Dead Laptop?

Locust76

Not really so much of a question of whether or not this laptop is dead, but rather if my diagnosis of the problem is accurate.

So my wife turns on her 4-year-old laptop this morning, and the screen is filled with dots like this:




Windows attempts to load and after about the point where the video driver would be initialized, this happens:



My diagnosis: Bad video RAM is causing the dots and the system to crash when it is initialized. Does anyone else agree with my assessment of the situation?

It has a dedicated graphics card, but I'm wondering if it's really worth it to repair the laptop or just replace the whole thing with a shinier, cooler-running and quieter laptop with better shit inside. Where might I be able to find an nVidia GeForce Go 7900GTX dedicated card for a Toshiba P100?

Rook

Apart from 1 or 2 rare exceptions, video cards in laptops are built into the motherboard, even when they are 'dedicated'. So replacing one isn't an option really. And I think you're probably right about the vid card being fubared. So it's probably new laptop time.

Judge Joe Brown

This is also often caused by many other things, including bad memory.

The weird shit on the screen is referred to as artifacting, and because it's seemingly not present in that BSOD you're showing, it could easily be the memory, or even a corrupt chip on the mainboard. At the very least, remove 1 of the sticks of memory, and also perform a cmos reset (remove battery, unplug AC, hold down power for 30 seconds, reestablish power and see what happens). If you try with both single sticks of memory, and cmos reset doesn't work, you're likely looking at a problem not worth fixing.

Judge Joe Brown

Also, IIRC, the 7900 series was part of the nvidia "recall" (aka nothing happens and we hope our chips dont burn out but its a known issue).

I've fixed a dozen units with the problem with the "blanket method". The GPU separates from the mainboard slightly, or separates from the cooler. To fix this, you basically run the laptop upsidedown covered in a blanket until it overheats and shuts off. This "reballs the GPU", aka melts the solder points and instantly reseals the GPU to the mainboard.

Most of the time this fix works, if it's the right GPU in question. Worth a shot maybe.

Rook

The blue screen does have the same artefacts if you look closely at it.

Judge Joe Brown

That could very easily be a cabling problem. But the BSOD does make it look more like memory.

It could still be a pinched cable. On that machine, the cable runs through the left hinge, if I'm not mistaken. There's a strip of plastic the runs above the keyboard that can be removed, then under the battery there are screws which let you remove the keyboard. Once that's off, you can access the hinge assembly.

You may need to remove the top panel entirely to access it, but it takes only a screwdriver. Just don't lose track of what screws go where.

corky842

Judge Joe Brown wrote: »

That could very easily be a cabling problem. But the BSOD does make it look more like memory.

Or to test it easier, hook up another monitor.

Locust76

It's pretty much beside the point now, seeings how the new replacement laptop has already been ordered.

However, for shits and giggles (and to perform a final backup), I powered it up in Safe Mode (worked), deleted the display driver and restarted. The machine, as anticipated, started up just fine in regular mode, albeit without the driver. The artifacting was still present. I was able to make a final backup, and Windows automatically reinstalled the driver for me, and upon restarting the thing crashes again, so I'm 100% certain at this point that the display adapter is fooked. I also hooked up a second monitor via DVI, and the laptop wouldn't even recognize the display.

Seeings how this laptop was actually a replacement for an equally old ASUS laptop whose nVidia GPU (6200 go, what a piece of shit that thing was!) also died unceremoniously (sudden screen artifacting, and it refuses to boot entirely), I'm beginning to wonder if nVidia mobile chips have a short life-span? The new laptop has a Radeon in it. Not that I really care, it's my wife's computer. As long as it has enough raw, unbridled, massively parallel processing power to display email, it'll be just fine

corky842

I've had both an ATI and Nvidia laptop GPU die, so it's not just Nvidia.