Replacing/changing GPU? (clevo w860cu)

So I've started thinking about buying a brand new laptop sometime after windows 8 comes out, and maybe sell my current laptop to my mom for cheaps because I want to kill myself every time I try to help her with her terrible laptop.

Anyway, the problem is that my graphics card is wrecked. It works fine most of the time and runs games on highest settings ect ect. But it also crashes from time to time. It doesn't crash when it overheats, it runs crysis 2 and such on highest settings fine(although low fps) regardless of how much I strain it, but some simple things like flash/java objects can cause freezes and Nvidia drivers stop responding and BSOD. Disabling aero theme helped reducing them a little bit too.

I've tried to figure out the exact cause for these problems for like a year but nobody can help me, so screw that, off with the GPU says I.

But how does one go about replacing or changing it? I guess my main issue is figuring out what kind of GPU fits my laptop and where can I buy one. I'm fine buying some cheapskate GPU as long as it works.

 

might not be anything wrong with your gpu. sounds like a driver problem to me.
firstly where did you buy it from?

download who crashed (in my sig below) and run it. if it hasnt bsod for a while or youve done a cleanup then it might not show so you will need to wait for the next bsod.
what nvidia drivers have you got loaded?
go start > control panel > nvidia control panel > bottom left system information > what shows at the top of the list.

over the years certain graphics cards have been temperamental when it comes to updating drivers so you have to try a few to find the best.

when youve updated the drivers in the past have you just over written them or done a clean install using driver sweeper in safe mode.

what will be the most demanding thing your mom will be using the lappy for. pointless buying a newer more expensive card if its only going to be used for brousing or playing solitaire.

answer these and then we might be able to help you out.

 

Current nv version: 285.62
I've actively been updating it ever since the crashes started at like 260s or something. (not sure at all about the number tho)
Updated with sweepers etc and even did a complete windows re-install at one point along with installing directly to the newest version of literally every single program and driver. No help.

My mom won't be playing any big games so no, I'm not trying to get a new gtx285, I just want a graphics card that works. AKA I was planning to downgrade.

Bought laptop from notebookguru.de.

 

as its an oldish card i would try imo the best and most stable driver ive found which was 186.81 from a couple of years ago. ill find the link if you cant.

ive not seen tdr error before so hopefully someone else could advise.

 

Actually it might've been around 180's+ drivers when the crashes started... or then that was where it still worked. It was so long time ago that I've forgotten lol.

Anyway I tried finding old drivers just to try it out, but was unable to find them. Also I was a little uncomfortable with the idea of downgrading because my FPS almost doubled with some new driver update, and since gaming doesn't cause crashes, downgrading just seemed like a very bad idea. But now that I won't be needing the fps, downgrade might actually be a splendid idea if it fixes the crashes. But still, I haven't been able to find them because I don't exactly trust many odd 3rd party websites.

Also I think I needed some kind of 3rd party configuration/list file or something for the old update file because nvidia didn't "officially" support the 285m gtx yet. So I'm not sure I can get it working with just the update file.

 

186.81 64bit > NVIDIA DRIVERS 186.81 WHQL

but as you mentioned it only states 280gtx and not 285's

ive never used them but quite a lot on here use laptop video 2 go tweaked drivers

edit:

these are the earliest i could find that support 285 http://www.nvidia.com/object/notebook-win7-winvista-64bit-258.96-whql-driver.html

 

Yeah now I remember, I needed the tweaked inf file and everything worked fine. I had huge trouble remembering what the website (laptopvideo2go) was.

Thanks for the help, I'll try those drivers and see if I get any more crashes.

 

your welcome. hope it helps