6860 - Dead screen?

Lately my 6860 has had these weird spouts where the screen just shut off. Sometimes it comes back, sometimes it doesn't and I have to restart the computer. while gaming today it went black and then i heard the sounds lock up and it froze. i restarted and gamed for another hour or so and then the same thing happened, but now it won't start back up.

When i start the computer, the media lights come on and everything seems to be functional except for the screen. I can mash buttons and i hear the bios error beeps, and the fans are functional almost as if the computer is under load. I've tried using an external monitor - didn't work. Ive tried reseating my ram, and only using seperate sticks of it. I've reseated my CPU as well.

I'm at a loss as to what could be wrong with it. Help me, NBR!

 

I'm currently looking into resseting my BIOS.

 

probably your nvidia GPU is failing.

Keep it cool otherwise you will need a new GPU or you will need to have reballing/reworking done on that GPU.

 

Now that it wont start up, can I assume that it's completely fried?

 

probably.

Is the GPU removable?

 

soldered onto the motherboard :[

 

Do you have warranty?

Google faulty nvidia and you will see a lot of info.

If it turns out that you do have a bad GPU, you may want to consider BGA reflowing/reworking/reballing.

Check youtube for videos on how to fix it.

One thing you could try is get yourself a heatgun from a HW store. (paint section, or tools section). they are usually used to strip paint.

Anyway, heatup the GPU to 300C for 60 secs or so.

If it works after that, undervolt it, copper mod it and keep it as cool as possible.

Otherwise you should get a new motherboard. Or check a local repair shop and ask them to reball the GPU.

You have tonnes of options. good luck.

Try this first though:
take out the battery and power cord.
hold the power button for 30 secs.
try to start it up.

 

I'm still skeptical about the gpu issue you stated, as the 8800's weren't all too affected with that. I'm not going to get it serviced until i KNOW what it is.

The reason why im skeptical about it being a gpu problem is because usually with those, the computer will go to the bios screen and then get bad artifacts when loading up the operting system. Also, there is heat coming from the gpu fan. I'm not sure if the gpu would still be under load to the point it got hot, so idk. Any other ideas here?

 

Oh, and, i cant reset my bios with the power switch because the wiring for it doesn't work i turn mine on and off with the media buttons.

 

Maybe you should take it to a repair shop and get a quote?

 

8800's are perfect, really:
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=606658

 

The oven trick seems kind of crude and destructive. I'm going to take it to a professional with the right tools and knowledge.

 

Good idea.

 

Here's what you need to know about fixing a 6860FX (or any other GPU BGA meltdown).

1) Heat guns, oven melts, infrared cookers ALL do the same half-assed fix.
They heat the solder balls enough to "reflow" it beneath the GPU. This will work for a short time but will absolutely fail within a few months. No exceptions. Repeated treatments will work, but for shorter times. At some point it will stop working.

Right now I am writing this on 6860FX that was "repaired" in this manner.
It crashes every few days. Comes back after several hours, then crashes again. I obsess over the GPU temperature and bought a top of the line Zalman cooler but it doesn't really make much difference. Also, my fans now run all the time and the heatsink bond was replaced with pure copper. Sooner or later it will fry for good. I've spent about $400 so far.

Bottom line: Any service or repair guy who promises to REFLOW the GPU is not repairing your video problem. It's a temporary fix only. It will fail.

What COULD work. REBALL the GPU. Here the GPU is heated, removed from the board, cleaned of all old solder. A stencil is then placed over processor and new solder balls are laid on the grid. The processor is returned to the board and heated. Presto. Fixed. The one caveat is that what happened once can happen again, but it should last as long the original bond. Maybe longer if they use LEAD solder instead of lead-free solder. Lead solder is more flexible and has a higher melting point.

Of course, if the GPU has been damaged, or the motherboard has been warped by heat, or the ball joints damage, this won't work or won't last.
Only an X-ray of the completed repair will tell you what you've achieved.

This sort of repair is available from a number of Xbox repair services
and very reasonable in price. Finding someone to do it on a laptop is another matter. So far, I've found two places willing to do the work, but there's a big problem. Nobody has a BGA stencil for the nVidia 8800M GTS processor. Without the stencil there's no way to apply the new balls.

So, that's where I'm at. I did find a pro industrial reballing service who said they could do the job for $450, but that's hard to swallow after the money I've already spent. I think they create their own stencils, but I'm not positive of that. Anyway, if anyone finds a stencil for the 8800M GTS please post it here.

Yes, I know. Buy a new machine. $1049 and I'd be much better off. But, I can't get my head around the fact that my computer is fine. My GPU is fine. The only thing wrong is #&%*! solder connecting them. Seems like a terrible waste to make land fill out of it.

I repeat, if anyone finds a stencil for the 8800M GTS please post it here.
If I find one, I'll do the same.

 

Look at your 8800m GTS chip, what core is it?
it should be something like "Gxx-xxx-xxx".

Search that core on ebay, you will find the stencil.

 

I only got artifacting in 3D applications (which would produce strange colors at the desktop after closing the app), and an occasional auto-reboot prior to my P6860FX (8800GTS) eventually blackscreening in a likewise fashion; I can't recall ever experiencing problems prior to running 3D apps.

Believe it or not the bake your GPU (mobo in our case) solution other's have tried seems to be working for me ATM. If worse comes to worse and you're interested in saving some money, there's a thread in this forum that you can search for that describes how others have done this with their P-series.

 

Baked mine a total of 3 times, and this has extended the life of my laptop for 5 months. Running all games fine for extended periods of time. Got the whole procedure down so I can do the whole thing in 3-4 hours, honestly I'll just keep baking it until one day it gives out, then I'll sell all the parts and be done with "gaming" laptops. I can't justify spending $500 on a fix that might or might not work for some unknown period of time.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=446015

Here's how I did it, if you can get your hands on a heat gun and ir thermometer use that instead.

 

Call GWay and get a flat rate quote.

i just got back my e1705 from Dell. I explained problem, they came back with this offer... I pay $170 for a one year extended warranty, they fix. So I sent in and they replaced main board, hinges and fried 7900gs. 340 days let on warranty.

Let's see what Gateway will do for you!

 

What Gateway will do for me: I decided to look for a new motherboard for my P-6860fx, so I went online and text chatted with a number of different guys in India who handle Gateway's customer support. Relieved that my warranty has expired and they did not actually have to help me, they said I should contact the Mondu Corp. Mondu is the sole authorized provider of Gateway parts. Great. Thanks. For some weird reason Mondu does not take email. You can only call them. Strange. But at the bottom of their home page it says that "unless stated otherwise all parts are refurbished". If there's one thing I'm not going to buy it's a refurbished M-board that probably had a GPU meltdown. So much for Gateway support.

Also, I believe Mondu was the Boss Champion in that semi-great 90's game, Tounge Of The Fatman. But I digress.

So, it's back to the stencil search. Thanks to moral hazard. I will investigate your suggestion.

PS: My 6860fx died two days ago. I'm writing this on a Mac. I hate Macs.
One button mouse and no proper delete key. Just awful.

 

Well, it's sounding like we got what we paid for with the soldered on GPU's and a less than zero support from Gateway.

Vincent, the two button M$ mouse works perfect on the Macs. It sounds like you should be hating GW not your working computer..

 

Hydra is right. I owe much to Apple, not only for providing a workable laptop for me to pursue my search for an 8800m gts stencil, but even more for Apple foolishly using the 8800m GTS in their Imac machine (Nvidia renamed it the 8800 gs for reasons I cannot fathom). Naturally, the Imac, like the 6860fx, has suffered numerous failings of the bga. This lead me to a company that claimed to be selling reballed Imac video cards, which by implication, suggested they possessed the very stencil I was looking for. After a number of emails and $20 US, I now have my stencil. Interestingly, it appears to be a not-so-uncommon stencil, but it's application for the 8800m GTS chip was not known among the reballing community.
Either that, or, I've bought a useless stencil.

I'll be having my GPU reballed next week and I will then find out if the stencil is the real deal or not. If it is, I will post all the necessary info for others to pursue this line of repair. Total cost should about $150

If the stencil is bogus, I'll put that up to. There is also the question of longevity. If it is reballed, how long will a reball last as opposed to an oven melt reflow? If it doesn't last a year with heavy usage, I'd say it's not worth doing. We shall see.

 

Any luck with the stencil?

 

My reballing guy has tortured me with one story after another about why he hasn't been able get the job done.
Very lame. Basically, he likes working on xboxes and my laptop is a drag for him, so he's put it at the bottom the stack. If i ever get the machine back I'll let you know.

 

i guess the basic answer is, not bother. get it back, and sell it for parts, buy new one, happy again. follow those steps.

my 6831fx also died 2 months ago, took it to a repair person but after 2 months of him having that he could not repair it. so i went out and bought a used m17x R1. i am done with Gateway's FXs laptops. that thing was 2 years of nonething but trouble

 

I'm done with gateway aswell, this was great machine, but quality was really bad, I really enjoyed playing on it, but I wouldn't want to risk my money with their quality yet again
sometimes after taking out mic connector you had to insert and take it out again for sound to work,
sometimes ethernet card would stop working, i tried everything, and only solution was to unscrew the back, blow some air, tap few places and it would start working again, lol
finally the laptop overheated, mobo or gpu died, and no it's collection dust for past month, i'm in the club

 

My 6860 is still running strong, no GPU problems or anything. I've benched it like crazy and nothing has ever given me anything but good results.

The simple fact is sometimes hardware fails, and nothing much can be done about it. Other times it works for years and years with zero issues.

 

Sucks how a fairly high end piece of equipment with many expensive components is plagued with with problems related to something relatively inexpensive like solder. I would have gladly put down an extra $100 if they had upped the quality. Mine is still running fyi ;D .

 

At last, my 6860fx is on the operation table for reballing. Still waiting to hear if it survives the procedure. Here are some pics from the operating table:

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm105/vincent7061/p-6860fx reballing/IMAG0469.jpg

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm105/vincent7061/p-6860fx reballing/IMAG0470.jpg

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm105/vincent7061/p-6860fx reballing/IMAG0471.jpg

 

Best of luck..that looks far more promising than shake and bake!

This machine would have been killer with an access port and a GPU socket!

I used HP air, vacuum cleaner with tooth pick to lock fan for annual GPU cleaning yesterday. Old paint is still hanging in there...

 

Here is the one I found and will try. G94-300-A1 Heat directly BGA reballing nvidia stencil - eBay (item 170514722611 end time Oct-14-10 17:19:01 PDT)

 

Yes i am with This Guy i have been using 6860 for more than 2 years with almost no big issues i dont have any with softwares ...altough one problem with display and one self created fan problem ...Works fine for me

 

well, i think the question is what do you do when this thing breaks??

I'm working mine hard at times and the darn thing keeps rolling as well

I think my next gaming laptop will be a desktop

 

Mine is OK too and they are very well builded as long as you take care after them just a bit, unplug-in and plugging things a bit slower i guess.

Ok i dropped some watter on my mouse pad and now i doesnt work but other stuff is ok as long as i wont continue with the dried and more than 2 years old stock thermal paste since the GPU goes sometimes at 87 and CPU at 70

and no issue with 88xx ( and its a g92 chip so it better than g8x with AA and AF and temp stuff) just with 86xx and 84xx GPU have those heat problems and stuff like that so it should be ok as a chip.

 

On and on it goes. My reball guy informed me:

"Tried to lift the chipset tonight with no luck. See attached photo. It seems the chip is epoxy glued to the board, i thought the pre-heater would soften it enough but it wouldn't budge."

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm105/vincent7061/p-6860fx reballing/IMAG0475.jpg

Says he'll try again in a couple weeks. Oh well. In the meantime I've bought a big desktop Q6600 machine with an ATI 5770. Very satisfactory. Still, I'd like to get that sucker working again. T9300 CPU chips have dropped in price and I'd love to upgrade it. Can't resist throwing good money after bad.

Good luck to JRSOR. Interested to hear if you run into lifting problems.

 

Lifted mine just fine, just took high heat.

 

Tip of the hat, JRSOR!
Then what happened? Did your stencil work?
Please keep posting your progress.

 

Still waiting on the stencil and lead. Had to remove gpu to determine proper stencil. I used a heat gun on high setting. To reball, I bought a plastic hot air welder from harbor freight. OH, I am working on 7811/7805.

 

Got the stencil today, looks like perfect match. Hope to try this weekend.

 

Good luck!

 

Got my machine back today. A total failure. My guy tried higher temps to lift the chip, but finally threw in the towel.
Wonder how things worked out for JRSOR. My advice to anyone is don't go down this road. Adios, Gateway. I'll see you in hell.