Sager NP8170-S1 Video Problems (6970m)

Hi guys, I have a Sager NP8170-S1 that is a bit over a year old and I was having problems with fans always spinning up to high so I figured I would clean it out as I was installing a second SSD anyway.

So I took it apart and cleaned out the fans/heatsinks for the CPU and GPU and I figured I would check the TMI and found it was all dry and hard as a rock. I went about cleaning it off with some alchohol and applied some AS5, using the surface spread method from AS5's site, to both the CPU and GPU and reapplied their heatsinks.

I booted into a new Windows install and the SSD's and decided before I went too far I would check the tempratures to be sure eveything was seated right. About 120 seconds into furmark the GPU was at 85 degrees C and the screen went blank, as if no signal was recieved. I rebooted the system, it went into Windows, as soon as I typed in my password to access the desktop, it went blank again. I figured a video driver was corrupt (I was using 12.9 I believe) so I rebooted into safe mode and disabled the driver but the screen went blank on me again.

At this point I held the power button to shut off the system, and when I rebooted there was blue vertical lines on the POST screen, then a screen of corrupt ascii characters, then the screen shut off again. Every time I tried to restart after that, there was only a blank screen. When I hooked it up via HDMI to my TV, I get the blank screen or sometimes the weird ascii corruption.

I have reseated the HS assembly a few times, to no avail. I get the same results, blank screen on the laptop, and either blank screen or corruption via HDMI out.

So my quesion is, did I somehow manage to kill the video card? Could this be related to CPU at all since both were done at the same time? I tried pulling back out the SSD just incase but that changed nothing.

Thanks for any help on this matter.

 

That's a pretty weird situation. Despite you not being able to see what is happening, do you notice it finishing POST? Do you hear the Windows log in sounds?

 

Boot into safe mode, go to Device Manager, deinstall all available Display Adapters with "uninstall drivers too" ticked. Then reboot to normal windows and install the latest cat.

 

I believe it is finishing post, but I do not hear Windows booting. But I'm not entirely sure if the Windows install is still good.

There is no video at all to even get into safe mode with. There's no video at POST, etc.

 

That sounds like you may have a shoddy connection to the LCD or even a bad Monitor itself. Have you tried using an external monitor?

 

Not a monitor, but I have tried my TV. I do not own a regular computer. When hooked via HDMI to my TV it was showing the POST screen with corrution and the screen after with random ascii characters, now it is just blank like the monitor itself. I should also note I've been in touch with Cedric @ XoticPC and he is looking up solutions for me too before I have to RMA. Thanks for the help.

 

If you have some spare time, go back in and make sure that no AS5 got on anything it shouldn't be on. It is conductive and can cause shorts if you accidentally got some somewhere you didn't mean to. I know it is a long shot, but it has happened before (though with slightly different symptoms). You could have gotten a small dab on something and when it got hot in there it melted down and spread around, basically jumping and shorting.