T23 - Google Earth or video driver cause BSOD *PIC*

[althena77]

Hello!

I own my T23 now for three years and still works just fine and I am happy with it.
Then I read that the T23 should be still enough to run Google Earth (what I didn't expect before) and downloaded it (after conforming this information at a few other places on the Internet).
At this time I had the latest video driver from the official Lenovo support site installed (SuperSavage/IXC16 from here).
If I run dxdiag it shows me I have DirectX 9.0c installed and I use Windows XP SP2 these days and have 512 MB of RAM.

Well, first Google Earth was running just fine and very usable, even though not as fast as I remember it on a friends newer computer.
However after about half an hour my computer just did freeze and I got this BSOD:



Just a reboot of Windows also didn't fix that problem, I also got this screen on every startup before seeing the login screen, only starting Windows in safe mode allowed me to login and uninstalling the video driver finally allowed me to boot Windows normal again.

After that I read about the S3 ChroMetal v4.9 drivers and downloaded them from here. However this also didn't fix my problem, I got the same BSOD after about 20 minutes using Google Earth.
First of all so I would like to know if a few people here could again that Google Earth is working for them on a T23 and which video driver they use.
Also I wonder if maybe I did something wrong when switching to the other driver, I tried to uninstall it in the Control Panel and deleting in the hardware manager and after installing the new one the graphic card was recognized again, but maybe there is a special procedure I should follow?

Otherwise every hint is welcome that could allow me finally enjoying Google Earth a little longer than before on my T23

Thanks and greetings!

althena77

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[dsigma6]

The only solution I can think of is changing the driver, which you've already done...

Can you even get into Google Earth now? If so, maybe there are some settings you can uncheck, possibly involving less detail or cache (if applicable).

Any recent OS updates?

[rkawakami]

Welcome to thinkpads.com!

I have run Google Earth several times on my T23 and I think I only got a BSOD once right after it was installed. Don't believe I did anything other than reboot when that happened. I haven't run it in some time so I just launched it and scanned across the country (Disney World, FL to my daughter's place in West Hollywood, CA). Went up to Edwards AFB and across to Area 51, NV (looking for UFOs ). "Flew" across the Pacific to Dudley St., Randwick, NSW, AU. No issues so far after about 30 minutes. Here's my current system specs:

- Windows XP Pro SP2
- 1.2Ghz CPU
- 1024MB memory
- Firefox 2.0.0.6 (1.5, or older when Google Earth first installed)
- S3 display driver s3ssav.dll 6.13.01 1290-12.90.90 (DX8)
- Miniport driver s3ssavm.sys 6.13.01 1290-12.90.90
- OpenGL ICD ssicdnt.dll 2.60.115
- DirectX 9.0c (as reported by dxdiag)
- DirectX Media 6.05.2600.2180
- Google Earth 4.0.2737; I believe all default settings are being used

Couple of questions:

- What browser are you using?
- Can you install another 512MB module?

Currently, with Firefox and Google Earth running, FF is taking up about 50MB and GE is using 312MB. There's not much else besides the usual background processes and Norton AV on my system.

[althena77]

First of all thank you very much for the fast replies and letting me know that it should work, this gives me some hope to be able using it more myself too

Any recent OS updates?

Do you mean Windows updates? Actually I have the automatic updates turned on and I also always try to keep all my software and drivers up to date and check regular if new versions are out for pretty much every software I use as well as drivers and codecs.

Also I believe at least that my system is more or less clean. I am not a professional but I think I know a few things about how to keep your system safe like using a limited user account and not being administrator all the time, turning off unnecessary services from Windows etc.

By the way, the first time I got the BSOD I was using Google as administrator because I just installed it under that account and the second time as a normal user, so that also doesn't seem to make a difference here.

Couple of questions:

- What browser are you using?
- Can you install another 512MB module?

I have all the important browsers installed on my system and also all the time the latest versions (IE7, Opera, Firefox and the Beta version of Safari) but the default one is Firefox (right now also version 2.0.0.6 for me) and normally I use that.

As for the RAM, I have right now two 256MB modules in my T23 and so far it was always good enough for me. Also on the Google Earth website they say that even 128MB could be enough and just recommend 512MB on the download site.
Maybe I can try for now to shut as many programs down as possible and use Google Earth again. Or do you see high chances that this could fix my problem? I mean more RAM is of course never a bad idea, just so far 512MB were OK for me, but then again I never used Google Earth before on my own computer

Well, now again for installing a video driver and starting GE again with as much free RAM as possible.

Thanks again for the replies, I will write here about my results later

[joester]

Wow.
And to think that I've spent hours playing with Google Earth on my stock T21 with only 256 MB RAM and the latest drivers...

...And never seen a BSOD once.

FWIW, I'm running XP SP2 With all of Microsoft's latest greatest updates and AVG Free.

I would think you should be able to run it on 512 MB much better than I've experienced.

Which mode is it running in? Mine runs fine in DirectX.

Joe

[althena77]

Well, today I found some time again to experiment with Google Earth on my T23 and I tried to following:

- I tried to free as much RAM as I could
- I changed the color depth from 32 Bit to 16 Bit
- I also remembered that both times I got the BSOD it happened when I made a double click in Google Earth on a location to move closer to it, so I avoided doing a double click and just used the mouse wheel and the arrows to navigate or dragged the pictures

I used it about 1 hour and it didn't freeze my computer this time, so far so good
I will try later if it also works now with 32 Bit color depth or I can use double clicks and let you know here.

Greetings!

althena77