I have a Dell Studio 1558 with ATI Mobility Radeon HD5470 graphics card on it. Yesterday, the computer crashed suddenly and started mentioning ATI driver crash, soon after which bluescreen errors followed - mentioning a failure of the atimkdag.sys file.
Then, the display got discoloured, showing random dots, blue vertical lines and discolorations and gibberish characters here and there. I am not being able to load windows as it immediately ends up crashing with always the same bluescreen error.
What bugs me is that, right from the point of start of booting (when the dell logo shows) and after which you can get the boot options etc, all the time, the screen is discolored and gibberish - even inside BIOS, and the basic diagnostics thing that Dell offers.
It is not a LCD problem since I tried attaching a separate monitor using a VGA cable and the exact same problem is reflected on this external monitor also. Also, if I load a Linux Live Cd, say ubuntu, then it loads and at least shows the desktop, but the discolorations are always there, so it isn't a software problem either - I had also tried restoring to factory settings and the problem is still there.
I think my ATI card is damaged. In that case, is there any option to recover/repair - like disabling the ATI card and working using the onboard intel graphics chipset if any - or do I have to replace the motherboard, since the ATI cards are as far as I know, soldered and fixed permanently to the motherboard ???
Also, since the warranty period is over, if I need to replace the motherboard, can anyone help me estimate the expense for the replacement?? (I live in India)
Please help!! Thanks in advance!