of crash do you get? Blue screen? Error box? Any messages?
    Rick, Oct 22, 2004
    #7
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