DEAD W3J? Desperately need help!

Hi guys,
I own a 2.5 year old Asus W3J with ATI X1600 (256mb) video card. I have been playing F.E.A.R. on it (and it runs fine, especially when I use low settings) but when after a few minutes into the game today, I heard the sound of a fan turning off (like one of the fan's noise faded but there were other fans on). Soon after that sound, my laptop froze. I figure it overheated so I let it sit for about 20 minutes. Then I tried turning it on but after the Windows XP loading screen, the entire monitor turns into random colored pixels and the colors are changing every other second. I tried booting up a few more times but same result. My guess is my video card is dead? I could get into safe mode a couple of times but not consistently due to the same problem. Any suggestions? Please help me out!

 

One other question, IF the ATI card is dead, does that mean my laptop is as good as gone or can I disable the ATI card and use the default display?

 

yep, dead video card. you might be able to get a new one from mxm-upgrade.com, not sure if your lappy is MXM-compatible or not.

 

I don't think so, but can I disable the ATI card and still use the laptop? (of course I will no longer be able to game but at least I can still use it for work purposes) I'm not too familiar with how graphic cards work, I understand that the X1600 is a dedicated video card so does that mean I have an integrated graphic processor (which I can use now?) as well? Otherwise, before you install the drivers for your video card after a reformat, what is used for display? I just hope my laptop is not totally gone yet

 

How will you work without having a display? You cannot either use an external monitor since you have a dead graphics card.

Your laptop does not have any integrated graphics chip either.

There is only one solution for you: Replace the graphics card if it is in MXM format or if it is soldiered onto the motherboard you have to replace the motherboard. Otherwise you may use your laptop as a paperweight.


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lol if he sell it as a "dead" notebook he should still make some decent money in the Notebookreview marketplace.

 

The W3 series does not have a MXM compatible card that is user replaceable to my knowledge (I don't think ATI ever signed on to that spec, esp in that time period?), so the notebook is, regrettably, dead.

Sorry for your loss. You could try contacting Eddie at BTOTech.com to ask about repair - they do this on a regular basis and might have the parts to fix it if you send it in. You can reach him either through his website or PM here (Geared2Play.com).

 

Yep, I would recommend getting an estimated cost for fixing it, and see if that's worth the trouble, or if perhaps you're better off just getting a new computer.

I am sorry for your W3J... one of the best models ASUS has ever made.

 

Hey guys, thanks for all your suggestions. As you can tell, I'm not very familiar with the technology. However, I'd like to update the problem a bit and see what kind of feedback I can get.

I believe the video card still works, if I let the notebook rest until it's temperature is cool (eg. just letting it sit for 30 min) and boot up again, I can load everything fine (that means, I see no distorted images, or random colored pixels, etc...everything is fine) but this only stays for about 5 minutes (just sitting idle and not running any applications). After 5 minutes, I get the same random colored pixels, which I can't make anything out of, and I am forced to power it off. So I suspect that the hardware is actually fine (and it doesn't look like a software problem to me...unless there's something I'm missing completely) but there's a huge overheating issue. I've done some research on how to clean the W3J and managed to get rid of the dusts in the CPU fan but that didn't help. I've googled the problem and my only solution now is to apply new thermal compound which I am very unfamiliar with. My questions are:

1. How often should thermal compounds be reapplied? How long would the computer stay on without overheating if there is no thermal compound?
2. Does anyone know a guide to applying thermal compounds and what kind of properties should I be looking for when I am selecting one for purchase?

Since the warranty on this laptop has long expired, I really have nothing to lose in trying to fix it myself. If I can't get it revived, I'd have to look for something cheap as I am on a tight budget (open to suggestions).

Thanks for all your help guys, this W3J means a lot to me and I really want to revive it.

 

Well, that's a different story.....

With your symptoms of working from cold, but only for a few minutes before it craps out, the primary issues you now seem to be dealing with are either 1)simple or 2)complex.

For #1, the thermal pad has deteriorated and new paste just needs to be applied for your problem to go away forever.

For #2, there could be a crack somewhere in the heatsink or heatpipe which is preventing the thermal transfer from the gpu to the radiator fins so while the transfer from the gpu chip works it doesn't go anywhere from there,and thus heat builds up back to the gpu like a dam in a river and you get ever higher temps until it goes silly. This is more complicated and requires (obviously) a new heatsink assembly to be installed in addition to #1.

The easiest thing would be to try #1 first, but be very careful when you pull the assembly out. I can't remember if the W3j has a single assembly for both gpu and cpu, or separate ones. You might want to consider having a repair shop do the work for you, if you're skittish about trying it yourself. Good luck.

 

If you are not too familiar with gutting a notebook the best thing to do is send it in for repair. Computer repair shops will have a much easier job doing the above to see if your problem can be fixed without risk.