Acer Aspire 7720G not working and driving me crazy

last week my 7720G decided to turn off on me while i was surfing the net. ive had it turn off on me before and realized it was overheating so I bought a laptop cooler for it. anyways this particular time it still turned off, even though it wasn't very hot. i waited a while and tried to turn it back on, all i got was a blank screen. turned it off then back on, this time i got a black screen with lines running vertically through it, followed by the "waterfall like effect" as ive heard people refer to it. waited a while, this time i tried hooking up the laptop to a external monitor. acer splash screen came up, then as it was about to load windows it just went to a black screen. hd light was active for a bit then stopped. reading around the forums i figured my video card may have died, so I took it out and put a ATI HD 3470 in. tried to start it up but black screen even on the external monitor. I updated my BIOS to 1.45 and even tried another BIOS someone directed me to ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/acer/575866-possible-fix-acer-x920g-vs-geforce-9600m-gt-issue.html). still no luck. I put the old video card in and managed to get into BIOS (display via external monitor) and just waited. BIOS screen went from clear, to fuzzy, then to completely black, sometimes completely white. If anyone has any idea what can help, would be appreciated. This is driving me crazy!!!

Specs:
Acer Aspire 7720G
T7300 CPU
Nvidia 8400M GS 256mb
4gb DDR RAM
2 x 160 HDD
AVermedia TV Tuner

 

Your 8400M graphics card is dead. I don't know why the HD3470 doesn't work with it though. You can fix the 8400M by reflowing it. It's not guaranteed, but done right, and with the thermal compound changed to high quality one like Arctic Silver, you may get another year or more out of it.

 

8400M GSes on Acer ICL50 machines (5720, 7720, etc.) are known to fail like this after some time. A reflow may help, but it is only a short-term solution (plus, I heard that the usual point of failure is not the BGA soldering, but the joint between the silicon die and the actual BGA package, which is not just a simple solder joint).

 

And what would be the long-term solution? Getting a new one? That isn't a long-term solution either because they all have the same failure mechanism. In this case the cheaper and the more expensive route both head to the same result.

 

A long term solution is getting something other than a 8400M GS. If an identical card is desired, then a 9300M G is the best choice (the 9300M G is simply a fixed and rebranded 8400M GS).

 

does anyone mind explaining to me this "reflowing" process or direct me to a post that explains how to do it? would much appreciate it. also am i to assume the HD 3470 card isn't working because its dead/faulty?
thanks

 

"reflowing" is done by placing the card in the your oven at around 350 f for 10 minutes or so.

Its also done "professionally" by companies in different ovens but only because its cheaper.

There is "reballing" which means actually removing the BGA, replacing the solder balls and resetting it with a special oven using infrared heat.

But I would say you should assume your card is not working, if you can't get it to work. Ebay/Paypal generally sides with the buyer and doesn't investigate compatibility issues.