Dell Inspiron 1525 pixelated wallpaper/wifi issues

[monkeyspit83]

Hello! I've been having issues with my wife's Inspiron 1525 ever since I put Win7 64-bit on it. At first when I would minimize a window the wallpaper would look like it was a set of mini blinds. I updated the driver (don't remember what to) and now occasionally when a window gets minimized the wallpaper gets pixelated/grainy/noisy. If I open the wallpaper in any picture viewer it displays just fine. I've searched and searched and can't find any one else who's had a similar problem.

I've also been experiencing wifi connection issues. At random times the 1525 will lose its wifi connection. I'll run the network config wizard and it will fix the issue saying that the problem was something with the DNS server. I have a Netgear WNR3500 Rev.1 with the latest firmware. I read somewhere that this could be caused by the router PIN so I disabled the PIN and it worked for a while but not it is dropping the connection again.

Any help would be appreciated as my wife gets frustrated when things like this happen...help me make my wife happy!

Thanks!

 

[zigzag3143]

Hello! I've been having issues with my wife's Inspiron 1525 ever since I put Win7 64-bit on it. At first when I would minimize a window the wallpaper would look like it was a set of mini blinds. I updated the driver (don't remember what to) and now occasionally when a window gets minimized the wallpaper gets pixelated/grainy/noisy. If I open the wallpaper in any picture viewer it displays just fine. I've searched and searched and can't find any one else who's had a similar problem.

I've also been experiencing wifi connection issues. At random times the 1525 will lose its wifi connection. I'll run the network config wizard and it will fix the issue saying that the problem was something with the DNS server. I have a Netgear WNR3500 Rev.1 with the latest firmware. I read somewhere that this could be caused by the router PIN so I disabled the PIN and it worked for a while but not it is dropping the connection again.

Any help would be appreciated as my wife gets frustrated when things like this happen...help me make my wife happy!

Thanks!

Ok this seems like several different issues. I have the exact same computer and the firsat problem sounds like the wrong video driver. (you probably have the intel 845 chipset) If you go to intel and get the latest driver that should help with that problem

The second problem I would bet is being casued by using "homegroup" for your Networking. On some systems it exhibits connectivity drops, slow downloads, etc.

You can verify if that is the problem by setting up a new network connection using the "workgroup" setup. It uses a different IP version and is more reliable.

Let us know if you need help.

Ken

 

[monkeyspit83]

So does that mean I should disable the HomeGroup? My desktop is setup as the HomeGroup "host" and I use that to share files and a printer. I have no issues going back to a standard file/print sharing set up if that mean I'll get a stable connection.

 

[monkeyspit83]

zigzag3143, I updated my video drivers to the latest available from Intel for the 965 Express Chipset. I'm starting to think there is an issue with the individual jpgs I'm using for the background. The strange thing is that I can open jpgs in a photo viewer and they're fine. The grain/pixelation doesn't happen with all the jpgs either so I'm wondering if a few of the became corrupt at some point. I'll try copying the original jpgs over to the laptop again to see if that helps. I have noticed that it only happens with my pictures. The Windows included wallpaper display just fine all the time.

I also removed the laptop from the HomeGroup I had set up...so far so good. I'll report back in a day or two after some normal use to let you know how things are going.

Thanks for your help!

 

[monkeyspit83]

Okay, removing the laptop from the HomeGroup solved my problems...but now all my shares are messed up. Is there a way to keep the HomeGroup set up but now have wifi connection issues?