Display Driver r500 Continues to Fail

My error message when viewing videos (on youtube, for example): "Display driver r300 stopped responding and has successfully recovered."

Here is the information you have requested I share:

1.) Model No.: MT 6451 (Also has a bar code with this number underneath: 1MA3H000007 and another bar code below that number that reads: GWTF7011GGH)
My computer is a Gateway Laptop running Windows Vista with 2 GB RAM

EDIT: I gave up finding the info and downloaded the Everest Program. My log is attached.

2.) Problem: I was watching a youtube video and suddenly my screen flashed green and then went completely black except for the cursor. The first couple times, I could still hear the sound. I rebooted it and the same thing still occurred. When the display reappears, I get a pop-up bubble at the bottom right task bar that reads, "Display driver r300 stopped responding and has successfully recovered." However, it doesn't actually recover, because it keeps happening each time I try to watch a video. I've been having numerous issues with this laptop lately. It's getting older and maybe it's just dying? Hope not as if this goes, it's my only home computer and I have NO money for another.

3.) Please see the attached .txt file.

4.) I have tried rebooting it, but didn't know what to do beyond that. Someone had written in a post after I googled my issue, that I could right click on the video, then click on settings and uncheck "Enable Hardware Acceleration." However, they said that I wouldn't be able to play games if I did that, and I do play online Flash games, so I didn't try. I have no clue what else to do. My Google search results were all from 2007 - 2008. I couldn't find anything current.

5.) Back in...probably...October or November... the IT guy at work helped me update my video driver because I was having issues where my whole screen (including mouse arrow) would go black, and then go crazy and turn into vertical colored lines and a little square in the upper left. VERY bizarre. Then I would have to "hard kill" it and it would NOT turn on. I had to wait a long time. Even if the laptop hadn't been on very long prior to that. Anyway, we updated the drivers, BIOS, and I got a new laptop cool pad fan thingy. That hasn't happened since then. He helped me, and I'm not confident enough I would install a proper driver since then, so I've not checked (wouldn't remember where to check), not done it since then.

Yesterday (before this happened) I ran complete scans with Malwarebytes, Super Anti-Spyware as part of my normal maintenance.

Thanks. I will try and be patient!! I know you guys get really busy. But I sure do hope you can help me. Thanks again!! :cool

EDIT: I have also attached the PREVIOUS issue I was having that I discussed above in section 5.

 

Greetings, EscapeCat.

Let's try this:

Download the following files from Gateway: the Intel Chipset driver and the ATI Video driver.

First, unzip and install the Chipset driver, and reboot.

Then, uninstall the current ATI driver on your machine, and reboot (your screen will probably look funky, because Windows will load its generic VGA drivers at that point).

Now, unzip and install the new ATI driver, reboot, and see if your symptoms have changed.

 

Hi Caliban!!! Thanks for your prompt reply.

I'm about to make a fool out of myself... I don't have WinZip and can't afford it. What program do I use to unzip a file?

 

You don't need a 3rd-party decompression program - Vista is able to extract files.

Double-click on the downloaded package, and an Explorer window should open with an option to 'Extract all files'. Click that, and a dialog will open to choose a destination folder. Either specify a folder, or choose the default. When that's complete, then run the included Setup.exe.

 

Thank you! Gonna work on it tonight. Haven't had time before this. I will post an update when I'm done.

 

You're welcome.

Let us know how it goes.

 

Hi again!

I tried to install the Chipset Driver and it tells me that I don't have minimum requirements to run the software. :-/ Now what?

(We tried to run it on an XP machine, and it was working fine. I was getting help from my boyfriend.)

 

That chipset driver may be problematic - for one thing, I'm not finding the MT 6451 on the Gateway support site, just the MT 6450.

Did you try the video driver? If not, try uninstalling the current driver, reboot, and install the new ATI driver.

 

Nope. Hadn't tried that yet since I hadn't completed the first step involving the Chipset Driver. (Since I'm sucha rookie at this, I didn't want to do anything that will mess up my laptop. )

I'm not seeing an Uninstall option for the "ATI Catalyst Install Manager." I'm assuming that IS what I am supposed to uninstall? I will post a screenshot for you. It's giving me the option to "repair," but not "uninstall."

(Very sorry for my inexperience and lack of knowledge with this. I'm pretty good with computers in general, but not with this kind of thing.)

 

I'm sorry for the double post - it won't let me EDIT the one above.

So, I doubled clicked on the ATI Catalyst Manager and was apparently able to uninstall it from there. (I didn't realize that above.) So I uninstalled BOTH that are showing in the screenshot, and then installed the ATI driver you gave me above. I did get some weird errors during this. When I first tried to install the new driver, it said there were errors and for me to view a log. I did that, and it opened Firefox and to something like ///C: program something else. (Sorry I didn't write it down.) Firefox just said it could not be found. It also opened another tab about mass file downloads and my WOT add-on for Firefox stopped it and said it was an unsafe site. Very odd. I closed both of those immediately, worried about my system security. Anyway, I eventually did it all correctly. Both previous drivers showing in the screenshot above were removed, and now there is just the new one you had me install. But, nothing has changed. I'm still having the exact same issue.

 

Good morning.

To clarify: are these symptoms displaying only when you watch video or when playing Flash games, or are they present during other local operation?

 

Good evening! (12 hours later. Hehe)

So far, it is only when I am watching videos online. I just tested by watching a video I created with Windows Movie Maker, and had no problems. (I don't have other videos on here.) It plays them in Windows Media Player. My flash games have worked SO FAR, but I've not had loads of time to try them out, either.

I have noticed that from time to time when I am at a forum I will post, the screen will very quickly flash all green, and then the post will appear. Just have had strange little things like that other than my online video issues.

 

Problems such as this are amongst the toughest to solve, because they're intermittent.

Can you get your hands on a discrete monitor? If so, try plugging it in (most laptops have an external VGA connector), use it for a while and see if you get the same symptoms, just to rule out any physical issues with the laptop's display.

 

Nope. I have no access to one.

So I guess there's not much I can do??

I can say that our office IT guy looked at my laptop when it first had the weird problem (pictured in an earlier post) and confirmed that the wiring and screen and such seemed to be fine and not at all problematic. At that time he thought my laptop was overheating. I got a cooling pad with a fan and that hasn't happened since. But now I developed this issue.

Would using a restore point possibly help?

What if I were to wipe my system clean and do a complete fresh install (I so hope not).

I don't know what else to do? It happens EVERY time I attempt to watch a video online, but doesn't seem to happen when I watch my video that I made via Windows Media Player.

 

A System Restore might help, as might a format/reinstall of Windows - that is, if your problems are Windows related.

What browser are you using to view online video? You might try another browser, see if your symptoms change.

 

I've tried viewing videos in IE 7 and also in Firefox v. 3.6.13. It happens in both of them. It's weird, though. Come to think of it, it MIGHT only happen on youtube. I'm going to have to check tonight and see if it happens when viewing videos on OTHER sites, or if it's only youtube. I'll post back tonight what I find out. (I'm at work at the moment and my laptop is at home.)

 

Hi, EC...

Now, that would be a weird symptom, if YouTube is the source of the trouble - we can only hope.

Please try to verify that online streaming is faulty, but local video works well - that could be a huge step towards figuring this thing out.

I'll be in and out, but I'll keep tabs on this thread.

 

Hi again, Caliban!
Okay. Be prepared for a really weird symptom!! I can watch videos on Daily Motion with no problems. I can watch videos that I created on Windows Movie Maker with no problem.

I cannot watch any youtube without that happening shortly after the video begins.

Here's a thought. Come to think of it, this happened around the time that youtube changed things on their site where they require you to have a google account if you want your youtube account. I was forced to link them. Is it possible that youtube did something to their site that for whatever whacky reason my laptop and/or its drivers disagree with? Would that be completely off the wall?

EDIT: I can also watch videos on metacafe. (I'm just kinda searching the net for videos online. ) And I can watch vh1.com videos... And video.google.com ...

Yup. Seems to just be youtube. How's that for a crazy curveball!?! Argh. Everything is on youtube. Sometimes I just waste time on youtube and now I can't even watch it.

EDIT: Interesting! Check this out:

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/youtube/thread?tid=2c7d68a5f48652e8&hl=en

I'm just about to head to bed. Do you think I should try that person's idea with installing an older version of Flash?

Let me know what you think! (Sorry for all my rambling and edits! I really appreciate all your input and time into this issue.)

 

Good morning, Caliban.

I went back to the older version Flash Player as mentioned in the link above, but it didn't help. So I have now gone back to the newer version.

I have found in the google/youtube support forums that this is a fairly new issue for some people trying to watch youtube. Most of the posts happened around the same time I posted here. Have you heard anything about this? I still can't watch youtube, but can watch any other video. (Is this maybe something to do with google and youtube making you merge your accounts?) Such an odd issue...

 

Good morning.

It would shock me if this turned out to be a video problem caused by two companies merging accounts. If that were the case, then all machine logic would cease to exist, and my poor brain would probably start smoldering...:confused

Kudos on the Flash reversion - that was a good shot. BTW: I saw your new thread in the YouTube forum: let us know if you get any feedback from that.

I'm wondering if this could somehow be a conflict between the ATI software and the YouTube/Flash. If you're feeling brave, we could go out on a limb and try something:

1. Download (but don't install yet) an older ATI driver version from OldApps.com, something from a time before the YouTube problems started surfacing, maybe about a year ago in the 9-10 series - I'll let you choose, because I don't know if you've got a 32-bit or a 64-bit machine.

2. Download CCleaner and Driver Sweeper if you don't already have them.

3. Create a System Restore point.

4. Uninstall your current ATI drivers - everything you can find.

5. Run Driver Sweeper to clean any traces of the ATI software.

6. Run CCleaner, both the files cleaner and the Registry cleaner (do back up your registry when prompted).

7. Install the OldApps ATI driver you've selected.

Then try YouTube again. If there are no changes in symptoms, then you can got through the uninstall and cleaning routine and reinstall the current ATI package. If, however, your symptoms change, we know that something's hinky with the way the newer ATI builds (at least, on your machine) are handshaking with Flash (specifically, YouTube's Flash).

Lot of work, but if there is a conflict going on, maybe the uninstall/reinstall dance will clue us.

 

Hello Caliban,
Here are the specs for the MT6451 for your reference.

 

Thx, tgell - good find.

@EscapeCat: you might want to bookmark that page for the future.

Unfortunately, it links to the same MT6450 driver download page, but it did allow me to find this AMD page - additional ammo.

 

Hi again!

Thank you both! I will work more on it when I get home either tonight or tomorrow night when I have time. Sure would be nice if we were able to fix it. It's interesting to me how many people I have found are having this issue that began this February. (Finding a lot of questions in Yahoo! Answers, too.)

Not the most brave one in the world, but it's worth a shot, right? And yes, I will certainly let you know if I get any replies from the google/youtube help forum.

I certainly don't want your brain to boil -D) so I'm sure it's not the merging of their accounts.

 

An interesting project would be to research the various forums for similar problems to yours and filter them with your ATI and/or machine specs.

Good luck - keep us posted.

 

You're right... I might just look into that! I kinda tried this weekend, but it's so very confusing!

Oh, one more thing (since you're online right now), how can I find out if my system is 32 or 64 bit? The same place I find out what Service Pack I am, etc.?

 

Yep - System Properties page in Control Panel. Should list it in the System section as 'System Type'.

 

Perfect. Thank you!

 

Hello,
Adobe just came out with a new version of flash: Adobe Flash Player 10.2.152.32. Not sure it will help though.

 

Thanks, tgell!! I'll check it out and cross my fingers.

 

Hello. I am new here...found this post by searching google...display driver fails while watching youtube videos. I too have had this problem recently. It only happens while watching youtube. I am able to watch all youtube videos that are posted on facebook without a single problem!! I also have NO problems watching videos any where else on the web...it only happens when I am on YOUTUBE! I have updated every thing, and things I could not update says I already have the updated versions. I have scanned for anything that could infect my computer. All is clean and well. I too have an older laptop...a Dell, roughly 3 or 4 years old. Vista home pro. I am totally stumped as to why this is only happening on youtube! I will be checking out this forum now that I found you guys. Thank you for all your help!

 

@tgell....Downloaded the newer version of Adobe Flash, but still having the issue. Interesting thing was, however, I was able to watch 2 videos DIRECTLY on two people's channels. But when searching for a video and watching it normally, it happens every time.

@Caliban...Haven't had a chance to go through all the steps you've provided. A little nervous about (I'm a novice, but willing to learn!) it and want to be sure I have plenty of time to devote to it. After work is hard.

@mainiacbarb....I've founds posts in quite a few places where others are having this problem as well. I hope we can figure it out! Sorry to hear you're dealing with it too, though. Keep an eye on this thread and maybe it will get solved.

@All...I will go check back with the thread I posted in the youtube support forums and see what I can learn there, too. Will keep everyone posted.

 

EC: Jump in with both feet - 'novice' is just a state of mind...

@ mainiacbarb: Welcome aboard, and thanks for the input - this issue is obviously not restricted to one machine. :major

 

I've been sick, but I hope to try this soon for all interested. My thread over at google has gotten much longer. (And you guys were mentioned by someone else. )

 

Good morning - hope you're feeling better.

Couple of quick thoughts:

1. Drivers (video drivers in particular) are usually updated to address specific problems with certain programs. It might be worth your while to cruise any AMD/ATI driver help forums, see if anything similar to your situation is popping up there. I'll do the same when I get a chance.

2. Something in your YouTube forum thread triggered something - the poster mentioned that when script is excluded, he/she could watch the videos. You might try going into your Internet Options, both Security and Advanced tabs, and toggle anything script related for troubleshooting purposes.

3. Which leads me to another thought: what Java version are you running?

And, you are able to watch embedded videos here at MG? Try one of the Video Tutorials or something in the WAYLT thread.

 

Thanks, Caliban. Back to the doc I go next week. At least the pneumonia is officially clear - clear chest xray.

Let's see...to briefly answer your questions.

1) I will have to peruse those forums and see what I can find.

2) I saw that as well, but hadn't tried your suggestion. I will do that!! Thank you

3) Java Version 6, Update 24

And yup...no problems watching one of those tutorials. I have no problems viewing embedded youtube videos on forums or Facebook. I can watch videos on any other site without a problem (google video, metcafe, dailymotion, etc.). I can also watch youtube videos on someone's channel I was told this might have to do with an older script(?) running on people's channels than on the main youtube browser. But I have no idea. In the google/youtube help forum, they have merged my thread with one that is a similar (but not exactly the same) problem. They want me to stop hardware acceleration, but I'm not able to access that...

Again, I truly appreciate your help with all this. I know it's kinda turning into a long, drawn out, problem.

 

Good morning.

Yes - do try the script toggle thingy.

Another shot. If you're not able to access any hardware acceleration settings (a common problem with Vista), try changing your desktop theme to Windows Classic and disable any Aero effects. Then try to access acceleration again; for that matter, try a YouTube video while running Classic/non-Aero settings.

 

Update: Apparently, this is a spreading issue - I'm getting reports from all over that videos are not showing up at the YouTube site, but embedded videos are working fine.

This strengthens the assumption that this may be a script-related problem.

 

Something else to try, from another thread:

YouTube Support.

 

Thank you so much, Caliban!!

My laptop died a few days ago. It's a gonner... So, I type to you on a new one, and there seems to be no issues with this one and youtube. (Thank goodness for tax returns!! But that means I can't buys a few other things I need because I bought this.) Being so many people had that frustrating issue with the drivers and youtube, I do hope that this thread is helpful to others!! Thank you so very much for your patience, ideas, and assistance.

 

No problem, EC - it's been a pleasure working with you.

Hope you got a good machine - now, go enjoy some YouTube! :major

 

Same to you!

And thanks. I will. I bought an Asus laptop: Asus - Laptop / Intel® Core™ i3 Processor / 15.6" Display / 4GB Memory / 640GB Hard Drive - Burgundy

Bought it at Best Buy as it was on sale. I sure hope it's a good one. In any event, I know it is better than the one I had. Thanks again! I'm off to go watch some youtube!!