Inspiron 1501 video problems

Just_A_Guy: Uninstall the ATI videocard driver, and install the old one that's on the CD that come with your laptop (note: we are talking about XP, not Vista!). For my client it apparently solved the problem. At least I called him after 3 days, and he said there were no more crashes. Before that, he had several VPU Recovery or lockup with black screen each day. (Next time I get near that laptop I will check the exact Caralyst version number and tell it here.) Actually, not only the video driver were intalled from the CD, but all drivers (with an XP reinstall). But maybe reinstalling the old videodriver instead of the new one is enough. Well, anyway, time will tell... he didn't called me for a week so far, so maybe the issue was indeed fixed.

With most systems completelly disabling HW acceleration used to make videoplayback slow and ugly.

Message Edited by ddekany on 12-27-2007 05:59 AM

Just_A_Guy: Note that what helped (I hope...) in my case was DOWNgrading the videcard driver, not upgrading. (To repeat, instead of the latest Dell-provided driver, the old one from the CD was used, and it seems that problem has gone.)

Add me to the list as well. My system is going back for service hopefully for a
motherboard or video card replacement (seems the video is integrated on the
motherboard). I just opened it on Christmas so but it was in storage for probably 2
months or I'd return it. System came with Vista which is horrible. Never used under
vista so I don't know if the problem existed there but from reading other posts
here it appears it does.

I performed a reformat and did a clean install of XP with all current dell drivers and
bios/firmware etc. Dell is sending me a box so I can ship it back and they can fix
and return to me. So I should have it back in a week or so. My guess is they will do
a motherboard/video replacement. I found an easy way to manifest the problem
100% of the time. Bring up a browser with Firefox and another browser with IE.

ON BOTH BROWSERS:
1. Go to http://www.runescape.com.
2. Click to play as an existing user.
3. Click "choose best free world for me" and let the java game load up (it
is safe).
Now just sit and wait. The java based graphics of the page will cause the
machine to give the "VPU Recover" error within a minute for me consistently.

Additionally, my system has shocked me from a
screw underneath on my finger or leg several times. No other laptop has shocked me
like this. While this problem appears to be common it can't be 100% consistent
on every single machine. With the shock I'm experiencing I'm wondering if during
manufacturing if there is a ground point where the card heats up during heavy usage
just enough to expand to short the ground, but not enough to overheat or kick on the
fan.

My question is: Has anyone who has had returned the machine for service received
it back with the problem resolved?

Message Edited by dyker on 01-02-2008 01:26 PM

dyker: Just in case you have missed it... my
client had this problem: Fresh XP SP2
installation (by me) + latest-everything from the
Dell site (including BIOS update), and he
reported that occasionally the screen become
black for a moment, and then he got either a VPU
Recovery window, or seldom the screen just remain
black forever. To fix it, XP was reinstalled, and
everything was installed from the CD that come
with the laptop, NOT from the Web site. So the
drivers are outdated... but not a single crash
has happened since then (it was two weeks ago or
so). So, before sending the notebook back, at
least try to uninstall all ATI Video related
stuff, and instead install the old one from the
CD (yeah, I still hadn't have chance to check
what the exact driver version was on that CD).

Message Edited by ddekany on 01-02-2008 08:52 PM

Unfortunately mine came with Vista and I do not have those drivers for XP. Some
have reported having the new bios and new dell ati drivers fix the issue. The new bios
and new video drivers make no difference for me. Still the same problems.
What is the difference? Hardware revision of motherboard?

I have time on this and I'll ship it back to dell and see what it comes back with.
I've used belarc (see my sig line) to document the settings as they are right now and
so I'll be able to see any differences when it comes back. I have never seen the
"striped" lines that the bios supposedly fixes. Only the black screen and
VPU error.

If anyone knows where the old XP drivers are available please post. I've also tried
the new drivers on the ATI site but no joy. I should get my "return" box tomorrow.

Message Edited by dyker on 01-02-2008 11:10 PM

OK, I have called the client and asked
the version numbers (Windows XP!):

Catalist Control Center says:
- Version 1.2.24.75.36837

Windows control panel says:
- Driver version: 8.31.0.0
- Driver date: 2006.10.11

So I guess it's Catalyst 6.10 or 6.11. And
for those who now go to hunt an old catalyst,
please note that it's the Catalyst for
Integrated ATI-s, not the usual one.

Here:
http://ati.amd.com/support/drivers/xp/integratedprevious-xp.html
Yeah, the older is 6.12, but maybe that's not
very different from 6.10.

BTW, the client didn't have the blue stripes
either, just the VPU recovery and the black screen.
That was with the latest driver from the Dell site,
not with this older one.

Message Edited by ddekany on 01-03-2008 07:36 AM

I had the same problems isnce i bought my laptop, i have exchange it over 3 times. I think we all are having a deisgn problem.. and is time for Dell to upgrade us all, or it will end up the same it did with their last "things i that cannot be spoken off" of faulty deisgned laptops.