Looks like I bricked my w870cu...

...but I can't figure out how.

My MX-3 came today and I applied it to the GPU. I've done this three times now, and never had a problem. I'm incredibley picky and slow when I do these things. This time, after I put it back together, it refuses to do anything. The indicator lights on the front aren't even working to show whether it's plugged in or not. Even if I somehow damaged the GPU this time around, it shouldn't be damaged to THAT extent.

If it's dead and needs to be replaced, fine. I just want to figure out what the hell happened. There's no visible electical damage inside that I can find. Ideas?

 

Did you try taking it apart and re-seating stuff?

I would reseat not only thue GPU, but other stuff like the ram and CPU.

Also try taking out the CMOS battery for a while.

 

K, I'll try those things.

 

Same thing happened to me when I tried that bending the aluminum case method and i think i might have damaged the die or the memory, I turned on my computer and nothing happened and power supply was blinking green. I unfortunately had to buy a new 5870M, once i installed that it turned on.

 

I can't explain it, but it's working again!

I've been doing this kind of stuff going on 15 years now, and I may not be an expert yet, but this is really weird. I took EVERYTHING apart, cleaned and reseated it, cleared CMOS and put it back together. Works like new and my temps are even significantly better than before.

It must have been video card related, because that's the only thing I touched the first time. But I don't see how it that could have made it completely unresponsive. Like Huuy said, even when his card went, the power light blinked. Mine wasn't even turning on. Weird.

 

Good thing you got it fixed, your power supply may not have been connected properly. Not sure if your clevo does it but mine won't start up unless there is a power supply connected.

 

You have to hold down the power button for 3 seconds to turn it on with no AC power. It's to stop accidental activations while traveling. (My HDX used to turn on random in the bag, which was not cool.)

I wish the answer was that simple, but I plugged it and unplugged it about 20 times. I even cleaned out the connections. Hopefully it doesn't do it again when my 940XM gets here next week.

 

It happened to me a few times (during the 20 to 30 times I reinstalled the gpu in my old laptop)
It was due to the fact that there were no contact between the gpu and the heatsink
without any contact it made the gpu heating so fast that the laptop simply didn't start
Nothing to worry about

 

Glad you got it working again, JF. It's a sick feeling when they go dark and won't come back.

 

Did you protect yourself from static discharge during the install?

 

You just didn't have the screws in tight enough.

 

Also I think the screws need to be tightened in a specific order for the best seating.

On my card (9800m) the heatsink screws are labled 1-4. Then 5-7 that seats the card.

When removing you have to reverse it supposedly so 4-1..take heatsink out..then 7-5 and remove card.

 

^ yep the screws have to be removed and tightened in a specific order. Many don't take any notice of that or just don't realise.

 

Does the order of the screws being tightened really make that much of a difference'?

 

I followed the order, but something must have caused the problem, so maybe I made a mistake. At this point, I'm at a loss.

 

I think it does matter because by doing it in the wrong order, the pressure you place on the GPU or CPU die will not be balanced.