Windows XP only works in VGA mode

Discussion in 'Laptops & Notebooks' started by steve52, Feb 20, 2009.

  1. steve52

    steve52 New Member

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    GPU:
    ATI X1400 128MB
    Hi,

    My problems started right after I opened up my Laptop to clean the fan, so clearly I did something, but I can't figure out what.

    I have a Lenovo T60. The cooling fan had been making noise for a while. The other day I got an error message saying "Fan Error" and my computer wouldn't boot. I waited a few minutes and tried again and it booted up this time, but after a little while the fan started to make a lot of noise so I shut it down. I decided before I buy a new fan I would try cleaning this one and hopefully that would fix the problem.

    I followed directions I found online and in the Hardware Manual. I opened up my T60, took out the fan and sprayed it with compressed air to clean it. (I've read you shouldn't do this. Could it be bad for the fan?) I also sprayed and blew with my mouth in few other places where there was a lot of dust. I put everything back together and turned on my computer.

    Immediately I saw trouble. The screen had a green line going down the right side and there were dotted lines behind the windows logo and any words. After continuing with the start up, the screen eventually goes black. I'm pretty sure the computer's fine it's just the image on the screen is black. That's when I got the "NMI: Parity Check / Memory Parity Error" message. I've turned my computer on a few times since and I haven't seen that message since, but I also haven't been able to get past the start up without the screen going blank.

    I tried starting in Safe Mode and that worked fine. I then tried booting up in VGA Mode and that works too. When in VGA Mode the screen looks fine. No lines or dot's where they shouldn't be at all. As soon as I try to increase the resolution, though, the screen goes black again.

    Does anyone have any ideas what I could have done to cause this problem? And any ideas how to fix it. I've tried taking out the RAM and putting it back in and there was no change in behavior.

    Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

    Thanks,

    Steve
     
  2. jbgoode

    jbgoode Master Guru

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    GPU:
    275GTX /GTX580
    Those dotted lines and little squares around the cursor is an ATI VGA memory error.
    Son, I'll bet that when you used your mouth to blow air on your motherboard, saliva did the damage here.
    If your Book is under warranty, play dumb and send it back for a replacement unit.
    Good luck.
     

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