ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 Screen Distorted

foursignseven · May 5, 2007, 04:54 PM

Hi, I've been experiencing sudden screen distortions on games only, like Warcraft III and CS:source, etc. The corruption started occuring few weeks back, and it happens after I play the game for sometime, and then it gets worst after that.

If I alt-tab back to my desktop and back to the game, the distortion will go away for awhile, then it starts happening again. Anyone knows what's happening?

I took a picture of it and here it is. This is after leaving it for a long time, and the screen corruption got really bad.

hacktrix2006 · May 5, 2007, 05:04 PM

Looks like a overheated graphics card to me. Try lowing the graphics cards GPU and MEM speeds wil ATI tool. If this sorts it then that the problem. If this doesn't help try uninstalling the drivers for the ATI card and reinstalling them.

foursignseven · May 5, 2007, 09:09 PM

Seems like it. I cleaned my cooling fan and blew another strong fan at my laptop and I didn't get the problems. About what you said, you mean decrease the CORE/MEM values?
Does it mean my gfx card is screwed?

hacktrix2006 · May 6, 2007, 11:02 AM

No it just means that the thermal paste on the Graphics card is dry. Lowing the speed's of the both the GPU and MEM will reduce the heat out put.

This mean that the Graphics card just needs a little TLC and a thermal clean and re-apply.

Clean off the old thermal paste completely off the Graphics card and apply a new layer of thermal paste that will solve the problem but mean opening the laptop and locating the graphics card which is hard to find in some laptops.

foursignseven · May 6, 2007, 12:12 PM

Thanks so much. Sounds pretty difficult but at least I know my card is still fine. Will lowering the GPU and MEM affect my card performance?

hacktrix2006 · May 8, 2007, 12:33 PM

If you play games that are graphics hungy you may loose a few FPS try reducing the GPU and MEM by 10MHZ untill the screen comes to a working order.

Most Graphics in the notebook are underneath the keyboard its easy to get just unscrew the laptop take out the battery and hard disc. You may need to take out the ram. Its very easy to do as i've just striped mine coz the laptop was getting warm. All i did was clean the old dried thermal paste of applied new now the GPU and MEM is now overclocked and its working a bloody dream. If you need help do a google search for the laptop.

so your searching for:

<Laptop maker><Model No.> technical manual this will have instructions to take the latop apart and put it back together. Just make sure your careful when disconnecting the mouse and keyboard as breaking the cables for this and it will get expensive.

Good Luck.

May 5, 2007, 04:54 PM	#1
foursignseven DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 3 Rep Power: 0	ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 Screen Distorted Hi, I've been experiencing sudden screen distortions on games only, like Warcraft III and CS:source, etc. The corruption started occuring few weeks back, and it happens after I play the game for sometime, and then it gets worst after that. If I alt-tab back to my desktop and back to the game, the distortion will go away for awhile, then it starts happening again. Anyone knows what's happening? I took a picture of it and here it is. This is after leaving it for a long time, and the screen corruption got really bad.

May 5, 2007, 05:04 PM	#2
hacktrix2006 DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 18 Rep Power: 0	Looks like a overheated graphics card to me. Try lowing the graphics cards GPU and MEM speeds wil ATI tool. If this sorts it then that the problem. If this doesn't help try uninstalling the drivers for the ATI card and reinstalling them.

May 5, 2007, 09:09 PM	Thread Starter #3
foursignseven DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 3 Rep Power: 0	Seems like it. I cleaned my cooling fan and blew another strong fan at my laptop and I didn't get the problems. About what you said, you mean decrease the CORE/MEM values? Does it mean my gfx card is screwed?

May 6, 2007, 11:02 AM	#4
hacktrix2006 DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 18 Rep Power: 0	No it just means that the thermal paste on the Graphics card is dry. Lowing the speed's of the both the GPU and MEM will reduce the heat out put. This mean that the Graphics card just needs a little TLC and a thermal clean and re-apply. Clean off the old thermal paste completely off the Graphics card and apply a new layer of thermal paste that will solve the problem but mean opening the laptop and locating the graphics card which is hard to find in some laptops.

May 6, 2007, 12:12 PM	Thread Starter #5
foursignseven DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 3 Rep Power: 0	Thanks so much. Sounds pretty difficult but at least I know my card is still fine. Will lowering the GPU and MEM affect my card performance?

May 8, 2007, 12:33 PM	#6
hacktrix2006 DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 18 Rep Power: 0	If you play games that are graphics hungy you may loose a few FPS try reducing the GPU and MEM by 10MHZ untill the screen comes to a working order. Most Graphics in the notebook are underneath the keyboard its easy to get just unscrew the laptop take out the battery and hard disc. You may need to take out the ram. Its very easy to do as i've just striped mine coz the laptop was getting warm. All i did was clean the old dried thermal paste of applied new now the GPU and MEM is now overclocked and its working a bloody dream. If you need help do a google search for the laptop. so your searching for: <Laptop maker><Model No.> technical manual this will have instructions to take the latop apart and put it back together. Just make sure your careful when disconnecting the mouse and keyboard as breaking the cables for this and it will get expensive. Good Luck.