Aspire 5050 Radeon Graphics Fail and Recover

HeWhoOvercomes

Hello!  I have a 5 year old Aspire 5050 laptop with ATI Radeon graphics.  It has recently developed a new problem.  When I disconnect the power supply (it works great while plugged in) the graphics card crashes and repeatedly recovers--over and over again.  The screen freezes up for about a second, the mouse too, and then it goes black before returning with the message, "Display driver stopped responding and has recovered."  After about a minute, this ultimately results in a blue screen.  I have reason to believe that the battery is not the issue.  Has anyone else had this problem?

Tommy-Acer

You may want to elaborate on why you believe the battery is not the issue.

HeWhoOvercomes

Well...I suppose it could be the battery, but I tried the battery from an identical computer without the problem, and the exact thing happened.  Granted, the battery I used was of similar age.  I guess I can't rule that out until Iv'e tried a brand new battery.  Could it be anything else?

Tommy-Acer

What could be happening is that when the system is not on AC power, the graphics card isn't getting enough power and crashes.

 

You can take the battery out, leave it on AC power and I would imagine that it would work just fine.

 

The problem may be the battery, or it may be the power system internally isn't pulling enough from the battery.  No way for me to make that kind of diagnosis.  It would need to be looked at by someone in a service center.

HeWhoOvercomes

Thanks for the help.  I'll try a new battery and then take it from there.