Video Card Problem..

[Raion]

HP comes with this inadequate diagnostic software which says your laptop is in poor health because you haven't looked at the manual or something trivial like that.

Well, I already had the entire MoBo replaced for a brand new one and the problem didn't go away at all. And wouldn't connecting an external monitor still produce the same result if it's a video chipset issue since it's going to be processed by the video chipset.

Also, I don't have an extra external monitor in my dorm. I'd have to wait until May when I go back home to test it.

[nihil]

Hi Raion,

And wouldn't connecting an external monitor still produce the same result if it's a video chipset issue since it's going to be processed by the video chipset.

Yes, that is exactly what I was hoping to establish. As I mentioned, I have seen some weird things due to problems with the connectivity to the LCD screen. If that were the case as opposed to the video chipset, the external monitor would work properly?

Also, I don't have an extra external monitor in my dorm. I'd have to wait until May when I go back home to test it.

Do you have a friendly labtech or a fellow student?

At the end of the day, it is defective and under warranty, so finding out exactly which bit is the culprit isn't really your problem. Personally I would send it back ASAP.

Makes me wonder what is the root cause though................ I have a sneaking suspicion that it may have a flaky power supply? after all when you replace the MoBo and attached chipsets that should fix it? And you have run a RAM test?

That doesn't leave many options as far as I can tell.

Good luck mate!

[delstar]

I'm willing to bet on the power supply. The lack of any log messages is the major clue there.

[Raion]

Well, I called the oh-so-helpful technical support agents at HP and they told me the same thing they always tell me to do (I still don't understand what it does even)
"Disconnect everything, remove the battery and AC cord. Hold the power button down for 30 seconds and restart"

Then the lady said "Use your computer and I'll call back in 15 minutes to check if the problem happened again, if not we'll run some more tests." I ran F.E.A.R. to try to give it the most ideal conditions to mess up and as I figured, it didn't (it's too random) and they never called back. I'm confused as to where to take it from here.

[Ouroboros]

Just a question out of left field...what type of sound card does your lappy have? Integrated, obviously, but what is the make/model? I've had similar problems (the "solitaire effect" like you described), and have fooled with drivers, cooling, and other such paths of discovery only to find out that the soundcard that I was using was mucking up the whole system. Could be worth checking into, IMO.

In my case it was a Creative soundcard that was chewing up system memory, thus causing the game (KOTOR) to reset/crash. Farking Creative...they used to be the gold standard in sound. Now, not so much. Lazy bastards.

Good Luck,

O

[nihil]

O~ has an interesting point there, I have come across sound and video not playing nice together, it used to be fairly common, as did similar issues with data/voice modems.

I guess I would check that I had the latest drivers and firmware from HP. You will need to check out your model carefully as the information you gave brings up 48 different ones

I would also look at what you have running in the background and have as little as possible going on.

Next time it happens just check the exhaust vent and see if air is blowing out normally. I did come across a machine that did strange things intermittently and it turned out that the PSU fan would not start properly sometimes, and would slow down after a while.

Have you tried running it in safe mode for a while to see if it happens then?

[Raion]

I have a Conexant sound card according to the device manager. Can't really tell much. Wasn't looking into sound too much when purchasing the laptop.

I also took a picture of this happening since, you know, a picture is word 1,000 words

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...040608_004.jpg

It was taken with my Treo so naturally the quality is horrible.

[nihil]

Well you might try it with this video test:

http://freestone-group.com/video-car...ility-test.htm

I would also run dxdiag.exe to see if there are any DirectX issues.

This is the ATi tool (works with nVidia as well). Use it to check for artifacts:

http://www.softpedia.com/progDownloa...load-8466.html