Laptop GPU issue?

Not specifically related to Windows 7 but the answers I get here are always very helpful so thought I'd try my luck with my latest problem.

My laptop (LG R405) has been behaving strange lately. The display is randomly switching into multiple (usually 8) copies of itself on screen, or image blurring or a combination of the two. Sometimes it starts immediately upon booting up in BIOS, sometimes it'll go a few hours happily. I thought (hoped?) it was a RAM problem so went about testing. Only one stick of RAM is accessible so I removed it and replaced with a stick I had around. Problems lessened but continued, the lessening was probably coincidental. Then removed the stick I had just replaced and ran memtest on the inaccessible stick. All passed.

What can I do to help narrow down what is wrong?

I'd remove the battery and the power to the laptop and hold the power button down thereby draining the laptop of all power. Replace the battery and power after 30 minutes and restart your laptop.

It should have been a short enough duration to retain your BIOS settings but a few minutes checking on your part will ensure everything is copecetic.

If this doesn't work you may have issues with your GPU and may have to remove it and bake it in your oven per instructions:

1: remove heatsink and thermal paste
2: preheat oven to 385F to 400F( NO HIGHER!) ( gas mark 6)
3: lay foil over the oven rack
4: make 4 balls of foil, about 4cm high,
5: when the oven is heated to its correct temperature, put the graphics card on the 4 balls, one on each corner )
6: leave for around 6-10 mins, NO MORE THAN 12 OR IT WILL MELT
7: remove from oven and let cool on a stack of newspaper
8: once cooled, reapply thermal paste and heatsink then reinstall

This has been used by folks over on the Overclockers board and Alienware Forums with success with funky gpu cards.

fishnbanjo said:

If this doesn't work you may have issues with your GPU and may have to remove it and bake it in your oven per instructions:

1: remove heatsink and thermal paste
2: preheat oven to 385F to 400F( NO HIGHER!) ( gas mark 6)
3: lay foil over the oven rack
4: make 4 balls of foil, about 4cm high,
5: when the oven is heated to its correct temperature, put the graphics card on the 4 balls, one on each corner )
6: leave for around 6-10 mins, NO MORE THAN 12 OR IT WILL MELT
7: remove from oven and let cool on a stack of newspaper
8: once cooled, reapply thermal paste and heatsink then reinstall

This has been used by folks over on the Overclockers board and Alienware Forums with success with funky gpu cards.

Care to link me to the thread on overclockers? Trying to see why that would do anything useful.

Care to link me to the thread on overclockers? Trying to see why that would do anything useful

OCForums
[H]ard|Forum

google results

edit:
I haven't read about the oven trick for a while, but I don't recall reading about integrated video being any of the contestants
choose this method as your very last result, as I suspect your entire motherboard will have to go in (which brings finding a teardown guide for your laptop into the mix, as well. I'd start here for that)...

mpcrsc562 said:

Had you laptop been subject to any drops or very hard bumps lately?

No, just started one day whilst watching a video. I tried connecting it to an external monitor to see if it was just an LCD problem - no dice, happened on the external as well.

I assume it's an integrated GPU so I'll see what can be done regards the oven trick. I introduced this problem as my laptop, but in actuality it's my brother's girlfriend's, so convincing them that taking it apart and baking is the best course of action may be difficult.

Fortunately I have my actual old laptop that fell prey to the failing nVidia GPU issue a couple years back which I am free to experiment as I see fit so will give that a go at the weekend methinks.

Just adding to fishnbanjo's input, lots of replies on those forums that it worked. Another guy posted how to do it with a laptop : Holy crap, it worked! Dead video card resurrected! - [H]ard|Forum just look at the edit halfway through the post once the first lot of pictures had ended.