A31 video problem

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john2600 · #1 Post by **john2600** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 10:24 am

The A31 video is intermittently acting up.
Symtoms:
1: Pointer gets a square shadow behind it.
2: Screen starts to degrade with small hash marks.
When I run PC Dr. the video fails the memory compare test.
Each time the test is run it fails at a different offset/readback location.
Is this a symptom of the infamous loose GPU?

#2 Post by **Harryc** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 10:42 am

It could be, or it could simply be bad video RAM. Either way you are looking at replacing or repairing the board. If you press down on the GPU while running the test, does it pass?

proaudioguy · #3 Post by **proaudioguy** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 12:45 pm

You should send it to jamiphar to get fixed. There really is no reason for the VRAM to fail out of the blue, but handling that computer one handed is a good way to break the GPU solder balls. I've seen so many people pick the computer up by the palm rest one handed. For me, it was mostly due to the plastics becoming brittle and no longer keeping the board stiff enough. I've replaced the system boards on both machines, but managed to get another year out of one of them by using a heat gun. Now that Jamiphar offers reballing I wouldn't do it again.

I'd still like to know what kind of epoxy he's using (to prevent further problems) that doesn't have any electrical properties. I've found a few possible options.

xcandrew · #4 Post by **xcandrew** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 2:57 pm

proaudioguy wrote:You should send it to jamiphar to get fixed.

Someone suggested contacting this dude in my thread "A31 Backlight LCD not working", also. I found his ad in the marketplace forum. As I noted in my thread, he didn't respond to my PM or email requests back in July (PM and email request separated by about 2 weeks?). Does anyone know what's up? Is he still in business, does he have a 2+ month backlog of work and is slow to respond, is he picky about the jobs he chooses, or what? I'm just wondering if I should bother to resend my email requesting an estimate or service...

#5 Post by **Harryc** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 3:03 pm

He is not doing reballing at the moment. Try these guys -
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0261784738

john2600 · #6 Post by **john2600** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 9:39 pm

Video problem was caused by an obsolete driver thanks to the restore cd's.
Downloaded the latest video drivers from Levovo site and all the video problems were corrected.

ajkula66 · #7 Post by **ajkula66** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 11:15 pm

I hate to bring doubt into a seemingly solved problem, but does your machine pass the PC-Doctor video tests now?

john2600 · #8 Post by **john2600** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 7:39 am

Repeated running of PC Doctor after installing the new driver shows no errors.

#9 Post by **Harryc** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 7:55 am

john2600 wrote:Repeated running of PC Doctor after installing the new driver shows no errors.

Were you running PC-Doctor from Windows or from bootable DOS media?

john2600 · #10 Post by **john2600** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 8:14 am

PC DR. was run through windows before and after the new driver installation.

#11 Post by **Harryc** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 8:50 am

I see. Perhaps this thread is a good argument for running PC-Doctor from bootable DOS media, since it appears to be effected by windows drivers.

A31 video problem

A31 video problem

Problem Resolved

test

Re: test

video

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