How to: Replace your broken (8600M GT) graphics card (in the [I]FL90)

Okay, it has come down to this - your 8600M GT finally gave up. Well, look on the bright side, you are quite lucky that it survived quite long!

Plus, you are lucky that your laptop has a replaceable MXM II graphics card.

As I had the very same problem, and regarded myself as total newbie when it comes to "repairing" laptops, I figured, I write this guide to help other who are facing the very same challenge.

The images in this post are clickable, relaying you to bigger images where you actually could see and identify something.

1. Your options

1.1 Get a new laptop

You are done reading.​

1.2 Bake your card

This is no joke. There are several videos and posts on the net that show you how you can "repair" your broken video card by putting it in the oven for a while. Do a google search for "graphic card oven" and you find what you need to know. There are also videos at youtube.

[UPDATE: 20th Nov. 2010]
I also tried that myself. I baked two dead 8600M GT cards, one 512MB, the other a 256MB card. The first never had any signal, and baking didn't solve that.
The 256MB had major issues, I saw my screen 6 times with a resolution of each at 200 x 300 or something like that.
I turned on the oven, heating it up to 180°C, and put in the card for 10 minutes. After letting it cool of, I put it in, and it survived a FurMark and a complete 3DMark06 run. I removed it afterwards, so I can't tell on how long it would survive ...
​

1.3 Replace your video card

This is the fun part. You will end up figuring out which replacement card to get, you have to disassemble your laptop, hit in the new card, reassemble it, and hope it all turns out fine. Worried? No need for that. Several people here did it successfully, and I think many never did it before, including myself.​

2. Which card to get

Okay, there are several realistic options:

• NVidia 8600M GT: This is the name of the model that came with your laptop. However, just getting an Nvidia 8600M GT MXM II card normally won't get you anywhere. The original came with no Video BIOS (vbios), which is rather unusal (your vbios is integrated into the mainboards BIOS). Most other 8600M GT's have a dedicated vbios, and as a result, just won't work. There are better options, namely ATI cards. Not necessarily because ATI would be better then NVidia, but NVidia cards just won't work out of the box because the described vbios problem. ATI cards do work out of the box!
  
  
• ATI Mobility Radeon 4650: This is a rather powerful card. It's known to work as described in detail here. However, as stated in the linked guide, you might run into some PCI-E link throttling issues, which degrades performance badly, plus you might have problems with heat unless you perform (minor to moderate, from a newbies perspective) modding to your heat sink.
  
  
• ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650: This one comes in two flavors. With 512MB DDR2 memory and with 256 DDR3 memory. It is said that the latter is performing better. I got mine for 90€ (August 2010), which was not very cheap (I spare you the long version of this story). So this is the card I am focusing on in this guide, whenever it gets 'card specific' which won't be too often I guess. This card will require also slight heat-sink modifications (I did it with a plain ordinary screw driver) when you plan to do gaming or other graphic intense stuff.
  
  
• [UPDATE: 21st Nov. 2010]ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570: You can get this one from www.mxm-upgrade.com. I tried this card, too. It worked for me!
  
  
• [UPDATE: 4th March 2011]ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3470: I got this from ebay. Nothing near an upgrade, but a cheap replacement to revive your laptop. More details in this post.
  
  
• [UPDATE: 20th March 2011]ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3400: I got the card from ebay, from this seller - it works in one of my FL90s - see here for more details.
  
  
• [UPDATE: 20th March 2011]ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2400XT: I didn't get this one to work.
  
  
• [UPDATE: 22nd April 2011]ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650: I got a broken Acer Aspire 6530G with a ATI 4650. Removed it and put it into one of my FL90s (not the one with the ATI 3650 from this tutorial, but practically the same). It worked without problems. However, I needed to modify the heat sink a bit, same with the ATI 3650 shown in this tutorial. I used a thermal pad (had one left from MXM upgrade) instead of thermal paste, and I am getting good temps - max of 88° during gaming, but normally in lower 80s during games. I didn't see any PCI-E throtteling, I get great performance all the time.
  
  
• [UPDATE: 19th Juni 2011]: NVidia FX 570M - I didn't get this one to work - see more details there

​

3. Disassembling the laptop

3.1 Thanks god there is a disassemby guide!

Ever did that before? Not me! I build my own desktop systems, but this is tougher. I doubt I would have dared to do the replacement, and if so, much less successfully, if there was no disassemby guide floating around. Luckily there is one, so let's get started, shall we.​

3.2 Dig deep ...

You basically have to take out everything. First off, unplug it from the power and remove the battery. Here's what I did, in that order, close to what is written in the guide.

1. removed the Battery Pack
2. removed the HDD Module
3. removed the DDR RAM
4. removed the ODD (CD-ROM/DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
5. removed the Keyboard
6. removed the Switch Board
7. removed the LCD Module
8. removed the Logic Upper
9. removed the LED Board
10. removed the Motherboard
11. removed the CPU Thermal Module
12. removed the Graphics Card Heat Sink
13. removed the Graphics Card

It is not really necessary to remove the CPU Thermal Module (CPU Heat Sink), but it helps when you do modifications to the Graphics Card Heat Sink without proper tools. If you have Dremel or similar tool at hand, you might get along without removing it. I did it by hand with a flat screw driver, and it was easier to remove it then.

I did not remove the Wireless LAN Card (but disconnected the wires as described in the guide), the System Fan, the CPU, the Camera Module nor did I disassemble the Display and the Inverter Board, and I did not remove the Bluetooth Module nor the Robson Card as I don't have either one of these installed.

The only real problem I faced when disassembling my laptop was the keyboard. You have to get under the connector and lift the connector, e. g. with a flat knife or a flat screw driver. Then you should be able to pull the cable out. I applied too much force and let the black bracket fly through the air - no harm done, though, as you can reattach it easily.

​

3.3 ... all the way down to the graphic card

Okay, when following the disassembly guide, you sooner or later will find you in a situation similar to this.



The laptop is pretty much disassembled, I just took of the heat sink to get a look at the graphic card. Bear in mind that I took all pictures after I already installed mthe new HD 3650. I had to redo everything because temperatures were too high while gaming (+100° C), as the heat sink did not fit prefectly. So don't get confused to already see the HD 3650 in there.

As a side note, I did some benchmarking tests with the casing all open. I had the RAM and HDD in there, I connected the three connectors of the LCD, the USB connector (for external keyboard and mouse) an of course had the GPU and its heat sink in place. You also need the switch board of course, as you need to turn your laptop on, somehow. You can connect it easily in this state, but better slide a piece of paper or something like that under it, to avoid short-circuiting with the main board.

This worked perfectly and can safe you a lot of time! But be sure to never have the battery in there, when reassembling just partially, it might destroy your mainboard and/or battery!



This should speed up things for you in case you want to do some tests before reassembling your laptop again, as you don't have to tighten the last screw every time.

​

3.4 Removing the graphic card

Assuming you got the GPU heat sink out of the way, you only have to remove two screws from the 8600M GT that holds it to the main board and then, pull it out of the connector.

Now would be a good time to get the screwing plate of your old 8600M GT, unless you were lucky enough to have gotten a new screwing plate with your new graphics card - I didn't, so I had to use the one glued (quite tight) to my 8600M GT. I did so by laying the card in my left hand's palm and pressing onto the screwing holes, in turns one after the other with the rear of a screw driver. Eventually, it got loose and I could pull it off.



Ehhhm, and yes, I wear my Itchy and Scratchy shirt. Good spot!

​

3.5 Modifying the heat sink

I really suggest you do the heat sink modifications in case it does not fit perfectly. It's not really hard to do.

To get an impression of the problem, have a look on the following pictures, where you see my yet unmodified heat sink as it sits on the HD3650 - not a perfect fit, obviously!



Really, that's not sitting on the nicely, does it?



A closer look let's you see, where the problem is located. It's really just 1 or 2 millimeters.



This thingy is the party pooper (R56 on the right side)!



So, get your tool of choice, and start "modding". As said before, if you have a Dremel or something alike, you should be able to do the modifications in no-time, and should not even have to remove the heat sink of the CPU.

I do not have such a nice tool, so I thought I'd try a screw driver and plain force. No worries, no real force is needed, as the metal which the heat sink is made off, is really "soft".

Have a look on the following pictures to see with what I came up with. There is no need to fix the screws yet, we are not done with the card yet! But just put the card in while you are modding to see if it already fits nicely.



The result looks much better.



... doesn't it?



Sure does!



Okay, but don't rush it. We first need to clean the card of old thermal paste, and reapply new one.

Ehhhm, yeah, and there is also some strange soft black thingy in my card. As it is soft, the heat sink does not "interfere" with it, nevertheless, I show you some pictures. The heat sink compresses this, and looks like neither takes any harm.





​

3.6 Removing old thermal paste and reapplying new one

To get best results, you should remove old thermal paste before bringing on new one.

I used Arctic Silver ArctiClean with handkerchief and Q-tips to remove thermal paste remains, but pure alcohol or similar things should work too and are cheaper as well. Consult google to learn more.

before cleaning the heat sink and the GPU chip:


after removing thermal paste:


Of course you will need new thermal paste now, I went with Arctic-Cooling MX-2. Either the package or resources on the internet tell you how to correctly apply it. Do not use too much, but also, do not use too few - a layer of 1 mm should do, but better check back.
​

3.7 Putting in the new graphics card

You got your GPU and heat sink covered in thermal paste, and got your old (or new) thermal pads back on the memory chips of your HD3650?

Fine, so now you can start thinking of reassembling your machine.

Put the screwing plate under the card, and push it into the connector. Screw in the two screws that fixate it to the motherboard, and screw the heat sink back on top of it.

Keep in mind, if you remove the heat sink again, you should again clean both the heat sink and the GPU chip of thermal paste and reapply new one.

​

3.8 A first reboot

To actually see if your system is working, you need to start it.

In order to do so, you need to ...

• fix the mainboard to the case by at least one screw (sure this is basically optional, but better be safe then sorry)
• connect the LCD display, by plugging in its three connectors
• connect the USB cable to be able to use USB mouse/keyboard (optional)
• insert RAM (this should be optional if you only want to see BIOS for example)
• insert HDD/DVD (this is needed of course if you want to fully boot you system, or want to boot from CD/DVD, obviously)
• connect the switch board (lay something under it, so it does not short circuit with the mainboard!)
• connect power plug
• take a deep breath
• push the button to the most left on your switch board
• hear the system boot and preferably, also see the system boot
• try to run some benchmarks, esp. temperature, as this should be your only concern by now (see drivers & tools section below)
• shut down, remove power plug, continue in the guide if you were successful, else, revert and check if you forgot something

​

3.9 Reassembly

Go thru the disassembly guide in reverse order. Don't forget any screws ... nor connectors!​

4. Drivers

Windows 7 detected my new card automatically when I reinstalled Windows 7, so it may do this too on reboot.

Alternatively, get the drivers from the internet, try google.

For Windows XP, things didn't go so smooth, as you need modded drivers - but again, it's not hard to do!

Go to the Mobility Modder site and scroll down to Installation step by step guide and follow these simple steps.

After that, your system should have the latest drivers.

​

5. Tools

The most essential thing for me was temperatures. Performance also, but only a second priority.

I do not only want to see my current temps, but also see the history, even better, be able to log it to a file.

I used RivaTuner with my 8600M GT, but didn't get it working with my new card.

The only tool I found that worked for me and was able to log temps, was the ATI Tray Tools.

I also tried EVGA Precision, which did not work at all, as well as GPUTool, AMD GPU Clock Tool, PCWizard and CPUID HWMonitor, as well HWiNFO32 which were in parts able to show temps, but not to log them (maybe I missed the option!).

​

6. Results

Performance-wise, the card is okay. I am not sure if it is really performing better than my 8600M GT - my only benchmark is my subjective experience while playing ArmA - no numbers no nothing! So I could just be wrong.

Temperatures range from low 50's while idling, mid 50's while writing this guide (for the last 3 hours), low 60's while playing videos, and a maximum of 88° C while playing, but also there mostly in the low to mid 80's though.

This is without undervolting, just thermal paste and heat sink modification. I can live with that, and my new card as well, I think.

​

7. vBIOS flashing

I need to do this myself first, to be able to report on it.

​

8. Problems

• external monitor not working
  
  • this problem remains until now with the HD 3650 DDR3 (no other card had this problem, so the card might be damaged or incompatible!)
  • others have this problem too
  • a system BIOS upgrade from 1.16 to 1.18 did not cure it
  • the only way I could work with the external monitor was to remote-desktop-connect to the FL90 from a netbook that is connected to my external monitor, doing so allows me to work fairly decent with the FL90

  ​
• external sound was not working
  
  • after disassembling it again, I un- and replugged the connector of the audio connectors, and it worked - I must have failed to connect it properly the first time - I kept this point in here as a remainder: always double-check your connectors

  ​

Did I break something?

Same for my original WinXP SP3, a newly installed WinXP SP3, as well as a newly installed Win7 system.

Any clues?

I would appreciate any help!
​

9. Something missing

You tell me
​

10. Special Thanks

To whom ever is running and moderating this forum, and a special thanks to anyone who took the time and helps/helped me resolving my problems, especially Daniel Hahn who pointed me several times in the right direction.
​

11. Updates

• up to now, I never got the ATI 3650 DDR3 256MB to give me a signal to my external monitor
• ATI 3650 DDR2 512 MB worked instantly, also with external monitor
• ATI 4570 works, too, also with external monitor
• ATI 3470 works, too, also with external monitor
• ATI 3400 works, too, also with external monitor
• baking both of my 8600M GT cards for 10 minutes at 180°C got one card back to live
• ATI 2400XT did not work!
• ATI 4650 works, too, also with external monitor
• NVidia FX 570M does not work

​

Thanks everyone!

 

wow very nice guide, i was going to do one too. but i recieved a Ati 4650 ddr2 that i had to ship back, they shipped a MXM 3.0 version, i need a 2.1 version.

 

Please, I need your help on this.

I still don't get my external monitor to work. I now have yet another FL90 with a dead gfx, I installed my HD3650 in that one, and again, the external monitor of the "new" FL90 doe snot work either.

So I suspect the/this HD3650 DDR3 256MB does not work with an external monitor (back light goes on, but stays dark, more or less).

So, which other cards would work in the FL90.

I know the HD3650 DDR2 512MB does, so does the 4650 and 4670, maybe with PCI-E down to 1x instead of the normal 16x.

What else would work?

Any MXM II that is not from nVidia?

Maybe the ATI X1900?

I would appreciate any help!

Thanks in advance!

Cheers

 

x1900 won't fit since it was only MXM-III iirc. x1600, however, might work, if you manage to find one

i'd be looking for 4650 if i were you

btw, have you tried baking your 8600?

 

Well, yeah, but I never did. After all, it's just a temporary solution, as it will "fry and ie" again rather soon, right?

Or for how long might this fix work in general?

 

Good morning,

I have had the same problem with an ahtec xms1719 with the 8600m gt video card. I have been told that the recommendations for the fl90 applies to this computer.

So that I have found 3 kinds of hd 3650 on ebay, new whithout been used:

- 3650 1 gb ddr2 ( 200 us dollar but maybe I can get for 150 or so, even less)
- 3650 512 mb ddr2 (70 us dollar)
- 3650 256 mb ddr3 (100 us dollar)

My question is which one to choose based on price vs performance, is it worth 256 ddr3 comparing with 512 ddr2 based on performance, what is your experience using one of this cards in games?

Thank you very much for your help.

 

The 3650 256 mb ddr3 would be the best choice, performance-wise, as the memory is much faster (DDR3).

1GB DDR2 is a bad choice in my opinion, esp. for the high price. For 150-200$/€ you can even get a 4650/4670.

 

hi again!

Do you know where to buy de hd 4650 or 4670 mxm II new brand condition?
I have only found second hand or mxm type A on ebay.

Any problem with this card to be taken into account if you compare with de 3650?

Have you solved your problem with the external monitor? that means if you connect your computer via hdmi cable with a tv you are not able to see anything on the tv screen?

this doesn´t happen with the 3650 512 ddr2 right?

what kind of vbios had your card when you got it?
Did you have to flash your card?

Thank you again.

 

You can get the from MXM Upgrade Home Page. But the 4650/70 might not work 100%. mxm-upgrade is investigating on this ... he'll let me know as soon as he knows more details. The PCIe link drops from x16 to x1, giving real low gaming performance!

Yep, see above. It works great for some, and bad for others ...

I only have VGA-out, and that still does not work. But I am sure it's the card, as I now have a second FL90, and again, the ext. monitor does not work with that one either. I never tried HDMI, I only have VGA-out. S-Video will not work, as far as I know, no matter which card you use!

No idea, I think it's related to this, my card only, it might be damaged (got it from ebay). It works for others, but I know from one guy who had the very same problem - not sure about his card, 3650 for sure, but dont know if 256 DDR3 (which I have) or 512/1024 DDR2.

No idea what to answer. It had *a* vBios, hehe. But what do you want to know? I did not flash it (yet) because I do not know to what to flash, I mean what to change ...

Good luck!

 

Hi Dr. Colossos!

Regarding what you told me, do you know someone with 3650 256 ddr3 without problems with the external monitor?

And finally, do you know any place where to confirm the difference in performance between 3650 512 ddr2 and 3650 256 ddr3, it is clear that ddr3 is better, buy I am not very sure if I am going to notice the difference playing games, I dot know if you know someone with the 3650 ddr2 and you have played the same game to try to compare. I would appreciate some advice from you!

To let you know the 512 ddr2 seller it is very well known, the card works in external monitor and it is 40 us dollar cheaper.

On the other hand I do not know references from 256 ddr3 seller ( people known at least) and I do not know if it is going to be problems with the external monitor, but if it is worth the ddr3 because of the performace I would buy it.

Than you very much again for everything, and I apologized if I have been too extensive with this subject, I want to take the correct card, that is all.

Regards.

 

No Problem - been there, too.

However, I can't really help you. I am rather sure it is *my* HD3650 that has a problem. I know one guy who had the same problem as I do, and claims there are others, too - but without a reference.

I also can't put a number on the cards (DDR2 vs DDR3) regarding their performance - all my knowledge on this is basically from this forum.

If I were you, I'd go for the DDR3 version. If you are facing problems, you still can sell it on ebay for a good price and get the DDR2 version.

THe only resource I could offer is maybe ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 - Notebookcheck.net Tech

But they dont have data for any specific version ...

Good luck! with that!

I am still waiting for my 4650/70 ... I let you know as soon as I have news.

Cheers

 

256 DDR3 would be the best option, probably. The card is not powerful enough to handle high resolution gaming, so 256 meg should be enough for it and the fact that it can push the data faster will be an advantage

dr Colossos, keep us updated on your progress too=)

 

News are bad ... mxm-upgrade seems to be out of stock with *both* the 4650s and the 4670s.

Currently, I do not really know what to do ...

Anybody knows a good reseller for these cards, except ebay of course?

Cheers

 

Hi there.
I swapped my 8600M GT some time ago (around late January 2010) for a HD3650.
It just fit without doing any mod. One week ago, my notebook just...I don't know, died. It enters ok to BIOS, but when it comes to Windows 7, it loads the logo (those 4 lights that mix into the win7 logo) and then , BSOD.

Then I thought it may be a driver problem or something like that, so I tried to enter in Win XP...and yet, the same, BSOD.

Later, I entered in recovery mode and ran Everest using cmd. GPU was at 90ºC without doing anything, maybe that is the reason of those BSOD. 8 months of 3650 (it cost me 50€)...

I thought it was gpu's problem for sure, so I disassembled my notebook and swapped thermal paste (AS5) to both cpu and GPU. Assembled again and got the same result.

Do you think it is worth to buy another 3650? or just buy a new laptop?

 

1st: 50€ for HD 3650? Where did you buy it? ebay?

BSOD - maybe try a Linux distribution, there are some you can run from CD or USB.

90° on idle - strnge indeed.

Anyway, if you get another one from 50€, I'd try, you still can sell the old (damaged one?) on ebay - that is if you already have that T9500 in there, otherwise, well, ask your budget, hehe.

Good luck!

 

Hi there again.

Yes, I got it over eBay.

Well, I will try it. Don't think it will be able to solve any problem. Just baked my old 8600M GT to try, but failed.

Uhm, that's quite a good idea. I didn't replace my CPU for the T9500, so I'd vouch for buying a new notebook. Maybe I can sell the laptop for parts or something like that but anyways... Will try Linux before that.

Thanks!

 

Hello
I have a Compal JFL 92 40 days ago I mounted AMD ati mobility HD3650 DDR2 and I started test my laptop
It's my Benchmarks:
3dmark2001SE winXp 25854 3dMark 74 st.C
3dmark2001SE winXp 26566 3dMark 76 st.C 654mhz ~8700m GT
3dmar2001SE win7 9809 3dMarks
3dmar2003 winXp 10021 3dMarks
3dmar2003 win7 8933 3dMarks 594mhz/495mhz
3dmar2003 win7-64bit 9400 3dMarks 654mhz/504mhz 79st.c cpu58st.c


3dmark05 winXp 5237 3dMarks 297mhz
3dmark05 winXP 7562 3dMarks 607mhz 83st.C
3dmark05 win7ult-64bit 5016 3dMarks 76st.C 297mhz
3dmark05 win7ult-64bit 7419 3dMarks 79st.C 607mhz
3dmark05 win7ult-64bit 7505 3dMarks 77st.C 614mhz/495Mhz
3dmark05 win7ult-64bit 8008 3dMarks 79st.C cpu 72st.C 654mhz/504Mhz ~ hd3670


windows7ult-64bit 6,1/6,1/5,2/6,1/5,9
654Mhz/504Mhz

3dMark06 Win7ult-64bit 2505 3DMarks 297/450mhz 73st.C
3dmark06 win7ult-64bit 4082 3dMarks 76st.C 627mhz
sm2.0 1341
sm3.0 1784
CPU Score 2189

3dmark06 win7ult-64bit 4192 3dMarks 76st.C 654mhz/504
sm2.0 1381
sm3.0 1830
CPU Score 2237

3dmark06 win7ult-64bit 4236 3dMarks 79st.C 675mhz/513mhz cpu 74st.C
sm2.0 1404
sm3.0 1846
CPU Score 2237
If you want You could testing my BIOS:
Download M86-512MBddr2.bin - BitShare.com - Free File Sharing and Storage
It's programmm for to load new bios:
Download atiwinflash.zip - BitShare.com - Free File Sharing and Storage
and program to save copy orginally BIOS and control VGA-CARD:
Download GPU-Z.0.4.8.exe - BitShare.com - Free File Sharing and Storage
Please test and write about your attention- greetings

 

Since today I got a HD 4570 DDR2 512MB from MXM Upgrade Home Page, and a HD 3650 DDR2 512 MB I got via ebay.

Both cards worked right away with my external monitor.

I will post details during next week.

 

Sorry, no benchmarks yet.

I am thinking of getting my HD 3650 DDR3 256MB going with the external monitor.

As the DDR2 512MB version works, as well as the 5470, I could imagine that the problem of the DDR3 version is a wrong/incomaptible vBios. Could that be?

I found vBios dumps at tech power up and somewhere in these forums.

Now, it would be great to get some confirmation of someone, that this is a valid approach, as I really don't know. Could the vBIOS be responsible for the external monitor not working?

And, if the flashing goes wrong/does not help, I could reflash my old one when I dump that before, right? Might do a blind flash, though, right?

Thanks in advance!
Cheers

 

Hi, Quadro FX570m 256Mb MXM II is compatible?

 

No nVidia card was ever reported to work with the FL90.

You will need to get an ATI card.

Good luck!

 

THX Dr.Colossos

Where I can get a 4670?. mxm-upgrade is not in stock

 

hello
i want to buy Card ATI HD4570 HD 4570 M92 512MB DDR3 MXM II VGA Card Vedio
and put it to Compal JFL92 (NEW SANTA ROSA)
Dr.Colossos you think it's this card working in this laptop?
or do I buy a card with DDR2 to work on this laptop

 

I have a 4570 DDR2 working in my FL90.

I think you want to get that one, right?

Well, according to the pic, it is a MXM II card, so it should fit. I guess it could work, but you have to try it, I don't know for sure.

If you try, please post back!

Cheers

 

ok but i have some questions for you.
how to have solved the cooling?
what temperature is your card 4570 DDR2?
and what the difference was at a temperature of 3650 (DDR2 and DDR3)?
or those with DDR3 heat up more?

 

I had a 3650 DDR3 in there, but I never got the external monitor to work.

I replaced it with a 3650 DDR2 and it worked in an instant.

I had a second FL90 around, and I replaced the 8600M GT with the 4570 DDR2.

Heat was NEVER a problem. I think the 4570 runs the coolest (around 85 degree with FurMark 60 seconds benchmark test), but it is also weaker than the 3650. The 3650 does not get much warmer, it toped at 90 during longer gaming sessions I think - mostly mid 80s as far as I remember.

However, depending on your model, you might need to modify the heat sink a bit ( see my initial post in this thread).

Good luck!

 

hmm, whats wrong with the nvidia cards? they have to be ddr2 or 256mb?

you know, i think i found some ddr2 256mb 9600m GT cards, you could probably flash them to the 8600m gt

 

The FL90s have the vBios on the motherboard, hence, all cards with a dedicated vBIOS (every other one) does not work. At least it was never reported that another nVidia card worked in the FL90.

 

hi there,
today i played with compal fl90 bios the result is in attachment ( is't oryginal bios from intel VBI site with modification as below ).
Modification is that vbios for nvidia cards was removed from computer's bios.
So in theory any nvidia graphic should work after flashing motherboard with bios provided. I did not tried this because I have my compal running on it's original gt 8600 card. I did this mod for hobby only. If you have ati card installed and you would like to change to nvidia you can give it a try.

here's a link to the bios file:

http://rapidshare.com/files/438250712/IFT00112-NO-VBIOS-FOR-NVIDIA.rar

 

Dr.Colossos
I read a bit and found that the 4570 card is weak
So I want to buy 4670 but I can not find this card ...
can also be 4650, I found the 1 GB card
but unfortunately only used and the price as new.
is writtenthe the auction that is new but
after sending an e-mail turned out that this is a used part.
Dr.Colossos if you have a place where I can buy
some of these cards but the new one?

 

No, you are left with checking at ebay and MXM Upgrade Home Page.

I do not know any other source ...

The 4570 is indeed not very powerful, but a DDR3 version might not be that bad ...

Good luck!

 

Hello eweryone.
I have problem with my FL90 and 8600 card. I installed Win7 and tried to install video drivers from NVidia offiial site and when I restarted my notebook screen won't work anymore.
I connected to it by remote desktop and find out that system won't recognize video card anymore (there are no video cards at all in device manager).
The worst thing that I can't see even DOS and can not change anything in bios.
Things that I have tried:
* pull out and install again video card.
* reset bios by shorting CMOS battery (the clock vas reseted)
* reflash bios (firstly the same 1,18 version, after that I tried older 1,16)
Non of those tryings work for me.

I think drivers changed something in vbios and now system won't recognise it (because you told that all nvidia cards don't work on this laptop)

I don't think my video card is faulty, because it worked fine since that drivers restart. (I think those video cards fails when you play games or something. right?)

maybe someone have original compal FL90 8600M GT vbios? and maybe someone knows on which laptops those video cards work? (I think it would be possible to reflash vbios on other laptops which would recognise it. right?)
Sorry for my english

 

hello. i am having some problems with my compal fl90.
After reading this article and some more on the internet, i thourght that it ,y 8600m that was dead, there is just some things, that i dont relly understand.
I have posted some videos here, they are showing how my computer starts the light on the mainboard, and after some time it starts the backlight's on the screen. but notice that the cpu cooler spins up at max "i think", when i prees power buttom, but after 1 sec, it stops totaly, but the rest of the computer is still running.
is this really the gfx thats dead? or is it maby the cpu or the motherboard?
i hope that some 1 can give a good anwser, and maby some one can tell whats happening, when you are baking the card, because, i dont think that is magic that is repairing the card when you bake it

 

@Dusiata: I doubt that the Win7 drivers would find their way into the vBIOS. I would not say it's impossible, but if Microsoft woulddo that, I would finally declare them lunatics!

Maybe you are just very unlucky and it is a co-incidence that the card died just with installing Win7.

Maybe try WinXP again ..? Do you see anything on the screen, like the POST messages when booting?

@piphansdk: I would guess your gfx is dead. But remove the HDD and all RAM chips first, and put only one RAM chip back in, then the other (in case you have more than one), and see if it works.

If it does not, my money is on the gfx. The fact that the GPU cooler starts up at first is totally normal, I think it is part of the POST to check if the fan works okay.

About the baking. You put the card in the oven, heated to around 180° Celsius and let it in there for about 10 minutes. What happens is that some soldering melt, and "broken" connections are "fixed". It may work, and may not, but you have nothing to loose. For me it worked with one of two cards.

Good luck to both of you!

 

yeah, but why cant it boot with a dead gfx? when you have a desktop, and you start your pc, it will boot the os, and if you can navigate to some sound, you can see that it is working, bur the gfx is dead, why cant i do that? and is there any 1, thats having a card too much, that i can buy?

 

Dr. Colossos:
that happened when I tried to update drivers from official nvidia page, till then everything worked fine on win7, except my video card was listed as "plug and play VGA adapter" or something like that, and those games which need good video card didn't work.
maybe anyone have Vbios from compal FL90 or can do a copy for me, that would be my last chance.

 

Some FL90s do boot into OS and you can hear the Windows sound for example - but some do not. It may be related to "how much" your card is fried, don't know.

You can get a replacement from ebay - the ATI 3650 DDR2 512MB is your best bet!

@Dusiata: that might be an indication that your card was damaged before. Where did you get the laptop? Did you buy it all new? I still doubt the NVdia drivers "damaged" the card or vBios.

All I can tell you is to try to get a replacement (see above) or dump the laptop. Before, you could try to remove the drivers via your remote desktop connection - but as I said before, I still doubt it's drivers related.

Good luck!

 

I hope I do not interfer with forum rules, but I am selling my old 8600M GT - it is working.

It is listed here, in case you want that.

I also tried one of the ATI X1400 ... it didn't work in my FL90.

I tried the 8600M GT that I am selling with Win7 and drivers from NVIDA site - no problems what so ever ... do you still need a vBios? I am not sure if I can give you one, because GPU-Z says "no vbios found" for the 8600M GT.

I still could try to dump it for you in case you still need it ...

 

The 8600M GT has no vbios. The vbios is stored in the system bios. Thas is why you cannot put any other Nvidia card into the FL90. Maybe the card simply died on you? Basically all 8600M GTs are faulty. With some drivers I would get more errors than with others. In the end my card failed. I guess your card just failed. Try baking it.

 

I tried to bake it, and it works again I know that this isn't for long, so I will search replacement ATI card. maybe someone know which ATI cards would fit my laptop? I know that best replacement would be 3650, but it costs half of my laptop price

 

How old is your laptop anyway? Maybe your reseller is willing to replace the card even though warranty has ended as everyone knows that Nvidia messed up big time and they can get their money back from Nvidia.

 

I bought it used, so I even don't know it's history.

 

Hi,
I have bought a few 3650/512DDR2 on Ebay (went for good price, my friends are students), all of them were working in various FL90 notebooks, now I have the last one, FL92, with fresh Vista installed and I cant get the card working. The device manager says "This device cannot start. (Code 10)". I cant install the driver, or set the correct desktop resolution (surprisingly). Can anyone tell me where is the problem? Is the card faulty? Baking the nvidia is not an option for me. Thanks a lot.

 

I am not sure what you wanna tell us with that ..? Maybe its irrelevant, anyway.

Regarding your problem - you are sure the card is connected correctly? Do you happen to have a second laptop where to test it? Sorry. that's the only thing I could think of how to test a card, i.e., rule out the laptop has a problem.

What drives did you use? I had to install a 3650 DDR3 in a Acer 7520 yesterday, also using Vista, and I also had troubles installing the drivers ... did you run the driver installation as administrator? I just ask because I forgot that ... never used Vista, hate it to the guts. Win7 is not much better as a matter of fact ...

Good luck!

 

*Semi off topic* my apologizes.

Is the disassembly guide link broken for anyone else?

It takes me to a website in a language that I couldn't begin to guess what it is, and no reference to the guide break down. I would really like to know what's what inside this machine (IFL-90) so I can follow these steps, should I ever need to (Knock on wood)

Thanks.

 

I checked the card like ten times (I didnt count, I was desperate). The biggest problem is this is the last laptop I have here, so I am not able to test it, maybe a friend of mine will bring me Acer 5520 to try but maybe.. The driver installer is able to detect the card (it looks so, in log file the card is identified OK, also I had to modify the inf file..), I tried in XP and it is the same so Admin rights are not relevant (client has genuine Vista so had to try Vista as well..). Is it more probable to be a compatibility issue or a faulty card? Thanks very much!

 

For XP you need the modded drivers, see Mobility Modder - ATI Version, Install the Latest Drivers on your ATI laptop, as there are *no* drivers for XP!

Of course compatibility is always possible, so is a defective card! You can only rule that out with another laptop!

 

This link to the guide works for me!

Report back if you still can't get it.

 

@ Dr. Colossos

Thanks that worked!

 

so i just bought a ati fireGL v5700, that is using the 86m and completly the same as 3650. But, when i turn on the pc, there is black screen, no back light, and the fan spins slowly up to maximum, just like if you try to start without a gfx. is this v5700 or (v700 in description) not compatible?
Here is the ebay-item