How I Fixed the Graphics Driver Bug on My Asus F3S Lappie

One of many weird and somewhat amusing anomalies that I observed while using the wrong driver for my graphics card. (The blur is for emphasis.)

As mentioned before, I got a new Asus laptop with Windows Vista and promptly downgraded to Windows XP like so many before me. After searching the web and trying out different combinations of drivers I thought I had everything working. I was wrong.

Large blocks of black started appearing on the screening when dragging windows around or opening drop down menus. Sometimes the skins for the different states of a button would appear in strange places, and for no good reason. Other times, my graphics card felt I needed a refresher on a few letters of the alphabet.

I finally went looking for a solution online and discovered a few important truths along the way:

• My ATI Mobility Radeon X2600 is in fact the same thing as an ATI Mobility Radeon 2600 HD
• There aren't any official drivers for my graphics card in Windows XP.
• Red-tape messes can get ugly but they aren't impossible to work through.

Fortunately for me (and maybe for you), Driver Heaven has a great tool for modding ATI desktop drivers to work with laptops. Just follow their quick tutorial and all those graphics card anomalies are history. Good luck!