In need of assistance...dead 8600M GT GPU

Hi everyone,

I spent a good deal of the day in panic when I discovered that my trusty 8600m GT has gone comatose. The laptop LCD is split up in to 6 smaller and separate screens filled with crap, very low res and with many lines accross it.

20111013 001 - YouTube

It is basically completely unusable. The reason why i suspect this is a GPU and not an LCD issue is that I cannot even connect an external lcd. It does not even detect it when I plug in the external monitor. However, as can be seen near the end of the video, I can log into windows and everything else seems to be OK.

The laptop is by Zt Systems (which seems to have dropped out of the laptop game altogether) and is a

c2d 2.2 ghz, (5850)
4gb DDR2 ram,
15.6 inch 1280 x 800,
8600m GT 512 MB DDR II. ( the slow version)
4 USB 2.0 ports, 1 HDMI, 1 esata etc.

Also on the back of the laptop there is a MSI sticker with the model number written: MS-6837D

HERE is teh post with the pics of the interior of the laptop:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/com...m-gt-graphics-card-i-fl90-14.html#post7982689


Would love any suggestions from the experts.


1: Is it possible to somehow disable the GPU and use intel built in crap graphics?

2: Can I buy another alternative off ebay or something and replace the dead one with it?

I would REALLY appreciate any help on this matter. I could look up an more info if you guys need it. Any likely solutions will be very helpful.



Thanks in advance.

 

Well if you actually read the thread they did say that the chip is soldered on and not a removable card so replacement is not an option.

Also your machine has no internal graphics circuitry to enable.

 

Maybe give this a try:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...-kind-guide-how-bake-your-gpu-fun-profit.html

 

I baked/heat-gunned a few 8600M GT cards, but those were MXM.

I think I was able to get 9 back to running out of 10 - also a few 8400M GT, so the success rate is high - but I am sure its just temporary.

I always sold them on ebay (clearly telling they have been repaired using ha-reflow, so I did not rip-off people), so no idea if they ever survived long enough.

I also tried that with some Acer 7520G boards - worked 2 out of 3 times, but failed shortly after (nortbridge chip dead, not related to GPU).

What I am trying to say: If it were a replaceable MXM card, I'd go for the baking/hot-air gun. But for a soldered "card", I would not dare it.

Dump it on ebay as it is, or in parts, maybe keeping those things that are easy to remove, like HDD, RAM, etc. But even that maybe does not make sense when considering the prices for memory and storage ...

Get something new, you can get a laptop for 300€, including warranty - better than ditching hundreds of Euros on something old - unless you want make a hobby out of it (I actually did, hehe)

Cheers

 

Once again, thanks. I dont really think I am capable and/or brave enough to try the baking solution. I will be buying a new laptop now, and have been looking around on newegg... also, could I use this solution with the dead gpu laptop:

VTBook: Notebook Multi Monitor Solution: Multiple Displays on your Laptop!

Or even more interestingly:

How to make an external laptop graphics adaptor | News | TechRadar UK

Technical details of above mentioned product: http://www.hwtools.net/Adapter/PE4H.html

Please let me know what you think about these solutions (if they even are solutions) and pardon my noobness.

 

Haha, you learn things in funny ways dude.

the vidock basically came from this forum:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/gam.../418851-diy-egpu-experiences.html#post5324240

I don't think the 1st is a good option, performance would be really bad.

The vidock is not a bad idea. But you should make sure to be able to use it with future laptops, otherwise it would be pointless.

There are companies that will fix your actual (internal laptop) GPU for about 100$, but they can be really sketchy. If you go that route make sure to choose a USA company or ask for photo proof of a full reball or your money back.
If they don't know what that means they really shouldn't be in business.

BTW the MSI model number is some kind of network card. But, I'm pretty sure your laptop is a rebranded MSI gx600.

P. S.
You should really try a heatgun to fix it if you have one. You don't actually need to strip it down to the motherboard, just take the heatsink off and heavily insulate with tinfoil everything but the GPU area.

 

Yeah guys I know i seem to be asking too many stupid questions, but my situation is kinda complicated.

I am not in the US, and I bought this laptop while I was. I cannot send it for repairs and no one here has the know how to fix it, and therefore I would be one very inexperienced noob trying to heatgun a laptop. I would most likely screw it up whereas the DIY eGPU route is a safer route and will not let this laptop go to waste. I cannot even sell over ebay here.

All the laptops I can buy from here are crappy HP and Acer models, and that too only the base models. So I'll have to order a new one online, get it delivered to a friends place in the US, and he'll bring it over with him when he comes in december.

So yeah, it really is not very easy for me to deal with this right now, and I really do appreciate the expert advice I am getting, and just wanted to make clear that I have to be explicitly clear as to how the solutions work as I have limited options as well as awkward timelines.

 

To tell you the truth there is a ton of software and bootloader tweaking you have to do to get the vidock to work.
You can't do this with your laptop as is, you're going to have to network boot it from another system.

Really.... the heatgun thing is VERY simple. It may not be permanent, but it would probably be your best bet to get the vidock working.
Either way isn't going to be easier unless you have a lot of experience with network boot and its already setup in your BIOS.

 

So I finally tried the heatgun reflow method and it worked! My gpu is idling at 60c. From what I've read so far, this reflow method will not work for long and I have copied all my data off it.

Have you guys seen this method working for the longterm? If so, what indicators are there that the gpu was fixed in the longterm without actually trying to break it again?

 

I have no real knowledge whether this is long term or not - but I know the same happend again sooner or later to others - sometime within a couple of days, sometimes upto months.

I'd suggest you avoid doing GPU intense stuff, maybe get a notebook cooler.

The thing is, the heat makes stuff expand, then it cools of and the expansion is returned - in the long term leading to dead solder jolts.

How long did it take you to do the procedure? I would sit it out and wait for it to break again. If it is feasable, just do the heat-gun thing again. If it takes too much time, repair it once, ditch it on ebnay (telling clearly that it has a fault!), and get a new one.

Good luck!

 

One more note - as I said, I did "repair" several 8600M GTs and also some 8400Ms with the heat gun procedure within the last year, and sold them on ebay (clearly marking them as ha-reflow repair-ware with a fault).

They worked flawless in a 2D and 3D test, when I sold them, and I never heard back from any buyer that it would have gone bad.

Maybe it really works that good - maybe the sellers never even bothered to mail/complain about it (after all, I sold them as defective) - I can't tell ...

Cheers

 

A 6-way "mosaic" display means that the card is failing to read the display's EDID.

This is usually either:
-a faulty EDID bump on the chip package (see Bumpgate) or a bad BGA ball under the chip's EDID lands (these are what can be fixed with a heatgun or an oven), or
-a bad display cable (the EDID wire is broken or shorted).

Usually, if it happens on every boot, then it is a GPU problem. If it is intermittent (and especially if it is dependent on the physical position of the lid during boot), then the culprit is the display cable.

 

Thanks for the very valuable input.

I actually think that the problem may have been in the cable as it happened once, then fixed itself after a reboot. After that, it happened a few weeks later and got stuck.

The laptop is fine now, however, the fan in the heatsink is dying now, and I'm trying to find a replacement for the fan. I can only find entire heatsinks that are frankly way too expensive to justify putting into this laptop.

But once again, thanks for the great help guys!

 

Get the manufacturer model number, if in doubt all the numbers on the fan. Some fans are used on a few different laptops and can be found better with this number (how some of us found white keyboards for a laptop that never shipped with them ).