GPU in my np8150 is dead, need help

Hi guys,

I was trying out different catalyst control center settings with a game when after a while the screen went black and I had to use the power button to manually restart. It booted up fine but kept showing the blue screen error before windows could start. So I went into safe mode and uninstalled and deleted the drivers for my GPU from the device manager. The next time I restarted, the screen started showing red lines and bars but wasn't showing the blue screen error anymore.

But everytime I reinstall the drivers for the GPU now, I get the blue screen error again. When I delete them in safe mode and go back into windows it automatically installs drivers for the "standard vga adapter" but still shows the red bars and lines.

This happened about 2 weeks ago and the warranty for the laptop ended 2 days after. I tried contacting the Sager tech support and they told me that something was wrong with the GPU and that I could either send it to them for repair or buy a new one from them.

The thing is that although I bought the laptop from the US (directly from Sager), I don't actually live there, so it would be difficult for me to send it to them.

So I was thinking of just going for a new 7970m and putting it in myself but I have no experience with laptop parts so I don't know if it'd be a good idea.

But I guess I have no other choice since my current GPU looks like it's completely dead.
So if I did replace it, would it fix all of the problems (including the red bars)?

Please help me guys, I really don't know what to do.

Thanks!

Edit: Forgot to mention that the current GPU is a 6990M.

 

take a picture of your screen with the red bars and post it on here. if it is a dead gpu and its out of warranty then the oven baking method will hopefully bring it back to life maybe for a month or even a year. cant post oven links as at work and they are blocked. will post later unless someone else posts.

 

I don't have anything to take the picture with but I found this picture on google which shows what it looks like.

http://assets.overclock.net.s3.amazonaws.com/3/33/332aa9b0_vbattach225316.jpeg

If I bake the card, could it damage any other parts of the laptop?

Thanks for the reply.

 

you have to remove the graphics card from the laptop so no it will not cause any damage to any other part.

all the baking method does is to slowly melt the solder which has cracked thus causing no contact and the card dying. the heat will melt the soulder and reconnect the broken contacts.

and yes that picture is a dying graphics card. mine was in black and white lines so im not sure why some people have coloured lines.
how long was your warranty for? if it was only a year then a graphics card should last a lot longer than that. did you overclock at all?

 

a quick search on here found the links that was blocked earlier

The Oven Trick (repairing your broken video card with an oven) | Overclockers

http://forum.notebookreview.com/zep...znote-6224w-but-works-all-brands-modells.html

 

I didn't overclock I don't even know how. The tech support guy I talked to told me my warranty ran out on the 31st of jan 2013 so I guess it was only a year. Can I do anything at all to get Sager to replace it?

I could try the oven trick I've got nothing to lose But as I said before I have no experience with laptop parts so don't know how I'd take it out and put it back in.

When I bake the card and put it back in, could it be harmful for the other laptop parts? That's what I actually meant by the question before.\

Thanks again for the replies.

 

you could try playing the sympathy vote with sager support and saying you was only 2 days out of warranty when you first contacted them and this card shouldnt of died within a year.
they may honour a repair but lay it on strong that you have no idea what to do and you are getting very stressed and worried of what to do next as you cant afford a repair and replace.

if the oven trick is done correctly then ive not heard of any damage to any other component. you will also need new thermal paste to re seal the graphics card in place. ive never done it myself so cant really advise further.

 

I asked them before if they'd charge me for repairs and they said I'd have to pay the shipping, parts and labor costs however much that would be.

I think the 6990m is a bit slow anyway so can you please tell me if it'd be a good idea to get a new 7970m? Would it be easy to open the laptop up and replace the GPU for someone who has no idea how to do it?

Also do you know of any store that I could get the new card from?

If I can't do anything else I'll definitely try the baking method as you suggested.

 

hey buddy,

first of all, maintenance on ur machine is pretty straight-forward actually. in order to swap/take out ur gpu ull only need a proper thermal paste like ocz freeze or IC diamond 7 and a standard philips screwdriver. as for detailed steps, check the service manual here:

https://www.box.com/shared/28d884ee3ebf86b893e6

it also includes pictures

as for the 7970m, u can always check ebay or the nbrmarketplace right here for available cards. in order for ur machine to detect it properly ull need to flash a modified vbios onto the card, details on that can be found in the thread linked in my signature
the easier way would be to make sure the card being sold is already preflashed for clevo HM laptops, so better contact the seller about it first.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

clevo's are user upgradable. ram/hardrive are easy but when it comes to graphics cards i have no idea as never done one myself.
if you do get sager to repair it then an upgrade to a 7970 would never be a bad thing as long as you can afford it as its more powerful than 6990.

hopefully someone else can advise that know more ubout ati cards and updating gpu's.

 

Thanks for the reply guys. Can you please tell me if the 7970m would be compatible with my 2670qm processor and 8gb ram?

Also, my laptop battery has been really worn out for a while now. CPUID shows the wear level at 61%. So I was just wondering if that could be the reason my GPU died. I'd been getting blue screen errors and crashes randomly albeit not frequently when the GPU was working ever since windows started telling me that the battery had a problem.

 

sounds more like a random coincidence. if u decide to get a new battery, try and not to discharge it completely, since that only speeds up the wear level. id advise to let it go down to 10% and then let the laptop switch itself off automatically.

the 7970M should be quite fine with ur cpu and ram, no worries there