Odd problem with video refresh

I have a Dell Inspiron 6000,Windows XP home, Mobileintel(R)915GM/GMS910GML video card. Whenever I change themes,occasionally when installing a program (ie Hallmark card studio) downloading something with pictures or even using a program (ie owners manual) my start menu becomes a black box(no program shortcuts) all programs does not work run or search shortcuts do not work. Restarting the computer fixes this until the next time. I have reinstalled the drivers that didn,t help. When I check the video cards info it always(no matter what programs are running) says I have 10MB of video memmory in use. Can someone Help? I am a new computer user but learn fast. Thanks . (In addition to the above I have noticed today my screen seems to be flickering )

 

maybe a video card upgrade could slove the problem? since 10meg video memory (sorry to say this) is a bit crap.....

 

Maybe i wasn,t clear on that part I have 128MB available only 10MB in use

 

Did you undate your video drivers?

 

since I don't know what you mean I will assume no

 

What i ment to say was did you update your video drivers.

 

I downloaded the driver file from dell, I also tried to install a newer version from Intel but got a box saying it could not install on my system. Can anyone direct me to a diagnostic download that will let me know how much of my available video memory is actually in use? It seems impossible that I am only using 10MB out of 128MB no matter what I am running. Maybe my video memory is not being given what it needs?

 

most of the time intels intergrated video memory comes from your ram, so if u dont have much ram, or ram with high latency/slow speed, that could also be the problem. i used to get taht kind of problem when iused my intel intergrated graphics

 

I have 1gig ram, most of the time my system is using 45% of it, I don't understand the high latency/slow speed part.

 

I guess it's time for you to put down some money and get a new video card.

 

This is a new system, hardware still under warrenty. I have done all the diagnostics on the video card, there does not seem to be a problem with the card itself. Dell says it is a software issue and like always tells me to reload windows or PC restore to factory settings. I believe it can be resolved with some help.