m15x laptop display borked with 8800M GTX

Hi,

So I've been having a very annoying and strange problem with my 1.5-year-old m15x for about 2 weeks now. The problem is that the laptop's built-in display does not work properly when I am using my 8800M. Specifically, it switches between being completely dark, unusably dim, and occasionally works fine for an arbitrary amount of time before turning off or dimming again. From BIOS to windows this problem occurs, so I don't think it is a software problem.

So I started troubleshooting the hardware. I managed to switch to the integrated Intel graphics, and the display worked 100%, so it wasn't the display is burning out. The next obvious culprit was the 8800M itself. I ruled this out by successfully connecting and being able to use an external monitor through HDMI with the 8800M.

And this is where am I now. It seems that there's a problem with the connection between the 8800M and the display. I opened up the laptop to take a look for any obvious mis-configuration, and when I didn't find any, I decided to re-seat the 8800M, and clean out the fan vent. I was met with trouble when getting to the card, because the heat sink was glued to the 8800M, and some firm tugs couldn't pry the two apart (I didn't want to apply too much force for fear of damaging something.) In the end, I was able to just pull the card and heat sink out together, and reseat both.

I'm baffled. Anyone have some insight?

 

So I have solved this, though I'm not exactly sure why what I did worked.

I ended up fiddling with the GPU/heatsink more. I actually got the idea to just take the fan out and let the thing heat up to see if the thermal paste would loosen its hold on my 8800m. I actually forgot to screw the 8800m into place, so it was loose :X. Indeed, after about a minute of a blank screen after I turned my system on, I hear a loud THUMP as the thermal paste let go and the heatsink hit my desk. The screen lit up immediately. After powering down, I saw that the 8800m had also fallen, though it was still in the serial slot. After properly checking out everything for obvious issues, I re-seated the whole shibang and here I am, using both my laptop and external displays, seeing good idle temperatures, no problems.

Seems like the 8800m just needed some freedom. Hopefully this helps someone!

 

Hmmmm I have not noticed this problem or I have not ran into this problem yet. I have a 9800m GT. Do you like your m15x? so far?

 

Well apart from the billions of problems I've had with it, it is a nice system.

My fix proved temporary though, as my laptop display just cut off again. I think I'm about ready to sell the thing as scrap and get another system.

 

I too am having the same problem. Using the motherboard GFX works fine (it is what I am using now). The 8800 only works through the HDMI port now...
I'll have a mess with the card and see if I can get it to talk to the laptop screen again... Definitley think this is the last AW I buy!

 

Well that didn't work. I guess I'll have to haul an HDMI monitor around with me so I can use the GTX

 

you can get another card.