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R32 display problem - Possible failed video chip?

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lather
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R32 display problem - Possible failed video chip?

#1 Post by lather » Tue Jul 29, 2014 3:25 pm

Hi!

After 10 years of faithful service being used every day, I've got a problem with my trusty old R32. It boots up fine but, after about 5 minutes, the screen goes funny (blocky and covered in fine vertical lines) and becomes totally unusable. I've tried plugging it into the PC input on the TV via a VGA cable, and when the screen is OK, the TV also shows the screen image. But, once the screen has gone funny, the image goes from the TV too and all I get on the TV is a blank screen. All I can do when this happens is do a hard shutdown via the power button. As soon as I reboot, the screen comes back again, but then goes funny once more after another four or five minutes.

Because its a bit difficult to describe how the screen goes, here's a picture of it:

http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq15 ... CF0420.jpg

Believe it or not, that's supposed to be the classic version of Google Maps!

Given how there's apparently no signal out of the VGA port in addition to the screen going funny, I'm guessing it could be a GPU fault, but any expert help or suggestions would be most welcome - As I run my own business and the computer is an essential part of it, it is pretty important that I get it sorted out one way or the other ASAP.

Thanks in advance for any help.

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Re: R32 display problem - Possible failed video chip?

#2 Post by rkawakami » Tue Jul 29, 2014 4:10 pm

My take on it is that your R32 is having a problem with the video memory. Don't know if it's actually part of the GPU or exists separately from that. The trwbook says the R32 came with ATI Mobility Radeon 7000 AGP 4X with 16MB of memory. I say it's memory related in that the video corruption exists both on the LCD and out the VGA port. There's not much you can do to fix it yourself other than swapping out the motherboard.

My suggestion would be to upgrade to a newer system, however with the problems associated with some T4x and T6x systems (also video related) I'd have to say you should jump several generations and consider something along the lines of a T4xx or perhaps X30x. I'm assuming you are running WinXP on it and are there any special / proprietary programs that you use? What about the parallel and/or serial ports? Do you need those? If so, then that rules out most modern systems. The minimally painless way to replace your system would be to get an identical R32 from some place like eBay and then transfer your hard drive. Otherwise you are looking at re-installing your programs and possibly the operating system.
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lather
Posts: 13
Joined: Sun Nov 18, 2012 9:59 am
Location: Derby, England

Re: R32 display problem - Possible failed video chip?

#3 Post by lather » Tue Jul 29, 2014 6:53 pm

Thanks for that, and you seem to have confirmed my suspicions as to it being related to the GPU and associated parts. I've checked the Hardware Maintenance Manual for the R32, and it doesn't say anything about being able to replace the video memory, which suggests that it is integral to the system board and not replaceable. Looking in the manual has also shown me that the GPU is right next to the card slots, which could be significant as I noticed when I took the wifi card out that it was noticeably warmer that normal for the short length of time the machine had been on. I guess this could indicate some overheating issue that causes the memory or GPU to fail or go funny once it reaches a certain temperature (a bit like the T4x GPU fault in a way...).

As for the fix, I like the R32 for its reliability - there aren't many laptops that will stand being used for several hours every single day for a full decade! I've also got a lot of peripherals for the R32 (two 2nd HDD adapters, two 2nd batteries, etc), most of which are used very regularly, so I don't fancy having to spend extra on getting new ones for a different model. And as my old R32 has been upgraded to 1GB RAM and still works OK with all of the software I need, I don't see the point of upgrading to a newer model just yet. I have found another R32 on eBay - the only one in the UK at the moment! - and have already put a bid in on it. So fingers crossed I'll win that one and be able to just swap the HDD and memory over into it. I'll then keep the old one for spares, as I had to put a new screen in last year after the backlight went, and the rest of it is still in good condition.

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