Video hardware Problem; LiveKernelEvent. Any advise?

It seems that a lot people had the same problem but few people found the solution. From my countless hours of research, I see that nobody can conclude cause of the problem. These are the problem in my T61 since the past 5 days:

1. The screen suddenly tinted in pink or green and turns black after 4-10 seconds. So I have to perform hard reset to reboot.

2. Nothing could be seen on the laptop screen when I reboot but it would show up in external monitor, but there are vertical blue dotted lines on the screen and Windows would fail to start. It won't even get to the log in screen.

3. Rebooting again (using hard-reset) would bring me to Thinkvantage Rescue and Recovery startup repair and I can only fix the problem by restoring the system.

4. Then, Windows would be able to start like normal but the problem will occur again randomly, especially after sleep or hibernate mode so I have to repeat step 2 and 3. It will certainly happen when I try to update the score in Windows Experience Index (after the screen flashing during the rating update)

These are what I did to fix the problem but it still happens:

• Restore the system to factory settings.
• Update Windows and all drivers. (Display driver is version 7.15.11.7693 released on 2009/01/13
• Try 3 older display drivers that were released in 2006, 2007, 2008
• Use 16-bit color quality instead of 32-bit

Apparently, the problem happens less frequently when I:

• Run the computer in Power Saver mode
• Change color quality to 8-bit (when using very old display driver released in 2006)

A complete system test using PC Doctor 5 indicates that there is no problem at all (which is NOT true). Based on what I did but failed, I think it's not the driver problem but a hardware problem. I thought the hardware wasn't supplied with proper voltage because both my battery and power adapter are non-OEM, but the problem still happens when I used my friend's OEM power adapter.

I hope I am wrong with my guess that some hardware components are broken/fried/etc. I'm thinking about changing the hardware but first I need to know exactly what caused the problem. Is there any valuable advice for me?

It seems that the value of my laptop is still more than $1000 so that's why I don't want to buy a new one. (Lenovo T61, Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2GHz T7500, 2GB PC2-5300 667MHZ 2DIMM, NVidia Quadro NVS 140M, Vista Ultimate 32-bit). Here the problem details:

Description
A problem with your video hardware caused Windows to stop working correctly.

Problem signature
Problem Event Name: LiveKernelEvent
OS Version: 6.0.6000.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033

Files that help describe the problem
WD-20090712-0252.dmp
sysdata.xml
Version.txt

View a temporary copy of these files
Warning: If a virus or other security threat caused the problem, opening a copy of the files could harm your computer.

Extra information about the problem
BCCode: 117
BCP1: 83CF6950
BCP2: 8B337FC0
BCP3: 00000000
BCP4: 00000000
OS Version: 6_0_6000
Service Pack: 0_0
Product: 256_1

Update: I monitored the hardware temperature during the rating update of Windows Experience Index. The CPU temperature jumps up to 93 degree Celcius, and the screen turns black as usual. So is this the cause of the problem?? Thanks

 

I'd be concerned about the GPU if it's running that hot.

 

hmmm i heard about this problem with the T4x series due to the flexing of the mobo (say if you carry it with one hand at the edge a lot) leading to the ATI chip solder being fractured i.e. you would need a new mobo.

duno if this problem is fixed by t61 or if its your prob

 

This is not the same issue as the T4x machines. The T4x machines can be fixed, while the GPUs on the T61 are defective. Once they go, the fix is to replace the board. If you're still under warranty and plan to keep your machine for a while, I'd upgrade the warranty if you can.

 

Hmm other people from another forum talk about the GPU too. I'm pretty confident that it's defective because Windows won't start at all. It used to start 80% of time, then 70%, 50%, and now 0% of the time.

The sad thing is the warranty is expired 6 months ago so now I have to think about replacing the mobo. If it's not worth it then I'll buy another laptop :-(

 

Look on eBay or post over on ThinkPads.com to see if anyone's got a board. That's where I think you'll find a board the cheapest. I might suggest getting one with the Intel GPU. You'll lose the GPU, but there's no card defects on the Intel GPU and the T61 is an otherwise solid machine.

 

Because it's too important for me to have a laptop right now, I already bought a used T400 for my primary laptop.

So now I'm trying to see if I can actually repair my T61 or not. Like I said in my first post, when my laptop started having the problem, I noticed that the idle temperature of CPU and GPU are around 66 degree celcius and both of them are around 84-92 degree celcius when I run the Windows Experience Index rating update. If the problem is caused by a defective GPU, why would both the CPU and GPU becomes so hot at the same time?

My question is: Is bad fan the only reason to have an overheating system or there are any other causes? I'm thinking about investing several bucks for a new fan, praying that the motherboard isn't damaged and see if the problem is still there or not. Please tell me if this WON'T WORK.

I'm actually new to repairing computer, this is the first time I disassemble my laptop.

 

I'd say the chances it's something else are slim, though not zero. When your talking heat, the fan and improper air flow, like blocked or clogged vents, are a couple good places to look. Some paste on it couldn't hurt.