DV6(z) Problem, Possibly GPU Failure.

1-2 months ago my dv6 (specs in signature) started freezing where Windows would be unresponsive, the screen was frozen, and the audio would be shrill which forced me to do a hard shut down. When I restarted, Windows would tell me it was a bluescreen with bccode 124. It seemed to do it while I was watching flash videos and only rarely so I didn't do anything to fix the problem for a few weeks.


When I finally got around to it, the first thing I decided to do was update the driver to Catalyst 12.8, but during the installation process the screen would go black and Windows, unresponsive. After a few restart attempts, I was able to install 12.8 completely but the Vision center program couldn't detect a compatible GPU. I was sure I got the mobile drivers but I redownloaded anyway and tried to reinstall with the same problems and result. A workaround that seemed to work was installing the drivers offered through Windows update, but I wasn't content with that since I play games so decided to reinstall Windows. Before I did that, I disassembled the dv6 to reapply AS5 on the CPU and GPU just to make sure I didn't do it wrong the first time a month before. After reassembling it I went about reinstalling Windows which also took a few attempts due to the notebook shutting down during installation. When Windows finally installed successfully I attempted to reinstall the 12.8 drivers which still couldn't detect the GPU. I tried 12.6 as well, but it was 12.4 that finally worked - probably coincidence.


Everything seemed to work for a few days, but the problem occurred again. Sometimes I would get an explanation of bccode 124 and sometimes nothing at all. There's not much else I could think of doing so I decided to just live with it even with the freezing issue happening more often and randomly where the notebook would freeze while idle, web browsing, etc. For some reason, the only time it wouldn't do it was while I was gaming... until today. When I restarted, it went into Windows, but aero was turned off and the screen was in a lower resolution with black borders. I restarted again and now I can't even get into Windows without safe mode. I tried running a hard disk check through the BIOS, but it eventually shut down during the test so I'm not even sure about trying a Linux disc.


I'm going to try disassembling again and rechecking all the connections, but I'm doubtful. I think my dv6 is pretty much done for, but I'm looking for other thoughts before I decide to buy a new notebook.

 

Did you already check CPU and GPU temperatures with HWMonitor or similar program?

 

Yup. Unless there was a sudden spike, it's all within usual temps. I was able to start it up two more times which I mainly used to back up some files, but each time it ended up freezing within 30 minutes. The last time, it wouldn't even load the UEFI. Tried again after disassembling and the same result. Looks like I'm going with a new notebook.