Latitude D600: Screen Flicker + Freeze Problem

Hi everyone,

This is my first post, I hope I'll get it right

I have a Latitude D600 (1.4GHz Centrino, 40GB HDD, 512 MB RAM, WinXP Pro) and since I have it, there have been two problems. Maybe one of you has a clue a) where they come from and b) how I could solve them.

1. This is a rather minor one. Whenever I unplug the power cable, and about every 30 minutes while I am working on battery power, my screen flickers (it goes black and comes back within about 2 seconds). Also, if I listen to music when it happens the music gets 'distorted, i.e. it sounds like a broken tape or so afterwards. Pausing and restarting the music solves that.

2. This is the real issue. Sometimes the computer locks up completely. I hear a cracking sound from the speakers or headphones, and the screen freezes, so that it shows a 'screenshot' of whatever i was doing, but there is no more interaction possible, i.e. trackpad and keyboard do not have any effect anymore. The only solution is a hard restart with the power button. The problem for me is that it happens without any pattern, as far as I can tell. It happens with all kinds of applications (e.g. Word, Outlook, Adobe, Firefox...), both on battery and a/c power. It happens 5 minutes after startup or after running for 2 days (partly in stand-by). The event viewer does not record anything. I am highly frustrated, especially since it appears to be happening more and more often now, about once in two days.

Of course I have already called Dell about both of these issues, but they were not helpful. Hardware Diagnostics do not yield any hardware errors, and I since I have had the problems ever since I got the Dell fresh out of the box, I don't see which particular software might be causing the trouble. Please help, I'd be more than grateful!

Cheers and thanks to anyone who reads and answers this in advance!!

Flo

Will try that!

Thank Mich43L, I'm running the ATI driver at the moment, will try Omega! Thanks for the hint!

Update

Hey everyone,

The Omega Driver solved the screen flicker problem on battery mode. Unfortunately, though, my laptop crashed/froze again today. It drives me nuts. Any other suggestions what could be the cause/solution?

Cheers, Flo

Wow, You are FAST!

Hi Mich,

I'm amazed that you replied withing 5 or so minutes of my post! Are you a computer guardian angel?

As for the freezing, here's what happens:

I work on my computer, have Firefox, Outlook, Word, Acrobat, MSN Messenger, Skype, iTunes running, type in Word, read an email, browse a webpage or chat in MSN while listening to music on iTunes.

Suddenly, without any warning, the screen 'stands still', the speakers (or headphones) make a cracking sound, and that's it. I cannot interact with the system anymore, neither by trackpad nor by keyboard. Power is still on, however and the screen keeps showing a static image of what my desktop last looked like (i.e. it show the webpage, document or so I was last working on).

The only solution I can come up with is a hard restart by means of the power button. Windows starts again normally then, and everything works fine again for another day or two.

Does that description help? The event viewer, by the way, does not record any errors or any events at all, for that matter.

Thanks so much for your help, Mich!!

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm not sure about the Caps Lock, but Task Manager certainly doesn't work. I guess the only solution, should it be a software problem, will be to make a clean reinstall.

Otherwise, do you have any software in mind that is known for causing such freezes? I'm not running anything extraordinary, I'd say.

THanks again so much!

Hi Mich, Sorry I can't post attachments. Hope that'll do!

Image Name PID Session Name Session# Mem Usage
========================= ====== ================ ======== ============
System Idle Process 0 Console 0 16 K
System 4 Console 0 32 K
smss.exe 1176 Console 0 120 K
csrss.exe 1320 Console 0 2,864 K
winlogon.exe 1344 Console 0 4,092 K
services.exe 1388 Console 0 2,444 K
lsass.exe 1400 Console 0 1,300 K
ati2evxx.exe 1572 Console 0 524 K
svchost.exe 1596 Console 0 2,564 K
svchost.exe 1712 Console 0 1,652 K
svchost.exe 1908 Console 0 14,052 K
S24EvMon.exe 2000 Console 0 400 K
svchost.exe 216 Console 0 1,376 K
svchost.exe 424 Console 0 1,596 K
CCSETMGR.EXE 880 Console 0 388 K
CCEVTMGR.EXE 940 Console 0 1,820 K
spoolsv.exe 1092 Console 0 2,380 K
scardsvr.exe 1132 Console 0 88 K
ZCfgSvc.exe 1260 Console 0 1,440 K
1XConfig.exe 568 Console 0 992 K
ati2evxx.exe 1824 Console 0 924 K
explorer.exe 1896 Console 0 8,800 K
Apoint.exe 372 Console 0 1,044 K
jusched.exe 412 Console 0 268 K
quickset.exe 512 Console 0 2,860 K
DSentry.exe 532 Console 0 540 K
Directcd.exe 552 Console 0 976 K
CCAPP.EXE 560 Console 0 8,604 K
ApntEx.exe 588 Console 0 496 K
LVCOMSX.EXE 1240 Console 0 900 K
LogiTray.exe 1436 Console 0 1,660 K
iTunesHelper.exe 1760 Console 0 1,472 K
ctfmon.exe 1768 Console 0 2,124 K
acrotray.exe 300 Console 0 436 K
DLG.exe 340 Console 0 660 K
ONENOTEM.EXE 480 Console 0 428 K
A Note.exe 504 Console 0 3,792 K
FCPMS.exe 1276 Console 0 3,852 K
FxSvr2.exe 832 Console 0 1,424 K
OUTLOOK.EXE 1568 Console 0 21,360 K
msnmsgr.exe 264 Console 0 7,576 K
BAsfIpM.exe 2204 Console 0 1,088 K
cisvc.exe 2240 Console 0 104 K
MDM.EXE 2284 Console 0 1,592 K
NAVAPSVC.EXE 2496 Console 0 5,100 K
NPROTECT.EXE 2532 Console 0 2,376 K
RegSrvc.exe 2596 Console 0 388 K
SAVSCAN.EXE 2624 Console 0 692 K
svchost.exe 2704 Console 0 2,052 K
symlcsvc.exe 2828 Console 0 444 K
wdfmgr.exe 2860 Console 0 208 K
symwsc.exe 2992 Console 0 3,608 K
iPodService.exe 3292 Console 0 2,180 K
alg.exe 336 Console 0 1,548 K
ICQLite.exe 2352 Console 0 3,144 K
Skype.exe 3532 Console 0 13,020 K
iTunes.exe 644 Console 0 28,008 K
firefox.exe 2088 Console 0 56,496 K
Acrobat.exe 3052 Console 0 7,712 K
WISPTIS.EXE 1580 Console 0 1,852 K
WINWORD.EXE 1312 Console 0 3,508 K
spsswin.exe 2960 Console 0 6,172 K
ONENOTE.EXE 3756 Console 0 4,352 K
wmplayer.exe 2260 Console 0 9,852 K
cmd.exe 3192 Console 0 2,376 K
TASKLIST.EXE 2752 Console 0 3,952 K
wmiprvse.exe 3988 Console 0 5,268 K

Does anyone have any idea if any of the above processes might be causing the freezes/crashes? Would be grateful for any help!

Flo