Mobility Radeon is Unstable

[Mac_Starfish]

Hello Out There,

I'm having a bit of trouble with my IBM Thinkpad. The model of it is an R32.
I am running Windows XP Professional.

What is happening is the computer keeps freezing because the Mobility Radeon Driver is unstable. I have tried to reinstall it but that does not appear to be helping.

Does anyone know of a site that I can get an update or how I can fix this problem.

I have reciently reformatted to try to fix the problem (as well as a few others) but that did not help.

Thanks,

Starfish :o

[Mac_Starfish]

:o Awww, come on now- we're just humble little geeks tryin' to help. :)

You guys really are wonderful! I am giving the credit where it is due.

You wouldn't happen to know about Mobility Radeon Drivers for Thinkpad r32's would you? Mine keeps locking my computer up and reformatting didn't help.

I've tried reinstalling it. I can't seem to find an update for that particular make either. They appear to have updated it for every other Thinkpad out there.

Thanks,

Starfish

[DMR]

The R32s ship with the Radeon 7000, yes? Can you tell us exactly which video driver you're currently using? To find that info:

- right-click on the My Computer icon and choose "Properties"

- In the resulting window, click the "Hardware" tab and then click "Device Manager".

- Double-click on "Display Adapters", and then double-click on the Radeon card's entry.

- Click on the "Driver" tab in the resulting window, and post all of the info listed there.

[DMR]

Hey Starry- see my response in your previous thread if you haven't already:

http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/showthread.php?p=45356#post45356


However, continue posting your questions related to the video issue here, as your previous thread was dealing with another separate issue.

Thanks.

[kc0arf]

Hey hey what's this Windoze stuff doing here? :)

IBM on older Thinkpads released floppy disks with the drivers on them... these days you can download them from the internet. You might need to go get the special IBM driver for whatever version of Windoze you are working with on the laptop.

Can you give us the IBM Model number that you have? Look on the back of the laptop, you should see something like Type 9547-U4G. We can take that information, and help you find in IBM's website just were these critters are located. Also, what version of Windoze?

Christian

[Mac_Starfish]

The R32s ship with the Radeon 7000, yes? Can you tell us exactly which video driver you're currently using? To find that info: - right-click on the My Computer icon and choose "Properties" - In the resulting window, click the "Hardware" tab and then click "Device Manager". - Double-click on "Display Adapters", and then double-click on the Radeon card's entry. - Click on the "Driver" tab in the resulting window, and post all of the info listed there.

The driver is MOBILITY RADEON. No numbers. I thought that was odd, however, I went to the ATI website and it verified it.

Here is the website I verified that on http://www.ati.com/buy/onboard/mobile/mobilityradeon.html

It then takes you to the IBM website. I did a search for that particular driver and my R32 update appeared to be neglected.

Here is the other information under Properties (I hope this means something to you):

Device Type: Display Adapter
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Location: PCI bus 1, device 0 function 0
Driver Date: 7/1/2003
Driver Version: 6.14.10.6372

I did already download an update for it. But that was from April 2003 and didn't fix my problem either. That was from a page troubleshooting for Age of Empires that appears to give trouble to that same driver.

Thanks,

Starfish :o

[Mac_Starfish]

Hey hey what's this Windoze stuff doing here? :) IBM on older Thinkpads released floppy disks with the drivers on them... these days you can download them from the internet. You might need to go get the special IBM driver for whatever version of Windoze you are working with on the laptop. Can you give us the IBM Model number that you have? Look on the back of the laptop, you should see something like Type 9547-U4G. We can take that information, and help you find in IBM's website just were these critters are located. Also, what version of Windoze? Christian

Sorry about the "Windoze" stuff on the Mac site. :o It is also in the XP Thread too.

Model of the computer is Type 2658 there are no more numbers (another guy I phoned kept hassling me for other numbers. I can give you the chinese ones that appear under it but there are no more numbers.)

I am using Windows XP Professional

Thanks for the help!

Starfish

[DMR]

There is a Win XP video driver package for the R32 on IBM's site which has a release date 2 months newer than the date you gave for your driver. The package date may not be the same as the actual driver date though, but you might want to have a look:

http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=0&q1=r32&uid=psg1MIGR-43146&loc=en_US&cs=utf-8&cc=us〈=en

[Mac_Starfish]

There is a Win XP video driver package for the R32 on IBM's site which has a release date 2 months newer than the date you gave for your driver. The package date may not be the same as the actual driver date though, but you might want to have a look: http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=0&q1=r32&uid=psg1MIGR-43146&loc=en_US&cs=utf-8&cc=us〈=en

Thanks, I'll try it out and let you know how it goes.

By the way, how do you get your picture onto the left side of the screen??

[Mac_Starfish]

I've installed it... I'm not sure if the picture is as crisp as the last one. I'm going to give it a work out with age of Empires.

It is no longer a mobility radeon. If it doesn't work, I should just be able to roll back changes right? I hope?

Starfish

[DMR]

A) Yes, if the driver doesn't work for you, you should be able to go into the video card's properties in Device Manager and use the "Rollback" option to revert to the previous driver.

B) The picture you asked about is called a Custom Avatar. You can get more info about that by clicking on the "User CP" menu option at the top of the forum pages and then choosing the "Edit Avatar" option.

[Mac_Starfish]

Still freezing. However, when I looked at the device manager to roll it back it said Mobility Radeon. Is it possible that it could roll itself back? it also came up with an error signature but it froze b4 i could get here.

grrr...

[DMR]

Well, at least you got your avatar... :p


Let's take a few steps back-

You first indicated that the computer was freezing because the Radeon was unstable, and also said that a reformat didin't help. What makes you believe that the video card is the culprit, and have you ruled out the possibility that perhaps a hardware fault is the cause and not the driver?

[Mac_Starfish]

Well, at least you got your avatar... :p Let's take a few steps back- You first indicated that the computer was freezing because the Radeon was unstable, and also said that a reformat didin't help. What makes you believe that the video card is the culprit, and have you ruled out the possibility that perhaps a hardware fault is the cause and not the driver?

That could be... but that would mean I would have to get a new videocard and I don't have the money for that right now... That is why I am trying to play around with the driver as much as I can. Trying to be optimistic I guess... (Silly University taking all my money!!) And I am just going by what the report that XP wants to send out to nowhere when my computer reboots after freezing.

Is there a test I can run on my video card to see if it is corrupt? Or do I have to take it in?

Thanks again for all your help :cool:

Starfish

[DMR]

Freely-downloadable utilities for testing video cards and other system components can be found on many of the sites in this Google search:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&q=%22video+card%22+freeware+diagnostic+test+utility+&btnG=Search

[antioed]

Ack! I'm coming into this thread late! I am also curious how you came to the conclusion that the video driver is causing the problem? Is Windows Error Reporting giving you a message that "the system crash is due to a driver problem" or something like that?

First off...I want to know, on the driver tab, what is the version/date of the driver that is currently installed? Next, I want to note that on the IBM site where the newer (9/2003) driver is posted there is a blurb:

NOTE: Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility for Windows 2000/XP 3.40.1002 or later version should be installed prior to installing this video driver.

If your Thinkpad's hardware was Voltron, the chipset + BIOS would be the head...if that reference makes no sense to you then you are lucky enough not to remember as much about the 80's as I do. The key here is that both the chipset + BIOS are up to date before the video drivers are updated/reinstalled...the BIOS controls how your hardware interacts with the operating system and the chipset controls how the operating system interacts with the processor in order to properly control devices like say...oh I don't know...maybe a video adapter? You get the point. Anyway, here's a link to the top-level of the software downloads section for the R32, maybe try all the updates? Read the instructions? Do the hokey pokey, turn yourself around?

http://www-306.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/product.do?doctypeind=9&doccategoryind=50880&operatingsystemind=53385&template=%2Fproductpage%2Flandingpages%2FproductPageLandingPage.vm&brandind=10&familyind=101256&machineind=0&modelind=0&partnumberind=0&subcategoryind=0&validate=true

[Mac_Starfish]

Hey,

The driver is MOBILITY RADEON
Version is 6.14.10.6372
Date 7/1/2003

I'll try those updates and see if it works.

Thanks,

Starfish

[Mac_Starfish]

I did the two updates. I didn't bother with the presentation one.
I'll let you know if it makes a difference.

[DMR]

OK- keep us posted....

[Mac_Starfish]

Mobility radeon is still unstable. It jammed up twice last night when I was trying to do some work. Gah! This is getting so frustrating!! :sad:

Do you guys have any more ideas?

Starfish :o