Rescuing a dead(ish) GPU.

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11 Sep 2008
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I hadn't done any research on the subject until I powered on my acer 5920g a few days ago and got this wonderful screen as in the picture below, while the laptop booted properly in windows 7.

1b2acb27.jpg


After some digging I found out several articles indicating that some nvidia G84 and G86s are bad. Searching for a temporary solution lead to me the "oven trick", reflowing the GPU and similar techniques attempting to rescue the chip.

Info on why GPUs are going bad, one of the articles I read: Clicky

(Also, I found a few companies that re-ball chips for 50-100 quid)

The process is the following for those who are interested in it:


So, being out of warranty, didn't have much to lose, I put the card in the oven, 200C for 10mins.

It worked (for now), but it's not going to last more than a couple of months, and that's without stressing the GPU.

I hope it helps those with similar problems and such.

Anyhow, I have one question. At some point when it'll die for good, where could I buy a new card, either ATI or nvidia?

Am I supposed to talk with an authorised Acer service center or something like that?
(Or go ahead and buy an ATI 4650 off the bay instead) :o
 
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Nine months?! :eek:

That sounds good.. I don't plan on buying a new laptop any time soon because I use this just for watching movies, listening to music and browsing.
It's very fast still, [email protected] and a Vertex 3 on linux mint 11! :)
 
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