Hi,
I've had the same issue appearing suddenly on a Dell M1330 with a
NVidia GeForce 8400M GS, after 5 months of use : The computer would
freeze randomly (usually after some minutes, depending on the
applications open), then the screen turned black, and vertical lines
would started appearing, progressively filling the screen with white.
It often happened also when rebooting the machine afterwards, and
sometimes even the BIOS screen would appear wrong (e.g. some blue
patterns instead of the usual black background).
THIS IS MOST LIKELY *NOT* A DRIVER PROBLEM, BUT A HARDWARE PROBLEM
INSTEAD.
(the messages from people having reinstalled windows or changed drivers
without success should confirm this if there is any doubt left).
I've called the Dell support, and we came to the conclusion that it was
NOT a driver problem, since I've had issues when running on the VGA
driver too (although without freezing the machine), and the BIOS screen
corruption also indicated that windows wasn't in cause.
So they started by replacing the motherboard, since it has the gfx card
embedded in it. Unfortunately, this didn't change a thing, so the gfx
card was out of cause too. Next thing, we changed the RAM modules and
the heatsink, and there bingo ! No more freezes and weird screens after
that. I couldn't say for sure which one was the culprit, it could be the
memory that took a hit (that's rather common after all) or the heatsink
that didn't work as good anymore, or even a combination of the two.
Anyway, since I haven't found any information myself about this problem
when I was googling for it, I thought this could be useful to others.
First start by checking your gfx card and the heatsink, it's possibly
just a overheating problem. If you have shared memory, try changing the
RAM modules if you have any at hand. Finally, if your computer is still
under warranty, make sure to get the support to replace the gfx card or
the RAM if you have any reasonable doubt they're in cause (and if you
have a good support...).
Hope this helps, good luck !
nb1: Oddly enough, I did run all the diagnostics tools provided by
Dell, including a 2-hour full memory test that passed. So no matter
what the tests tell you, they're not 100% reliable.
nb2: one tips: if you need to use your machine while waiting for the
support to replace the hardware, try switching to the standard VGA
driver or run in failsafe mode. This way the graphics engine is greatly
limited (no more Aero, less memory, etc.) but then it puts less strain
on the machine and makes it rather stable. That's how I've done while
waiting for the replacement pieces, as it's my work laptop. I did see
some strange patterns on the screen occasionally, but no system freeze
at least.
--
supermembrax
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