Identify this problem - with pic

[TKHDebater]

My 3+ year old Dell Inspiron 8100 laptop has started distorting the screen like this on a regular basis. When not doing this there is a blue line (1 pixel wide?) down the screen.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v171/tkh329/Other/IDthisproblemcopy.jpg

In addition, hopefully unrelated, after 15 minutes or so of running, and a little bit of demanding work the laptop fans kick in and until i turn it off and then turn it back on (not restart!) the laptop slows down substantially, so much so that it is difficult to use.

The specs on the laptop are as follows:
1ghz P2m
256mb RAM
64mb ATI 7500
Windows XP Pro

Any ideas are more than welcome. Thanks

 

[Tiamat]

could be:

Virus, dust buildup/heat.

Edit:

Also, for winxp you should have 512MB ram minimum for smoothness.

 

[TKHDebater]

Virus can be ruled out. Dust build up and heat are possibilities... I assume you're talking about the slowdown, not the video problems?

Edit: 512mb would be nice but i'm a broke college student and it ran fine before.

 

[suicidalpigeon]

yes, it could be a heat issue, figure out the temps.

 

[suszterpatt]

If it worked fine for 3+ years then it's unlikely that heat or dust is going to be a problem now imo. I'm leaning more towards hardware failure (video card or RAM most likely).

 

[Robor]

Originally posted by: suszterpatt
If it worked fine for 3+ years then it's unlikely that heat or dust is going to be a problem now imo. I'm leaning more towards hardware failure (video card or RAM most likely).

^^^^^^^ What he said. Looks like a bad video card to me.

 

[mindwreck]

video/heat problems. Friend of mine had that problem with his Fujitsu lappy.

 

[TKHDebater]

CPU temp about 55C give or take. No big deal

HD temp about 59C + or - 1-2. Is this ok?

I'm more worried about the screen than the computer slowing down. Thanks for all the suggestions, keep 'em coming.

 

[TKHDebater]

Edit

double post

 

[Fizznizzlenuck]

you spilled water on it ~ well at least thats what one of my friends did and it started doing that exact same thing. When sent it to Dell they were just like, you spilled water on it didnt you? although they may have jsut seen some other traces of water damage, but he did open it up and clean it out pretty well after it happened so I dunno. They may have some sort of water indicating sticker in it?

 

[stevty2889]

If the screwy screen is showing up in the screen shot, it's pretty much gotta be video card related.

 

[TKHDebater]

no... no exposure to liquid.

 

[sniperruff]

i think it might be a video chip problem. in that case it'll be expensive to fix!

 

[Joemoney]

Since he was able to take a screenshot of the computer, could that rule out hardware/display problems?

If that's the case, would the distortion still show up on a "Print Screen" shot if the vid card was broke? The way the computer "views" it and the way it appears on the screen are two different things.

I'm no "computer genius" btw, JMHO.

But if it's an expensive problem, probably be better to scrap it, it's so old.

 

[Powermoloch]

" It's on fire, me thinks your laptop is getting hot hot hot "

 

[suszterpatt]

If I'm not mistaken, the print screen button queries the vid card's signal before it goes to the monitor, so the only thing it rules out is the display being broken. I could be wrong though.

 

[gar3555]

my vote goes for bad vid card...my 6600GT had similar problems...RMA'd it....good as new

 

[pcgeek11]

Originally posted by: TKHDebater
My 3+ year old Dell Inspiron 8100 laptop has started distorting the screen like this on a regular basis. When not doing this there is a blue line (1 pixel wide?) down the screen.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v171/tkh329/Other/IDthisproblemcopy.jpg

In addition, hopefully unrelated, after 15 minutes or so of running, and a little bit of demanding work the laptop fans kick in and until i turn it off and then turn it back on (not restart!) the laptop slows down substantially, so much so that it is difficult to use.

The specs on the laptop are as follows:
1ghz P2m
256mb RAM
64mb ATI 7500
Windows XP Pro

Any ideas are more than welcome. Thanks

Connect it to an external monitor if the external is screwed also then video card if not then LCD screen or internal cable. Simple as pie!

pcgeek11

 

[inthell]

could try
uninstall the ati driver
reboot
install driver cleaner remove ati files
install a new ati driver
reboot
install atitool and make sure the card is running at optimal speeds.

 

[TKHDebater]

Just finished putting the computer back together (it still works!) and there wasn't a significant dust buildup or anything. It looks like i could get a new video card for it for $20 - $30 on ebay. If the external monitor shows the problem then that means its the card? So that'd be the best bet? Thanks all

 

[Penth]

I would think it's a heat issue or bad video card. i had a desktop that had a fan stop and the screen would have artifacting like that. Heat isssue is even more likely if the computer is unstable after heavy cpu usage.