Video Card Trouble

[themicrohawk]

Let me start off with thanking anyone that is willing to help me in the issue I am currently experiencing on my laptop.

I own a Dell Inspiron 5100 Laptop computer which is approximately two years old. The specs are as follows:

OS: Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition: SP 2
Processor:Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz
Memory: 768MB
Video: ATI Mobility Radeon 7500

The problem began about 5 months ago (yes, I have been procrastinating this issue) when my screen began to do this:

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g147/themicrohawk/glitch.jpg

I assumed that the issue was a video card and I am hoping I was correct in doing so. Also, when the above distortion occurs, I can tap the case of my laptop and the image on the screen changes and sometimes even goes back to normal. This lead me to believe there could be something wrong with the socket as well.

Anyway, I decided since the laptop was outdated I would just pick up the same type of video card on Ebay for a few dollars. I found one for around $10 dollars that was the exact same model, ATI Mobility Radeon 7500, and installed it.

After installing the video card I restart my laptop only to get a black screen. This is where I have been stuck since I last worked on the issue.

I'm hoping there might be some suggestions floating around as to what I could do about this problem and how I can get my laptop to read the new, albeit same, video card.

Again, any help would be appreciated.

Thank you,
themicrohawk

 

[MoMo1988]

Question? does the bios screen show up or is it just Black pure black. And have you tried reinstalling the old graphics card to see if that one will load up?

 

[themicrohawk]

It's black as in it does not show anything at any point while being powered up. It does not show anything on the laptop LCD or any monitor that I plug into the back of the laptop.

Yes, if I plug the old faulty video card back into the laptop, the video does show. The video from the old video card is still messed up though, like the screenshot displays.

Any ideas?

 

[zipperman]

I don't know much about the differences in Laptop video and Desktop video.
But can only ask this.With the desktop as you've posted,how does
ATI Catalyst control look when you run it ?
Theres more on this here,i can't repeat my attachment here.
https://www.techspot.com/vb/topic73434.html
But try useing Basic settings.
Right click the destop,select Propertys then settings,
Then advanced,then adapter then
"list all modes"
Theses are the only ones your monitor accepts.Start with 800 x 600 if it's listed and click apply and see if its looks better.You should be asked if you want to keep it.If so do a restart.
The icons might need arrangeing.

 

[themicrohawk]

The issue that person is having only applies to games. I'm having my problem even when I boot in safe mode AND even in the BIOS (when I am using the faulty card).

Resolution and color display shouldn't affect it since it even glitches in the BIOS, which is a low resolution and low bit color.

Edited by Moderator: Removed quote. There`s no need to quote the post directly above your own, unless you`re only replying to a specific section, in which case you would only quote that section.

 

[zipperman]

Thats why games develop patches from users contacs.
Look for them at their website.
Otherwise your video doesn't meet the requirements of these games.
As far as settings,the point is to use your desktop settings for the game
setting options.Changeing screen size for a game doesn't always get good results.

 

[CCT]

Reinstall the chipset drivers.

 

[land_shark47]

I am having the same problem. The issues goes away if I lower the hardware accelerator but I still cant play video games its all glitchy here is a photo with my hardware accelerator on full.

If anyone knows how to fix this please help thank you I have a dell xps m170 nvidia geforce go 7800 gtx graphics card. Oh and also I reinstalled the graphics card driver and the issue remained.

 

[themicrohawk]

No no, haha, this problem DOES NOT occur in just videogames. It happens for everything, even in the system BIOS. Please read my original post for all the details

 

[Dell_CA]

Hello,

My name is Mike, I’m a Technical Analyst located at Dell corporate headquarters in Round Rock, TX. I’m part of an internet outreach team developed to interact with the online community regarding technical questions and issues that customers face with Dell products. I read your question and wanted to offer some suggestions. First, if the video card you purchased is the same as the original, ATI Mobility Radion 7500, but you get no video when you attempt to boot, both on the LCD and an external monitor, you may have purchased a bad video card. To make certain you can reinstall the new card and turn on the machine, then press and hold down the Fn key and tap F8 once. This will toggle between LCD and external monitor. Try it once and wait for 15 seconds, if there is still no video try the key command again and wait another 15 seconds. If no video shows up on the external monitor after that, then the video card is bad. You can repeat these steps as many times as you need to until you’re certain that it’s not responding.

Have you tried the external monitor with the original video card? If the same problem shows up on the external monitor then you’re on the right track and the video card needs to be replaced. If the external monitor looks normal while the LCD is still showing problems then you may be looking at an LCD replacement. I hope this helps.

Thank you,

Mike
Dell customer advocate

 

[CCT]

You mentioned that sometimes tapping the case corrected the video - it IS possible that the multi-wire connector has come loose either at the case end or the lcd end.

 

[themicrohawk]

You mentioned that sometimes tapping the case corrected the video - it IS possible that the multi-wite connector has come loose either at the case end or the lcd end.

I disassembled the entire laptop after the problem began in an attempt to clean and check for loose connections. If the connector was loose on the LCD end, than plugging an external LCD should not also produce the same "glitching" as the attached LCD does.

If it is an internal connection problem, and I am assuming you are referring to the connector where the LCD wire connects to the video card itself, than it is most certainly not it. I have unplugged and plugged in that connector several times through my attempts at discovering a cause for this problem.

Thank you for the idea though. :grinthumb



I tried the Function+F8 key combination to swap between CRT and LCD. Unfortunately nothing exciting happens.

This is what does happen:
When my Dell LCD monitor is unplugged, it has the dialog box that floats around the screen with three colors on it. If this is plugged into my laptop with the presumably bad video card, the monitor goes black and into what appears to be "Standby" mode (the light turns orange). If I unplug the LCD, the floating dialog box appears again.

Is this a clue that the video card is absolutely bad? No video appears either way, so I will take Dell_CA's word for it and assume that it is.

What confuses me is that when the LCD is plugged into the laptop, it appears to go into its standby mode. I would assume, although I am no professional, that if the video card was bad, the floating dialog box would continue while the external LCD was plugged into the laptop.

Thank you all again for the help and support! With every answer I feel one step closer to a solution.

 

[CCT]

Well, after re-reading all your posts, it seems that, if bios also sends a bad video (and bios doesn't use the gui of the adapter just basic vga as far as I know) then ;

1) the new card is bad, and either

2) the original card is failing, or,

3) your mobo video interface is gerfunkled

 

[themicrohawk]

Hopefully the videocard i just got is bad. The person I purchased it from is already issuing a return because I claimed it as being faulty.

I wonder if Dell can sell me a new (old model) one that they might have lying around...

 

[Dell_CA]

What confuses me is that when the LCD is plugged into the laptop, it appears to go into its standby mode. I would assume, although I am no professional, that if the video card was bad, the floating dialog box would continue while the external LCD was plugged into the laptop.

This floating box is what is referred to as the monitor self check test. It will only display when the monitor is unplugged from a video source, but is powered on. As soon as it detects a video connection, working or not, it will stop the test. It's used to help test between bad video cards and bad monitors. So as far as your external monitor goes, it's good.

I wonder if Dell can sell me a new (old model) one that they might have lying around...

You can try contacting the spare parts department at 1-800-357-3355 and giving them the part number for the video card. I’ve looked up the part number for the video cards available for the I5100. 5U104 is the 64MB card, 9U768 is the 32MB card, and 9U766 is the 16MB card. They should be able to give you a quote.

Mike
Dell customer advocate