The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Inspiron 1420 Display Driver Issues

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by Ezznut, Apr 21, 2009.

  1. Ezznut

    Ezznut Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    I bought my Inspiron 1420 about 2 years ago and this is the first issue I've had with it.

    Recently when I am in the middle of doing something the Display Driver will randomly malfunction. Most of the time it recovers fine, after distorting the screen image, going blank for a while, it goes back to normal. Now the malfunctioning has got more serious, where the computer spontaneously shuts down. Sometimes when it restarts I can't see the screen at all, due to vertical lines across the screen, and a blank part just to the right of centre of the screen. The computer is still working fine underneath this, as I can use the keyboard to shut it down, it is just that the display has got the s.

    Has anyone got any suggestions as to how I could fix this?
    Thanks
     
    Ezznut, Apr 21, 2009
    #1
  2. namaiki

    namaiki "basically rocks" Super Moderator

    Reputations:
    3,905
    Messages:
    6,116
    Likes Received:
    89
    Trophy Points:
    216
    Unfortunately this sounds like a hardware issue...
    What is the model of the graphics processor in your Laptop? and is your computer still under warranty?

    Read this thread. I hope it helps.
     
    namaiki, Apr 21, 2009
    #2
  3. Ezznut

    Ezznut Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    its an NVIDIA Geforce 8400 and yes I have warranty, I bought the extended one that covers everything for 3 years (thank god)
     
    Ezznut, Apr 21, 2009
    #3
  4. Commander Wolf

    Commander Wolf can i haz broadwell?

    Reputations:
    2,962
    Messages:
    8,231
    Likes Received:
    63
    Trophy Points:
    216
    Sounds like a hardware fault rather than a software fault... probably with the Nvidia GPU. You can confirm a GPU failure by hooking up an external monitor; if you have artifacts on the external monitor, your GPU is probably dead. In that case, you will have to pester Dell to replace your motherboard.
     
    Commander Wolf, Apr 21, 2009
    #4
  5. myrcgarage

    myrcgarage Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    6
    Messages:
    178
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Is it overheated...maybe? Can you check the temp of the GPU using I8kfanGUI or HW Monitor software?
     
    myrcgarage, Apr 22, 2009
    #5