Video hardware error

writhziden · 24 Mar 2012

Same error as the last two. Is your system custom built or built by a vendor?

System Info - See Your System Specs

Sonic Order · 24 Mar 2012

It's a Dell Studio 1558 that I purchased new from Dell themselves in 2010.

writhziden · 24 Mar 2012

Generally, I do not recommend updating laptop display card drivers directly from the card manufacturer, but in this case, it may be a good step to at least try. I would recommend that you create a system restore point before doing so, though.

The reason I do not usually recommend it for laptops is laptop manufacturers usually supply a specialized driver for graphics cards to allow the power management schemes to function more reliably. Typically, if this is the case, the graphics card manufacturer will not allow you to install their latest driver for the device, anyway. The fact that you are being told by AMD to upgrade means that it should be okay to do so. Proceed, but as I said: proceed with caution and create a system restore point first.

Sonic Order · 24 Mar 2012

I decided to hold off from installing the new AMD driver. My Anti-Virus software is McAfee. Would that be in conflict with the old AMD driver? I did a system scan and it found nothing wrong.

writhziden · 24 Mar 2012

What version of McAfee do you have installed?

Also: What anti-virus came pre-installed on the system? How did you remove it?

Sonic Order · 24 Mar 2012

McAfee SecurityCenter is the Anti-Virus software that came pre-installed on the laptop. Its latest version is 11.0 and date is 30/01/2012. I never uninstalled it; it's still on the system. A year ago, McAfee SiteAdvisor was causing Internet Explorer to crash, so I disabled it and IE was fine after that until the video hardware errors started.

writhziden · 24 Mar 2012

I wonder if you should try re-installing McAfee. It is possible your version is corrupted and not working properly. How to uninstall or reinstall supported McAfee products using the McAfee Consumer Products Removal tool (MCPR.exe) gives good steps for re-installing McAfee. We usually try not to recommend people remove antivirus software they are paying for, so try that method first. If that does not work, uninstall it (again, with the steps in that link) and replace with either of these two:

Sonic Order · 24 Mar 2012

I used the McAfee Virtual Technician and it found 3 problems in the Anti-Virus software. I have attached a log. VT was able to fix 2 of the problems, but not the third one.

writhziden · 24 Mar 2012

Did you try re-installing? That should clean up the problems.

Sonic Order · 24 Mar 2012

Thanks for the help, writhziden. I haven't re-installed McAfee Anti-Virus yet. I think the laptop is working fine at the moment, but I'll try that if a video hardware error happens again. Were you able to read the log file?