ASUS N55S laptop weird GPU issue

Hi all, I work in IT but this is my first post on an IT related forum, so forgive me if I'm dreadful at explaining what I mean about things... But I'd really appreciate some insight/advice on an issue I've been having with my laptop.

It's almost 3 years old now, so out of Warranty. About 6 months ago, when gaming, I started getting weird GPU issues - whole screen would turn white, or sometimes all blue or orange or yellow, or sometimes just go black altogether. This worsened, and the issue would occur just when browsing the web or sometimes right after booting up, when there was little to no workload on the GPU.

At first I suspected one of the GPU had picked up a fault, but using device manager I disabled each GPU one by one, and the issue happened with either card disabled. Hmm.

So, maybe the LCD cable? Nope - I hooked the laptop up to an external screen, and the problems replicated to the external screen.

So maybe cooling? Well, I sprayed compressed air in all vents and left the laptop alone for a day, came back and the problem persisted.

Sometimes when the issue happens, it will resolve itself quickly (screen will just flash white for a second). At other times, if I tilt and reposition the screen, the problem will go away (could be coincidence). Sometimes nothing will cure it except a reboot.

Eventually I took the laptop to a repair shop and had them look at it; they blamed cooling issues, stripped and cleaned it, and sure enough when I got it back I didn't have the problem for a couple of weeks... But now it has started to come back. Obviously I'm going to take the laptop back to the repair shop and have them re-assess/get my money back (hurrah for one-month warranty there). But two main questions:

1. What the hell is going on with this laptop?! Any ideas?
2. In your opinion, am I better off buying a new mobo for the laptop and having that fitted, or sadfacing and buying a new laptop entirely? I really get on well with this laptop....

All replies greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Sam

 

1. Faulty video chip by the sound of it, considering you've tested on an external monitor with the same issue.
2. If the problem is in fact the video chip, you don't have many other options ─ as far as repair go ─ open to you since that 555M is surface mounted. Sometimes you can find the mainboard for not a lot of money, but with yours having dedicated graphics, you might be better off going with a new system.

All in all, sorry to hear about it!

 

In an optimus setup bad system ram can cause corruption.