After my laptop comes out of standby my background as well as some of the windows graphics are corrupted...It doesnt do it every time but when it does it is annoying...It can only be fixed by a restart...Any advice about what is wrong and how to fix it would be great....thanks

Win XP SP2
Radeon 9700
Newest Catalyst drivers....did it on older ones too....

here is a screen shot of the problem:

When did this start? If recently, you might try a System Restore to a Restore Point in time before the problem started.

How old is the laptop? Make and model?

What I find odd is your bottom Taskbar looks fine. That would indicate a good mechanical connection - and that the card seems to be working too. :idunno:

Have you connected an external monitor to see if it is the same there?

Are you using the monitor's native resolution?

it has been happening for awhile....but just as a minor annoyance...but it seems to be getting worse...I actually can no longer send output to an external monitor either....which is a seperate issue...or maybe it isnt seperate...

the computer is about 2 years old....and is a sager 3790...im sure that doesnt help much...

i tried switching drivers....system restore...I even took the ram out and cleaned it....nothing works...i have been using the same resolution since i bought it...

Originally Posted by Digerati

When did this start? If recently, you might try a System Restore to a Restore Point in time before the problem started.

How old is the laptop? Make and model?

What I find odd is your bottom Taskbar looks fine. That would indicate a good mechanical connection - and that the card seems to be working too. :idunno:

Have you connected an external monitor to see if it is the same there?

Are you using the monitor's native resolution?

Hmm, this one is odd. I normally avoid working on notebooks (too integrated and often too proprietary), but that Taskbar being clearly displayed caught my attention - as that then would "appear" to be a Windows thing, instead of a hardware thing, or driver. But then not working with a second monitor is not good either, and suggests your graphics system is failing - and that would be part of the motherboard. According to here, you should be running 1920x1200 resolution.

During the boot process, does it display correctly? Or does it only mess up once Windows is loaded? What about Safe Mode?

Does it only do it at boot, or in the middle of using it?

Can you associate it with heat? Movement - such as opening and closing the lid, flexing the open case? By this I mean grasp both sides of your laptop and apply a twisting force to flex the case a bit.

Have you run a complete malware scan? - If you don't have a full arsonel, I can point you to my sticky on cleaning malware.

I'm just throwing out stuff, anyone else is welcome to toss in ideas.

actually my screen is 1680x1050 native...the higher resolution screen was an option...The problem only comes after the system has been running for an extended period and especially after coming out of standby. A reboot will fix the problem atleast for awhile...Honestly, I am not sure it will happen without coming out of standby...I will watch that since I turned standby off now...

it isn't just the windows background that gets garbled...some of the other windows graphics have problems too...ie check boxes and pop up menus...quite recently I have noticed other strange behaviors...like not being able to open programs...it says insufficient quota...or not being able to see text in some running programs...but that is only after the problem starts...it is running completely normal at the moment...

regarding your questions...
boot process looks fine...
i dont let the computer run in safe mode for extended periods but I remeber it being fine...
i can't identify it being associated with heat but I can't completely discount it...other physical issues don't seem to have a impact...
I have run hijackthis...adaware....spybot...and use trendmicro IC 2008

i thought about doing a repair install on my computer to see if that helps...do you recommend that?

a few more details about my system...
1.7ghz pentium M
1GB ram
80 GB Fujitsu harddrive
Windows XP SP2

btw...sorry for mispelling standby in the subject of the post...

Originally Posted by Digerati

Hmm, this one is odd. I normally avoid working on notebooks (too integrated and often too proprietary), but that Taskbar being clearly displayed caught my attention - as that then would "appear" to be a Windows thing, instead of a hardware thing, or driver. But then not working with a second monitor is not good either, and suggests your graphics system is failing - and that would be part of the motherboard. According to here, you should be running 1920x1200 resolution.

During the boot process, does it display correctly? Or does it only mess up once Windows is loaded? What about Safe Mode?

Does it only do it at boot, or in the middle of using it?

Can you associate it with heat? Movement - such as opening and closing the lid, flexing the open case? By this I mean grasp both sides of your laptop and apply a twisting force to flex the case a bit.

Have you run a complete malware scan? - If you don't have a full arsonel, I can point you to my sticky on cleaning malware.

I'm just throwing out stuff, anyone else is welcome to toss in ideas.

quite recently I have noticed other strange behaviors...like not being able to open programs...it says insufficient quota

Error messages are always best mentioned in opening posts. And they need to be specific too, as there is often a code and some other text. If it happens again, we need to know what the code says.

The problem only comes after the system has been running for an extended period and especially after coming out of standby.

Those to me are two opposite extremes - After running for a long time suggests it could be a heat problem, but after coming out of standby, when it should be cooled, suggests some other failure. That said, there is a surge in every circuit when power is first applied so maybe a single component is responsible for both.

You said you ran HJT, when? Did you have the log analyzed?

As for repair install, I don't think we're there yet - that's one of the last ditch efforts. And besides, if a hardware problem, a new install of software won't fix it.

I would keep an eye on your temperatures - your laptop may have come with a PC Health monitoring tool, or you can use, CoreTemp for newer Intel and AMD64 CPUs. Speedfan is a great and popular alternative, or you can try Motherboard Monitor. Unfortunately, I have found that these programs often have problems properly identifying and labeling the sensor they are reading. The temperatures shown are as accurate as the inexpensive, low-tech sensors will allow, but it may say System Fan instead of CPU Fan. Fortunately, the programs do allow you to edit the labels, so I use Everest to verify the temperatures (as it is able to put sensor to label correctly), then edit the label in the monitoring program. In Everest, look under Computer > Sensor, then wait a couple seconds for the readings to appear. Unfortunately, Everest does not minimize to the system tray to show real-time temperatures, otherwise, you could use Everest instead of the others.

Now once again, I generally avoid laptops problems, and when I do decided to work on one, it is usually in front of me on my bench - so keep that in mind and take whatever I say with a grain of salt. That said, you say now you have display problems at other times - is the Task Bar at the bottom always clearly visible? If not, then I would suspect graphics problems - assuming your system is clean of malware.

And make sure your warranty is not good for 3 years.