Hi,
My Dell Studio 1558, which I bought nearly 3.5 years back, of late is showing repetetive graphics problem. The system was working fine until one fine day it showed discolored dots and lines across the screen and got turned off. On restarting the system again, it showed up properly upto the Windows login and without any warning got turned off. Sometimes even on turning-on, the system showed strange discolored patches across the screen and will get turned off. On getting the laptop to an authorized Dell service center, they informed me that the issue is with ATI Radeon 5470 Graphics card which comes with the motherboard of the system and a re-balling will essentiallly solve the issue. However, no gurantee can be given if the issue repeats. As afraid, the problem recurred.
The strange thing is that, my room-mate who has Dell Studio 1458 laptop also had the same problem. He also have an on-board ATI Graphics card. The reason for the strange happening is analyzed to be over-heating as is explained by the service personnel.
Now the only option left for me is either to get my motherboard replaced or to get a new laptop. I am bringing this to notice because, it is highly unexpected from a company like Dell that, once the Warranty period of 3 years is over, the system gets malfunctioning as if pre-programmed.