Video card - Software solution!

[dre]

My x1000 is four years old. Two weeks ago it developed the dreaded video card failure. Machine froze after screen pixilating. The famous 6, 7 y treatment worked temporarily. A technician tried for two days putting pressure on the card to keep the fix permanent - but failed. I ended up buying a new card - which I haven't received yet.

However while I was waiting for the new card to arrive I realized that the machine was freezing even though I could stop the pixilation by pushing the keys. In other words the video card was sending out a signal that irreversibly locked up the machine.

I found a free program Shutdown XP on download.com which promised to prevent lockups. [It also requires another program - Neobooks to provide a critical file] After installing Shutdown XP  the computer has not locked up once. Even though prior to that it would lock up when typing or moving the machine. I simply have not been able to get the machine to freeze. In other words I have not had to use the program to recover from lockup because the machine has stopped locking up.

[dre]

I was premature in a solution. My machine just crashed again. I'll just have to install the new video card.

Sorry

[dre]

After crashes every 2 minutes, I think I have found a solution - at least now I haven't had any crashes for 8 hours straight and I have had no problem with heavy typing or moving the machine. It still is necessary - sometimes - to start-up with the 6.7.Y. My problem was avoiding a frozen machine.

I reduced the power drain to a minimum.

Power scheme is set now for maximum battery.
Video card is set for 200/175
And perhaps most critical I set the color depth for 16 instead of 32.