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Corrupted video on Area51m

post #1 of 38
10/9/04 at 1:32pm
Thread Starter 
I am getting some odd graphic corruptions at random times and for no apparent reason. Many but not all of my icons are currupted, splash screens...outlook express...trillian ect, are completely scrambled color wise as are many buttons and other windowy type 'parts' such as menu buttons and the like. Game graphics, my desktop backdrop, most images, and the majority of windows graphics are ok....but the ones that are corrupt are very scrambled.
Here is the kicker.....my laptop only displays this behavior with the latest drivers, if I switch back to the 56.67 from the 62.2 driver I have no corruption...but my games are not stable.
here is an example, the two icons shown SHOULD be the same


This is a mild example of what happens, I don't have any screenshots of when the graphics are majorly screwed.

Reboots do not fix this...I have restarted, shut down, and shut down removing all power.
I have uninstalled/reinstalled drivers several times
I have installed the latest AGP driver (per AW tech support)
I check the temp often and it is never about 55c
I use a laptop cooler
Reseting the color depth from 32 bit to 16 bit SOMETIMES fixes SOME of the graphics, other times not.
i can often work all day without it occuring then BLAM it starts happening, other times I boot up in the morning and its screwed.

anybody else having anything like this??? Any ideas oh what I can do to fix it?
I have gone round with tech support....they are nice...and try....but....well...I can't send my laptop into depot for 3 months....or however long it takes them.

any thoughts, ideas would be MUCH appreicated
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post #2 of 38
10/10/04 at 6:20pm
I had the same problem, after reinstalling Windows, it went away...only to come back after a reboot. I called Alienware about this on Friday, they told me reinstalling Windows would fix it, if not they would be sending me a replacement graphics card. I will be calling again tomorrow to see how this will work out.
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post #3 of 38
10/11/04 at 3:54pm
Try reseating the video card in your laptop. I've had a similar issue with a customer that experienced random graphic corruption in Windows and solved it simply by reseating the video card.

Here is our knowledge base article about this:

http://tinyurl.com/6chp6
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post #4 of 38
10/12/04 at 7:29pm
Okay, here's an update on my situation. I have reinstalled Windows as instructed, it still did not help. I reseated the graphics card, still a no go. Instead, over the last week or so, the corruption has spread. It started with the icons, then moved to AIM, now it is everywhere. Here are some examples. What the hell is wrong with my system?!
LL
LL
LL
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post #5 of 38
10/12/04 at 8:31pm
Have you updated your BIOS to 1.19?
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post #6 of 38
10/12/04 at 8:54pm
Yes I have. It still is corrupted, however the *desktop* icons are no more corrupted, just IE and AIM and Windows Explorer are corrupted. Also once every 4 or 5 times, the splash screen of UT2k4 also comes out corrupted (however the game is fine).
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post #7 of 38
10/12/04 at 11:35pm
I'm getting the same weird problem, though it only just started happening a few days ago. I use GoBack, so whenever it has happened, I just restored to an earlier point and it went away. It seems we all have the go5700 card, and if it doesn't happen with the 56.67 driver, then doesn't that imply that the drivers are the problem? I am using the 61.77 driver.
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post #8 of 38
10/13/04 at 12:07am
How about the AW 62.20 Drivers?
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post #9 of 38
10/13/04 at 3:16pm
Installed...that's the first ting they had me do when I called in. I already had them installed, but they made me uninstall and reinstall it.
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post #10 of 38
10/13/04 at 9:01pm
I was/am having the same problem...Weird... I thought it was driver related because when I rebooted it would go away. I was running the 62.20 drivers. I have not tried the new bios yet. I'll see if the problem still persists after my lappy gets back from depot.
It would be a lot easier for AW to fix if we can figure out what the conflict is.
What revision motherboard do you have?
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post #11 of 38
10/13/04 at 9:04pm
Well, just talked to a sales rep online, that had to be the worst experience I have ever had with this company. After going through a standard list of questions which I had already gone through 3 or 4 times, he decided to tell me to reinstall drivers and just left. Why? Because it was 1 minute past closing. Horrible, utterly horrible. I don't know how much I can trust Alienware now. You think maybe Sprint PCS runs Alienware's Customer Service? That would explain a lot
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post #12 of 38
10/13/04 at 9:10pm
Nothing can be worse that Sprint PCS.
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post #13 of 38
10/13/04 at 9:16pm
Try some alternate drivers... www.laptopvideo2go.com
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post #14 of 38
10/13/04 at 10:16pm
I would like to try alternate drivers, however I feel that I should be able to use my laptop with out error and still have it covered by tech support. Unfortunately, drivers not downloaded from their Support Site are not supported.

Yes, you are correct, Sprint PCS really blows. It took me a week and countless calls to activate my Treo 600. I plan on jumping ship to T-Mobile when the MPx is released.
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post #15 of 38
10/13/04 at 11:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by K[H]eMiKaL
I would like to try alternate drivers, however I feel that I should be able to use my laptop with out error and still have it covered by tech support. Unfortunately, drivers not downloaded from their Support Site are not supported.

Yes, you are correct, Sprint PCS really blows. It took me a week and countless calls to activate my Treo 600. I plan on jumping ship to T-Mobile when the MPx is released.
I agree with you... but, if you need a temporary workaround until they solve the problem it might be the only way to go. You will also be assisting technical support when you say, "I have no problem when running a different driver." That means it's not a harware issue but a software issue that they need to address ASAP.
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post #16 of 38
10/13/04 at 11:16pm
I recently bought a A51m and I have been having that problem too.

awacs

*******'s Alienware Asylum. Pictures, Reviews and More!

www.*******.vze.com
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post #17 of 38
10/14/04 at 1:29am
Quote:
Originally Posted by K[H]eMiKaL
You think maybe Sprint PCS runs Alienware's Customer Service? That would explain a lot
HAHAHAHAAHAH, I've been a Sprint PCS customer for the past 7.5 yrs and really have not had many problems. What problems I did have got resolved fairly quickly. However WHen sprint first started out I found their customer service to be much more friendlier then it is now.
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post #18 of 38
10/14/04 at 6:36pm
Friendliness is not the problem. Whenever I call up with a problem relating to Vision or their poor excuse for an SMS system, I always wind up stupider than when I started....

EDIT:

I have tried the Omega drivers, but those do not solve the problem either. Will I need a replacement graphics card?
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post #19 of 38
10/14/04 at 10:08pm
Had it happen again last night (noticed it on the UT2004 splash screen, same as K[H]eMiKaL) , but this time when I used GoBack to do a system restore, it did not go away. This implies to me that the problem is not software-related but rather hardware-related. I think I have the 4003 motherboard, how about you guys?
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post #20 of 38
10/14/04 at 11:59pm
One minute past closing? Which tech support were you talking to? The tech support that I call is the number on the back of my card and pressed the option 2 and is 24/7. I called at 10pm (check my uner my name, I live on east coast so there is no time difference) one night and talked to a tech for like 20 minutes about how my comp was doing with repairs? Did you call customer service instead of tech support? They close at 8pm mon-fri. You might want to make sure that you picked the right selection at the menu, not saying you didn't but it is always good to check. I know I am probably going to get flamed for this but I don't see how anyone could have had a bad experience with AW tech support, from the dozens of calls that I have made (and I have only owned the computer for a little less thana month) I have maybe once or twice came across someone who couldn't help me. In my book, AW's support department is far better than anyone I have ever worked with. I even got disconnected once and they called me right back! Only one other company has done that for me that I have talked to, and that is Microsoft.
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