GPU Possibly Fried?

Hi,

Today I couldn't boot up my laptop at all, even on battery. At first, the screen started going dark whenever I try to boot into Windows 7/Linux. It happens just after it asks me to choose which OS I wanted to boot up and after I've made my choice, the screen goes blank and I can't see anything. I notice that the HDD was running on full force because the indicator light was ON the whole time this happened. So, I decided to forcefully shut down the laptop as the screen was blank and try to reboot again. This happened for about 3 times and after that, the laptop just would not boot at all.

Then I noticed that whenever I try to plug in the power adapter, the adapter would start beeping for no reason and the light on the adapter flashed Green but when it was not plugged into the laptop, the light did not flash at all. I took a guess that it wasn't the problem with the adapter as even when I try to boot up on battery, the laptop would not start at all. The blue light would flash for a moment and then disappear. I tried again with the adapter, this time the adapter started beeping as before and yet, when I try to boot up, the indicator lights were not even on to show that the A/C was plugged in nor did the blue lights were on.

I decided to open up the laptop and find out which component was causing the problem as there was no burnt smell to indicate that a part was fried. What I did was:

1) Took out the battery and plugged in the A/C and still it beeped and flashed green.
2) Took out a RAM and did the same and still the same results.
3) Took out the HDD and still the same results after doing the same test.
4) I decided to remove the GPU and this time, the indicator lights at the front of the machine was clearly on and there was no beep. I decided to replace back the GPU and do the test again to make sure. I got the same result as before when the GPU was inside its socket.

I then tried to install my old GPU (GTX 280M), which I still have, to see if the problem persists or if it was the problem of the GPU socket. Everything worked fine as the indicator lights were showing properly and that there was no beep from the adapter. I tried to boot up on both A/C and battery and on both times, I was able to boot up properly.

Now that I've isolated the problem, I could not figure out why this happened. Hopefully someone can shed some light.

Here are pics of my ATi GPU if anyone wants to see (higher resolution pictures are available but the quality is still the same, taken from an Omnia 2):

Without the can:










With the can:










Mods I've done/used:
1) Cutting the can
2) Paperclip method

After doing the above mods, my temp went down and I'm able to idle at stock clocks at 60 degrees C. Also, my ambient temp should be around 30 ~ 35 (I'm guessing because I don't have a thermometer).

 

A similar thing happened to a friend of mine after he did the shim Mod but he used slightly flexible strips of sheet metal, not paper clips on his ATI 5870 but the difference was that his laptop would not even turn on at all (no screen, no fan spin up noise), the power would flash on quickly and then it was dead. When he put his old Nvidia GPU back, everything worked fine again.

I have no idea why but the extra pressure, even though it was needed must have done something to kill the GPU.

This happened to my friend after he tightened the shims to get more pressure so it does not sound like just a coincidence to me.


All I know is, if ATI had not done such shoddy workmanship of the GPU heatsink and poor contact, then no one would have had to Mod it to get it to work in the way it should have in the first place.

When I heard what happened to my friend, I have to admit that I just thought it was a simple case of a bad GPU or just bad luck, that was until I saw your post.

I am assuming that you tried to boot up your laptop with the 5870 installed without the paperclip Mod to see if it works?

 

Happened exactly the way you mentioned it.

I even tried booting it up without the can/heatsink. The A/C adapter just keeps on beeping and the power indicator on the laptop does not light up.

 

Right after reading this thread, I immediately removed the paperclips on mine.

 

I already contacted my reseller and they contacted Sager who will be issuing an RMA for the card. Question is, is it possible for me to RMA the card when it is in such a state (i.e. the can is cut)?

 

Yes.
10 characters

 

Even when the sticker on the bottom, presumably the warranty sticker (the one with green lettering in one of the pictures I posted) is broken?

 

Well I already thought about it and what I will do if I were you is to remove the GPU card from the can before sending it out to Sager. I'm not sure if that would work but it's worth a try.

 

Well, I'm not dealing with Sager. I'm dealing with a reseller here in SEA. Haven't told them about the opening I did to test the card without the can. Should I tell them or would it be in my favour not to tell them? I'm quite doubtful that they'll accept the card without the can but then again, we never know.

 

If you are using a conductive thermal paste you might want to make sure that it didn't get under the black film on the gpu. Also was there a reason you trimmed the sides of the can but not the end?

 

Same thing happened to mine, I used the shim as well, and it won't startup sometime later, with a beep and didn't pass POST. Sent back to Sager and they replaced the GPU, out of good fortune they didn't even charge me for the new GPU. IIRC, you are from Singapore as well right, which reseller are you dealing with? Mucro or Cubehub? Even if you didn't buy directly from Sager, the notebook is still from them and for any major problem your reseller will help you ship back to Sager. Well, if you don't ship back with the can they will know you did something and will charge you for the shipping, though the price they charge for shipping is still a lot lower than standard shipping charges.

 

I was using the IC7 when I got the laptop back after the upgrade and after it sort of dried up (temps skyrocketed to near 90s), I decided to reapply MX-3. Been using it so far. Don't think it's the cause of the problem.

On the trimming issue, I found that the front ends were not much of a problem. It's more of an issue on the sides of the can that caused the heatsink to not sitting flushly on the GPU.

I'm from Malaysia. I bought my laptop from Mucro. So far, they've contacted Sager and now in the process of getting a replacement from Sager. No new news yet so far. Well, I won't be sending back the whole laptop. Just the GPU. Even if they charge me for shipping, it's really not that much compared to being charged for the whole GPU (would they?).

 

So... anyone thinks I should send back the card with/without the can? Any possibilities that I will not get a replacement if I do either (since the "warranty" sticker is already broken)?

 

Well, I would.

 

What do you mean?

 

I would send it without the can and take my chances because I'm pretty much sure that they will ask a lot of questions if they see that can and can even void your warranty.

I'm not sure where the warranty sticker for the card is but I don't think it is in the aluminum can?

 

The one with the green lettering.

 

Well, for my case, my warranty was void but I was not charged for the cost of replacement of the graphics card, was told that the card did not spoil due to physical damage or whatever and didn't charge me for it.

 

How was it void? Did you cut the can?

 

LoL, I messed it up so bad. First, i took the thermal pads out and tried to replace with thermal paste, then I realised it's not enough to cover the gap, but by then I already threw away some of the thermal pads, the rest I kind of stuck them together, and have to pry them apart, in the end, it gets very ugly. I got some thermal pads later from simlim square repair shop, which is of completely different color from the original, and got a copper mod. Then it died later. Inside the gpu, it's so full of mess such that when the mucro technician came and opened up the GPU he just blurted out "w.t.f". Then he went on to say he don't understand why would anyone open up their new and perfectly working notebook the first day they bought them, I think for your case if he knows, he will facepalm again.

 

OMG... Now that's some intense modding. @_@ Did you ever remove the GPU from its can like I did?

 

nope, didn't remove since all I wanted to do is change the thermal paste, but I thought I need to change the thermal pads as well.

 

The green lettering on mine is on the GPU PCB itself, near the GPU core.

 

Can say so. Just had to pay for the shipping cost.