XP graphic issue?

[Derwd24]

I'm having a obstinate problem and I'm hoping for at least a point in the right direction as I've used up my bag of tricks!  I have a Inspiron 8100 laptop running XP and about half the time when I boot up, the screen is "shifted" and slightly zoomed to the upper left so that the Windows start up icon appears moved toward the lower right corner of the screen, and when my desktop loads, the toolbar is about "an inch" below the bottom of the screen, making it difficult but not impossible to guess where the start key and lower half of the menu items are.   So far I've tried numerous virus scans with nothing found, I've reinstalled, updated, and rolled back the video driver to no avail.   I've rolled back the BIOS with no luck, and even swapped the video card with a known working one and the same thing occurs about half the time, the other half it boots and runs fine.   So the last thing I did was to swap hard drives with my brother's identical laptop to see which of us would have the issue happen.   Turns out my laptop is the issue as even with his drive in there, it happened, and his worked fine with mine (that's when I suspected the BIOS and began flashing that).   So I'm out of ideas and would appreciate any suggestions on how to get to the bottom of this intermittent but frustrating issue!  Thanks in advance.

[KGIII]

This is a fun one... Oddly enough I have seen this before. Check for updaded ASPI drivers at the Dell site. Let's start with the basics:

You mentioned a reinstall. In the past this has worked - assuming it was a clean install. It is not a pretty method but has been about the only way I have managed it.

See this link:

http://support.de...catid=&impid=

Now the problem I see there is... Well... No ASPI drivers by that name. There is this:
http://support.de...up&file=57460

Let's start there and we'll see where we can go from there.

My first is a question - did you do a complete reinstall? Not a repair install? Just a barebones reinstall with the CDs to bring it back to factory condition?

SOMETIMES this has been a sign of a failing monitor. I don't know of any specifics with your brand (and I have worked on your brand and model in the past) that say that I should jump to those conclusions at this time. Let us start with the software aspects first in this case.

[Derwd24]

Thanks for the quick reply and the suggestions.   I did a "dirty" reinstall about a year ago after having some issues that got ugly with a HP printer driver and the Windows installer in SP2.   That being said, last Nov I ran out of space on that hard drive and purchased a new 7200 rpm unit (which was worth the extra outlay BTW as it's noticably improved the speed of my system) and did a complete clean install, so expected this issue to go away, but it didn't.   I do have the latest drivers installed from the Dell site for my video card, which unfortunately didn't help, and I've even rolled back, downloaded again, and reinstalled just to make sure.   Now, when I swapped hard drives with my brother's identical laptop and had the same issue happen with his drive installed in my laptop, I'd assume that would eliminate the drivers?  One last thing, after I read your post this AM, I took just my screen off and swapped it with his just to see what would happen.   His screen worked fine on my laptop, but my screen did the same thing when installed on his laptop (and the kicker is when I swapped them back, mine booted fine! but it never lasts. . . ).   So it sounds like you may have hit the nail on the head with it being a hardware issue with the screen itself, but I want to make sure I haven't missed anything before buying a new screen?  Thanks again for your assistance!

[KGIII]

It is almost certainly, having swapped the heads and had that same failure, a hardware issue. Let's try two more things? (If you can...)

If you have room enough (put your harddrive back in there) then make a small(ish) partition and install a new copy of Windows in it.

Grab a bootable version of another OS, I would say Ubuntu, and boot too and from that a few times to see if the problem exists there as well.

[Derwd24]

Thanks for the suggestion.   It's been a while since I partitioned a hard drive with bootable partitions, but I should be able to work my way through it again.   I can probably install Linux in the new partition and am wondering what the alternate OS uses for drivers?  That being said, sometimes it takes 25 or more cycles to get the monitor to fail so it could be a while before I get a result. . .   There were many times when I was pretty convinced I'd fixed it as it booted correctly so consistently after I applied a fix, then bam, the off center screen on start up, and back to square one.   Felt like the system was toying with me, but I have stubborn persistence on my side!

[femlow]

Boot to CD with Ubuntu. That will save you the install. You can just try and try again until it either fails or doesn't. (This is KGIII but I am too lazy to log out of femlow's account.)

[Derwd24]

Had another thought but don't know if it's advisable to try. . .   Next time I get the off center screen, I leave the laptop running and swap screens with my brothers laptop (also running) and if when I plug my screen into his laptop and it comes up off center, and his into mine and it works correctly, that's definitive it's a hardware issue (as opposed to last time I tried the swap with the laptops off and then booted up).   Thanks.

[femlow]

Bad idea. (I am still not home, I will be home tomorrow night.)

Hardware should never be altered (with the exception of "hot swappable" devices of the nature that, surely, the head on your laptop is not) while there is power to the system. Never. Shorting is almost sure to occur and the result will not be beneficial.

[Derwd24]

Thanks for the heads up!  I'll give plan "A" a go and let you know when I find out anything. . .   Once again, appreciate the assistance!

[KGIII]

Not a problem, do let us know how it turns out and if you need assistance in replacing your monitor. (Judging by the fact that you have switched them in the past I am guessing that that won't be a major issue for you.)

[Derwd24]

Well, I think I hit upon the solution to the intermittent screen issue.   After your last e-mail, I decided to delve into the hardware a little deeper, and I swapped only the LCD cables of my laptop and the working one, and much to my surprise, mine then worked fine and the working one now had the graphics issue!  There was no visible sign of wear on the flat cable, but testing seemed to indicate that was the culprit.   Still unsure, I purchased a used one on E-bay for short enough money I wouldn't have been disappointed if the problem reappeared, and have had it in for a number of weeks now with not one issue!  So although I'm not 100% convinced as I've seen too many surprising things happen (especially in the world of computers), I'd have to say I'm pretty sure the issue has been fixed.   Thanks again for all your help and input, very much appreciated!

[KGIII]

Most excellent. Absolutely glad to hear it.

[Tags:]

Jump to: Please select a destination: ----------------------------- News and Updates ----------------------------- => G³ Solutions => News => Sites of Interest => Suggestion Box => MyWebPeople - Blogs for Normal People ===> Updates and News ===> Bug Reports ===> Feature Requests ===> Support Requests ===> MyWebPeople Blogs Feedback ----------------------------- Microsoft Windows Help ----------------------------- => Windows 9x/ME Help => Windows 2k/NT Help => Windows XP Help => Windows Vista => Windows as a Server ----------------------------- Applications - Questions, Comments, or Discussion ----------------------------- => Office Products => General Security => Help with Other Software => Favorite Software ===> Freeware Downloads => Anything Else ----------------------------- Hardware ----------------------------- => General/Advice => Diagnostics => Installing/Upgrading ----------------------------- Web Development ----------------------------- => Web Development - General ===> Web Development - Resources => Databases => Dynamic Languages => Markup Languages ----------------------------- General ----------------------------- => General and Off Topic Banter. ===> Movies and Television ===> Music ===> Games => Humor => Test => Bit Bucket