Studio XPS 435MT w/ATI Radeon 4850 Error Messages

Did this occur using the original Dell video card driver?

I used to get this message all the time on my 435MT with ATI 4850. It finally ended (along with assorted blue screens and freezes) when I totally uninstalled all traces of the original Dell  ATI video driver, including ATI registry entries (with the help of CCleaner and Driver Sweeper) and installed the latest (9.4 at the time) video driver from the ATI site WITHOUT the accursed Catalyst Control Center. All has been smooth for some months since then, with no warnings, freezes, blue screens, etc.

If you try this, be sure you have a current System Restore point and a good backup before you start.

Bob N.

Yes it did occur with the original Dell video card driver. It was a Dell technician that suggested and helped me update the driver. That was back in March or April. Then they (Your Tech Team) sent me a new video card. That didn't work either. I've kind of given up on the problem since it doesn't crash the system, but it is annoying. One thought I have is that switching to Windows 7 when it comes out might help ... but then I probably void my warranty.

I've had the EXACT same problem, oc1!  This has been constantly bothering me since I bought the computer in March, and I had the graphics card replaced by Dell in June.  It didn't fix a thing.  I've easily spent over TWENTY hours of time talking to a myriad of Dell XPS tech representatives... to no avail.  I've factory reset the unit both through the recovery partition and through the recovery disks - no help here.  Mine doesn't fail when running a screen saver - it will simply stop responding and recover several times, freeze for a few seconds, and then restart with a blue screen.

At this point, I'm really just trying to see what I can do to fix it.  And it's obviously a manufacturer error, so I want to see what DELL can do to fix it.  I just hope I don't have to spend another entire day (yes, 24 hours) on the phone to get things worked out. :( 

Chris, it's a tough row we hoe. I had a similar experience--the replacement of the card didn't fix the problem. In fact, I simply gave up on my graphics display problem because it didn't seem to crash the system. I see the message about stopping responding and recovering all the time, every day and just live with it.

What I've focused on instead (and bear with me, this will end with advice for you) is a much bigger problem--my system crashes on about a weekly basis and every time its RAID system has to rebuild itself--a two hour slowdown in computer operations and not something that inspires one's confidence in one's machine. The nice folks at Your Tech Team (and I mean that--they're very nice and helpful) ended up replacing nearly every part of my system--memory, motherboard, power supply, graphics card, hard drives, hard drive cables, and heatsink--to no avail. I've spent costly hours on the phone (I'm a self-employed writer) and in truth it would have been wiser  just to replace the computer, but you always think that next session with Your Tech Team will solve the problem.

I suggest you do what I finally did. I asked a representative to uplevel my problem and got a chance to review my case with a specialist in RAID systems. You should ask for a specialist--their top guy--in graphics cards/display issues. The RAID guy I talked to looked at my history of support calls, spent a few hours investigating the error messages on my machine, and concluded that whatever the problem is, it's not making itself obvious and that I shouldn't be put through any more efforts to try to repair my machine. They're sending me a refurbished 435MT. My hope is that this truly solves my problem. My fingers are crossed. I love the computer when it's working.

(By the way, I'm assuming you're talking with Your Tech Team, the paid tech support. If you're talking to the free tech support, I would suggest giving that up.)

After 10 months of working off and on with Your Tech Team, I'm happy to report the arrival of a new system that, once set up and debugged a bit, restores my faith in Dell. They ended up replacing my 435MT with a 435T and everything works like it should--both the video card and the RAID system. No more messages about the display card stopped responding and recovered. I have to admit though that, having read one of the posts here, I did a reinstall of the operating system immediately when I got this system and before I put anything on it, and when installing the drivers, I only installed the driver for the video card, not the Catalyst software. I figured why chance it. The card works beautifully without it and I wasn't going to mess with any of the settings it allows you to anyway.I'm also no longer seeing the second screen flutter problem I was having when running videos on the primary screen.