Extremely Serious Graphics Issue... I'm BEGGING for any help!!

[Tenshii~Akari]

I need a few computer whizzes on this one, especially since I'm in a contest, and the deadline is this coming Thursday.  

As of now, my 3D graphics are crapping up on my laptop.  This has been happening before, but now it's getting 10X worse than usual.  Every time I go into my any lots, my sims randomly explode no matter what the size of the lot, amount of detail of my graphics, or the resolution of my screen.  Not even disabling the background tasks help stop this from happening!  And sometimes even after exiting the game, it leaves my Desktop a hot mess (at least until I open a window or program)... take a look at the picture links below.

(The pictures in the following links are kind of big... and very frightening.  I've linked to them, because making them smaller than shown mucks up the actual problems even more.  Click to view them at your own risk.  :pale: )

Picture 1:  Two of my sims sitting on the couch... "exploding"

Picture 2:  Same scene, different type of "exploding"

Picture 3:  Graphics card glitching up my Desktop area horribly. (...yes, my Desktop.  Funny huh? )  

Here's my video card and laptop's current info...

Video Card:

ATI Mobility Radeon X1300 (0x7149) (Supposed to be 256 MB, but for some odd reason it's now saying 128MB fro Approximate Total Memory... :scratch:)
Internal DCA (400mhz)

Laptop:

Dell Inspiron I6400/E1505
Processor: Genuine Intel (R) Core Duo (T2050 @ 1.60GHz)
RAM:  2GB

I have DirectX 9.0c updated to the current version, and I've tried updating my video drivers, but I went to the main ATI/AMD site and found out the hard way that they aren't doing compatible updates for my type of laptop anymore.  :angryfir:  And the main Dell site doesn't even have the latest driver updates available yet.  I have my Virtual Memory up to the highest suggested settings for 2GB of RAM, and I've disabled every unneeded "Service" on my computer.  (Basically everything done in Paladin's tutorial)  All my EPs are up through Seasons (excluding Pets and SPs in the mix)

I just got this thing exactly a year ago, so getting another computer or laptop is out of the question due to small finances.  (And my mother's disapproval.)  If I have to, I may try and get a new video card installed, but I don't know which ones would be good enough for either my laptop or old home PC (which I'd also have to get more memory for in order to play the game properly).  Any suggestions on what I should do?  I'm pretty desperate right about now!  :bawl:

[Sam the T-man]

Greetings from a fellow ATI Mobility user

Updating drivers for a laptop is a common problem, but I swear by this method ever since I found it:

Get yourself this handy utility and the latest desktop catalyst drivers from ATI's homepage. Follow the instructions in the first link I gave you and you should be fine

Hope that helps, good luck

[Tenshii~Akari]

Thanks, Sarah!  Hopefully this will help out a lot.  :angel:

[BeosBoxBoy]

Tenshii~Akari, I just went and saw that you may have a driver update available here: http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodNameId=1847704&prodTypeId=321957&prodSeriesId=1847703&swLang=8&taskId=135&swEnvOID=1093#11360 - the HP Pavillion NC6400 uses the Ati Radeon Mobility X1300 as well and has two driver updates available.

What I am seeing in the screen captures you link though, this to me looks like a serious over-heating issue.  Check to make sure that your system fan is still turning, not sure where the little bugger will be , but there should be a small vent somewhere on the laptop with a small fan.  If this isn't moving, then you may have to send it to the factory for replacement.

Another thing that may be causing the over-heating issue is "battery death" - as a laptop battery ages, it stops holding a full charge, this causes things to run a bit warmer, and in computers heat is the enemy.  Laptops are especially handicapped by the smallest changes in temperature since they are designed for a very narrow temperature range and have no way to add additional cooling fans.

What you may find helpful is to get one of those gel-pack freezer things, freeze it so it is flat, then double wrap it in a towel and sit the laptop on that when you use it.  Another cheap way of bleeding off the excess temperature is to get a cookie sheet that has a hollow core, not sure what they might be called, but setting the laptop on that will turn the whole bottom surface of the laptop into a sort of heat-sink.

EDIT: added latest ATI Radeon Mobility driver - this is in 3 parts since it is too large to upload all as one file.  You will need all 3 parts.  When you have all 3 parts downloaded, you need only to unRAR the "part1" - the rest will automatically be extracted.

you may be able to install a "display driver" for your laptop's LCD screen if one is available, this will insure the best performance.  SOmetimes changing the refresh rate can alter the performance of the game in a beneficial manner, but be cautious, if you don't have a "display driver" for the LCD, try to locate the information about the refresh rate in your laptop's user manual or by contacting Dell technical support before getting too adventurous.

[djchrisblue]

When my laptop's fan burnt out, I got four small metal cylinders (about the size of a tealight) and placed one on each corner to elevate it about a centimeter above the desk (I've heard some people actually glue pennies together). That prevented any problems for about two years. That's when the monitor died.

Good luck!

peace

[BeosBoxBoy]

djchrisblue - thanks for that tip, I had seen laptops with coins "super-glued" to the bottom but never made the connection!

[Tenshii~Akari]

:notworth:  Thank you all for the help!  I would've never thought to do all of that to keep my laptop from overheating.  Definitely will keep it in mind.  :lol:

The fan was still turning just as fast as it normally does when the game runs, and I did have it elevated at the time, though.  I guess I just over-worked it this go around... :?  

The updates seemed to help a bit with the random graphic implosions, so now all I'm having problems with is the random "blue screen with the hour glass" problem.  (but that's a lot more liveable than the previous stuff. )  

Once again, thanks for the help.  I really appreciate it!  :angel: