GREEN DOTS: shading problem

This seems to me to be a simple problem that I can't fix because... Laptops don't teach you much about what computer part does what. Here's the lowdown.

I have a HP Pavilion laptop that has been working hard for two years. It's been on sleep 24-6 (fridays I turn it off for the day) for the past half year, seeding torrents, except when I play videogames (2 hours a day on average).
recently, when watching media files and playing games like Morrowind, certain shades turn up absolutely the wrong color One example is that all the brown in Morrowind turns neon green, and the edges of clouds turn purple. I never realized how much of Vvarfendel is brown.
Since the laptop is normally closed, I don't think it's a monitor problem. Also, the screen is normally fine, the abnormal shading seems to be related to the amount of stress on the computer (tetris = perfect colors, Oblivion = Greenland/world of green).
So, even though I wouldn't expect running Azureus all day and night would hurt my computer, I was wrong. What do you think is the faulty piece of hardware? (please let it be the RAM:cry)

 

Hook it up to an external monitor and see if the colors are still whacked. If so, then it's probably a software thing, and hopefully not a failing video adapter. If the pic on the external is OK, then it's the laptop LCD and will probably require replacement...

hd2k

 

Could you run a 2D/3D test for us? ie, open a paint program and paint in primary colours on your screen, red green blue cyan magenta yellow white black, if those colours seem fine then 2D is ok and your monitor is ok, if the problem is in a 3D environment it could be the drivers for the graphics or the colour/lighting tables for that game have become corrupt (corruption is a weird thing, in my case it 'just happens') try running DXDIAG from the 'RUN' box on START bar and let it check the dx drivers, if all thats ok try reinstalling mobo/graphics drivers and or the offending games let us know how you get on.

also to bare in mind is 3D games 'warm up' your gcard to a point it could be over heating (especially common in laptops), give it some air, cool it down, try playing from 'cold' ie shut down, leave off for an hour and try the game after that.

 

in the 2D/3D test, both are absolutely fine, provided that the demands on the computer are not too high. allow me to reiterate that complex 3D, or 2D processes, such as Morrowind, or watching One Piece in fullscreen, cause the problem. it can't be seen in matterblaster or a GIF image.
As added proof, the problem isn't as big if I quit Azureus or any other program running before doing something.
Something I didn't say originally is that the problem kind of turns on and off. in some places in morrowind it's better or worse, and sometimes after a "loading area" it disappears for a minute or two.
I will try shutting my laptop down for an hour and try it then.

 

Oops, almost forgot. the problem is the same on external monitors. If you saw these green dots in action, there's no doubt in my mind that every person would say it's the hardware. I can't see how anything else is possible (unless software only SOMETIMES messes up when the same calculation multiple times).

 

Also, where do you reinstall the display drivers?

 

shutting down the comp. for an hour was a great temp. fix!
I'm still wondering what was backing up/overheating though.

 

Re: Shading will not print...help?

I also have a shading problem with my computer. It is a dell with 98 windows and will not print the shading at all. (The printer will print shading from another computer, so I know it must be a setting in the computer itself) Any idea's of what I should check. Thank you! KMC

 

Re: shading problems-help?

I actually have windows XP (not 98) that will not print the shading on any document, any ideas? Thank you, KMC