acer 6920g graphic card life over??

since a month back my laptops been acting odd. It would not switch on at times with only the power light coming on but no other response. By moving the screen up and down a few times it would start finally.
Then a week back the comp finally stopped working entirely. The power light would still come on but couldnt get the comp to start so i gave it to a service center.
Just today they told me that its an issue with my graphic card that the life of the graphic card in places like india(where im from) is very short due to the heat and that they've done only a temporary fix and it might not last.
My comp has an nvidia 9500m GS graphic card and ive had this for more than 3 years now. Do laptop graphic cards really die in such a time frame?

 

its possable its been over heating due to where you live. regular maintenance is a must with all laptops
clean out the dust from the fans and heatsink but do not use a vacuum cleaner. i would also have a look at the cable that connects the screen
to the motherboard as this might have signs of ware and tair due to lots of use.

I have the same laptop but with a t9300cpu and a radeon HD3650 but have never had issues with the graphics card.
get you self a laptop cooler like a targus chillpad 17" version that has twin fans to cool the laptop they are great and
keep things nice and cool.

you can find replacement nvidia 9600GT's on ebay but they are expensive. you might be lucky to find a faulty laptop like yours
for parts but with a working GFX card for less money.

 

oh yeah and the guy also said that now i should stay away from gaming and watching movies and anything that'll put a strain on my graphic card and im like whaaaat??
So if i can keep the laptop cool should i be worried about this?
And i do clean it up once in a while. But i havent been able to find the can of compressed air so i just blow the fan out a few times until i find that theres no more dust coming out.

how do i check the cable connecting the motherboard to the screen?
Ive could never open the entire case just the part with the fan.

 

cards can fail over time but his comment was halliorious, and was totaly unprofessional

i recomend you power down the laptop and take out the battery , remove the large access panel off the bottom and take note
of where the screws go as some are larger than others.

once you have done this you will see where the cpu and gfx are remove the screws around the cooling fan and remove gently pull
the fan and disconnect it from the motherboard. you will now see the back of the cooler fins that you can see on the top left side when you are have your laptop lid open . blow any dust that might have built up over months of use. and re-seat and screw back in the fan and its power connector.

you dont really need a can of air to do this.

and yes a laptop chillpad with fans underneath it which will get its power from a usb port will help a lot in your case.
this is what i have cooling my aspire 6920

Code:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Targus-Lap-Chill-Mat-17-inch/dp/B002Q8X3L2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=A38UDII8M9Z5GS&qid=1346490416&s=generic&sr=1-1

i hope ive been able to help

 

Certain nVidia cards suffer from a bump-gate issue and 9500M GS is among those.
Whatever precautions you take it's gonna die on you anyway.

So yes these things happen to this card and yes the time-frame is more than reasonable for this card.
You can replace it with quite a few MXM-II cards but not all will work even with a moded BIOS.

 

I am curious what kind of "temporary" fix he did on your laptop. Makes me think he reflowed the GPU. If thats the case, its due to the solder on the gpu not holding up well, and in time it will go out, whether you watch movies/game or not. Alot of the GO 7xxx through 9xxx cards had these problems. In that case, you will end up having to get a new graphics card for your laptop (eventually). Or, you could reflow the card yourself.

I would also recommend you do the steps mentioned from the previous posters. Keeping the laptop as cool as possible should be the #1 priority, especially when you have a hot-running graphics card in your machine like you have.

 

Thank you roob33r and downloads.
Do you think the chill pad 17 will be fine with a smaller laptop too?incase i finally have to get a new one.
And ive never seen any way to remove the fan. Ive looked around a couple of times. Will check it out again when i get my comp back.
Thanks again. All opinions are welcome.

 

@txsizzler : I'll try to find out what the temporary fix is. Is 'reflowing' the card a standard soldering procedure?

 

No point in asking- he did a reflow or used an oven depending on what he had on his disposal.
Recommendation to avoid gaming and such was very reasonable- the card is going to die again sooner or later (more likely sooner).

You bought yourself enough time to buy a replacement card or look for a new laptop.

 

^ What downloads said. Basically, reflowing the card "sets" the solder back in. Unfortunately, the card had a weak solder set in it originally by the manufacturer, so it will have to be reflowed again, and again as you run into problems, until it cannot be reflowed anymore. Your machine is basically on life support right now, with that current graphics card you have in it now.

This may be a good time to upgrade, as prices and availabilty may be hard to deal with. Plus, with the newer tech, you would be less likely to have to deal with these kind of issues again.

 

okay so the best thing would be to get a new comp entirely right?
Oh and movies shouldnt be much of an issue with the graphics card right? I can stay away from gaming but i would like to watch videos and stuff.
So with a newer comp i shouldnt run into such problems??
If only i knew that buying a comp with a graphic card would be such a nightmare in the long run!

 

The older generation "gaming" laptops had ALOT more issues with cooling and what not than the newer tech. I currently have 3 gaming laptops, and the only one that gives me problems is the one from 4 years ago. The one I am using right now typing out this message is a sub-$400 Acer 5560g-7809 with 4gb memory/320gb hard drive/7670m graphics card. Runs nice and cool, even with overclocking it.

If you like to game at all on a laptop, you will definately want something with dedicated graphics card memory. Integrated Intel GPU's just don't have the muscle that the discrete graphics card options do. And, there are alot to choose from.

 

yeah and i chose this very laptop because of the fact that it had an nvidia 9500m gs which at the time was a pretty awesome mid range card. Could handle almost everything i threw at it.

Anyways thanks a lot for all the replies

 

The problem with the 9500M GS is that it is not really a GeForce 9-series card, but rather, a rebranded 8600M GT. GeForce 8-series is infamous for its hight Bumpgate failure rate.

Replace it with a 9600M GT rev. C1 (be careful - the older rev. A1 9600M GT is also a known Bumpgate risk), preferably. Or with an ATi card.

 

Anyway i think ill just go for a new comp soon.
Though i need a little opinion from the people using cooling pads : belkin cooling pad vs targus chill pad(as rootb33r suggested)

 

I am currently looking at the belkin F5L055 or the F5L041qe.
Do you think it'll work well with my 16inch acer 6920g?