update on my inspiron 9100 graphics situation: no more blank screen but now most of the graphics are a convoluted glitchy mess of blue stripes
Posted by platinumb3rlitz@reddit | vintagecomputing | View on Reddit | 7 comments
i've tried the official dell drivers and even installing drivers with snappy, all with the exact same result
i even tried installing different versions of xp, still the same result
platinumb3rlitz@reddit (OP)
further update: i finally got it working
all i needed to do was replace the graphics card, which i did with another inspiron 9100 i bought to salvage parts from
apparently said unit wouldn't turn on but the graphics card from it worked perfectly
National_Clerk_2879@reddit
What does Safe Mode or booting from a DOS disk look like? Maybe showing a PCX file from DOS, to work out graphics modes, will help figure out the location of the problem.
Zuofu@reddit
Either bad VRAM, or broken solder balls or in the bonding between the GPU die and the substrate. Same problem as Macbook GPU, Xbox 360 RROD, etc since it was during the transition between leaded and lead free solder and they didn't have the metallurgy down yet. If you have a heat gun or hot air reflow, you can try doing a quick reflow of the GPU and VRAM.
platinumb3rlitz@reddit (OP)
i might check on that tomorrow
although i did also install windows 98 (because yes that is in fact somehow possible on an inspiron 9100) and i used some 9x radeon drivers but weirdly enough it displayed just fine on the 98 install compared to what's going on in the post
alexis_dark@reddit
It is most likely windows 98 uses less colours and overall doesn't stress the gpu as much as it does on xp
ravensholt@reddit
That's a hardware issue, not software.
platinumb3rlitz@reddit (OP)
yeah i'm thinking i might just have to bite the bullet and get an entirely new gpu for it