Sager NP8150 with an ATi 6990M will not boot up normally only in safe mode.

The screen initially split in two and began to glitch. When booting up green lines show up on the screen and do not go away even when plugged into a secondary monitor.

I'm thinking it's a video card problem but I don't have any real way to check if it is. And I can't reseat it because it's buried under two giant massive fans and other crap, which is beyond my experience with my computers. (More used to desktops)

In safe mode though, I can't access the Drivers for the ATi card, so perhaps the drivers got corrupted?

 

More likely your 6990M died, just like mine did last week.
After 1 and a half year the screen glitched and colored lines would appear, later it wouldn't boot anymore.

 

your way of checking it was hooking up the external. your GPU is doneski.

Sent from my PI39100 using Board Express

 

yup, dead graphics card.
if you are still covered by warranty send it back for a free replacement and if not try below.

have you thought about the baking method. its only a temporary fix and can last a month or even a year.

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

 

Mine kicked the can last month and exhibited the same behavior, I took a photo of it when it happened:

http://i.imgur.com/4WUN5ZL.jpg

I tried re-installing new drivers as shown, that didn't work. Eventually my display would freeze, show a series of dark lines, and then I had to force shut-down the laptop. I was pretty sad and bummed out that it happened after owning the laptop for almost exactly 2 years.

This past weekend, I followed two videos on how to get the GPU reflowed with a heat gun:

Dell Inspiron M5010 GPU Reflow with hot air gun

HP Pavilion DV9000 Series Laptop Display Repair - GPU BGA Reflow

Both use different methods, I used the first video's method of slowly raising the temps and combined it with something to measure the GPU die's temperature (I used an infrared thermometer, it's quite a nifty tool). I wish I took a photo of my "workbench", it was basically a baking pan over top of a stove burner, with the GPU sitting on four little balls of aluminum foil. I didn't turn on the burner, I just needed a surface that I knew could take the heat and not melt or catch fire. Now one thing I forgot to do was remove any stickers and that included some black tape that was covering the GPU die. I thought removing it would destroy the die, but I believe it's just tape and you should remove it, otherwise you will pull off what I did and actually cause that tape to sizzle, emit a foul smell, shrivel up, and cause a wave of panic to form in your gut! I re-applied some IC Diamond (rice grain-sized amount, in a ball and in the middle of the GPU die), and the thermal pads still looked okay because I gently pried the heatsinks off so I re-used them. They are a little bit of a chore to get out without damaging the pads, I just gave it some light, constant tugging and then worked my way gently along the corner that started to separate from the actual card.

I'm typing on the laptop as we speak, it's been working for the past two days and I've ran it through Bioshock Infinite's benchmark on DX11 Ultra with DDOF and Tomb Raider's on High. I remember before my GPU died, the fans were running non-stop at very high RPMs, I never noticed it as a problem because the dust accumulated progressively over time and I got used to the fan's noise. My temps were also in the high 80's during gaming. Now, I think the highest I've seen it hit is 78°C in Tome Raider, with the fan not spinning at its max RPM. So far so good, although I am not so sure this is a permanent fix. If I can get a few more months out of this card I'll be happy, I was looking at an 8970M upgrade down the road.

Since yours was like mine and still displayed something and let you into Windows, I think you stand a good chance of reflowing your GPU. There are videos on how to disassemble your NP8150, I'm sure of it. I watched those reflowing videos over and over until I rounded up the courage to actually do it. Like you I built desktops prior to owning the NP8150/P150HM, but learning how to disassemble your laptop is not as difficult as it may seem, and a good thing to learn in order to properly maintain the hardware. While you're at it, you should probably blow out the dust from the heatsinks after you've removed it. I found a nice, thick layer of dust between my heatsinks when I removed them. I am pretty sure that's the culprit of my GPU frying in the first place!

EDIT: Forgot to mention, I didn't use the oven method because I didn't want my house to smell too much, and I read (disclaimer: do not know if it's true or not, but I wanted to be safe) that some parts on the GPU aren't meant to take the heat of the oven at 350F+. In those videos I linked, the second one used a metal plate to isolate the GPU die and prevent the rest of the board from getting heated too much. I did a similar thing by getting aluminum foil, pressing it over the GPU so I could get an imprint, and then cutting out a section for the GPU die to peek out. Then, I covered the board with the foil.

 

I used the oven trick for reflowing my gpu and it's working for 1 week and a half now. Because I didn't know about the black tape around the gpu die, I left it there and I could smell it after 10 minutes on the oven (at that moment I thought I had burned my gpu) but I let it cool for a few hours before putting it back.
Though I didn't test any games yet, I'm trying not to abuse my gpu right now since I need this laptop to work lol
I sincerely hope that it works for a few more months, a 7970M is $1500 here in my country and I don't have money for it, I truly wanted a 680M which is way more expensive...

 

Mine only boot in safe mode, a trick to do if you want to boot in normal mode is go into windows/system32/drivers and delete atikmpag.dll or rename it, that is if you are getting a blue screen, trying to boot normally.

This will let you boot into windows normally, but the card won't work properly, since you basically disabled it's drivers. I tried baking it, it only works for very little a week or a month the most. The best way to get it back to life is something called reballing. Where they actually take the processor out and redo the soldering connections below it.

I am planning on doing this to my card also, as it died again, reballing is a permanent solution, some even do it with lead based solder which lasts even longer, but that's up to you if you want lead based. I would be happy with the normal solder, if it lasts another 2 years, ect.

 

OMG!!! You guys are Freaking AWESOME!!!! I just did the oven bake and my graphics card is working like a charm! Followed the thing to a T and no problems, no more dead 6990! Thanks guys for all your posts here!

 

Great! Remember that this is a sort of crude reflow method. The fix usually doesn't last, but hopefully it works well enough for you for awhile.