Video/Graphics quality lower after laptop repair

[rock_king_my]

Hi all.

My laptop was recently repaired due to virus messing up my Operating System (I turn laptop on, it just gave blank black screen).

The repair shop is not where I bought the laptop, that's in a different town.

The repair shop guy also said there are bad sectors on my laptop's HDD.

He had to re-install XP SP3 so all my old data were wiped out.

He tried to recover my original data but not all could be saved.

He searched on the net for all the relevant drivers for my laptop & installed those.

I'm not sure if he got the correct video drivers because when I play video files (e.g. AVI, MPG) and DVD Video, the video looks a bit more pixelated than before I got my laptop repaired.

I think Direct X is installed correctly (version 9c).

So I can I be sure he did the repair/reinstallation properly?
Or is it my laptop's graphic card or some else inside my laptop is messed up?

This is my laptop's spec as described beside the keyboard:

Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T5750
14.1" WXGA Acer Crystalbrite LCD
Up to 358MB Mobile Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
2GB DDR2
250GB (partitioned C & D equally)

Also to point out in Device Manager>Other Devices, there are lots of Yellow "!" like:
-Video Controller
-Video Controller (VGA compatible)

So can I check myself & correct this?
If you need more info on my laptop, just tell me how & I'll check.

Cheers.

[admin]

You can try and obtain the latest Intel GPU drivers here (the X3100 link is down the page - note that X3100 is different from the 3100, make sure you get the right drivers):

http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/sb/CS-023086.htm

However, I would first check with the website of your laptop's manufacturer (Toshiba, MSI, Asus ....), as sometimes they have customize drivers that work better with your laptop model, since they may have made changes from the reference design (usually it's okay to use the Intel drivers though).

[rock_king_my]

Hi.

Well I checked the ACER site first & I think this one might be for me:

VGA Intel VGA Driver 6.14.10.4820 16.4 MB 2009/02/13VGA_Intel_6.14.10.4820_XPx86.zip

Inside that ZIP file, there's a Readme note (See attachment).

I haven't install this yet.

So how can I check what my Intel Chipset/Video Chipset is without opening up the laptop?

Also to point out in Device Manager>Other Devices, there are lots of Yellow "!" like:
-Video Controller
-Video Controller (VGA compatible)
Does this mean something is wrong?

When I play video files (e.g. AVI, MPG) and DVD Video now, the video looks a bit more pixelated than before I got my laptop repaired. Any theories why it's worse?

[admin]

Yes, install that, but first make sure that it is the right drivers for your operating system. The one you downloaded is for 32-bit Windows XP/2000.

The driver isn't the latest version though, but if it fixes your problems, then they're fine. If not or if you're feeling a bit adventurous, then you might still want to go to the Intel website and grab the latest drivers (for XP, the latest version is 14.37.4.5218, dated 1/23/2010).

The yellow exclamation warning usually indicates incorrect or missing drivers.

[rock_king_my]

32 or 64 Bit version

Hi.

How can if I check if my XP Professional version 2002 SP3 installed in my laptop is the 32 or 64 Bit version?

The only XP Professional version listed in that ACER site is x32 (I assume it means 32bit, right?)

[admin]

Here's how to check if you're running the 32-bit or 64-bit Windows (if it's XP, and an Acer laptop, then I'm 99% certain it's 32-bit):

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows7/find-out-32-or-64-bit

(and yes, x32 refers to 32-bit)