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billyG

I've a PCG-GRV616G with a Mobility ATI Radeon 9000 graphics card in it.
It worked fine, with acceptable performance also for 3D games like Battlefield 1942 etc.
Recently I downloaded and installed new graphics drivers from the Vaio website because I thought this would solve occasional crashes with 3D rendering of a CAD program I have.

But now, none of the 3D games works any more. All games show the same garbled 3D graphics. Looks like the object geometry is somewhat random in every frame etc.

Link to a screenshot of Battlefield 1942 showing the problem

Does anyone know how to solve this problem ?

The current driver release is 6.14.10.6382, it is not the latest from ATI but the latest from Sony (not possible to install the original ATI drivers).
The previous driver version which worked perfectly were around 6.14.10.5xxx or so (can't remember the exact version).

Where can I get the old drivers to step back, even newer drivers which can be installed at the notebook ??

seb21__

I know this problem with a other game.
But I don't what the problem is.

billyG

OK, seems it might not be the drivers fault. After some more tests and research in other newsgroups, there are some indications that the graphics adapter got fried somehow.

I just can't believe it might be a hardware fault (again).

We own this notebook for less than 2 years and it had been sent to repair already 2 times because of motherboard (RAM)problems (The first time it turned out they didn't really replace the motherboard although they said they did).

If it turns out this is another motherboard failure, I'm starting to dislike this company, not to say I'm REALLY PISSED OFF !

This is one of two Sony Vaio notebooks in our company. Both have (different) problems and cost a lot of time and money to deal with.
Really hope its just a software problem. But if it turns out this is another hardware failure, Sony is dead for future Notebook purchases. Other vendor's notebooks we use in our organisation work with much less problems.

seb21__

I hope this is a software problem too.

But I don't use my Laptop for gaming. (shared memory is to slow for the new games)

billyG

I think I should post the outcome here for others who might have similar problems:

I took the notebook to the local service centre in February 2005.
They told me this would be a hardware problem and the motherboard has to be replaced (the 3rd motherboard replacement of this notebook).
After 3 months (!!!) of waiting and numerous calls where I was told they can't tell me an exact delivery date "but next week for sure", they told me Sony can not supply any motherboards for this notbook any longer, and I'll get a replacement notebook.

This went reasonably fast. I now have a VGN-A215M (compared to my old PCG-GRV616G).

So, in essence:

The positive things are:
*) the service center people were quite friendly and tried to help, though, without much success without appropriate information from Sony
*) I got a brand new Notebook as replacement for my 2 year old

What makes me mad:
*) It took Sony 3 months to find out there are no spare parts any more for my 2 years old notebook.
*) The REAL KILLER for me: considering the relevant criteria, the new notebook not as good as the old one. It has about same speed, but it has 20% less display resolution (1280x800 instead of 1280x1024) and this is a KILLER because this was the reason I bought the old notebook.
Also after some correspondence with the service center and Sony it was not possible to get one with a larger display.

BTW, guess what happended to the new notebook:

After 1 week of working with it the graphics adapter had the same hardware fault as the old one.
So, back to the service center, and have the motherboard replaced.... (this time within 5 days).

Hope this is the last time I had to have the motherboard replaced.