Screen issues (strange flickering) on week-old T43

[Torque]

Hello Thinkpad forums.

Early today the screen on my T43 started flickering. Alot.
The display kept bouncing back and forth, like it was initializing or something.
In desperation, I closed the lid and let it go on standby. Opened it back up and the flickering was gone.

Has the same issue a few minutes ago. It wasnt as bad as earlier, but the flickering came in intervals. So I took a couple of pictures. Check out the links.

Has anyone seen this before?
Is it a software or hardware problem?

I have an on-site warranty, so I'm gonna call IBM in the morning if this doesnt turn up to be a driver issue of some sort.

http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/6356/pict39639ib.jpg
http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/8725/pict39640jx.jpg
http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/667/pict39691ci.jpg
http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/4682/pict39704jb.jpg

[christopher_wolf]

Looks to me like a tiny problem with the GPU; I would really try out all the drivers, especially the recommended ones....That shouldn't be happening on a relatively new T43.

Barring any of that, it might very well turn out to be a hardware problem with the GPU.

I have seen various systems have different degrees of severity of that distortion/flickering; usually, more of which can be traced back to the GPU. What did you do the day before, or even the week before, concerning the display and/or GPU?

I have seen over-heating GPUs and video cards with memory problems do things like this, albeit more severe, as well.

[Torque]

Well, I updated the driver via the Software Installer the same day I got it (last friday), and havent tinkered with it what so ever.

Only tweak is NHC which I use for underclocking the CPU slighty. Havent gone near the GPU clock. Tried the fan-util for a day (temps never went over 55) but I uninstalled it again, not really being bothered with the fan all that much.

I too have seen artifacts and distortions like these, after overclocking graphics card on desktop computers. But I dont mess too much with it on laptops. Mainly because of their poor cooling capacity.

But I think youre right about the GPU. Looks to me like it may be overheating. However, I had an Nvidia FX5800 (the "fireball" editions) that did the same, only (like you said) alot more. Only it wasnt overclocked, it just had a circuit break. My worst fear is that it could be the case here.

Thinking about wether I should roll back the driver or just call IBM.