Bad GPU or Bad Screen?

MSI GT72 w/980m 8GB

Today I started getting multicolored lines going from the right side of the screen to the left of varying sizes, but never all the way to the other edge of the screen. 2D games are ok [Plants vs Zombies], but 3d games do this in full screen [FO4] and in windowed mode [Poker Night 2] even when the window is away from right side ...it starts from right side and goes to/through window. Lines also occurred around/to left of antivirus pop-up during driver DL scan and sometimes during screenshot viewing.

Took screenshots of games while it was happening, lines seen in game did not show up in screenshots. A one-off line or two occasionally happened while bringing up screenshots and then disappeared.

Driver update didn't fix. I didn't DDU but I deleted folders and CCleaner'd registry as I always do.

So ...Bad GPU or Bad Screen?

 

You can rule out bad screen by connecting an external display and checking the same games on that.

 

That will have to wait until I get home in the morning.

 

Sounds like bad GPU. If screen was bad it would do that all the time.

 

That's what I'm afraid of. I don't really have the $$ for a new 980m right now and there is no 10x0 upgrade.

It plays movies ...I may just uninstall nv driver and sell as a basic laptop for $300 and add that to tax returns for something @ local microcenter.

...IDK, this is my first time I had the GPU go in a machine. The way it was still handling games I figured it could have lasted the full console gen.

 

What are you talking about?

GTX 1060 and GTX 1070 run just fine.
Talk with @woodzstack , he delivers best prices and support.

Depending on the problem, it could even be something as minor as overheating because of a bad thermal pad etc. which would be fixable for 5 bucks or so.

 

I don't think it's overheating, even oc'd it's reached max of 76c tops.

IDK, ...I'm not really a DIY person.

 

Thermal pad = VRM. Not talking about GPU, talking about your VRM's.Was hinting at the vram being to hot maybe.

 

If it's a faulty GPU it might be repairable by @Khenglish

Unmodded MXM 980M cards are somewhat ticking time bombs even at stock due to the missing power FETs.

 

This sounds like a bad screen. If the GPU was bad the lines would show up in screenshots.

Bad GPU usually results in a grid of miscolored squares, not horizontal lines.

 

Screen is now totally dead, but external works fine with no issues.

So it seems I need a new screen.

...or to put it another way: "My gaming laptop is broken, but it's not as bad as I feared. Yay!"

 

Care to elaborate?

...what mod?

 

Adding the missing power FETs to the top of the card.

 

So I've been waiting ~2 weeks for payday so I could afford a new screen and have been using external monitors in the meantime. Up until today the screen has come on again, but with the same random horizontal lines.

...of course now, just today ...because I can afford to go show the problem to someone...

...the laptop's screen had ~6hrs of no issues whatsoever.

So.... loose connection?

-Is there more than one connection?

-What's the probability that the connector on the mobo could itself be faulty somehow?

-Is there anything else I should look at.

While I have the money to fix the problem, I probably don't have the money to waste fixing everything it might be trying to find the real problem ...so I'm trying to narrow it down.

 

Have you popped off the frame around the screen and checked the LCD cable?