X1000 Overheating Video Chip

[fcg_vi]

After a year and a half my X1000 started giving me problems locking up due to the issue with the video chip getting too hot and coming out of its socket.  I have had to "press" it back in a couple of times;  I was looking for any info or workarounds on this issue.

[kf_man]

On the old forum, a member "whiteheat" had made a rubber insert that would wedge the GPU card back into the socket.  This solution worked very well for a number of people and I hope that we could catch up to him again.  I remember that last I saw, he had a new foreman at work that wouldn't let him do as much personal work with the machines.  If you look around a little bit more, people have come up with other solutions that are less professional.  Hopefully either whiteheat or another person will come along and give some better tips.  Personally, I have not had any problems with my zt3000 yet, but it has only just recently turned one year old.  Luckily I bought the 3-year warranty, so those issues won't be a problem till then.  I hope that we can get someone back here to help us out.

[zenon3]

I'm looking for that same sort of work around.  Mine is around 2 years old and just started having the issue.  If anyone could post a good work-around(if I don't beat you to it), it would be much appreciated.

[vm[pt]]

I'm looking for that same sort of work around.  Mine is around 2 years old and just started having the issue.  If anyone could post a good work-around(if I don't beat you to it), it would be much appreciated.

Same problem here, mine did that just today, the video card didnt woke up, ive done the 6-7-y thing at it's back on. Mine its 2yo... Somebody got a fix?

[earsjr]

I don't know if it's the same problem, but recently (past year) my video randomly started getting pixelated everywhere. If I press down on the area above the videos card on my keyboard, it goes away, but soon returns. I've taken the entire laptop apart before, so maybe I bent the heatsink or the contact with the GPU and the thermal pad on the heatsink isn't enough... I'm in the middle of taking apart again, I'll let you know if I can find any way to fix the problem.

[kf_man]

You should probably check out the other discussion here.

[timkovacs]

... I'm in the middle of taking apart again, I'll let you know if I can find any way to fix the problem.

Any luck? I'm in the middle too and want to know how far I should go. I've removed the keyboard and strip of plastic along the edge of the monitor. I can't take the heat shield above the video card off until I get a finer screw driver - should I bother? Hope you've had some luck.

[earsjr]

... I'm in the middle of taking apart again, I'll let you know if I can find any way to fix the problem.

Any luck? I'm in the middle too and want to know how far I should go. I've removed the keyboard and strip of plastic along the edge of the monitor. I can't take the heat shield above the video card off until I get a finer screw driver - should I bother? Hope you've had some luck.

I've had this happen to me before, and I've gone as far as taking the LCD completely apart and off so I could get to the screw that allows you to take off the part directly below it, thus allowing for the easy removal of the heatsink. This time around I just wiggled and forced the video card & heatsink out (something I wouldn't really recommend because you'll probably end up bending the heatink, and other peices of metal like I did)

Next I bent the heatsink a little inward so there'd be more pressure on the thermal pad to press against the GPU. I thought that would do it... But after I put it back together, I started getting the pixelation again. The only thing I can think of doing next is to buy a new thermal pad, or find a new heatsink option. I don't think simple pressure will do it for me anymore. The GPU just needs some more surface-surface contact with the heatsink (maybe need a really thick thermal pad...)

But I'm on the verge of not caring anymore... I've already started looking into a cheap laptop replacement The X1000 was a nice top of the line option for me when I got it nearly 3 years ago, but I don't think it's worth the pain it's causing me now...

If you need any help taking this sucker apart, let me know. I'd be happy to do it again and take some pictures if it'll help someone. For reference, HP has a nice little spec sheet detailing the entire disassembly here: http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c00072544.pdf

[vm[pt]]

Hello, i think i've got a quick and easy (but temporary) solution. It's a very rudimentary solution, has we portuguese say: "desenrrasca" (not perfect but works)

I've cuted a small piece of rubber and taped it.
Placed it under the video card GPU.
Taped it to something o avoid it to move around.

What you need:


The rubber with tape (isolating):


The final result, notice that i've placed the rubber UNDER the video card... i tryed placing above (between the heatsheld and the video card, but the result was worse) :


Sorry about my english, its a little bit rusty.

Hope it helps.

Now i can move around my x1000 without getting the black screen...

Once again its a temporaty solution and it doesnt fixes 100% the problem, but it's a lot better.

[earsjr]

thanks for the tip and the very thorough set of pictures to go with it!

the reason why placing the piece between the heatsink & gpu made it worse is because that would actually pull them further apart from each other and create less surface contact (or pressure).

In addition to placing a piece under the card where you did, try putting another one (in the rough shape of a square) directly above the gpu on the heatsink (where the heatsink is beveled upward)... that might give you some additional pressure against the heatsink onto the gpu. But keep in mind the square area directly above the gpu gets pretty hot... so rubber might not be the best idea. then again, i don't know what would... maybe a bunch of layers of tape?

keep us posted on whether your temporary fix seems to be working...

[earsjr]

i've tried everything. nothing seems to work. i was |this| close to throwing my x1000 out the window just now. it's so sad because it's a perfectly functioning (minus this thing) machine and yet it's so useless now... fyi: i don't believe i have the same problem as some other people here (i.e. "Blank screen problem"). my problem is that once booted and running, my entire screen will become pixelated until i press hard (6,7,y), and then i have to change the screen (i.e. open a new window or F5 to refresh). and then it will be fine for a few seconds or minutes until it happens again.


here's a picture of my problem:

click here for full-size -->http://www.phoreel.com/random/x1000_pixelation.JPG


and here's what my video card & heatsink look like in place:

click here for full-size -->http://www.phoreel.com/random/x1000_videocard.JPG


please let me know if anyone figures something out, or has any ideas. thanks.

[earsjr]

against my better judgement, i went ahead and bought these: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6847427574&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&rd=1. if they end up fixing my problem, i'll see about selling the other 3 to anyone for a little less (it'd be a waste getting 4) in the hopes that it'll solve your problem as well.

[deluxe]

There's only one solution to graphics card problems--buy a new card.  Everything else is a temporary kludge that will cost you more in patience and time than replacing the card to begin with.

New cards can be found for ~$100.  It is also highly recommended that when you get your new card that you install the Omega Drivers v5.6 and underclock the card down to 105mhz.  That way the heat is greatly reduced and longevity of your replacement card is assured.

Underclocking is also recommended for those not yet having problems as a preventative measure.  It may also help those having graphics glitches and not full-blown lockups.

Further, underclocking your card is not at all noticable when using normal applications (even Photoshop!), and full-screen video also runs fine as well.  The only reason you'd need faster speeds is for games.