repairing a laptop graphics card

[pebbly]

2 weeks ago i bought an XPS M1710 laptop off Ebay with a faulty gfx card quite cheaply with the intention of swapping out the card in my I9400 . The card is a GF 7900GTX with 512mb ram ,now the 7 series of laptop cards are notorious for failing due to heat , so after a little research on the matter it appearred there was a little trick you could perform to get these cards working
Well i thought i had got nothing to lose so why not give it ago, heres how

1: remove card from laptop
2: remove the heatsink and backing plate by undoing the retaining screws and gently prising apart
3: remove all traces of thermal paste from gfx and ram chips using 99% rubbing alcohol
4: Place in a pre heated (150 degrees C) oven , on a stiff piece of card for 3 mins only per side ( 6 mins total)
5: turn oven off and leave oven door half open (or half closed) for 30 mins
6: refit heatsink, backing plate and thermal paste, i used as5 and replace in laptop

7: the test , i used prime95 to stress the card + a few swear words thrown in to make it more stressed and it passed

So i was sceptical at first thinking what a stupid thing to do, but it works
The laptop has been running now for 78 hrs continuos with no probs, the temp is 43 degrees C using I8Kgui fan controller
so if anyone wants to try this method, i say give it ago you have nothing to lose

 

[Heroxoot]

Remove the card? Do both laptops have an mxm? I'm curious about this. Most laptops tend to have the darn thing soldered in or part of the mobo. Also, why are you sticking it in an oven >_>

 

[pebbly]

Remove the card? Do both laptops have an mxm? I'm curious about this. Most laptops tend to have the darn thing soldered in or part of the mobo. Also, why are you sticking it in an oven >_>

Dell have a custom designed interface for the gfx card that will fit ATI and NVIDIA cards ,the purpose of placing it in the oven is to "reflow" the poor quality solder used on the board which over a period of time causes microfractures of the solder track ,so heating it up to the temp allows the solder to reflow and fill the fractures ,how long it lasts before failure again is something i dont really know

 

[Heroxoot]

ahhh the dell slot. I forgot about that. You said xps, but since I dislike dell that didnt register with me. I suggest testing with something like Fur mark instead. Prime95 is childs play lately.

 

[pebbly]

ahhh the dell slot. I forgot about that. You said xps, but since I dislike dell that didnt register with me. I suggest testing with something like Fur mark instead. Prime95 is childs play lately.

yes it would be better to test with futuremark ,but i am not a gamer so the prime95 was adequate for my needs

 

[archie123]

im not entirely sure how you stress tested a video card with prime 95??? Its a math app for stressing CPU's

if you really want to stress it..................

rthdribl - Real-Time High Dynamic Range Image-Based Lighting -

http://www.famegadget.com/download-msi-kombustor-1-5-final-version.htm

 

[pebbly]

im not entirely sure how you stress tested a video card with prime 95??? Its a math app for stressing CPU's

if you really want to stress it..................

rthdribl - Real-Time High Dynamic Range Image-Based Lighting -

Download MSI Kombustor 1.5 Final Version | FameGadget.Com | Hottest, Newest and Famous Information

thank you for the link archie123 , as i said im not a gamer so dont really know what benchmark software to test with ,so will use your link and retest

 

[archie123]

keep a close eye on your temps when running rthdribl (fullscreen) ou could fry an egg on it

 

[whitebloodcell]

4: Place in a pre heated (150 degrees C) oven , on a stiff piece of card for 3 mins only per side ( 6 mins total)
5: turn oven off and leave oven door half open (or half closed) for 30 mins

I am guessing your oven only has a heating element on the top/bottom? For mine which has elements both top and bottom and is fan assisted what sort of time do you think?

 

[fishnbanjo]

There are a couple of recipes for reviving a video card that is acting up and that is one of them, the other is:

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. Of course it will only work for gpu's that have a connection, doing this to a mobo with integrated video might not work.

 

[dobhar]

Thanks for posting this pebbly...I have the same Dell XPS M1710 with the same card. Bought it brand new a few years ago. Just recently I got Dell to replace the card as I still had 17 days (lucky me...) left on my Dell Warranty. Good thing too as a replacement card from Impact computers, where I by all my used Laptop parts from, sells the card for $600.00 USD.
512MB Graphics card - CG054

I have bookmarked this thread for future reference if I need it.

If you every get an issues with the *snap, crackle, and pop* issue as others have with the M1710 I posted, as well as some others, some good info on another forum that I frequent...might help you out if needed although I have yet to have an issue with sound since installing Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit on my Lappy.
Dell M1710 SigmaTel HD Audio Crackle & Popping!

Cheers!

 

[thefabe]

Seeems like baking your broken video card has become all the rage. You used to be able to get a broken video card on ebay for cheap but since the utube videos and the positive results so many have achived the prices have almost doubled for broken cards. People used to just buy them for parts like if they needed the original heatsink and fan cause they water cooled or used alternative air to cool thier cards and no longer had the stock cooler to RMA the card. But now it's all about baking broken cards.
As a word of caution it's doesn't always work and can be very toxic if not done right and no one knows how long they will last.
I brought it up on a thread a couple months ago with a big warning, mostly cause it made me wish I hadn't thrown away a couple 7900gto's that had alternative cooling addded so even though they were XFX cards with double lifetime warranty I couldn't RMA them.
The Videos I watched claimed 350F for 10 to 12 minutes of course after strippig the card down to just the basic board.
Hoping to find a cheap broken 4 series to give it a try on. "Just a ramble" Fabe

 

[taigan2011]

dell xps 1710 graphics card

hi i was wondering how u remove the graphics card. could you give me any tips please:
1: remove card from laptop
2: remove the heatsink and backing plate by undoing the retaining screws and gently prising apart
3: remove all traces of thermal paste from gfx and ram chips using 99% rubbing alcohol
4: Place in a pre heated (150 degrees C) oven , on a stiff piece of card for 3 mins only per side ( 6 mins total)
5: turn oven off and leave oven door half open (or half closed) for 30 mins
6: refit heatsink, backing plate and thermal paste, i used as5 and replace in laptop

7: the test , i used prime95 to stress the card + a few swear words thrown in to make it more stressed and it passed

So i was sceptical at first thinking what a stupid thing to do, but it works
The laptop has been running now for 78 hrs continuos with no probs, the temp is 43 degrees C using I8Kgui fan controller
so if anyone wants to try this method, i say give it ago you have nothing to lose [/QUOTE]

 

[pebbly]

hi i was wondering how u remove the graphics card. could you give me any tips please:
1: remove card from laptop
2: remove the heatsink and backing plate by undoing the retaining screws and gently prising apart
3: remove all traces of thermal paste from gfx and ram chips using 99% rubbing alcohol
4: Place in a pre heated (150 degrees C) oven , on a stiff piece of card for 3 mins only per side ( 6 mins total)
5: turn oven off and leave oven door half open (or half closed) for 30 mins
6: refit heatsink, backing plate and thermal paste, i used as5 and replace in laptop

7: the test , i used prime95 to stress the card + a few swear words thrown in to make it more stressed and it passed

So i was sceptical at first thinking what a stupid thing to do, but it works
The laptop has been running now for 78 hrs continuos with no probs, the temp is 43 degrees C using I8Kgui fan controller
so if anyone wants to try this method, i say give it ago you have nothing to lose

[/QUOTE]
Hi taigan2011, welcome to the forum, to remove the graphic card is quite easy
1- remove the power button cover by gently prising the right hant side using the screw driver slot
2- remove the screws holding the keyboard in place and lift out gently undo the ribbon cable and place the keyboard in a safe place
3- now remove the 6 screws holding the palm rest to the base keep the screws in a safe place
4- turn the laptop over , remove the battery and undo the 14 screws holding the base on
5- turn the laptop back over and starting in the bottom right hand corner prise the palm rest off , do not remove the cmos battery unhook the touch pad and sound cables
6- you will now be able to remove the graphic card ,unscrew the 4 outer small screws and gently pull the card in an upward motion

and thats all there is to it

 

[kodi]

Just a quick question in step 5 is it better to have the oven door half open or half closed?

 

[pebbly]

pessimist or optimist ?

 

[taigan2011]

hi again ty for posts and ty for welcome. Just to let u know i watched a couple of videos online, stripped out the card baked it for 8 min and re assembled it. im sure your glad to know it worked a treat. I was able to load drivers for card and all is functioning as it should. ty again for your posts; will keep you informed, as to how long this fix lasts ok

 

[pebbly]

hi again ty for posts and ty for welcome. Just to let u know i watched a couple of videos online, stripped out the card baked it for 8 min and re assembled it. im sure your glad to know it worked a treat. I was able to load drivers for card and all is functioning as it should. ty again for your posts; will keep you informed, as to how long this fix lasts ok

taigan2011 ,It's almost a year since I did mine ,Still going strong using it now to post this message, well done and good luck with it

 

[NaughtyScotty]

I have a love hate relationship with my M1710... Anyone care to update the longevity of this fix?