Videocards for the d900t (Area-51 m7700)

I have a broken Area-51 m7700 laptop which I think the videocard is to blame. If I turn the computer on the fans spin, the power lights turn on, but I get no video on screen. I've tried plugging external LCD monitors that I know work into the laptop but still, no video.

With this in mind I'm looking to replace the videocard. It's currently a 6800go but I'd be happy with anything that is compatible with the d900t.

I've seen ztronics' site with some clevo brand videocards for $400, but I'm wondering if there are any alternatives. Does this laptop use MXM or it is a proprietary clevo card? Are there any non-clevo brand videocards that are compatible?

Any help is appreciated!

EDIT:

I found this page:
http://www.notebookforums.com/thread165006.html
which leaves me to believe there are very few videocards that I will be able to use. Does anyone know of a good place to shop for these?

 

My m7700 died a few months ago had the same issue, hopefully your's is the video card. My issue was the motherboard/power supply. When I plugged it in the fans went full speed and sometime nothing would happen.

Enough of my problems, lets solve yours.

Try to reseat the card. It would be nice if it is as simple as that.

About the MXM, I'm pretty sure it is not a MXM board. The only good news is that there are so many dead D900X floating around it shouldn't be hard to pick up a new one. If all else fails I'll sell you mine, I'm still deciding if I should buy a new mobo.

 

your motherboard is dead, not the video card.

the only thing you can try doing is reseat the ram constantly. trying using only one stick and see if it boots up.

 

it could be a waste of money investing in parts the may or may not repair the notebook

are you getting any bleeps when it starts up
bios bleeps can often indicate whats wrong with a system

if you arent getting any at all, then the system may not even be reaching bios which would indicate the motherboard is broken.

 

Thanks for the responses!

I would rather the problem be the motherboard than the video card as the motherboards are much cheaper. I won't be able to access the laptop for a week, but I once I am able to I'll check into reseating all the components.

 

I like the idea of reseating the videocard module. Do that first.

Videocard modules usually do not die in these notebooks.... unless if the owner never cleaned out the fans and vents every two months.... which would damage the module with overheating.

The motherboard could be the culprit... the easiest way is to get a hold of a known working videocard module to test... from a friend or owner that has one nearby.

 

I was able to access the laptop today. I took out the videocard and ram and reseated them (seperately) to no avail. I noticed however the fans are not spinning on the motherboard so I'm thinking it may really be the motherboard. The CD player still works, although it seemed to freeze when I testing it, but it may be from low battery. I'll have to look into getting a new motherboard then.

If you guys have any other suggestions as to go dealers or what not let me know!

 

Yeah it is your motherboard. Same thing happened to me. Here is one sold by AW on Ebay the cheapest I could find.

http://cgi.ebay.com/D900T-Clevo-Laptop-Motherboard-Replacement_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQitemZ180211365340

 

Thanks eightd, I found a seller with 9 motherboards available for $199 but it doesn't list what revision number the boards are.

After shipping though, the alienware board is only $25 more and would probably be a safer bet. Thanks for confirming my suspicions, now I can buy in confidence.

I'm hoping to resell this laptop as I bought it for $150 in the state it's currently in, but at the rates the parts are going for on ebay even if I can't fix it, it still seems like a steal.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230222976871&_trksid=p2759.l1259

EDIT:

I reseated the graphics card and I got it to turn on. I loaded an ubuntu live CD and was able to get through to the main screen, but all text is garbled. The text for the Alienware splash screen is garbled as well the ubuntu loading text. Images are appearing "fine" although there are some purple artifacts on screen. Now that the computer is running the motherboard fans are going such. I was able to reset the time in the bios and that all worked fine.

Do you guys still think it's the motherboard if this is the case? I'm so conflicted and I don't know anyone with laptop like this for me to test their video card with.

 

Try turning it off and unplugging it for 2 mins. If it comes back on without you messing with it, it maybe your video card. Mine worked fine as long as I keep it plugged in, well one day the power went off and it took 2 hours of plugging and unplugging to get it to turn on. After about 4 times of doing that, over 4 weeks, the machine would not turn back on at all. All 3 lights would shine but no booting.

I hope that makes since, if you have simliar problems it is the motherboard or power on the motherboard.

 

I tried booting it on again and couldn't get anywhere. I imagine if I reseated the graphics card again it might work, but that's obviously not very practical.

I suppose I'll try and replace the motherboard, at worst case I can resell the motherboard if nothing is wrong with it.

 

Yeah that sucks but true you can resell it. I think I'm going to buy a new one too and turn it into a media pc.

The wife is going to be pissed when she sees that I could have fixed it for $250 instead of paying $2500 for a new machine.

 

So I switched out the motherboards the otherday with a new one from Alienware but I'm still having the same problem. I guess it really was the videocard, so I'll need to buy one of those. If anyone knows where I can get a decent price on one let me know (Or if you're interested in buying a spare motherboard).

 

Okay, so the problem seems to be cleared for video, I replaced the videocard and now there isn't any of the previous problems. Now, however the laptop won't recognize any harddrives. I plugged in the harddrive using the IDE cable, and when WinXP comes to screen to install on a harddrive it doesn't recognize any. Anyone know what the problem might be? It's not using SATA and that seems to be what most people had trouble with but I'm using ATA so I don't know what the trouble is.

 

i just fixed a d900t with the same issue, power lights fans on max upon power on, and no display. nothing was wrong with it per say. i pulled out the motherboard and removed the cmos battery and let it sit a couple of days, then i reassembled it. the d900t is also very sensitive about its ram, only insert one stick at a time powering the unit on in between, when i put all mine in at once it always results in mine failing to post. another way you can attempt to clear your board is remove your video card, ram, and cpu and power your system on, the caps, num, and scroll lights will start flashing at you let the system keep doing that until it turns it self off. (roughly 20 secs)

when your video card is dead it takes your power adapter with it, it shorts the power adapter out and the green light on the power adapter no longer comes on when plugged into the wall, so i doubt you have a bad video card