G73JH / Sad day indeed ;,( No video. Possible dead VGA?

I just read another thread similar to this problems, I have pretty much all the symptoms.
Was working 3 days ago, system was on, while playing a game it did shut down on me for no reason. Turn back on with no issues. 3 days later, no video. I could see the HDD was still working normally though. Turn it off, turn it back on, same thing, caps and num lock would still function fine. I took the whole thing apart, put it back together, this time though it HDD light was not blinking and the caps and num lock would no longer switch off/on.
What do you guys think? Dead VGA? I do have a 2nd g73jh, is it worth the trouble taking the VGA out of that one and slap it on this system to see if it boots up?
If it's the VGA, how much are 5870m going for? I don't think I would want to upgrade since I do not have the skills needed to mod the heat sink ;/
Both system have the custom bios.

 

It sounds exactly like a dead graphics card. I will just quote my own post here.

You could try putting the working G73's 5070m in it and see how it goes but it seems pretty definite that the gpu. the fact that the numlock and capslock keys aren't working is strange. If they didnt work at first i would say dead ram/mobo. Did you remome any ram during disassembly?

 

did you connect to an external monitor? that would have been the quickest way to know whether it is the screen or the gpu.

I just changed my screen which had died. That is a painless task. It went like a charm.

 

I wish it was the LCD. NUMN and CAP were working at first, they stop after reassembly ;/
I'll try switching out the video card. I don't understand though, it was working fine for many month running fairly cool.
You say a 6990 only requires a hack saw for the heatsink mod? How much is a 6990m? And how much is a 5870m?
I went on ebay, the 5870m goes for about 200 bucks and the 6970 goes for about 350. Not sure if it is the correct model.
I am going to try a reflow later on today on my 5870m and see if maybe thats fixes it.
Anyone has a link for the 6990m thread?

 

The links didn't come through in my quote, doh .

http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus-gaming-notebook-forum/641007-g73jh-6970m-upgrade-infomation.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/asus-gaming-notebook-forum/584295-upgrade-g73-jh-6970-a.html

I read through both of these many times before considering my upgrade.
Those prices seem about right.

 

Remember if you reflow the processor you'll have to make sure you don't cause more damage to the bga. You should use kester 951 flux and get the chip up to about 230C.

 

Thanks for the advice. I don't have a way to measure the temperature but I have done many Nvidia chips so I sorta have a feel for it.

Alright, I believe I have located the source of the problem. One corner of the die is cracked. I do not know if I cracked it when I performed a repaste 6 months ago or if it just happened. I switched out the VGA from my other G73 and it works fine. I need a new VGA ;/

Also, does anyone know why my system keeps going into the bios right as I turn it on? The cmos reset button seems to be clear and I have already updated the time/date on the bios. It's happen before, if memory serves it was something simple.

I was going to give my laptop for my brothers B-Day ;/ I just give him the laptop with my video card on it. I need to decide whether I want to invest on a 6970/6990 to get mine up a running. How difficult is it to do the heatsink mod?

Quicky update, took it apart, put it back together, system goes directly into the bios by itself. If I get out of the bios it goes back in. Battery is in, cmos reset button not being push by anything, whats going on?

 

can you see the bios screen ? or the screen stays blank?

 

Silly me, apparently the Asus G73 goes into the BIOS automatically when there is no drive installed on it. I plugged in a HDD, worked fine.
I replaced the video card, and the system seems to be working normally. It is not a motherboard issue. The die on the video card is cracked. Weird part is, last time I took it apart was 6 months ago, just seem odd that it finally decided to die, if in fact I cracked it 6 month ago.

I need a replacement video card for my 1st G73JH. I bought a 150w AC Adapter as a replacement a while back. I am wondering if I should attempt the video card upgrade.

I saw a 7970m on ebay for $425, a 5870m would cost me 200ish, 6970 would cost me 350.

How hard would it be to install the 7970m and mod the heatsink?

 

there is not much to mod the heatsink , you can just cut off two parts of the heatsink to make it work , and also you will gain bit low temps by extra modding ,a hd 7970m is not heating machine , so its better just use the stock modded heatsink with it.
425$ looks ideal . but 200$ for hd 5870m is way too much. if I were you I will get an hd 6970m for 200$ .
reason why the card survived 6 months because , after the crack if the card is not stressed and over tighten card will work as normal . but if you overstress the card then its the end of it.

 

Yeah that makes sense. 6970m for 200 bucks? Where did you get that price?

 

Hi, i have a similar problem.

After pressing power button, only CPU fan spins for a sec then goes off,
all lights come on, and backlit also comes on for a second. then after 20 seconds both fans come on at full speed.

if i start it without graphic card, all is the same except both fans start at full speed, as soon as i turn it on.

i've replaced the motherboard, but it's still the same, that makes me believe that i need GPU

were your symptoms the same as mine?
as i don't want to spend money on GPU if i don't really need to buy a new one.

Br Max

 

I've got a 6970M laying around here and I sold my other one for $300 shipped too... so I'm a little confuzzled at the prices you saw. x_o The 6970M isn't worth anything more than $250 tops by today's market, but I got lucky, and the 6990M can be had for around $300 easy.

I'd go for a 6970M if you can manage it. It's a good 50% boost in GPU performance.

 

Whoa, just figured the problem.
The cable from mobo to the HDD PCB got loose, and prevented the lappy from starting.
i'll try if the original mobo is working also.

Is it possible to get 6970 wihout any modding to the cooling, etc... ?

 

You will need to dremel the heatsink a bit, otherwise, it won't make good contact with the GPU die.

 

But the heatsink will still be ok to use on 5870 after that right?
just in case something went wrong

 

It should, you could also order a spare heatsink.