Black screen of death

Hello everyone.

I have had for 3 years laptop Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo PI 2540 running Windows Vista 32bit /preinstalled and regulary updated/ with AVG antivirus. Never had any problem until recently.

I got BSOD, but before I was able to read it the screen dissynchronized and laptop freezed. I forced to shut it down, then switched it on again. Windows gave me option to start it normaly and so I chose. Everything worked fine for a couple of hours and it happened again. This time before screen dissynchronized I caught a glimpse of following: "Windows shuts down to prevent loss of data. A program tries to modify video driver...".

I restarted laptop as before and used old rescue point. It worked for a a few hours and then again - dissynchronized BSOD, so I restarted it again /by same procedure as before/ and went to Advanced Start Up section where I ran diagnostic. When I hit Windows Memory diagnostic tool screen went black.This time screen stayed black even after restart./Could not even enter bios but according to HDD light and sound PC tried to start up./

I connected another screen to laptop and it was also very disynchronized and I was not able to see anything.Forced laptop to shut it down disconnected battery, RAM, HDD and after a while reconnected and tried to run it. Again black screen.

After at least 50tries of forced switched off and on with black screen, Pc started + screen worked and I was able to get into safe mode with networking.I checked PC with 4 /other than AVG/ AV programs and 2 antirootkit programs of different brand names. Nothing was find except a couple of tracking cookies. So I downloaded and installed a new video driver /for ATI Mobility Radeon 2400/. When I restarted laptop, screen again went black and it took me again about 50tries of forced shut down to get it in the safe mode with networking. Did not find any log of whats going on. Ran chkdsk - was OK.The problem never happend in safe mode.

So I reistalled win uploaded every possible update and for 3days worked fine.Then I went to control panel, system, performance information and pressed a button for windows ratings and screen dissynchronized, went black and automaticaly started normally.This time however recorded 3 logs.There are underneath.

Does anyone please know where the problem is? How to fix it? Thanks.

PS:A long before the problem occured I did not install any program nor hardware and i use laptop only for office purposes with occassional web browsing.

Welcome

http://www.vistax64.com/crashes-debugging/282419-blue-screen-death-bsod-posting-instructions.html

Thanks for reply.

I could not find SystemHealth Report. I did only Windows_NT6_BSOD_jcgriff2. Is it enough? Also please excuse my incompetence but how to attach that file into existing tread?

When you make a post, you will see a small paper clip on the top line
Click on the clip and then browse. You will see the files that you want to upload,

Thank. Here it is.

Preliminary results indicate that the cause may be a driver. Go to the website and update driver
Atikmdag.sys file descriptionProductname: ATI Radeon Family Description: ATI Radeon Kernel Mode Driver Company: ATI Technologies Inc. File size: Various

Thanks for reply.

I installed old and also new version of driver. Tried some other things also. Same unfortunate results. It seems to me odd that it worked for 3 years with no problem and now I can not depend on it. Based on your experience what would you do I if you were me?

All your reports were consistent, they point toward the driver mentioned. It is a good possiblity at this juncture that its the actual card and not the driver.

Thank you.

Hi Richard,

I've currently exactly the same problem on my Amilo Pi 2540 laptop. Did you finally solve it? Was it the hardware? Did you replace the video card?

Regards,
Nico

Hello all,

Firstly, I like to thank richc46 for his help and expertise with my problem.

Nico H, at the end, I replaced a video card. The fault was fixed. It cost me 120 Euro. I believe, after some research you can get it cheaper. There is also a cheaper option - reball- it cost about 60 Euro and generally fix about 80-90% of these faults.

The culprit of my problem was heat, as I found too late. My broken video card temp was at idle 75 and at full load 85-90°C. So I replaced a video card, replaced heat pads under ATI and other chips with cooper sheet, reapplied thermal grease under all chips, cleaned and remounted heat sink, drilled some holes in back cover of laptop and got good cooling pad under it. Since my GPU was rather cool and CPU hot, I undervolted CPU. Now my tepm at full load are CPU 65 and GPU 55°C.

WARNING: This procedure helped to fix my problem, I can not guarantee that it will help to fix your problem. Also, a described procedure invalidate your warranty, so if your system is under warranty or you are not comfortable with doing so, do not do it, but visit your notebook dealer instead. Basically I take absolutely no responsibility for your action.

All the best.

Thanks Rusty for your extensive reply. My laptop is not under warranty anymore and of course any action will be my own responsibility. I think I'll give it a try. Reball might be an option. First I'll check the temprature of GPU and CPU. Currently the laptop is working again when it's not used for a couple of hours, so temperature is probably an issue.
Regards,
Nico