Screen won't turn on

So I've got a Gateway FX P-6860, had it since April of 2008. A bit of history before I go into the problem: I've never dropped my laptop once, I take good care of my electronics so the problem can't be simply cuz it broke. I once had to send my laptop to tech support because I had an issue where after playing any graphic's heavy video game, the computer would shut down. Sending it solved nothing so I had to do my own research, and narrowed the problem to overheating caused by dust (really surprised tech support couldn't figure this one out). So I went and bought a Zalman NC-2000 cooler, and some compressed air and blasted all of the dust I could find out of the cpu, gpu, and fans. Problem never happened again since.

But now this: for the past month I've noticed that whenever Im playing any video game, doesnt even have to be performance heavy, that my monitor would black out for a few seconds/minutes/hours. And now my screen wont turn on at all. I've tried opening her up again to check for dust but couldnt really find much of it.

I searched around for a bit and saw a few other people had the same problem. No one has really come to a solution to this really. Some causes I heard were basically the GPU has finally given out, or there are "micro fissures" within the solder points on the MoBo which stops the flow of electricity, and some other things as well.

Any ideas on what I can do at this point? I cant really update my drivers or anything since the screen wont even turn on anymore. I tried connecting to my TV using both VGA and HDMI, neither worked.

Any help appreciated, thanks

 

If it is the solder flow issue you would need to remove the main board and reflow the GPU. This is usually done by baking it.

Your other option is to find someone, like the guy on ebay, to do the work for you.

Yet another option is to give up and get a new system. Sometimes we need to let it die a respectable death and burial...............

 

Yep that's what had me worried, it makes sense that the issue could be the solder points, seeing that my laptop did go thru many hot-then-cold cycles at times. I really don't wanna have to go thru the process of opening her up to get to the motherboard, but at the same time I would really like to get all of my information off the the HDD.

Is removing the harddrive easier then removing the motherboard? If so I may as well just get a new laptop and take out the HDD.

 

Removing the HDD in these is super simple...............

 

Dude you are soo lucky! I've been wishing for my p 172 to fry so I can upgrade. Sadly I've owned it and it hasn't given me a single problem. Go out there and get you a new asus g73 and be happy!