HP nc8000 - defective graphic card?

Hi everyone ,

I currently own a nc8000 that is overall very satisfactory, but I have a very peculiar problem with it and I don't know where to start to solve it. In fact, there are two problems, perhaps they are linked. I have the SXGA+ screen.

- The first problem is related to any overlay content (such as DVD playback, RealPlayer content, etc.). What happens is that image rendering is very poor. But it is hard to describe since it is not downright horrible, more insidious, but there definitely is a problem. The pics look jagged and noisy, a little like reading a DivX file with obsolete drivers. The DVD looks top quality on other computers. It is not interlacing or anything related to DVD playback, since the same problem occurs even on DVD menus and with other overlayed movies (RealPlayer more specifically).

I use WinDVD bundled with the computer, codecs are up-do-date, and I made sure video drivers are up-to-date (ATI 7.96, the latest available on HP's site). What is peculiar is that the problem seems to occur for every content that requires overlay. I tried installing Omega drivers just in case (modded ATI drivers), but that didn't help; I also installed a clean system on a second partition, and it has the exact same problem.

- The second problem is related to resolution. When I choose a non-native resolution, for example 640x480 (for old games) or 800x600, it looks positively horrible. It doesn't look blurry the way a LCD generally looks when it's scaled; my LCD looks pixellized and jagged. Running at 800x600 make graphics, texts and everything look like they were enlarged 200% with a graphic editor; graphics and text looks jagged, pixellized, and not smooth. Exactly like an enlarged bitmap. Like as if the interpolation system supposed to "smooth out" the display was damaged. It looks jagged a little like the DVD picture I attached, only ten times worse. What could cause this problem?

I am not sure if both are related. I have heard that some nc8000 units had a defective graphic card -- but I ran a few 3D games in high resolution for a few hours and there weren't any artifacts/crashes, or anything else indicating that the graphic card has something wrong.

Perhaps someone heard or experienced this behaviour and can tell me if this is a known defect, or if something can be done about it. Is there a BIOS update to make, or a driver to upgrade to solve my problem? Or does it sound like there's a hardware problem? Help!

- Robin

Thanks for your suggestion awingedpig, but how am I supposed to do this?

I have downloaded and loaded the latest ATI drivers for Windows XP. Is there anything else I must update?

turanuk, did you read what I posted? It is *not* the regular "blurry" look LCDs have. Here, graphics look like 200% enlarged bitmaps, and it is not the LCD's fault. It has something to do with the graphic card.

awingedpig, thanks, I'll give it a try.

Yes, they become bigger, but there's an "interpolation" that smooths graphics. This is why lower resolutions look blurry, but smooth.

Here, this isn't your typical blurry LCD effect; graphics simply looked jagged. Like (as I already said) an enlarged bitmap in a graphic editor, at a point where you actually see chunks of colors (like enlarged pixels).

Besides, that doesn't explain why overlay content also looks jagged at native resolution: I believe both are linked.

awingedpig: the download with the Intel chipset didn't work. Perhaps it is related to the fact that my graphic card (ATI Mobility M10) has its own separate memory and chipset.