Artefacts on 6214W

I've recently experienced a couple of not-so-good things about my 6214W. Two weeks ago it shut down while I was playing warcraft 3. It was plugged in, but it shut down the same way it does when the battery runs out. I turned it on again, and when I got into windows, I saw that the temps were pretty high still (I have speedfan on autostart) and the battery indicator was showing an empty, but now charging, battery. The screen was also flickering every third second or so. The keyboard wasnt working either so I rebooted it again.

Later that day (I turned it off and didn't use it) it was back to normal again. I turned it on and both the screen and the keyboard were OK.

I decided not to send it in just yet because I need my laptop bad right now.

Today an old problem arose again, and that's what I'm seeking help here for.
I've been starting to get artefacts while playing world of warcraft. I get it right from the start, even in the menus. This has happened several times before but I hadn't thought about it for a while because I don't play WoW often nowadays. This problem seems to have stuck even though I've got a completely different hard drive now, with a new vista install..

Could my 6214W be badly damaged, and what should I do?

Edit:
Oh, and my mouse has also started acting weird. It's a VX revolution wireless mouse. Every 5 minutes or so, it stops responding for about 4-5 seconds. I've used it on several other computers without any problem, so it seems that the mouse is functioning properly. However, the USB ports also seems to work, because I tested them for 2 hours with a regular USB mouse, and it worked without any problems. It could be the chipset/mainboard I guess, but I really have no idea, and since the mouse works on other computers I can't turn it in using the warranty either.

 

I'm trying to think what could cause those problems.

My first thought is does the PSU have a problem and can't deliver enough power under full load. If you are running XP, look for MobileMeter which will show the battery charge / discharge power (in theory, the battery light and power icon should change if you are using battery, but may not if the mains power is connected). If your battery starts to discharge during heavy gaming then I would suspect the PSU.

I would look for any newer mouse or touchpad driver. Windows update just came up with a new Synaptics driver (10.0.11.1 - perhaps Zepto should add this to their FTP?). Many years ago I had a problem with one program because I had the animated touchpad tray icon selected and I think it was last year that Firefox had a problem with the Synaptics driver.

Another possibility for strange mouse behaviour is that you have got some unwanted processes running. Check Task Manager for what is running.

If you are running Vista, try the patches mentioned here. They fix various bugs.

John

 

I have those patches installed already. I use automatic update

The mouse problem occurs in windows XP as well on my 6214W (I dual-boot), so it shouldn't be driver/software-related since I don't use the same drivers in XP as in vista.

Your guess about the PSU might be correct. I'm going to look into that.

 

AFAIK those Vista patches aren't included in Windows update because they problems aren't sufficiently critical. They are more of an advance part of Vista SP1.

Having the mouse problem in both Vista and XP suggests a low-level problem. Does it happen with the touchpad both enabled and disabled? Are there any BIOS options which might affect the USB behaviour? If in doubt, reset the BIOS to its defaults.

John

 

Actually it seems they are, because they are listed on my downloaded updates. But I'm gonna double-check asap.

It happens even if the touchpad is disabled, and the touchpad works when the mouse doesn't.

I'm gonna check BIOS soon, I'll get back to you

 

I experienced similar shutdowns will playing high-load games on my 6214W.

The only solution i came up with is elevating the zepto on blocks when I play and point a fan underneath the laptop to blow the hot air out. (I used a desk fan). I could see the diff because when I forgot to turn on the fan, the laptop would shut down. It got worse to the end because before it wouldn't work without the fan. (it's in zepto land now cause I think my graphics card died out.I don't know if its related to overheating or not.)
Clearly you seem to have the same overheating issues I do.

 

in vista put the power mode to power saver and lower the video settings in the game, i looks like the processor/gpu is taking too much energy. Havnt got any similiar problems with my 6625wd. I game with setting on medium and power option on balanced

 

Problems with the Revolution are common... some people speculate that it conflicts with the wireless lan, some people experience it when they are moving large files, some just have it all the time.
I have a revolution myself and contacted logitech about it, if the problems doesn't stop they will look into it for me and exchange my mouse.
Just for the record my revolution has problems on all machines I tried it on.

 

I have the wireless lan turned off, since I have noticed that it sometimes disrupts the signal to my VX revolution. However, this problem has started after that and the signal disruption doesn't "feel" the same way as when you move large files or have wlan on.

 

I wouldn't recommend setting vista to power saver as it is surely going to decrease very significantly your gaming performance. Some games are simply un-playable with powersaver on my 6214W (ex : STALKER, Fifa07 frame rates drop dramatically). Sometimes I forget to switch it to high performance and I immediately see the difference.

If you don't need internet while playing games, I suggest your turn off the WIFI (switch on the left side of the laptop) you'll save some power there.
Try decreasing graphics in the game.

I have an MX revolution and experience no problems with it. Maybe you should try to bring your mouse closer to the usb thingy. Mines like 40 cm away. (Its plugged into a usb hub)

 

I play mine 6625wd on power saver or balanced, i never have it in high performance, the temps runs off to over 80 (sometimes 90) when playing, on power saver its around 60 balanced 65-75 degrees Celsius. Just lower the video settings

 

The problem with VX revolution loosing it's signal is a new issue. I've had the mouse for months but the problem just recently begun, so being too far from the usb reciever etc. is very unlikely the issue. I've tried it on all the usb ports and even on the usb ports on my monito, but the problem hasn't gone away. Like I said about WiFi: I have it turned off

 

If you'vre tried uninstalling and reinstalling the MX drivers without success , I'd suggest you return the mouse to Logitech and ask for a new one.

 

Hmm, I have strange news regarding the VX revolution. Yesterday I bought the new apple keyboard for my laptop (to use by my monitor at home), and when I plug the usb reciever to the USB-port on the new keyboard, it works like a charm! The strange thing is that I tried this on my monitors USB-port earlier, and It didn't resolve the issue...

I'm now using my laptop USB port in a different location (at work) and so far so good. There must be some sort of distrubance in my apartment.

 

Probably... maybe some other neighbor's wifi is causing it ?

 

Yep, that's becoming more and more likely. I even turned off my own routers wireless signal without results. Damn neighbors!

Pretty crappy that a mouse that costs that much (MX/VX) operates on 2,4ghz..

EDIT:

I just noticed that the battery in the mouse sits a bit loose. A slight touch on it will activate it/deactivate it. I'm starting to think that this might be a guarantee issue after all..

 

Yeah I agree. Logitech really screwed up there...

 

This is getting stranger and stranger. Right now it appears that:

-My VX revolution looses signal to my 6214W often, making it useless
-It works on all other computers I've tried it on
-My other wireless mouse (logitech) which uses the same wireless technique as my VX works on my 6214W without problems.

THAT is very strange. So my computer obviously isn't the problem. Atleast not by itself. Drivers isn't the problem. WiFi disturbance isn't the problem.

It seems like my 6214W + my VX revolution simply wont work together anymore. And I have no way of telling who's to "blame". The store I bought the VX in wont take it back because they tried it for one day and it worked without interruptions.