S series graphical corruption

I've read about a dozen or so accounts of this problem now, but no real solutions or theories on why it happens. I'd really like to understand it better, here's what happens:

Sometimes coming out of hibernation, or when I plug in a USB device or the power cord, my video gets pixelated and corrupted. It starts slowly at first, but the more I move the mouse, drag windows, etc, the more corrupted it gets. Pulling the power cord back out restores the graphics to their original state (sometimes after refreshing the screen by waving the mouse around). This is a seemingly intermittent problem, although it happens more often when the laptop has been left on for half a day or so. For some people the problem gets more and more frequent. For me, so far, it only occurs once a week or so of 3 hours daily use. Here is a photo of someone else's notebook encountering the problem:



Any thoughts/theories on why this happens? To me, it seems to be clock cycle related, not sure whether it's CPU, or GPU. Some have reported that by disabling Sony's Power Play feature, they were able to be rid of the problem. I've disabled Sony's Power Play, and am running NHC instead. Not running NHC doesn't seem to help the problem. What do you guys think?

History of my laptop:
Sony Vaio s360
2nd owner
Fresh install of XP Home with all Sony related updates (including the BIOS update that "fixes" graphic corruption)
Installed 1GB MicroDimm chip
Installed 7k60 HDD
Overclocked MR 9700 for a few brief benchmarks to 430/240. Nothing too strenuous.

Thanks guys!
Steve

 

No takers, eh? ****. Has anybody else at least experienced this problem?

Steve

 

I just bought a S570P for my wife. It started having the following graphical problems after about an hour:

-- Little rectangular blocks (about 5mm x 20mm) on the screen would get corrupted with vertical line patterns. Each block would be randomly placed on the screen and would have a different color. Redrawing the window in any manner temporarily fixed the problem, but new blocks would appear.

-- When exiting a window, the application would exit, but the display would stay in the background. Logging out and back in would solve the problem for some time, but the problem would sometimes reappear.

-- Occasionally certain graphical elements (e.g., the address form in Internet Explorer) would show the background wallpaper. Opening up a new IE window cleared the problem.

I don't know what the problem is, but it is extremely frustrating considering the price for the machine. I'm downloading the new BIOS and all updated drivers from the Sony site, but I haven't installed them yet.

One thing that I did notice was that under Control Panel -> Display -> Settings -> Advanced -> Monitor, the monitor was listed as Default Monitor. There is an option for Sony Notebook LCD (1280x800), but when I select it and hit OK, the option always reverts back to Default Monitor. I'm not sure if this is a problem or is related to the screen corruption.

Tim

 

Both of you have bios updates available at the Sony website that deal with graphics corruption issues for your models. I suggest you go check it out.

Sean

 

I addressed that in my original post.

Steve

 

I upgraded the BIOS to version R0103V0. I also unchecked the "write combining" box under Control Panel -> Display -> Troubleshooting, but I'm not exactly sure what that does.

So far, haven't seen any further graphics corruption, but the problems I was seeing weren't easily reproducible.

Tim

 

I have exactly the same problem on my new S580.
It's been three days since I received this machine, and I've experienced this three times so far. In my case, the screen suddenly turns to totally black and doesn't come back until I reboot the machine. Of course, this comes with the latest BIOS.

I also have a 18 months old S170, and it has even much more serious problem. First, the screen doesn't come on when I try to turn it on. I can hear the machine starts with hard disk running, but the screen remains black. I have to turn it on and off several times (sometimes at least 50 times) until the screen finally comes on!!

Once it's on, I have to be extremely cautious; with a sudden move, the screen goes away again, then I have to reboot it. Sometime, the screen also shows synching problem as the original poster mentioned.

Without a doubt, it's really annoying, and the only remedy is a reboot. I really think this is a hardware problem, but I'll do a clean install before I send it for a service.

I'll keep you posted.

 

I got the exact same problem, but with my ASUS W3V. I originally used the stock drivers, but then I tried the Omega Drivers, which is when the problems started to occur. I reinstalled the Omega Drivers and so far so good. No video corruption. I think the problems were in the drivers, somehow they got corrupted. But to be honest I think it is a hardware problem. If this ever occurs again I will send it in for repairs.

 

Interesting that both your's and my laptops run off the same gpu core. I have a strong suspicion that this glitch is related to the clock speeds of the gpu. ATI has some sort of speed stepping technology, and I think coming out of hibernation or switching between battery and AC power trips it up. I'd switch back to the stock drivers, but Far Cry looks so beautiful on the mobility Catalyst ones...

Steve

 

I had a problem somewhat similar to this:
my Sony S360 (should be S360, it's called S1HP in Europe) slowly started to, sort of, "degenerate". It started with the ATI graphics driver being stuck in an "infinite loop", crashing the desktop to 256 colors and 640x480 res. Then more and more often it wouldn't start up, at least not on the first try, sometimes needing 10 reboots. Power-LED goes on, harddrive spins, but the bios won't show up or anything. I had it "repaired", and it came back ok, but now, after 2 months working normally, the same things start coming back!

 

Well I think I figured it out, on my W3V that is, it has something to do with the video card underclocking when it is unplugged on on battery power. From it going from high on plugged in and then downclocking itself when it is on battery power. I had to mess with the PowerPlay settings of my ATI card. I set mine to a balance setting for all settings, plugged in and on battery power. The problem as of yet hasn't appeared again and it has been about 2 months since I changed this.

To change the settings on PowerPlay, right click on your desktop and click settings and then advanced and go to the PowerPlay tab, then to the PowerPlay settings. I hope this works for people who have this problem.

 

Dude, awesome. Thanks for following up on this thread! What do you mean by a "balance setting?" My Power Play menu only lets me choose two settings for plugged, high battery, and low battery: Optimal Battery life and Optimal performance. There's no balanced setting. Is this the same menu you're referring to? Huge thanks in advance!

Steve