Hello all,
I just purchased an aftermarket Mobility Radeon 9800 for my Inspiron 9100 laptop, and believe I am having a graphics memory problem.
During POST or Windows XP startup/normal operation, there are horizontal streams of tiney pixels in a "stairstep" effect across the screen, many of which are flashing/changing color rapidly. Moving windows around will cause the background of those windows to change color; green, maybe purple.
The laptop itself is fully operational when exhibiting this behavior; Windows doesn't act as though there is any problem. I first suspected a memory problem, and the Inspiron's on-board diagnostics confirm this theory with memory read/write errors.
The question I have before I contact the vendor and arrange a return/replacement are these:
* What's the probability this could be something as simple as a connector seating issue; that is, the unit is connected well enough to operate, but perhaps one or two contacts aren't absolutely perfect? (A stretch, I realize)
* Any chance this could be a BIOS-related problem that simply manifests itself in memory-related errors?
Installation of the card was trouble-free, and I still have the old 64MB 9700 to put back in should this problem prove unresolvable. But I thought I would tap the experts here for any other ideas I'm not thinking about. These guys are hard to find, and I hate to give up on it if there's any chance of an external fix...
Many thanks,
dave
I just purchased an aftermarket Mobility Radeon 9800 for my Inspiron 9100 laptop, and believe I am having a graphics memory problem.
During POST or Windows XP startup/normal operation, there are horizontal streams of tiney pixels in a "stairstep" effect across the screen, many of which are flashing/changing color rapidly. Moving windows around will cause the background of those windows to change color; green, maybe purple.
The laptop itself is fully operational when exhibiting this behavior; Windows doesn't act as though there is any problem. I first suspected a memory problem, and the Inspiron's on-board diagnostics confirm this theory with memory read/write errors.
The question I have before I contact the vendor and arrange a return/replacement are these:
* What's the probability this could be something as simple as a connector seating issue; that is, the unit is connected well enough to operate, but perhaps one or two contacts aren't absolutely perfect? (A stretch, I realize)
* Any chance this could be a BIOS-related problem that simply manifests itself in memory-related errors?
Installation of the card was trouble-free, and I still have the old 64MB 9700 to put back in should this problem prove unresolvable. But I thought I would tap the experts here for any other ideas I'm not thinking about. These guys are hard to find, and I hate to give up on it if there's any chance of an external fix...
Many thanks,
dave
