Following the HP link --> HP Pavilion zd8000 CTO Notebook PC --> Software & Driver downloads --> Microsoft Windows XP

All they have is the ATI M22/M24

BRB, going to restart in Safe Mode.


Update:
Okay, Safe Mode is fine, no weird checkerboxes. I have a feeling that this might occur tomorrow, I guess I'll have to wait and see when it messes up again.

Re-Update:
Alright, I decided to turn off the computer for a bit, thinking it was just a fluke, and I was RIGHT! The problem is back and it seems to persist in a different way now. This time I was unable to start the computer regularly. I can hear the Windows chime, but there's no video. The screen is just black. When I force it to suspend itself, I can see it flicker, but other than that, nothing.

So, back to Safe Mode.

Here are some screenshots of the problem (sorry for the large size).

The lines are up even in the command prompt before I boot up to Safe Mode.

One more try:

Do you see this disfiguration if you enter the BIOS Setup?

Sorry for the late reply, can't seem to get the video to show up in any boot form at the moment.

As I type this on a sibling's computer, I can say that, yes, the BIOS setup is also jacked. However...occasionally everything works fine.

By the way, do you know where the video card would be or if it's built in the motherboard somehow?

I've been using this PDF whenever I disassemble the laptop.


Using that PDF, I never found any exact instructions about a video card in there.

Can you try an external monitor?

Probably not. I might be wrong but, only Safe Mode (working only sometimes), and I don't think I'm able to get a driver in for an external monitor in that mode.

I think as of right now, being unable to get any video seems to be a resolution problem that I've always had with this video card. Like I can sometimes force the resolution to show up when I make the laptop enter standby or hibernate, but the chances of that working are low. Usually ends up requiring a restart or a power off.

/sigh

Stupid laptop, I was hoping it'd last me 4-5 years.

The idea of an external monitor would be to test your laptop LCD screen.

There are no drivers needed for a basic VGA signal to any monitor.

I probably won't be able to get my hands on another monitor that isn't already being used at the moment, well at least not today. I'll give it a try tomorrow morning if I can find and onld one in the garage.

Anyways, I was finally able to boot up regularly (be it with the checkered boxes), however, there's a new observation.



This is how my desktop looked when I finally got in. A minute or two later, my computer froze up, beeped, and the desktop refreshed itself with properly displayed icons. A minute or two later, it froze and beeped again, and here I am now.

Another observation. I decided to run a few checks and ran dxdiag. For some reason it keeps failing I do "Test Direct3D" --> "Test failed at step 8 (Creating 3D devices): HRESULT = 0x8007000e (Out of memory)."

I tried to update my drivers with the drivers listed at the HP support site. It killed my driver. It ended up with

Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. (Code 39)

I uninstalled the driver and nothing seems to work anymore, no matter what I download, I always get the error.

I think I give up. All the other old monitors were all thrown out/recycled. Anyways...too many errors now with all these hard restarts and what not.



I'm just going to toss the laptop down the stairs. Although, thanks guys, mainly you Jephree.