[lumberhill]

Hello, a couple weeks back my computer appeared to get a bunch of lines on the screen randomly. Since then, a series of problems have come about. I cannot start in normal mode, only safe. Every now and then the computer crashes relating it to "nv4_disp." I cannot uninstall the graphics card because it won't let me. I have gone to Nividia's website and have tried all the downloads for the drivers and it says that mine is more updated so it won't install anything.
I'm getting frustrated as I took my laptop apart, cleaned out all of the dust bunnies...no fix, system restore has stopped working it says CiceroUIWndFrame: rstrui.exe corrupt. I cannot run the chkdisk utility becuase it says its in "read-only" mode.
The computer has randomly started up normally a couple of times and has crashed about five minutes into it. I have done many different virus, spy scans, and registry scans with programs such as avira, spy sweeper, reg cleaner, etc. Still no hope! The lines are still in the screen, when I got them to go away temporarily and back into normal mode, the resolution was at the lowest and could not be increased. As time goes on now, I'm getting more and more random errors from blue screens of death to a blank black screen. And of course running a scan at the start up of windows, claims everything is okay?
Is there something I can do or am I looking at a fried laptop?
Specs:
Dell Inspiron E1705
Service Pack 3
Please help!
Thanks!

Edited by lumberhill, 22 October 2009 - 07:41 PM.

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The chances are that either the video card driver is badly corrupt or the card itself is faulty. Since you are not able to remove the old driver try to move out of windows environment entirely and see if the video sabilize.

Download Puppy Linux from my list of links below. Download "puppy 2.16.1 seamonkey fulldrivers.ISO". Burn the ISO file to create a bootable CD. For this purpose you can download BurnCDCC from the links below. It's a very simple tool, used exclusively to burn ISO files.

Insert the disk into the CD/DVD drive and boot the computer (CD drive should be set as first priority boot device in the BIOS). Use the default settings except for choosing screen resolution of 600x800 when given the option to do so. Let the computer run for a while and see if you get any of the problems you mentioned.

If the computer is stable then the problem is with the driver. If not, the video card itself is faulty. If it's the driver, reboot to Safe Mode in windows and try to uninstall the driver in Device Manager.

[The Skeptic]

The chances are that either the video card driver is badly corrupt or the card itself is faulty. Since you are not able to remove the old driver try to move out of windows environment entirely and see if the video sabilize.

Download Puppy Linux from my list of links below. Download "puppy 2.16.1 seamonkey fulldrivers.ISO". Burn the ISO file to create a bootable CD. For this purpose you can download BurnCDCC from the links below. It's a very simple tool, used exclusively to burn ISO files.

Insert the disk into the CD/DVD drive and boot the computer (CD drive should be set as first priority boot device in the BIOS). Use the default settings except for choosing screen resolution of 600x800 when given the option to do so. Let the computer run for a while and see if you get any of the problems you mentioned.

If the computer is stable then the problem is with the driver. If not, the video card itself is faulty. If it's the driver, reboot to Safe Mode in windows and try to uninstall the driver in Device Manager.

[lumberhill]

Well I booted the comp up with the CD burned and unfortunately the screen has the colors and lines through the screen. I'm assuming this implies my graphics card is toast. I couldn't uninstall the graphics card in safe mode either. It would ask to restart and when I came back to the main screen it would still be installed. But given that it is screwed up on the boot cd it sounds like I'm without a laptop. Is this the case or is there hope?
Thanks.

Edited by lumberhill, 23 October 2009 - 04:14 PM.

[happyrock]

test the puppy cd on another computer to make sure you burned it properly...

[lumberhill]

I tested the puppy cd on a second comp and just as the defective dell, it booted up properly. On the defective Dell, it did successfully boot to the linux desktop and I was able to change the resolutions unlike in safe mode in windows but the lines are still on the screen. I'm now also getting the message that "the AC adapter type cannot be determined" at the startup.

[The Skeptic]

It looks like the video card or the monitor are faulty. The self reinstallation of the driver is probably because it's stored in Windows drivers' library and reinstall itself on restart.

Please download memtest86 from my links, burn to a CD, boot the computer with the CD and run memory (RAM) test .It should run at least one complete test without showing any errors (red lines). If the RAM is found to have no errors:

Before declaring the laptop dead, why not try the ultimate test which means full format and reinstallation of XP. Please make sure that your data is backed up.