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    Is this an LCD screen or a graphics card problem? (Inspiron 6400)

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by Saigo, Jul 14, 2009.

  1. Saigo

    Saigo Newbie

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    Hey guys,

    My Dell Inspiron 6400 is about 3 years and 3 months old now, and I've recently just replaced the DVD drive after it refused to read or burn any discs. So a weird problem happened recently: last week I moved to Australia to further my studies, used my laptop for about a week, then when I finally settled in into my own accommodation, I left it running overnight (I usually leave my laptop on 24/7 nearly everytime).

    When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was the distorted graphics. The colours (or rather, the tones) orange and blue were displaying weirdly - I don't know how else to describe this except that I can't view any photos or watch any movies properly as a result of this. And when I open a picture in Adobe Photoshop CS4, the picture is completely black. I had to go to my Preferences and disable the "Enable OpenGPL drawing" in order to let my pictures return to normal (as normal as my pictures can get under my circumstances, when the colours have gone completely haywire).

    Is there a way to diagnose if this is my LCD screen dying or a problem with my graphics card (ATI Mobility Radeon x1400)? What should I do?
     
    Saigo, Jul 14, 2009
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  2. dAdE0H0

    dAdE0H0 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Doesn't really sound like an lcd problem, sounds more like driver, or OS corruption.

    I would uninstall the drivers and reinstall just to rule out software...

    Overheating could also be your enemy.
    I would also try and clean the vents on the bottom of the laptop.
    canned air and a vacume(use a hose attatchment and suck out the dust)

    Other thing is video memory is going bad.
     
    dAdE0H0, Jul 14, 2009
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