How to remove Video card in NX860XL. Service manual anyone.

Anyone have a sourse for the service manual for an NX860XL? I need to access the video card. nVidia Go 7900 gs. A source for a new card would be welcome also.

 

After looking it up i'm pretty sure that you cant remove the 7900GS from the motherboard. it looks to be a soldered GPU (like all of the rest of Gateways models) and not an MXM set up.

The only way to actually remove it would be to unsolder it, and that's a bit difficult in the best of cases (though you could try the oven trick is you really had to)

 

From what I can find it uses a MXM II card. Not sure exactly how to access it but check under any removable panels on the bottom of the laptop, if not accessible there try under the keyboard, elsewise a teardown is probably in order.

There is a used one on ebay now, just google "NX860XL video card"

 

Actually, I was told this is one of the few models that can have the Vcard replaced, several are on ebay. But I am not certain. At thi point I'm just going to take the machine apart as without a properly working card it's junk.

 

I actually own one of these myself (typing on it now) and taking it apart isn't too difficult. Everything you need to do is done through that big main panel through the bottom. It's a little hard to explain, especially since I have to type on mine right now, but what you need to do is detach the fan and both heatpipe assemblies from the CPU and video card, and lift the entire thing off. This will give you access to both the CPU and the video card (not that you need access to the CPU, but the whole thing comes off in one piece).

The important screws to remember for this procedure are the 4 screws that fasten down the heatpipe/sinks to the CPU, the 4 that fasten it down to the graphics card, and I think the screws that hold down the fan assembly. Don't forget to unplug the fan, too. <strike>You're probably best off taking out all those little screws on top of the copper and black tape that's associated with the heat pipes and fan, just in case. </strike> Also, as I remember, the heat exchanger assembly (all those little copper fins that the fan blows through) will need to come out with the heat pipes. I think this means that the best motion for removing the assembly is to pull up the end that's towards the middle (the end that leads to and past the CPU and graphics card), and then slide the heat exchanger assembly out from under the frame and then up.

After that, I think the video card should come out pretty easily. I never did try to remove mine, since I was just changing out thermal paste at the time (and I plan to replace this machine pretty soon now, before we run out of 16:10 machines that it can be replaced with), but I don't think it would be too much trouble from there.

Just remember that when you do this you'll need replacement thermal paste, and possibly replacement thermal pads as well.

Aha. Here's the other thing I found way back when.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/gat...-fan-control-860xl-crazy-hot.html#post1881256

The first link in that post goes to a pictorial guide for removing the heatsink assembly for a M680, which is configured practically identically to our NX860XLs, except that I'm not sure if our GPU heatpipe can be removed separately from the CPU heatpipe and fan assembly (always took that off as one big piece).