Dell Inspiron 1720 problem

I'm not sure if this is the correct forum for this, but I am having a bit of trouble. If it is the wrong forum feel free to move it.

Whenever I attempt to play any sort of game or even just use Firefox, every so-often my display driver will crash. My screen turns black and then everything is back to normal until the next time it happens. I would really appreciate it if someone could offer some advice on how I can fix this problem.

I am currently running Windows Vista, with an Intel Core2 Duo 2Ghz processor, and a NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics card.

If I have forgotten anything please feel free to ask, and I will provide the information to that best of my knowledge.

 

Change or update your GPU river. The best ones I highly recommend are from laptopvide2go.com Try the new DOX 180.20 optimized drivers. However if you're already using those, try reinstalling it or use another driver.

Happened to me once, all I had to do was to reinstall or get a new driver. Nothing to do with the GPU, its running fine as it is. What are the operating temperatures? As far as I know, no one has ever faced overheating issues of any component with the 1720. No one. Your 8600M GT should be running around 62-65*C on full load.

What driver version are you using, mate?

 

I followed your advice, this time using a driver cleaner, and thus far I have not seen any problems.. However I have indeed been having a few overheating problems. My computer seems to die around 60 degrees Celcius.

 

Glad that works. But please be specific. "Die" as in? And 60*C, is not overheating. Overheating is defined when you reach a temperature of 90-100*C, and in which the rate of happening on a 1720 is once again virtually none.

There are alot of notebooks out there which hit around the 70s - 80s and those are the common temperature ranges on full load. A GPU or a CPU running 60*C or lower on full load is a blessing. It's a software/driver issue for your case which can easily be solved by reinstalling it, and in which I have also experienced it.

Anyway I hope everything is solved. Drop me a line if you need any more help.

 

By die, I mean Blue Screen error. Just now, my computer suffered a Blue Screen error, I didn't catch much, but when I logged back in to Windows, the computer alerted me that my display driver caused the problem. I'm not really sure why this happened. The game I was playing at the time was Guild Wars.

 

You should run the diagnostics and test out your video card. Same thing happened on my 1705 when the card went bad.

I've had the driver issue with different drivers. It is nothing to worry about.. just change drivers. But you shouldn't get a BSOD from it.

 

When did you noticed the BSOD? Is it very often? Or when you just updated the driver it happens? Yes, run a diagnostics test to find out. This is the first time I hear such things happening to a 1720. I'd like to take into serious account of your case.

Run the diagnostics and update me ASAP. Try changing the driver to a different version as well or have a fast glimpse of the BSOD so that we can really pin-point where the problem lies. Thanks.

 

I was having a similar problem and after discussing it with customer service I decided to dig around. Underneath the media control panel I found the monitor cable was generating enough heat that it actually burned my fingers when I touched it. It turned out the cable was miss wired and basically burning the computer to the ground. First determine where the heat is coming from, mine came from the top right of the media control panel. Then speak with the customer service department and try to diagnose the issue. Hope this helps.

Rob