Is my video card dead?

My laptop hasn't worked for about a month now and I'm at the end of my rope!

I used it fine in the morning before I went to work, shut it down properly, but then couldn't get the screen or LCD panel above the keyboard to even light up, let alone work when I got home that night.

At first I thought it was just the screen, except that an external monitor doesn't work and the LCD panel is gone as well, which worries me.

When I did all the "function + power" tests the screen lit up but unfortunately instead of displaying the wavey colours I just got a sort of creamy white on it and the LCD panel still did nothing. The audio tests worked fine and scared the hell out of me!

It's out of warranty and Dell are quoting me about $800 to have someone out to try to fix it!

A friend has suggested that perhaps I try a hard BIOS reset but I don't really see how this would help?

Any suggestions?

Is my notebook cactus?

 

Specs?

Does it have nvidia graphics, if so which?

 

Oh sorry, it's an XPS M1730.

To be honest I've got no idea what's in it.

I'll have a look.

 

Video card is: NVIDIA GeForce Go 8700M GT

 

lol the 8700m is an overclocked 8600M GT.
Means it has the G84M core. This is a known faulty core. I would say 90% chance your GPU is dead.

Well not completely dead. The bad G84M core means the gpu heats up strangly. Causing the solder to crack. This means you get a bad connection from the chip to the motherboard.

Is your GPU removable? Buy a new one.

Otherwise seach for the "oven trick".

Or if your GPU is soldered to the motherboard you can use a heat gun (pick one up cheap at your local hardware store). set it to 300C and heat up the GPU for a min. That is basically BGA reflow/rework/reball.

Look on google and you will see so much info it's not funny. Guides on how to fix this are all over the net. including youtube.

But after you get a new GPU or you get the old one fixed or you DIY, you have to keep it cool. Undervolt, change thermal paste, turn up the fan speed. Copper mod.

here is a vid, enjoy:
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To confirm a dead card you may try pluggin' to an external monitor or remove the battery and hold down the power button for 20 secs to drain off the static left in the board, then reseat it back. If you can't get it back to life, that clearly means you have a dead card.

The 8700M GT is removable in the M1730. I presume yours is a single non-SLI 8700M GT proprietary module. I would recommend oven baking it and you'll need to remove the fan, spreader and everything else, strip the card bare to its PCB. It works well and I have brought a few cards back to life. However if you're uncomfortable about this (Yeah, there are people who aren't, can't force them) you can buy off a new 8800M GTX SLI card from ebay for your M1730.

 

Any chance that this heat gun will work on 8700m gt SLI on XPS M1730?
Also, in this video, there was atleast some video but in mine, the gpu doesnot even turn on. Completely blank screen and also on back the fun doesnot run so basically completely dead. Also, there was no gaming or any other overheating issues. I am totally confused. ANy idea?

 

The LCD on my M1530 stopped working. The back light wasn't even turning on. The VGA port displayed a picture fine. Even though I thought it was the LCD Panel it ended up being the GPU. The whole motherboard was replaced.

 

Waiting for some reply to try heat gun on my 87m.

 

if you try repairing it and it doesnt work out, ill buy the m1730 off of you. I am looking for two xps m1730s in any type of condition as long as its not super expensive. PM me if anything