NP8150(HD6990M) Issues

Hi everyone,

I'm having issues with my NP8150 at the moment, specifically, with the GPU.

After playing some LA Noire (and constantly restarting the program to get the trainer to work), at one point, the screen oriented itself differently. As in, the first set of pixels that were supposed to be on the left were moved to the center, and the screen went from middle->right->left.

I quit the program, closed the trainer this time, and ran it normally. Then I got nothing but brown lines.

Now I'm getting BSODs on how the "display driver failed to reset".

I absolutely cannot accept or believe that the card is busted. The laptop was acquired back some time in September 2011, past the time when there was a recall for some parts (unsure whether the part in question is the HD6990M). I know for a fact that the GPU was not running above 90c, heating was not a problem.

I'm running chkdsk at the moment, just to see if LA Noire or the 60fps unlock somehow managed to corrupt some data, but otherwise, things are looking very, very bleak.

Any input on this matter would be much appreciated.

Pic of BSOD

 

If you're getting driver related BSODs, it's always a good idea to uninstall your current drivers and download and install the latest version.

Does the card operate normally in every other situation (desktop, other games) or does it just fuzz out on LA Noire?

 

Unfortunately, the BSODs are received upon start up.

Safe mode yields no help, as the Catalyst installer "fails to load detection drivers (?)" or something like that.

Slowly giving up hope, but I'm quite surprised that the HD 6990M spoiled so fast. It was barely stressed out, I was half expecting my CPU to die much, much earlier than the GPU, seeing as the CPU was usually on the 90s when stressed out.

 

Update, reinstalled Win 7, it now boots, but I'm now really worried that my GPU is dead. After the initial "Starting Windows" screen, I'm faced with a very peculiar black screen. It's black, but not quite, as if I can see the LCD panel within or something. Will post a picture later.

 

Install the original drivers from your DVD, or the older 11.10 Catalyst.
I would preffer installing all drivers trough the Device Manager.
Extract the driver in a folder, run Device Manager->Display Adapter->Update Driver Manually->Browse Computer->point to the dir with the extracted driver files->update

After that, test some apps with 3D.
Win7 has some 3D games, I believe the Chess uses 3D.
See if the card performs correctly.
Then test youtube rendering with flash players.
If successful, test the card with a game (something you play normally).

I hope your laptop is alright, dude. This is one of the things that most laptop users fear - that their GPU's might be dead.
I hope its not the case.

 

Your best bet is to open up underneath and examine the thermals. If the game was the catalyst for the BSOD then it's definitely it's a heating issue.

We are talking about GPU thermal pasting and CPU thermal pasting. Also, check everything is a-o-k eg ram is correctly seated and inserted and nothing is out of the ordinary...

Looks like a thermal issue from my limited info. Keep us update OP.

 

Hi,

What exactly should I be looking at when opening up the laptop? Just cleaned out the fans of both CPU and GPU, and found no signs of any damage on the GPU. Everything seems to be a-ok under the hood... Perhaps the card really did fry up?

 

Bump, still trying to figure out what to do. I can't have it repaired/replaced by my reseller as I'm currently abroad.

Reinstalled Windows, and it worked - until I reinstalled the video drivers (from the driver dvd.) Now back to the BSOD on the first post...

 

Bump - would baking the HD 6990M to smolder back broken connections work? Seeing as no one is replying, I might just turn to that. I will be otherwise unable to use my laptop until I return to Singapore to have it repaired.