Dell Inspiron 15R, ATI GPU, vertical bars and heat...

[icornish_02]

Hi,

Have had my Inspiron 15R for a couple of years now, so well out of warranty. I was playing some games a coupe of months ago, and it noted the laptop was getting warm, and then it shut down on me. Its always been on a cooler, and the fans have been cleaned monthly.

Since then, it refused to boot properly if the AMD Radeon 5650 drivers (any flavour or version - Dell or Catalyst) were on the machine, resulting in the AMDKMPAG.sys Blue screen.
In Safe Mode or with vanilla VGA driver, its fine! The GPU is detected, but I don't allow it to install the correct driver.
Also, I noted that when rebooting, the display shows vertical bars across the screen, about 5mm apart, all white. It's a momentary display whilst it seems to be switching modes.

I'm due to be dismantling the machine in the next few days to clean it out inside, and also re-do the heat sinks and thermal grease, but wanted to know if any one has any ideas what else could be done.

 

[jnkweaver]

Hi,

Since then, it refused to boot properly if the AMD Radeon 5650 drivers (any flavour or version - Dell or Catalyst) were on the machine, resulting in the AMDKMPAG.sys Blue screen.
In Safe Mode or with vanilla VGA driver, its fine! The GPU is detected, but I don't allow it to install the correct driver.
quotemsg]

You say any flavour or version-Dell or Catalyst. Have you tried previous versions of those drivers? I would uninstall the driver in safe mode and then bot normally and install the original drivers that came with the laptop.

Also it might work going back to a previous refresh point.


If it still is acting up I would assume a partial failure of the GPU.

 

[icornish_02]

Thanks for the info... As feared...
I have done a complete reinstall of the OS, and the original drivers from Dell, with limited success - at least it is stable, albeit with 1024x768 resolution and no 3D/DirectX capability.