Graphics Card/Driver

[Deleted account 210609001]

As will becoem apparent throughthis post, my IT knowledge is somewhere short of "limited". Anyway, here goes.

My laptop (a Toshiba Equum) keeps crashing. Sometimes once a night, sometimes repeatedly, sometimes crashing again while it is restarting. It's a tad annoying. Sometimes it shuts right off, sometimes it goes to a very rudimentary screen image. The message on the blue screen, and the message from error reporting, all points to the ATI Graphics card.

I have tried downloading a new driver which was suggested bythe Windows Update page, but if anything this seems to have made it worse.

I have tried "disabling graphics acceleration" (also suggested by the Windows site) but this made no obviosu difference, and didn't stop the crashing.

Is there anything obvious I could be doing?
Is the graphics card a real thing (i.e. is it hardware of software)?
Can I install a replacement graphics card myself driver myself?
Will PC World be able to fix it?

Any suggestions gratefully received!

Robin.

 

[Fanum]

Fluff.

It's probably overheating...open the case and clean it out with an air spray or a non synthetic soft brush.

The graphics card is indeed a physical thing, or at worst it could well be a chipset integrated on the motherboard..if it's a card, yes you could replace it, if it's a chipset, you can't, unless you can add a card and disable the chipset.

Find the web site for the card, look up any new drivers, download them and if it doesn't have a self install prog, go to control panel, system, hardware, look for the graphics adaptor, click properties and find the option for updating the driver...point it at where you saved the driver from the manufacturer's website.

Unless the drivers have become corrupted though, it's unlikely to be that unless you're trying to do something like play a new game that it can't cope with....it's more likely to be fluff

HTH....shout back if it doesn't

 

[Deleted account 210609001]

Cheers, mister.

I hadn't even considered overheating. But now I think of it, the crashing does go away when I've left it for a while (like now!), and does go into a sort of downward spiral.

Alien though it seems to me, I will try cleaning it.

 

[Deleted account 210609001]

Hmmm.....just looked casing. No obvious way to open it up. Might be a bit trickier than I thought!!!!!!

 

[Fanum]

Try taking the battery and all the other slot in stuff out...they sometimes hide screws behind or under them.

There's probably a nack to it as well...some have little tabs and if you know which areas to push in, it'll pop open easy as anything

Watch out for little 'warrenty void stickers'...they normally indicate where you can gain access

 

[(RIP) Kaister]

rest it on a paperback book when u use it to give it a little underfloor airflow.

see if that fixes it.

i was using my old toshiba tecra laptop on the sofa to play dvd's thru the TV - and it used to freeze.
Couldn't figure out what it was till i turned it upside down -

- its got so hot its melted the casings

- seems the sofa was blocking all the airvents - doh .

still works perfectly though.

............even after i knocked it off the arm of the sofa

Tecra's ? - tough as old boots

 

[Deleted account 210609001]

Right then. Battery removal: that bit went ok.

Undid a few other likely looking screws, tabs and hatches, nosed around inside, fiddled with few bits out and put them back again, but couldn't see a way to get to anythign near the fan, the vents or what I imagine the processor or graphics card to look like. Turns out one of the things I fiddled with was the hard drive.

Anyway, put back together, started it up and......it wouldn't boot. It's now in the shop with suspected broken HDD or HDD controller. I imagine that it is something simple I've done, so they'll be able to fix it. They can also clean it for me while it's there..

As luck would have it, I backed up all my documents, pictures and videos a week or so ago to a new external hard drive, so if the worst comes to the worst, a new HDD may be required. I've been up in the loft and found the recovery software CD that came with it.

Let's see what the YTS boys at PC World can do with it now...

Moral of this story? Don't muck about inside computers unless you know what you're doing!