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HUGE Graphics problem... not sure what it is...

post #1 of 17
4/12/06 at 1:32am
Thread Starter 
Okay... I've had this computer for about 2 years now. I've really had no problems with it until now...
I've been playing world of warcraft since december... I decided to stop playing for three weeks to dedicate more time to school work. Recently I started to play again after being on a three week hiatus and downloading the new 1.10 patch (not sure if that has anything to do with it...) and my graphics are messed up BAD!
For the first few minutes it starts out fine... then all hell breaks loose. What seems to happen is that there are random lines of graphics spewing out from the middle of the screen in random directions and everything gets distorted. Even after I exit the game some webpages get messed up.
Here are some screen shots of what it looks like...










Here's a page with all of them so you can see bigger pics
http://community.webshots.com/album/549421696HyNspH

Does anyone know what that is? Any suggestions on what I should do? I'm pretty sure my graphics card driver is updated... and even if it wasn't why would the problem start now after 5 months of gameplay...
Do I need to go into my computer and clean out the graphics card? maybe there's dust or something in there. I blow out my vents and fans weekly but I've never opened up my laptop. Would that cause this problem to happen? I tried playing around with the settings in the game and in the graphics card display settings. Nothing has worked so far. Any help would be appreciated...
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post #2 of 17
4/12/06 at 11:43am
Artifacting. Most probably caused by "stuff" in the machine that is restricting air flow and causing heat build up. The unit probably needs a bit of TLC and cleaning. Look at the various artifacting threads regarding how to do this and my review of the 8790 in the Reviews Area.
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post #3 of 17
4/12/06 at 8:36pm
Thread Starter 
okay. I just finished cleaning the inside. Found some huge dust bunnies. Put some new arctic thermal compound on the heatsink. 10 minutes playing wow and it's still happening! I have no idea what is causing the problem...
I just posted a new screen shot of what google looks like after my graphics card starts to screw up after playing wow.
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post #4 of 17
4/13/06 at 12:40am
Did you clean under the keyboard? Also did you lift up the plate under the keyboard (lots of screws) and clean that heat sink? If so, then try updating the video drivers and try using ATITool to set the GPU/Mem speeds of the GPU.
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post #5 of 17
4/13/06 at 12:47am
Thread Starter 
yep i cleaned under the keyboard and everything. I only have windows sp1 so it wont let me install ati catalyst. How do i set speed with ATITool?
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post #6 of 17
4/13/06 at 1:07am
Might want to go to the Reviews section and check out G's review thread. Start from the latest and work your way back (easiest, IMO). You'll find the info there.
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post #7 of 17
4/13/06 at 1:23pm

your screwed

my unit is artifacting in an identical manner, and cleaning and under clocking no longer helps, unless you are willing to turn off all agp multipliers (no 2x, 4x or 8x), then it works fine but will be slow as hell. I've pretty much decided never to get any Clevo based system ever again, between the lousy support and unwillingness to admit their unit (on this model) is junk and offer some sort of solution to all of us who are out 3k+ for a piece of crap I will never recommend or buy their product again. I wrote to Clevo , they responded that they would try to help with the customer service, and have not heard once from them since and after referring them to this forum so they could see the problems listed, that pretty much ended their communications. You can try to repair your unit, but it will just happen again, so don’t throw good money after bad. Live with it or save for another unit or go with a desk top. my 2 cents
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post #8 of 17
4/13/06 at 6:58pm
I had the same problem for a while, sent it in twice got a new mobo but still same problem, sent it in the last time and they replaced the RAM, that did the trick no artifacts now for a few months... your ram might be bad.
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post #9 of 17
4/13/06 at 9:56pm

Gpu Dead

I had the exact same artifacts in WoW and other games. Eventually it spread to the desktop in the form or little dots and graphical glitches. I reformatted and reinstalled the OS to no avail. I sent it in to Warrentech only to have them tell me nothing was wrong. I got in contact with PCTorque and eventually got the motherboard (and the fried GPU) replaced. I was reimbursed by Warrentech for the 90 dollar fee that is charged if nothing is found wrong with the laptop. I believe the GPU is usually killed by overheating. I was playing a lot on my bed so no air circulation was happening....Also, if you don't clean it out once a month or so the dust will build up so badly that it will have the same effect. Be persistant with your warranty company if your laptop is covered. If all else fails, call the people you bought it from.

-Borgath
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post #10 of 17
4/15/06 at 3:53am
Thread Starter 
Okay I downloaded ATITool and I did what G-Omaha did and set the fans to 310/170 from 410/270. That got rid of the artifacting but it greatly hinders my FPS. So from reading all these responses... i'm guessing this is just going to get worse and worse, and there's no way to fix it, but to send it in... right?
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post #11 of 17
4/15/06 at 11:21am
Try 432/236.25 as speeds and see what that does for you.

Yes, also one must note that when originally shipped the GPUs were set at 405/270 and this was chaged somehow to the 410/270 (I suspect the firmware upgrades caused this). The Memory speed seeting appears to be the one that "triggers" the artifacting from all that I've beenable to determine. Both the GPU (CPU) and memory speeds must closly match or artifacts wil happen.

Heat is the primary cause of the GPU problems, then once they have been experienced, it seems as if we are on the path to final failure (sometime later on).
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post #12 of 17
4/16/06 at 12:26am
Thread Starter 
AH!!! it's getting worse! 432/236.25 is just as bad and 310/170 is starting to fail on me! Is this the end of the line!? ;-( What if my warrenty is no good anymore?!
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post #13 of 17
4/17/06 at 10:24am
Either the video RAM is bad or the GPU has fried. Don't know how to tell you which one. It's a send it in and get it checked out type deal, really.

Sorry to hear that you've joined the rest of us unfortunates
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post #14 of 17
4/17/06 at 3:42pm
Underclocking like G says worked for me. Unfortunately, I just did a fresh install of Windows and the newest Omega Drivers and ATI Tray Tools, and Overclocking is disabled through Tray Tools.

Anyone know why Overclocking would be greyed out?
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post #15 of 17
4/18/06 at 1:30pm
I just checked for updates through ATI Tray Tools, and got a new build that fixed the OC issue.
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post #16 of 17
4/18/06 at 6:15pm
Thread Starter 
What are these ATI tray tools you speak of? Do you need sp2 to install that?
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post #17 of 17
4/18/06 at 6:41pm
ATI Tray Tools is usually installed as part of the Omega Drivers. Or you can just google them -- I think they are part of guru3d
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