Help diagnose error (screen with errors)

[RasmusP]

Hi,

Recently my Thinkpad has a rather disturbing issue where bumps will freeze the system.
When this happens, the screen will show many display errors like on this image. Whatever was being played in the last second before the crash will be played over and over.

Can anyone identify what the error is based on the image? If so I would appreciate a hint.

Thanks,
Rasmus

[axur-delmeria]

Looks like a GPU or video RAM issue.

[RasmusP]

Darn, my warranty ran out in in May.
My normal system runs from the Intel card, so I guess it's that.
Would I have to replace the motherboard to fix this error?

[rkawakami]

While the problem could be from a bad graphics chip, you should also double-check that the memory in the system is okay. Since you mention that you normally work from the Intel processor, that one uses shared system memory. Bumping the system and causing the error can happen if the memory module(s) is(are) not firmly attached in their sockets. Power the system off, re-seat the module(s) and restart. While you are at it, run a memory diagnostic (like memtest86+). All of this will cost you no money; just a little bit of time.

[RasmusP]

That's a great suggestion, thanks rkawakami. A while back I was trying the modules in my partner's computer (a macbook).
I will do as you suggest and reseat all modules and run memtest over night.

I only run specific applications via the Nvidia card (using bumblebee) such as games, photo/raw programs and some calculations, and it happens in sessions where I never started any Nvidia processes.

[RasmusP]

It seems to have been a RAM not properly fitted. At least the problem has not reemerged after I refitted the RAMs.

Thanks again!