Help diagnose possible GPU problem on 8150

Hey all,

Got a 8150 with GTX 485m and I'm having some issues and was wondering what you guys think are some possible problems it may be.

Symptoms and what I did:

1) While gaming extensively (BF3) for a period of time the screen will show artifacts (green horizontal lines, etc) and cause the computer to lockup requiring a reboot.
2) Sometimes if screen does not lock up, it will go to desktop and say something along the line of "your video drivers crashed and has been restarted" Don't remember the exact phrasing.
3) Upon reboot, sometimes it does not boot up properly into windows, will still show artifacts and defaults to VGA settings.
4) It has now gotten to the point where when I reboot/start up laptop it does not reboot anymore. When I power it on, it turns on for a sec or too and then no display comes on. I see the LED lights on the right side of laptop do some stuff, then turns off. Power LED light will still be on, but no activity on screen. I can turn on the fan to high speed and etc.
5) Tried hooking it up to another display both DVI and HDMI, nothing shows up on screen.
6) Have reapplied thermal paste to both CPU and GPU, although the oem (IC diamond) paste still looked like it had some still.
7) I've purchased a used GTX 485m that was stated it was for Clevo/Sager. It came with heatsinks for a Sager/Clevo model (Came out of a 8170). I installed this and nothing works still. It tries to boot up, but display screen still doesn't turn on.

Before purchasing a GPU, i did spoke to Sager tech and they thought it should be the GPU. Before ending up sending this to the tech's to diagnose, what else could I do on my end?

Also, regarding the used GPU I bought, since it didn't work on my laptop, would it be unreasonable to request for a refund?

 

It sounds like you've done all you can in terms of troubleshooting. The graphics controller itself (e.g., the motherboard) must be bad.

I don't think it's unreasonable to request a refund. But see if you even CAN get a refund. Depending on where you purchased from, the return policy stipulations may prevent you from getting your money back, since you "tampered" with it.

 

could you post a picture of the lines and artifacts next time it happens. straight horizontal lines normally means a card is on its last legs. see pic attached.

when you attached the external monitor did you toggle the display with Fn + F7

View attachment 88729

 

Oooh, I didn't do FN+F7 to toggle. I will have to try that when I get home.

As for pictures, I'm unable to duplicate now since the computer does not function at all, but I did find some pictures that are similar:

RMA Department Quality Problems? <---3rd picture of the Windows screen, instead of the white'ish lines it shows, it would be green.

Google Image Result for http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/7504/assnm1.jpg <-----After playing BF3 it would look something like this, but it is mostly green.

Is there any reason why the GPU i bought did not work? Assuming it does work, what could cause it to still start up?

 

Well, if the FN hotkey toggle works when you attempt it with an external monitor, then that might suggest that the LCD screen is bad.

The GPU you bought to replace the one in question could either have been DOA (dead on arrival), or your controller/connection on the board for your graphics adapter itself is defective (again, assuming the FN toggle for your external output source doesn't work).