Possible dead notebook GPU?

foolishlywise · July 26, 2015

Well, hello everyone!

Essentially, the problem is as follows -

I have a Dell Inspiron 15 (early 2010). Recently, its been acting very strangely. Getting BSOD's with a VIDEO_TDR_FAILURE with atikpag.sys referenced. So, thought it must be a driver issue. Literally, the notebook didn't even hit the Windows login screen, just displayed a blank screen and ramped the fan up to maximum.

Booted into safe mode, used the Guru3D driver removal tool to get rid of the drivers. All well. Booted into Windows and tried installing the latest AMD Drivers- and then the issue started happening all over again. This time, the laptop seldom displays the BSOD screen - but just sits there either blank (backlight on) or flashes a lot.

It has to be noted there is no load on the GPU at all when this happens. What's strange is that the GPU works in safe mode (or any mode) with the resolution at 1024x768 (but not at full res).

Troubleshooting includes installing a fresh copy of Windows (Server 2012 R2 was what I had on a USB so yeah - done to eliminate anything wrong with the installation) but again, the same thing happens, even using the original drivers (from 2010) for the notebook.

Leads me to thinking its a dead GPU?

Relevant spec as follows:

Intel Core i5 430M, AMD Radeon 5650 running Windows 7 (issue existed there before Win10 install), Windows 10 (issue existed) and S2012R2 (you guessed it)

Cheers