Targa laptop and stalling

Boston

Done this ever since I got it. Stalls every now and again and forces me the restart. Recently I've taken to playing starcraft and Dungeon keeper again, and it stalls up every 15 minutes or so. Any idea how to fix this. I've tried getting the latest drivers, but there over a year old.

Using ati-mobility 9600.
Amd computer/

lomb

hmm mine did this, it could be anything defective ram etc. the first thing to do is to do a full os reload using the original system discs. then create a restore point. now upgrade to service pack 2 by installing that. if its not ok go back to the restore point.
mine is ok after reloading the os. the other thing u can do is to find the latest drivers and install them particulary the graphics driver.
finally u can do a bios update but if u read about it if u screw it up ur laptop may never work again. also the bios updates on targas website if u download them- the installation instructions are in german while ur running the update. i aborted at this point as like i said if u screw it up u may as well throw it in the bin. definately try the full os reload and driver reload first, it fixed mine. forget the bios update if it worked normally before- this is only for failures from day 1.

lomb

try all this and if not ok send it back under warranty.

Stark

I had a Targa laptop and exact same problem under all variants of Windows but not Linux. Tried all latest drivers, everything. The latest BIOS upgrade has helped an awful lot though.

Boston

I've restalled the orginal OS several times.
I upgraded to SP2 awhile ago no help.
it's not the ram, its definitely a graphics crad problem.
The drivers are hardly new, they are over a year old, and I have them.
As for flashing the bios, try targa.co.uk as apposed to the german site, for english instructions.

Boston

Stark wrote:

I had a Targa laptop and exact same problem under all variants of Windows but not Linux...

I noticed that, interesting. Also did the bios update completely remove the problem?

Stark

It still hangs every few weeks or so, but nothing like when it was hanging several times a day.

carbsy

It could be that the gfx card is overheating...

Boston

carbsy wrote:

It could be that the gfx card is overheating...

Nope, games I'm running arn't exactly taxing, and it happens far to quickly sometimes for that to be the issue.

elexes

Stark wrote:

It still hangs every few weeks or so, but nothing like when it was hanging several times a day.

is that panda software on the laptop still ?????

mine used to do that .

Stark

No I wiped my laptop several times.

Mine's a Visionary 1300 with Savage integrated graphics(oh the pain) Boston, so not sure how much luck you might have with your one. Hopefully they apply similar fixes to all their BIOS upgrades.

It could be that the gfx card is overheating...

Plenty of people suggested heat issues and it definitely wasn't heat. Sometimes I could boot it up cold and it would crash after 5 mins, other times it could be on all night encoding DivX video and not crash.

lomb

hey stark i have the same laptop. where did u get the bios update from? i think i tried targa . co.uk and when i ran it it was in german. did u find an english one anywhere?
also have u had any problems of plastic cracking around the screen hinge points?

Stark

The german one is grand, all the interface and stuff are in German but it installs an English BIOS.

lomb

how do u know what to do then? as far as i can remember the options were in german and itried translating it with babelfish but it was some mumbo jumbo.

have u had any problems with plastic cracking at the hinges? aqnd is ur screen stiff to open?

Stark

No, have had no problems with the build of the machine and it's gotten a fair bit of abuse.

As for the BIOS upgrade, I just proceed through with the default options.

lomb

thanks