X1000 video fix needed

[Vilhelm]

There was a fix at www.x1000forums.com, but they're currently out of business.

The computer has the blank screen problem that responds to the 6,7,Y treatment.
The solution was to wedge something between the video card and the heat shield.

I found a highly detailed solution with pictures at the above site, but when I went back there a few days later the site was gone

Thanks

[kf_man]

The solution was basically a precise piece of non-conductive plastic to wedge in there.  Whiteheat was the one who made them and may still have some.  He runs a new forum for his new machine.  You could stop over to the z71 Forums and send him a private message about it.  He did say at one point that he had some left, but I don't know if he still has them.  In order to put it in, you will need to dismantle the laptop following the directions in the Upgrades forum.  I'll try to help as best I can.

[deluxe]

The only REAL solution is to replace the video card.  They're cheap these days at <$100.  laptoptek.com used to have them, and if you can find a seller on eBay with a NEW card, that's an option too.

Just make sure when you get the card to install the Omega Drivers v5.6 (aka v2.6.42) so that you can control the clock speed.  Either manually underclock the card down to 105mhz for both the RAM and GPU, or use the POWERPLAY function to set all modes to "optimize battery life".  This will drastically reduce the heat of the video card, which is what causes it to fail. 

At 105mhz, the card handles desktop applications and full-motion video just fine.  The only noticible degradation would be in intensive 3D environments like 3D modelling and 3D video games.  You could bump up your clock speed temporarily when using those applications.

[toy4two]

you might be able to get a Google Cache of the site.  I'm hoping Flashram gives us the archives, too much good info/pics on that site for owners like us.

[alanward]

I posted on the x1000 forum back in january I think. Couldn't find any details on the whiteheat solution so I made my own, except that mine also conducts. Essentially hacksawing the fins off a pentium heatsink I'd got lying around. After filing it down for smooth edges, the heatsink ended up being 2-3 mm thick if I remember correctly, looking just like a flat rectangular plate of metal. Then using the HP service manual as reference, took the laptop apart, removed the sticky rubber pad on the inside of the video card shield (it had half melted anyway), put some thermal paste on the video card, glued the new flat heatsink to the inside of the shield where the pad used to be (being careful not to block any holes) and put them all back together. I also installed the Omega drivers. It's still working fine after 5 or so months. I did happen to break the zero-force insertion clips on the keyboard and touchpad, but it all still works happily.

As discussed in that forum, not sure if the extra pressure applied by the heatsink helped or whether the fact it acted as a heatsink helped. I don't feel the need to experiment to find out. It works and I'm happy for the moment.

hope it helps

Alan

[Vilhelm]

Thanks for the replys, guys.

I just sent the $12 to WhiteHeat for the fix "kit". He says that 80% of the problems are solved by that. Thanks for that kf_man.

deluxe - I just checked out laptoptek.com  and they don't show anything under parts. Before I found the fix article, I spent many hours looking for a replacement part, only finding used stuff on eBay and expensive stuff at HP's site. Any links to cheap replacements would be appreciated.

[romeon]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6876499691

[Vilhelm]

$100 including shipping seem like a very good deal for a 64MB video card. Hopefully the $12 fix from WhiteHeat will do the job. If not I'll look to eBay. Thanks.

[earsjr]

some useful information as far as disassembly can be found in my latest post here: http://x1000forums.gotdns.com/index.php/topic,13.0.html

As for $100 for a video card that might not even fix the problem... I don't think it's really worth it. Even if it works flawlessly, the old mobility 9200 can't handle most of the stuff coming out today as far as gaming. And if you don't need gaming, an entire laptop replacement can be easily found these days for like <$500. Whatever floats your boat though... some people are just too attached to these X1k's (like me )

[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.

[Burton_rider]

As for $100 for a video card that might not even fix the problem...

I kindda agree - I think that the real problem is that the Thermalpad that is supposed to conduct heat between the gpu and the heatsink melts/goes bad after around two years. This would mean that the gpu will go hotter and the pressure applied by the thermalpad to keep the gpu in place is also lessened.

So perhaps the real solution is to replace the heatsink and thermalpad. This is a way cheaper solution - I saw such a set on Ebay for 5$ - http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=6882324202&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT

I don't know if it will work, but i think that i'm gonna try it out - for the moment my x1000 will only work with the keybord unmounted or the gpu will grow too hot!

[romeon]

Remember, most of the time the black screen appears, the laptop was just powered on and therefore cold. I really don't think, this problem is heatpad related. Actually the pad doesn't look too bad for me. The newer graphic cards have this red glue (?) around every corner at the gpu. There has to be a reason for this modification, otherwise they wouldn't do that. My new card lies in front of me: though this red material doesn't look like this, it's really of a hard consistency.
-> Maybe it's really a kind of glue.
-> Maybe they had to fix the newer cards, because the chips on the older ones got "loose" after months/years of transport and using the laptop.
-> Maybe the contact between gpu and card module is fixed again (temporarily) after pressing 6,7,Y

Of course there's no evidence for the above theory, but I believe in it

PS: is there anybody with a new video card, who got the same problems again?

[Burton_rider]

Remember, most of the time the black screen appears, the laptop was just powered on and therefore cold. .
-> Maybe they had to fix the newer cards, because the chips on the older ones got "loose" after months/years of transport and using the laptop.
-> Maybe the contact between gpu and card module is fixed again (temporarily) after pressing 6,7,Y

I compeletely agree and I have also tested it - when I push the GPU back in it's socket, my laptop will work just fine until the GPU grows hot and warps out of it's socket. Now the thing needed is to keep the processor in place - a new processor is probably fixed properly in the socket, but this worsens with age, so to keep it in place I will try to mount some new thermalpads that I bought off ebay for cheap. They should arrive in a week or so and then I'll retur with a progress update - I'll also take pictures during the install - If it proves successful I'll post them here at this Forum so that others might benefit for this (low cost) solution.

[quietas]

I ended up fixing my Y67 issue by replacing the videocard itself. I just snagged one off Ebay for $90.

[Burton_rider]

Ok so my solution with changing the thermal pad didn't work. In stead I tried out the solution that alanward presents in this thread and it seems to be working - Actually it was'nt too hard - I took about an hours work or so.

I also installed the Omega Drivers, but it seems that I'm unable to underclock it to anymore than 200 mhz. I am using the feature called "overclocking settings" in the "hardware" tab in ATI tray tools - it was the only place i could find, but if there is another way to do it I would like to hear about it.

Cheers