please help with weird laptop issue

632 Views 23 Replies 6 Participants Last post by seven9st surfer, Mar 18, 2009

seven9st surfer

Discussion Starter · Mar 18, 2009

My wife has had her Dell Inspiron E1505 for a few years now. More and more frequently, the screen just goes crazy, as seen in this video. It's running the "mobile Intel 945GM express chipset family", with the 6.14.10.4814 drivers that I think I got from the Dell website, but I don't remember. Also, the device is listed twice in the device manager, both with the same settings. I've tried to uninstall one of them, but when it detects new hardware, there's two there again. Not sure if that has to do with the problem, but I thought it was weird. Any help would be much appreciated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NP8uMBw8Sl0

1 - 20 of 24 Posts

Acoma_Andy

· #2 · Mar 18, 2009

I can't watch the video (I'm at work), but it's most likely the LCD cable. Does the screen go crazy outside Windows also? Then you know it's not a driver issue.

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Asus Mobile

· #3 · Mar 18, 2009

I don't know but try and uninstall both? If you can?

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Zoki318

· #4 · Mar 18, 2009

HOLY ****. Her laptop is possessed by the demons. I would try to download the newest drivers directly from Intel. Also try to disable/uninstall 'both' instances of the driver and see if that happens. Connect it to an external monitor and see if it still happens. Save/Backup everything and format as a last resort.

Reactions: 1

seven9st surfer

Discussion Starter · #5 · Mar 18, 2009

2

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acoma_Andy

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I can't watch the video (I'm at work), but it's most likely the LCD cable. Does the screen go crazy outside Windows also? Then you know it's not a driver issue.

outside windows? you mean like at the POST screen? not sure. it happens at random times at least once a day. I guess i could just leave it as the POST for a while and see if it does it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Asus Mobile

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I don't know but try and uninstall both? If you can?

i spent hours trying to do that, but no luck. it always put the second one there when it detected the card after an uninstall.

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Zoki318

· #6 · Mar 18, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by seven9st surfer

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i spent hours trying to do that, but no luck. it always put the second one there when it detected the card after an uninstall.

What if you boot into Safe Mode and try to disable them?

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seven9st surfer

Discussion Starter · #7 · Mar 18, 2009

well i downloaded the most recent drivers from Intel, but on installation, it said that they weren't validated for this computer, and to get the driver from the computer's manufacturer, so it looks like I'm stuck with the same driver i've had. I'll try the safe mode thing next.

EDIT: looking closer at the 2 copies, under properties in the device manager, one's location is "PCI bus 0, device 2, fuction 0", while the other is "PCI bus 0, device 2, fuction 1". any ideas what that means?

Acoma_Andy

· #8 · Mar 18, 2009

If it does it completely randomly and there is no pattern in it, then I'm pretty sure it's the LCD cable. That is the cable that goes from the mainboard to the LCD.

Next time it happens, try tilting the screen back and forth.

identitycrisis

· #9 · Mar 18, 2009

If you plug the laptop into a monitor, does the problem disapear? this would be a good test to see if it is a bad/failing hardware component or if it is a driver issue. I would think if it were the latter then the problems will carry over into the VGA port, but this can also represent a hardware problem with the integrated graphics. If it doesn't flake out then it could very well be a bad component or a loose cable in the notebook.

Hope this helps.

Reactions: 1

tubesaddict

· #10 · Mar 18, 2009

Can you hook a monitor up to the laptop? Then you would know if it was an LCD or a GPU issue.

seven9st surfer

Discussion Starter · #11 · Mar 18, 2009

hooking up an external monitor now

Edit: OOOWWWW. just shocked the crap outta my hand plugging it in somehow... lol

Asus Mobile

· #12 · Mar 18, 2009

Because it is a notebook download drivers from DeLL. Until you can get rid of both instances of drivers I have little hope? Safe mode does sound like an idea.

Andy when you get home have a look at video. Not what you think? Not a cable issue.

seven9st surfer

Discussion Starter · #13 · Mar 18, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Asus Mobile

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Because it is a notebook download drivers from DeLL. Until you can get rid of both instances of drivers I have little hope? Safe mode does sound like an idea.

Andy when you get home have a look at video. Not what you think? Not a cable issue.

I should have mentioned, that's just one example of how it freaks out. Sometimes it flickers vertically, sometimes horizontally, sometimes with green lines, etc. Not sure if that makes a difference

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seven9st surfer

Discussion Starter · #14 · Mar 18, 2009

just went into safe mode, uninstalled one of the two, booted back up normally, and the second one is there again...

Asus Mobile

· #15 · Mar 18, 2009

I want you to uninstall both not just one.

tubesaddict

· #16 · Mar 18, 2009

If it does the same on the external monitor then it is either fried graphics card from possible overheat (very common in laptops) or a driver issue. Like asus mobile says, you need to remove all graphics drivers, you can back it up if you want but you need to get rid of all traces of the current driver, reboot then install the new.

seven9st surfer

Discussion Starter · #17 · Mar 18, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Asus Mobile

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I want you to uninstall both not just one.

roger that. after i uninstall both in safe mode, what then? reinstall in safe mode, or reboot normally? a step-by-step would be much appreciated, i hate drivers...

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tubesaddict

· #18 · Mar 18, 2009

Reboot normally, unplug from internet so it doesn't try to pull them from the web when it sees they're gone. Then when it says it found new hardware, point it to the drivers you downloaded or have on cd.

seven9st surfer

Discussion Starter · #19 · Mar 18, 2009

Uninstalled both in safe mode, restarted (wireless off), and it immediately found new hardware and installed it twice again...

identitycrisis

· #20 · Mar 18, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by seven9st surfer

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hooking up an external monitor now

Edit: OOOWWWW. just shocked the crap outta my hand plugging it in somehow... lol

Did hooking up the external monitor as i and another user suggested yield the same result? or did the problem not happen?

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