I'm am getting really choppy results from my video card...

I KNOW MY POST IS LONG BUT BEAR WITH ME HERE!

Okay, First here's all the info on my ATI MOBILITY FIREGL V5200

Driver Packaging Version 8.204-051220a1-031127C-Lenovo
Provider ATI Technologies Inc.
2D Driver Version 6.14.10.6587
2D Driver File Path System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video\{FFB66D5C-4CE1-4036-A0F0-68F2470CBC51}\0000
Direct3D Version 6.14.10.0362
OpenGL Version 6.14.10.5527
CATALYST® Control Center Version 1.2.2180.38582

Now let me tell you why I'm posting. I purchased my laptop (which I am using right now) around July of last year for the start of my freshman year at college. I am in Industrial Design and for my degree my school (DAAP) required me to buy a Thinkpad T60p (a pre designated laptop, and I didn't change anything on it) (Oh and we needed a thinkpad because Industrial Design uses a few Windows only programs). It has 1 Gig of Ram and is running on windows xp. Anyways, When I got the laptop it was working beautifully. Everything graphically was great, fast to pop up windows, work on Photoshop was great, etc. However around the halfway point of my freshman year I noticed the quality and speed to drop quite a bit. Well it turned out that all I needed was a little cleaning of the registry, some loose files (nothing malware or defrag related thank goodness, i was on top of that). However, at the same time I noticed the graphics have been lagging a bit. By lagging, I mean when windows starts I type in my password (to logon) and then the screen "hangs" just saying it is loading my preferences etc. it plays the logon sound, and after a few more seconds of the logon screen it then displays my desktop. Now here's where it gets even worse. When my desktop pops up, where my taskbar pops up a blue box is there (just like a blue rectangle) for a few seconds, then the taskbar appears. Also my background is a black box and it takes a second for the background to appear. Sometimes both of these occur at the same time, sometimes one or the other, sometimes neither. All I know is that it never did it when I bought it. Now I know what your thinking, first my background image is a very small file, less than 300kb. I am not using any fancy themes only the microsoft registered one. I have no additional processes tagged to load at startup (less than the amount than when I got the computer, actually). And after running all my scans I have no reason to believe it is malware. At one point in time I had a smitfraud infection but that was taken care of 7 months ago. I am convinced that something is up with my video card and that somewhere along the way maybe a setting got changed and made start up lag. Additionally, when I am using photoshop with a large file or more than one moderate size files, when I move files around or use selection tools, the movements are choppy and usually the images become white and it takes a click for them to reappear after setting them back down. Finally a few weeks back while using firefox and itunes at the same time and while loading a page of art pictures, the entire computer screen froze and though I could still hear my music I could not do anything. (since then i have stopped using itunes because its a resource hog and haven't had the problem) However, When I restarted, the microsoft error website said I had "a draw error" and it told me to go into the hardware properties and turn off all graphics card "accelerations." I have yet to do it because my problem seems to be the fact that my card isn't fast enough, despite the fact I have a very strong laptop. Should I try that? Or does it seem like a bigger problem? I have posted all the information from my graphics card above. Can anyone help with this? I have tried all efforts I knew, to clean (CCleaner, registry processes) , defrag, etc. to my system (thinking that was the problem) and its still doing this. It is officially the last thing I need to take care of before I leave to go back to school and I'd like to get it back to how it once was. Thank you all for your help in advance.

Leadster618

 

I know I'm not suppose to bump...but I'm seeing no results...

 

First of I would disable (select the blank entry) for the Control Panel > Sounds and Audio Devices > Sounds > Sound scheme.

But the desktop, wallpaper and other imaging related odd occurences sounds like the cause of corrupted display (video) card drivers. Have you check to see if a newer version for your video card drivers exists on vendors web site?
If yes, I suggest you d/l and install to see if it made a difference.

And yes, your laptop is plenty fast and has more than enough RAM to handle the 'Hardware Acceleration' in the Display Properties > Settings > Advanced > Troubleshoot section, so do not lower it.

Can you get to the Thinkpad Display Management by holding down the fn (function key) and then pressing F7? If yes, you might be able to revert back to the original factory settings by choosing that option which is generally at the bottom, then go from there.

~TL :cool

 

Thanks Turcoloco for the response!
Okay, I went to the sound scheme and its already on the blank option.

I am currently searching for a driver update now, and will post back when/if I find one. I assume if my driver is corrupted, and I don't find a new driver, I should reinstall the current one? Any idea how I go about that? Cause if I take away the display driver, won't my display not work? I'm not going to take action on reinstalling my current driver until I'm sure on how to do it.

Also I did do the fn+f7 and reverted back to original factory settings (i was on "normal" settings. And when I changed it the screen seemed to reset itself so I'm going to reboot and see if that help any at login and graphically. However, to note: when I dropped to original factory settings, the color quality dropped to 16 bit color, and I am in a graphic intensive field which I would prefer to be at 32 bit so I changed that back to 32 from 16 in the display properties menu.

I'll be back, when I make headway on the driver, or if someone else responds.

 

You are welcome, I try to help whoever and whenever I can, hopefully we will get you sorted out. It is better to leave the sound scheme as blank so you got it already...cool.

Updating drivers is generally a good thing but certain scenarios (when the card is too old and you're using generic drivers that cover a family of different models, etc.).
Re-installing the same driver should logically be fine since the same drivers was working fine on the same system before and if it is not a application/game specific issue, the chances are the driver or related system files (DirectX mainly) could be damaged, corrupted, etc. but I suggest you wait till you see if the fn + F7 workaround resolves the issue or not.

Yes, I forgot to mention, that it would change it back to 16bit and you can tell that from the grainy look of shortcuts on desktop and wallpaper. Do not ask me why it does that but that is normal so just go ahead and change the color depth to 32bit which would be the ideal setting.
I normally create a new profile if I am going to have a custom thing going with my T60 such as extending the screen to another monitor or projector, so I cna configure each monitor's screen resolution and save it. This comes in even more handy if you are using some sort of a docking unit.

Side note: Sometimes the Thinkpad Desktop Manager can go nuts or the custom profile could get corrupted forcing you to delete and re-create a new one.

Let me know how it turns up.

 

Okay so I have updated my driver for my video card, it did need one update. I installed it, restarted and it doesn't seem to have changed anything sadly. I also made sure there weren't any driver updates for my laptop screen, but there were none. Should I check for driver updates on everything else? In the presentation schemes, I created a brand new one that only used my monitor (the default took into account that I may be using projectors, which I'm not) and I'm going to see if that does anything. So far nothing seems different, even with the update...start up was the same, so what do you think I should do next? Would ATI know anything about this? Or should I go to Thinkpad?

 

Okay something worse has occurred, I was using the internet and I was on a graphic intensive site (ConceptArt) and while on it, my screen froze, exactly the same way it did last time but instead of a fatal error recognition, a blue screen popped up stating that my driver got stuck in an infinite loop and the system is going to shut down. It said a file which I believe was called Atidvag(?).exe or .dll...it appeared so fast I couldn't read it and it said it did a physical memory dump. Now I turned my computer back on and it works the same as before but the ATI Catalyst Control Center won't open now. And it claims that the runtime was not started, so I see in the advanced option on the start menu that I can restart runtime for ATI...I do it and nothing happens, it won't open. I can't believe this is happening...and of course its just passed the one year mark. I don't know exactly what the warranty policy is (I'm hoping its two years) but if its one I don't know what to do. I think I should write to ATI with the problem or call them during the day. I really don't want my laptop to be crippled before I get to school. Help!

 

Oh My God Please Help Me!

OKAY THINGS HAVE GOTTEN MUCH WORSE! :cry :cry :cry :cry :cry :cry
I turned off my computer and then turned it back on and the screeen resolution dropped to 4bit resolution! I logged in and it was like the worst thing I've ever seen. I managed to get to the drive manager and i clicked rollback driver, it did, I restarted and got the same error i did before but NOW AT STARTUP, the file is AT12DVAG and it shut down and now I am running on safe mode with networking! The resolution is better than 4bits and I can use the internet but I need to get this problem fixed now! I wrote to ATI but they are going to take some time, so I'm going to call them tomorrow! Also, when I used system restore it came up with the same error message! The driver on my graphics card is SEVERELY damaged or something! The driver numbers I had installed that came with the card are the completely wrong ones according to their website! I still have the option to revert to factory state but I want to keep that as a last resort! I have an external so I am backing up all of my information now! But until then PLEASE HELP ME SOMEONE! If you know ANYONE who can help please contact them to help me right away! I am begging the Majorgeeks community!!!

 

Hmmm, not sure what kind of additional tinkering you have done or perhaps all this is a delayed, accumulative outcome of the so called 'registry cleaning' you mentioned in the first post but this is like to be a case of damages system files. Too much of a mess it seems like and not sure if trying to fix it would worth the energy or even be a sure-fire thing.

Doing a fresh install at this time might be what the doctor ordered my friend.
Just make sure you backed up all your data before starting the fresh install and also doing a fresh install will let you know if the problem was indeed software based (which it is from the sound of it) or if there was a faulty hardware involved as well (unlikely).

Install all original drivers that the system came with to see how everything looks. You might be better off with the original drivers if they appear to be working fine.

Sorry, this is all I can sincerely recommend given the level of the problems you have encountered thus far.

 

Praise be system restore...I am back to before I updated it...and I talked to Lenovo, I am apparently one OF MANY who have had this issue. They suggest that I don't update...and they are sending me a box that I can use for 30 days, so if it happens again I can send in my laptop free of charge (woo for warranty) and get the gtraphics card and drivers replaced...thanks for everybodys help and if you also have the problem, let me know! cause I want to rant to Lenovo that they should make a solid patch/update for our laptops!