From: Chewie (mmx233_at_techie.com)
Date: Sat Oct 03 1998 - 00:49:04 EDT
To ThinkPad 600 Users:
Hi! I seem to have a problem with the graphics on my ThinkPad 600 (Model
#2645-41U) with a Pentium II 233MHz.
If Active Desktop is turned on in Windows 95 and even Windows 98, the icons
on the desktop are gradually replaced by horizontal lines of different
colors, blotchy dots of differnt colors on icons or even an icon turn black.
Clicking
"Refresh" (Right click on Windows Desktop) does not seem to correct the
problem. I am running at a
resolution of (1024x768, 16-bit). The video chipset is NeoMagic 128XD.
If I turn off Active Desktop, the problem goes away, but lines of different
colors can randomly go onto the
desktop messing it up (Especially scrolling with Netscape, or with any other
window that has a scroll
bar). Same thing holds true with some applications such as Maple V. The
colors aren't right.
This problem did not occur until I upgraded my BIOS to version 1.03
(8/21/98 - IBET32WW) in preparation of
upgrading my machine to Windows 98. Before upgrading my BIOS, I had the
latest video drivers
(4.10.01.0007-Q6.14.00). Graphics were normal using the latest drivers and
older BIOS (v. 1.00). After
upgrading the BIOS, I noticed that this problem occurred. (Still had Windows
95 at that time).
So I did an experiment. I reformated my HD and used my recovery CD (Win 95)
that came with my ThinkPad. The
video driver that was preinstalled by the CD was dated back to 12-31-97 (v.
6.10). When installation was
complete, there was no problem with the graphics whatsoever. Even with
Active Desktop enabled, it was
fine! But when I updated the video driver to v6.14, the problem was back.
I even upgraded to Windows 98 (followed instructions on IBM web page) and
used the old drivers (v. 6.10). No
problems with the graphics, but Windows was highly unstable (crashed lots).
When I updated the
video driver to v. 6.14 as instructed with the IBM upgrade Win 98 guide,
the icons and desktop were
messed up again but Windows was stable.
No matter how many times I re-installed the latest video drivers, the icons
and desktop look messed up.
This problem doesn't occur with the older video driver but Windows 98 is
unstable without using the latest
video drivers.
I also screen captured my desktop. If you go to:
http://www.rpi.edu/~liw/desktopa.gif (With Active Desktop Enabled)
http://www.rpi.edu/~liw/desktop.gif (With Active Desktop Disabled)
you will see that the picture with Active Desktop enabled has icons that are
messed up.
Is there a bug in the video driver (v. 6.14) or is this a hardware problem?
Would like to know if this problem
exists on other ThinkPad 600 machines.
Many thanks,
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.3 : Thu Jan 23 2003 - 09:54:25 EST
