Laptop Display Problem - Dell Precision M70

Worrier,

Your external monitor test shows that you do have a graphics adapter problem, not a display issue. Unfortunately, the graphics adapter in MOST laptops is built onto the main board.

Oops, I take it back, I just did some reading, and it looks like your M70 does have a replaceable graphics adapter. Two choices are ATI Mobility Radeon X600 based card, and the Nvidea you mentioned. From what little I read, the ATI card is the lower-end card, and it's much cheaper if you can find it, but I also read they don't often fail. The Nvidea cards DO seem to fail often, and can be expensive, if you can find a source. Good luck.

Tom D.

I'm not sure he mentioned an external monitor.

Worrier, if you have or can borrow a desktop monitor, try plugging it into the VGA port at the back of the laptop. This will confirm whether it's the graphics card or a display or cable issue. From your description, with lines across the screen and pixelation, it sounds like there's a possibility that it's not the graphics card.

Lines on the screen are often bad display cables. These cables have to pass through the hinge and are therefore twisted often. That's torture for a cable and some are not up to the task and fail quickly.

I have tried the external monitor and it behaved exactly as the laptop screen. I'm currently trying the linux approach. I'll let you know the result.

Thanks everyone.

Quote from OP's post:

"I have tried a monitor, but it does exactly the same as the screen."

So, it could still be a driver/OS issue, but it's less likely with this test. It could very well be that even with a hardware issue, that it will run standard VGA output, but will have problems only when using the hardware to it's max ability. Something like a thermal problem might not show up when running in safe mode, but the hardware is going to warm up when running at higher capabilities.

All suggestions so far have merit, the OP just needs to narrow down the possible causes.

Tom D.

I don't know what OS you are using, but there may be help here.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314503

kramarat wrote: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314503

That (to me) looks very promising. I say that because:

* your video card isn't completely dead (as demonstrated because you can boot into safe mode and see a display in VGA)
* and that support problem (the second variation) is for a situation where you can see the display in safe mode, but not in "normal" mode

I'd certainly look into trying some of the troubleshooting methods there before buying a new video card.

Finally, you might try getting a Linux live CD and try booting from that--I'll bet (if you find a distro that supports your Dell) that it will work, and maybe you'll decide to try Linux ;-)

Excellent - boot from Linux - this is an older Dell model, should work great.

The Linux CD doesn't solve the problem. Graphics works ok until after the BIOS has done its bit. Then the CD whirls away doing its thing and the screen is blank. Even less graphics than the XP start up. At least that gets through to the desktop before shutting down.

Worrier wrote: The Linux CD doesn't solve the problem.

Thanks for the report. What Linux distro did you try? (It can be a real puzzle / hassle on laptops, as some versions of Linux (distros) work only on certain laptops...)

Anyway, I'm still convinced it is not a complete failure of your graphics card, more like a software problem (although it could be, as someone suggested), a case of working near/beyond the hardware limits of your card--in other words, the card has a minor hardware problem that prevents it from working at full resolution.

I'd still spend some time trying the Microsoft recommended troubleshooting (or look for a Linux distro that does support your laptop).

The linux distro is the one that comes with Openfoam. I've tried it before as a boot disk and it worked ok then.

Worrier wrote: "I've tried it before as a boot disk and it worked ok then."

And I assume (I know) that where you tried it was on this Dell Precision M70. That's a good data point. It sounds like something has changed in the hardware (for the worse) and you may indeed need to replace the video card.

Interesting, I would not have expected that. (And, it seems I lost my bet from a few posts earlier (that the video would work in Linux).)

It didn't give me any chance to choose a VGA startup. A couple of flashes of a curser and then blackness, but i had a feeling the computer was running.

can you do a restore?

maybe go in & pull your data off in safe mode

do a full destructive as delivered from the factory restore...

There is one other possibility- your BIOS settings may have gotten corrupted or changed somehow...

The Ubuntu LiveCD's generally come with a "graphics over ride" mode that lets you boot with a primitive vanilla VGA graphics driver that usually works with virtually any setup (or, I should say, those setups that I have had to deal with). Sometimes one has to start with a command line to specify "Forced VGA", while other installation procedures offer an "Options" screen where one can specify the lower-performance VGA driver. I usually ran in to problems with Intel integrated graphics, though- never had problems with NVIDIA drivers (maybe I am just lucky?). Come to think of it, the last couple of releases of Ubuntu, I haven't had to resort to this...

Maybe try an older release?

You may also want to investigate updated drivers on the NVIDIA we site...

I had black screen on my gateway lap [intel] when trying the boot into ubuntu 10.04, it would only work in recovery mode, it worked fine fully functional

my suggestion a few posts above was to use windows recovery module, maybe hit a restore point

setting bios to default values would be worth a try too

I've done a restore as well. It do any good. I have also recovered the information that I need by going in in VGA mode. The blue pixellated lines are still there. One interesting point on that is in the top left hand corner the pixellated bits look like a wet tennis ball has been thrown at the screen.

In UK which area you reside as Dell has a fairly good after sale & general service network in London area.

Regards

Your problem may not be related to graphic card or display. It maybe related to your RAM. In mild cases it maybe only due to contact problem (like loose contact at elevated temperature). Worst case is that some of the a significant number of memory in the chip conk up.

You should have look at the hardware before you touch the software.

This is what the screen looks like in VGA mode.

Have you checked with Dell or NVIDIA regarding updated graphics card drivers? It is possible that the drivers have been corrupted. This is the most economical "fix", if it is a software problem. If you cannot access the Internet from "Safe" mode, you may have to do this research from a different machine. You should be able to install upgrades to the drivers from "Safe" mode.

One other thought- do you get the same results when running only from battery and when you have the charger plugged in?

Have you tried an alternate display.

connect external monitor on VGA slot, keep ''Fn'' button pressed & press F5 button

[On your laptop may be different. See for 2 displays mark].

If the external monitor works OK then replace LCD display.

It comes with Inverter.

search on

http://www.insidemylaptop.com/

for your model

I've put a new ATI video card in and the problem has gone away. The graphics are only slightly slower than the nvidea graphics, but it was a lot cheaper.

Thank you everyone for your advice.

TTFN

Worrier,

Thanks for taking the time to follow-up with your successful solution, threads have a lot more value when the end with a success story!

Tom D.

I, too, thank you for the follow-up. As noted, it is always nice to have closure on an issue...