T400: Intel X4500 graphics broken?

[meh]

I think the Intel graphics on my T400 are dying. There's plenty of artifacts when simply running Vista; it disappears when I switch to the ATI graphics. (Edit: I guess they're not artifacts, but just really visible red patches that show up.)

Does anyone have any suggestions? I already have the latest drivers installed. I guess it's a hardware failure then? I don't want to send my machine back to EZserv either - last time, they took forever to send me the box, forever to fix the machine, and forever to send the machine back.

It's less than 3 months old, I might just use the purchase protection on the Visa I bought it with and request a replacement.

Alternatively, since I've already had such a crap experience with EZserv, could anyone recommend someone for me to complain to? I honestly can't live without a decent machine, and my father's using my backup laptop on vacation right now.

Help?

[John B]

meh,

I understand that the latest drivers are installed but have you tried to remove/reinstall them?

[dk]

To rule out Windows and confirm whether it's a hardware issue you could use a Linux Live CD like MEPIS and see what happens. Change your BIOS settings to disable switchable graphics and force it to the Intel card. Then try the MEPIS Live CD out to see if the artifacts are still there.

http://www.mepis.org/mirrors

Derrick