USB graphics card

gonzo127

hm it doesnt sound like your typical graphics chipset failure to me, however i would take the time now to back everything up incase you havent already.

how old is the system?

do you have the XP disk by any chance and your key?

have you opened up the case and checked for a build up of dust on the fans incase its a heat problem which can be fixed by cleaning it?

Enterprise-D

I was going to say it sounds like a motherboard/GPU Chipset problem.

If it is, the motherboard will need replacing. You're looking between £150 - £300 for the repair with a reputable local PC repair shop.

RaiderHammer

gonzo127 wrote: »

hm it doesnt sound like your typical graphics chipset failure to me, however i would take the time now to back everything up incase you havent already.

how old is the system?

do you have the XP disk by any chance and your key?

have you opened up the case and checked for a build up of dust on the fans incase its a heat problem which can be fixed by cleaning it?

System is around 2 years 8 months old.

XP was pre loaded... Not sure I have the key.

Yes will do a back up.

I assume nothing can go wrong if I open it up to check for dust?

Thanks.

spakkker

Try cleaning the vents out first of all.

Hammyman

Do what spakkker says. Shine a torch into the fan intake on the laptop base and look at the vent on the side. If you can see light, you're in luck. If you can't, its blocked beyond the point of using a can of compressed air and needs taking apart to clean - 1hrs labour at a shop.

Also, take the memory out and put it back in again. Thermal creep can cause intermittent connection in the DIMM socket.

All Acer 5620's are Intel graphics of some sort so no worries about the nVidia 8x00 chipset problem.

closed

backup to an external drive or similar first, this will wipe everything

http://support.acer.com/acerpanam/desktop/0000/Acer/AspireE360/AspireE360faq40.shtml

Enterprise-D

Hammyman wrote: »

Do what spakkker says. Shine a torch into the fan intake on the laptop base and look at the vent on the side. If you can see light, you're in luck. If you can't, its blocked beyond the point of using a can of compressed air and needs taking apart to clean - 1hrs labour at a shop.

Also, take the memory out and put it back in again. Thermal creep can cause intermittent connection in the DIMM socket.

All Acer 5620's are Intel graphics of some sort so no worries about the nVidia 8x00 chipset problem.

1 hour in a shop? I'd say 10 minutes max

If there are issues with the memory not being seated properly, 99% of the time it will cause the laptop not to boot up in the first place.

To be honest I would just take it to a decent repair shop and let them diagnose the fault in person.

Hammyman

Enterprise-D wrote: »

1 hour in a shop? I'd say 10 minutes max

If there are issues with the memory not being seated properly, 99% of the time it will cause the laptop not to boot up in the first place.

To be honest I would just take it to a decent repair shop and let them diagnose the fault in person.

I'm quite happy to send you some of my laptops to do if you can do them in 10 minutes. The entire base needs taking off on a lot of them which isn't a 10 minutes job as you have to take the whole thing to bits - Compaq Presario C3/500 / V5000 come to mind.

Enterprise-D

Hammyman wrote: »

I'm quite happy to send you some of my laptops to do if you can do them in 10 minutes. The entire base needs taking off on a lot of them which isn't a 10 minutes job as you have to take the whole thing to bits - Compaq Presario C3/500 / V5000 come to mind.

It does depend on the laptop, some HPs/Compaq and Toshibas are a pain in the rear to get to the fan, true.

I find Acers are usually easily accessible though.

paddyrg

Enterprise-D wrote: »

1 hour in a shop? I'd say 10 minutes max

But we all know you'll be charged for an hour either way ;-)