Acer 1522wlmi doing odd boot things

[ingresman]

Hi Guys,
Hope you can help me here. I normally haunt the mysql and php forums but I now have a hardware issue I can't get my head around.
I've got a Acer aspire 1522wlmi laptop with 250gb drive and 1.5 gb of memory. Recently upgraded and a fresh xp home installed.
Last week while watching a DVD the display developed lines accross it (much hlike an old 405 line tv) and froze up. I had to remove the battery to get it to do anything. This happend a few times and then it kind of stoped working altogether.
If I boot it after leaving it alone for a day or so it will show the bios screen and try to load XP but after about 5 seconds (while the moving bar is displayed) it locks up again and the lines come back. It also has large white areas on the screen down the right hand side.
If I now reset the battery and boot again I get no display at all, the hard drive is working an the fan is going mental and that's it again for a day.
So my thoughts are if the display was dead it wouldn't display anything ever. And the almost instant lockup would indicate the processoer at fault.
So if anyone has any thoughts I'd be very greatfull.

 

[wahnula]

My first instinct is to try it with an external monitor to check if it's a display issue or a video issue...my guess is the video adapter is going bad, possibly heating up & shutting the system down. Trying with an external monitor should further the diagnosis.

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[BadBigBen]

I agree with Tony, as that it sounds like the gfx card is gone or going...

after what Tony suggested, I would also suggest that a clean out is in order...

and if there is still no improvement, then check to see if it has a separate gfx card as there are replacements to be had... Now also keep in mind that if the cost of a new gfx card is more than the rest value of the laptop, then get a new laptop instead and sell that one on eBay...

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.

 

[wahnula]

There is a USB video adapter in the Targus docking station but the trick will be disabling the onboard adapter to keep it from shutting the laptop down, if indeed that is the problem.

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[ingresman]

Thanks for that guys,
yes first thing I tried was an external monitor I couldn't even get that to show anything.
I did a bot more fiddling last night. I booted into the bios set up and I got the same result there and also with a CD bootable knopix. I got a penguin and then the display started to do its thing, but it the laptop was hitting still hitting the CD. So i think I've established that it's not a windows issue and it probabbly is the graphics card freezing up just showing that last thing it had.
The card is external in my ACER and I've looked on ebay, no joy so i'll keep on looking.
I might just byte the bullet and go for a cheap Dell ?(about £300 in the UK). Even if I fix the graphics I've still got the fan to contend with which I think may be part of the issue.
Any how thanks for taking the time to look.