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oneillseamusj
2 Posts
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25838
March 22nd, 2009 09:00
Dell Inspiron 8500 Intermittent Screen Problem (Pixel problem and distortion)
I have a Dell Inspiron 8500, which I have had for about 7 years now and it had never given me any trouble at all.
I am running Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy) and have been using Linux for the past 2 years without any trouble. About 8 months ago, my screen started giving me problems. Intermittently, the screen will be distored, and green pixels will appear in different places on the screen and sometimes all over. Passing the cursor over the pixels, or minimizing or maximizing windows will sometimes correct the problem (or minimize it) for a short time, but usually it will not (the pixels just move to different places). Sometimes it gets so bad that I have to restart the system, or sometimes it even locks up (I don't know if that is what is causing it though). Other times, the problem never appears at all.
Sometimes I can see the pixel problem even on startup when the Dell splash screen comes up, or on the ubuntu loading screen. I got fed up with this a few months ago and stopped using the computer. (At that point the computer had ceased to boot at all), but I dug it out a couple of months ago and have been using it off and on. In fact, I am writing this post on the computer now with no screen problems at all.
I installed the latest invidia drivers, but the problem still intermittently occurs. I am worried that this is a hardware problem. If this is the case, might anyone know where the problem might lie? Might it be a bad connection? A loose wire? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Seamus
oneillseamusj
2 Posts
419
0
Posted March 22nd, 2009 09:00
Wow - those were some incredibly fast replies!
I have had the laptop connected to an external monitor and the problem persists on that monitor as well.
I'll try taking the video card out and putting in back in to see if that helps. Otherwise, I guess the card is ready to retire.
Thank you both for your replies.
Seamus
riordan2003
2 Posts
419
1
Posted March 24th, 2009 04:00
Hi, Sounds very like a video card problem which normally gets worse when the card gets hot, then its ram packs up. When buying another card avoid the Nvidia 4200 which has a known high failure rate. Its worth knowing that the Inspiron 8600 cards will also work as also many latitude and M60 cards. Go for an ATI card 128MB if possible.
Diarmuid (Ireland)
husky0894
1630 Posts
419
0
Posted March 22nd, 2009 09:00
It is most likely a failing video card - to confirm, attach an external monitor. If the fault shows there, you can try reseating (remove and reinstall) the video card, but most likely it's time to replace the video card.