In this post I explain how you can fix a laptop motherboard with failed NVIDIA graphics chip. This repair might apply to some HP/Compaq laptops and probably some other laptop brands. If this repair works for your laptop, please mention the brand and model number in comments after the post. This will help other readers with similar laptops.
This method should work for the following models: HP Pavilion dv2000, Pavilion dv6000, Pavilion dv9000, Compaq Presario v3000, Presario v6000, HP Pavilion tx1000, Pavilion tx2000.
By the way, I just fixed my son’s Xbox 360 with red ring of death (error 74) using exactly same technique.
MOST COMMON PROBLEM SYMPTOMS
1. Laptop turns on with garbled video on the internal laptop screen and external monitor.
2. Laptop turns on as normal but there is no video on the internal laptop screen or external monitor.
MY UNDERSTANDING OF THE PROBLEM
The NVIDIA graphics chip soldered to the motherboard. When the laptop gets very hot, the NVIDIA chip separates from the motherboard and laptop video fails.
HOW TO FIX FAILED NVIDIA CHIP
I have previous posts explaining how I fixed same problem by baking the motherboard in an oven or bubble-wrapping the laptop. But today I’m going to fix the motherboard using a heat gun. Basically, I’m going to heat up the NVIDIA chip with a heat gun to solder it back to the motherboard (reflow). I think this method is more reliable and the repair should last for a while.
WARNING!
There is no guaranty this method works all the time. While doing this repair you may damage the motherboard and make it unrepairable. Also, you may damage the laptop while taking it apart.
Proceed at your own risk and don’t blame me if you turned your laptop into a very expensive door stop. 
If you don’t feel comfortable doing this repair, take your laptop to the repair shop.
HOW I FIXED THE MOTHERBOARD
First of all, you’ll have to disassemble the laptop and remove the motherboard. You can find laptop disassembly procedure in the service manual. If you having trouble finding the manual, leave a comment and maybe I can point you to the right direction.
In my example I’m using a motherboard removed from HP Pavilion tx2000 laptop.
In most laptops the graphics chip located under the CPU heatsink (and it has NVIDIA logo on it), so there shouldn’t be a problem locating the chip. The chip has a glossy top surface.
For this repair I’m going to use an Ecoheat heat gun EC-100.
In order to figure out how to position the heat gun and for how long, I tested it on a penny with a small piece of solder on the top.
The Ecoheat heat gun has a switch on the handle. There are two positions for the switch. Position 1 – slow. Position 2 – fast.
I used position 1 – slow.
I positioned the heat gun about 1 inch away from the penny and turned it on.
After about 40-45 second the solder started melting. After 50 seconds the solder melted completely.
To protect the motherboard from the heat I used a regular cooking aluminum foil. I cut off a piece of aluminum foil and folded it a few times to make my protection shield thicker. After that I cut off a square opening right in the middle, same size as the NVIDIA chip.
After I removed the heat sink, I had some old thermal grease stuck on the NVIDIA graphics chip. You can remove old thermal grease using alcohol swabs. It’s not necessary to make it perfectly clean. Just make sure there are no large chunks of thermal grease on the chip.
UPDATE: Some people mentioned that I should have applied some liquid flux underneath the NVIDIA chip for better results. I didn’t do it this time. I’ll definitely do it next time if the motherboard fails again. I found this video explaining how to apply liquid flux under the GPU chip. This video was made for Xbox 360 motherboard but should apply to any laptop motherboard too.
Liquid flux for GPU reflow available on eBay.
Finally, I positioned the heat gun above the NVIDIA chip about 1 inch away and turned the heat gun into the position 1.
After 50 seconds I turned it off and let the motherboard cool down for about 20 minutes.
Don’t forget to apply new thermal grease on the NVIDIA chip when you install the heat sink.
Some laptops use thermal pads instead of grease. If that’s the case with your laptop, make sure the thermal pad positioned correctly.
After I assembled the laptop back together, the video started properly!
The NVIDIA graphics chip problem fixed!
Will it last for a long time? I don’t know. Still testing.
If you find this article useful, please consider making a donation to the author. Thank you!
February 23rd, 2011 at 10:07 pm
I did similar repair about two months ago and it worked.
I fixed HP dv9000 notebook.
February 24th, 2011 at 8:59 am
[...] Solder connections on processors seem to be a very common failure point in modern electronics. Consider the Red Ring of Death (RRoD) on Xbox 360 or the Yellow Light of Death (YLoD) on PlayStation 3. This time around the problem is a malfunctioning Nvidia GPU on an HP Pavilion TX2000 laptop. The video is sometimes a jumbled mess and other times there’s no video at all. If the hardware is older, and the alternative to fixing it is to throw it away, you should try to reflow the solder connections on the chip. [...]
February 24th, 2011 at 10:44 am
Hi, i have fixed a ps3 with this method and a dead compaq f700. The ps3 worked for over a month, but died after that, i redid the ps3 in oven bake method and it worked like a charm after that.
The f700 on the other hand, worked for a month and started the video thing again, i reflowed it successful yesterday and installed the copper shim, but someone said to stress test it to make sure it is fine – bad mistake, the laptop turns on now but with garbled bios, so redoing it with the oven method. Will post if successful.
February 24th, 2011 at 2:26 pm
Dont you need som new flux to take away anny oxides in the cracked yoints?? ebay sell som kits for xbox i think…
just re heat will fix it temporary only
February 24th, 2011 at 2:50 pm
rogge,
How do you apply it underneath the GPU chip?
Do you just drop it between the chip and motherboard?
Please let me know. I’ll make a note in the post.
February 24th, 2011 at 3:20 pm
Did a similar thing to my old hp dv2000. But I did mine in the oven. Lasted about 6 or 9 months then went again so pretty good result. One thing I did do was remove the thick piece of thermal tape/pad they use from the factory. This left a sizable gap between the GPU and the heatsink so I broke off a vain from an old CPU heatsink, cut a couple of pieces out roughly the same size as the pad I removed. I then coated both sides of each with a thin layer of arctic silver and placed them on top of each other in the spot where I removed the pad from. Worked quite well that way.
February 24th, 2011 at 3:26 pm
rogge,
Thank you for your suggestion. I updated the post and mentioned your comment about applying some liquid flux underneath the GPU chip.
February 24th, 2011 at 3:29 pm
Power Supply,
I baked my Compaq Presario v6000 motherboard about 9 months ago. The laptop still runs fine. I think it’s a very good result.
Here’s how I did it:
http://www.laptoprepair101.com.....deo-issue/
February 24th, 2011 at 3:41 pm
Funny enough that’s the same laptop I am using right now. When the dv2000 died again I had this one laying around in my store from a customer that didn’t want it any more so I didn’t bother repairing it a second time. Still have the majority of it in parts though. The dv2000 finally went after a couple of days of playing games for about 5 to 8 hours straight. I like your idea of using screws to elevate the board. I just sat mine on balls of foil.
February 24th, 2011 at 5:42 pm
had the same problem with my tx2500z, finally tore it apart and baked it about a month ago
works now. it was originally killed by heat =/ no thermal shutdown, got stuck on in my backpack for an hour and baked its self to death.
February 25th, 2011 at 12:51 am
I repaired an HP dv6000′s GPU about a month ago using foil and pennies. I put the motherboard on top of the stove for a surface to handle the heat from the gun. I used the low setting and circled it around the chip for about 3 minutes. I had a stack of pennies on top of the GPU. Did not use any flux. The laptop runs fine now but has not been stress tested.
February 28th, 2011 at 4:47 pm
Have a HP compak presario. V6035 nr tl50 bought in Sinagpore and have the same problems noted here. My research also indicates the graphic chip so will try the heat system.
March 1st, 2011 at 7:42 pm
But this is not a permanent solution
March 1st, 2011 at 10:17 pm
Ava,
Nothing is permanent in this world.
March 3rd, 2011 at 5:55 pm
could this work on a Sony Vaio PCG-K23?
March 8th, 2011 at 12:27 pm
That work on ACER computer with NVIDIA chip
March 22nd, 2011 at 9:24 am
permanent solution is to change the nvidia chip,
March 22nd, 2011 at 1:02 pm
Permanent solution is not changing the nvidia chip, as that will burn out sooner or later as well. Permanent solution is to never use a computer.
March 23rd, 2011 at 2:23 am
can this trick for ACer laptop?
March 23rd, 2011 at 11:37 pm
This is one slick trick! My dad had a video problem with his HP laptop. I opted to build a new computer for him. He gave me the HP to use for parts. If this works I’ll have a new laptop.
March 30th, 2011 at 2:29 pm
God bless you,i stil need to know more about computer.thanks
April 5th, 2011 at 10:10 am
That worked great. My client took his computer in for repair to a bunch of other shops and none of them could fix it. Thanks.
April 11th, 2011 at 6:37 am
also works on packard bell mb series.
thnx for sweet article
May 12th, 2011 at 2:10 pm
Just fixed my wife HP dv9812us using the heat gun trick. It appears to be working fine now. She had photos on her computer that had not been backed up. Just follow the instructions. If I can do this anyone can. Good Luck.
May 13th, 2011 at 10:34 am
If you’re patient, you might be able to back up your “no-video” computer before tearing into it –
My Dell D830 w/Nvidia Quatro 135 sometimes starts flickering the video, won’t respond to keyboard or pointing device, so I have to shut it down using the power switch. At other times, the Blue Screen Of Death (showing the generic hardware failure code) might occur. The most-often observed failure symptom is a black screen (no video) during and after booting.
In each of many instances of such failures over the past 3 months, I’ve been able to get the computer to boot normally by persisting in the following three steps:
1. Using the power button, shut the failed machine down, then immediately power on.
2. Wait three seconds for something (such as the manufacturer’s logo) to show on the screen.
3. If nothing appears on the screen within three seconds of power on, repeat this procedure from step 1.
Persist. It can take dozens of iterations and several minutes of patience before you are rewarded by seeing your dead screen resurrected. (So much for the popular “definition” of stupidity, which derides trying the same thing over and over while expecting a different outcome. This instance of “stupidity” allowed me to recover use of my computer so I could back it to USB drive before trying other solutions to the problem.)
I tried re-installing Nvidia driver from Dell site and the generic driver from Nvidia’s site, but although each worked for a while, the problem returned. I uninstalled the Nvidia driver software (using Add/Remove Programs) and the computer ran for a few weeks. The video performance was reduced as expected, but it was acceptable, so I thought the problem was solved. But last evening, after pressing the power-on button on the cold computer, there was no video even though no Nvidia driver was installed.
This morning, after several dozen iterations of the above 3-step procedure, I got the computer to “come back” once again, but it could fail again without warning..
I’m ready to try re-flowing. Thanks for the helpful post!
2011may13(14:34)-teacher
May 14th, 2011 at 10:59 pm
Don King, Jr.
Congratulations!
I would strongly advice to backup all data as soon as possible because the laptop might fail again. Hopefully this repair will work for a long time for you.
May 17th, 2011 at 1:51 am
the fix will last longer if you ensure a good contact between the gpu core and the heat sink, i suggest adding some therrmal paste and some come copper or prefereably thermal pad to ensure proper conection with the heat sink..
May 17th, 2011 at 5:15 pm
Cool! Thanks a million. Used that method on a client’s dv2000.
May 20th, 2011 at 8:47 am
Going to try this now… Thanks for the process… I will let you know if it works… off to get a heat gun.
May 20th, 2011 at 12:02 pm
It work great! Thank you for posting this.. I got a heat gun from Harbor Freight… Cheap… Covered the mother board with foil except the GPU… Ran the heat gun on low setting for 60 seconds… And the laptop works… It was a good idea to test the solder on the penny first to get the time (seconds) needed for your heat gun to melt the solder properly… Just for fun i took off the heat sink pad from the GPU and used good high silver heatsink compound and a penny for a spacer… put compound on both sides of the penny and stuck it to the GPU… It fit great and oozed out the compound from both sides… so nice and tight… Thanks again!
June 9th, 2011 at 3:23 pm
this technique works on Compaq pres v3k. Thank you very much for sharing this well-made guide.
June 17th, 2011 at 8:20 am
Thx for advice, i failed with my try some parts close to VGA chip falled when i tryed to remove the foil
June 29th, 2011 at 3:15 am
i have hp dv6137tx model with nvidia geforce go 7400.i have just now replaced my whole motherboard 945 and GPU set 2days ago.it runs smoothly for surfing and other activities, but when i start games after 10-15mins the whole system shutdowns in 2secs,n everything is lost.GPU temperature is also not much around 62-65°c.
What will be the issue?is it video drivers or the nvidia chipset.
July 13th, 2011 at 8:33 am
I have fixed dozens of laptops with the Nvidia chip failure over the last few years. The repair can breath some life back into a failed machine but you should know, the repair doesn’t last in many cases. My company has finally stopped doing the repair because so many of the machines come back after a while (typically 1 to 2 months).
Sure the repair buys you some time, but advice from a tech about laptops, avoid purchasing machines with Nvidia chips in them. They all run hot, beyond design spec. to this day. We still get brand new laptops with failing Nvidia chips in them.
Just my thoughts.
July 13th, 2011 at 10:02 am
Yes, most likely this repair will not last forever but you’ll have enough time to backup data and maybe use the laptop until you are ready to buy a new one.
Just don’t keep any important data on the fixed laptop.
July 19th, 2011 at 9:18 pm
Hello
I have hp dv6748us.I think der is a problem with the n vidia.
If i install the driver,the sound or webcam dont work.Initially i has problem when the bios screen appears the laptop would automatically restart.Now the problem stopped and this new problem has arised.Is there any way to repair or replace with new grapic card.
July 21st, 2011 at 1:52 pm
What type/size soldier did you use to test the heat gun?
August 1st, 2011 at 8:18 pm
It’s a nice article. The way of explaining how one can fix laptop motherboard with failed NVIDIA graphics chip is very easy and awesome. Lots of tips and tricks are there in the article to learn. Thank you very much for sharing this well-made guide.
August 10th, 2011 at 12:50 pm
Muchas gracias, es increible la forma tan clara y facil que esplico todo el proceso, lo felicito, debe ser Usted un muy buen pedagógo.
Un especial saludo desde Bogotá – Colombia.
———————
Thank you very much, it’s amazing how clear and easy so that explains the whole process, I congratulate you, you must be a very good pedagogue.
A special greeting from Bogota – Colombia.
August 16th, 2011 at 4:57 pm
Hi cj2600.
Thank you for your site. Picking up lots of information here from you and from your correspondents.
My laptop is a Compaq Presario V3000, bought nearly 5 years ago, but recently conked out. Blue lights come on, fan spins, CD drive spins, but no display. Connecting to an external monitor did not assist. Techos in Melbourne Australia tell me “motherboard issue, not economically viable to repair/replace”. So, its a doorstop.
I am still grieving for it and refuse to believe it is dead.
I’m about to try your methods (wife refuses oven bake method!), but wanted to know if your laptops repaired by bubble wrap, towels, oven bake and hot air gun are still running, how long they did run for (if dead again), and if you had to repeat/try a process? Regards, Nazzag
August 16th, 2011 at 6:30 pm
Thank you very much, have tried this and works great.
August 18th, 2011 at 5:51 am
hello i did what you said it started but with errors what to do now ?
August 24th, 2011 at 7:04 pm
Thanks, with this tutorial I was able to fix my HP TX 1000, I wasn’t sure how much heat to apply. This got me an idea thanks again.
August 28th, 2011 at 1:55 pm
thanks for the tutorial really helps lot. i tested on IBM T41 and its working now. most of the IBM laptops have this vga fault lot.
September 5th, 2011 at 4:26 am
Ya nvidia chips are crap, as are their new eutectic ones, I hear!!
September 10th, 2011 at 3:01 pm
Tried this on a Philips X57 with onboard nVidia graphics chip and it appears to have done the trick for now – Thanks!
September 15th, 2011 at 2:25 pm
Thanks for this great guide. My step-daughter’s laptop had failed recently and I thought it might be the same issue. Turns out it was. Ever since she got her HP laptop it seemed to be running very hot and I knew that one day (having an NVidia chipset) that it would fail.
After reading the guide and using an ‘Challenge Xtreme’ 2000W heatgun from Argos at 350 degrees celsius and some no-clean flux from eBay (total cost about £25) I was able to get the laptop to fire up.
Now all I have to do is work out how to put the thing back together now!
As this worked so well I’m going to reball a friend’s PS3 console and an old AMD motherboard (HP Pavilion Slimline) with NVidia chipset too, I figure if I can get them working for a little while then it’s a bonus.
Rob
September 24th, 2011 at 1:05 pm
0xc000000f Error Need HELP!!! File:\Windows\System32\Config\System
September 25th, 2011 at 1:10 pm
good info but as this problem is due to bad design if overheating is the cause to fit solder doe not stop the overheating issue.So this means problem will reoccur some time again.Ive decided not to buy HP again as I have a dv2ooo and have this hardware problem.The manufacturer is responsible for selling a laptop which should not get so hot and work safely.Why should I the consumer have to pay more to get it fixed or try myself to fix it and risk further damage after buying a costly item.So I bought a new laptop.
September 25th, 2011 at 11:59 pm
pls i need the link to the laptop disassembly procedure manual. i can’t find it.
thanks
October 8th, 2011 at 11:39 am
Thank you very much, have tried this and works
October 13th, 2011 at 11:58 am
My HP dv2500 the laptop turns on but the screen stays black and I have no idea what’s wrong with. Please help anybody, I would really appreciate it.
October 14th, 2011 at 12:48 pm
@ david,
First, I would try removing memory modules one by one. Test laptop with each module separately. If there is no video with each module installed separately, most likely this is motherboard failure. Bad graphics chip?
October 15th, 2011 at 11:50 am
I repaired Fujitsu Siemens Amilo PA2548 couple of months back with the heatgun trick (I heated GPU and Chipset chips) but today it failed again. All of the sudden power went off and when I tried to power it on again just blank screen and fan was spinning at max speed, just like when it failed first time.
Did heatgun trick again for the GPU only but it didn’t seem to work, then I heated chipset and laptop powered on again with picture and all. So it seems that NVidia NForce chipset chip is the culprit in my case and not the GPU as I initially thought.
Now just to wait how long this fix lasts… No high hopes.
October 16th, 2011 at 6:13 pm
This worked for me also. I used a slightly hotter heat gun from a longer distance away.
Also, while I was in there, I removed the aluminum block over the nvidia chip, and replaced it with two pre-1983 pennies (ground smooth and soldered together). I used silver thermal grease for the pennies and the cpu.
So far, so good.
October 23rd, 2011 at 1:15 pm
This Has to be the most dangerous way to do it there is great chance you will dislodge other components on the mother board the chip is mounted on the board by a heat press plate. if you put
flux the solder will run between the pins . also the manufactures do not use regular 40/60 solder it is lead free solder so it contains more Tin. so when reheating, the heat should be applied to the four sides and not the center. the center should have a small
weight place on it about 10 grams of a non heat conductor.
ie a small metal dish with water will work for very short burst of heat. a short piece of aluminum pipe closed at 1 end.
be warned that too much heat will also separate the laminates of the mother board which can be up to 16 ply.
This should not be try unless you are prepared to buy a new computer if it fails. Never put a mother board in the Oven as this will damage the motherboard for sure.
(a toaster with butter and jam would be better than burnt CHIPS
October 24th, 2011 at 2:15 am
I can sometimes see a faint image of my screen background and desktop icons in certain light…could this mean the problem with my screen is different than the one stated here. It fell a short distance in it’s bag, from the knee down I’d say (strap slipped off my shoulder). Just need to be sure that my black screen with no video on a separate monitor when a tv/appliance/puter store plugged it in briefly on the weekend could be the same as this situation before I embark on something totally foreign to me. if there is a different fix and you have instructions, please point me in their direction…thanks! K
October 24th, 2011 at 6:37 am
@ Mac,
This is absolutely correct. Try this fix only if you have nothing to lose.
October 24th, 2011 at 6:43 am
@ Kat,
Yes, your problem is different. If you see the faint image, most likely your problem related to one of the following:
1. Bad connection between the video cable and inverter board.
2. Failed video cable.
3. Failed inverter.
4. Failed LCD screen (bad backligh lamp).
If the laptop stopped working after you dropped it, most likely the backlight went off because you damaged the backlight lamp (it’s located inside the screen). This is just a guess.
Here’s how you troubleshoot LCD screen backligth problems.
I don’t know your laptop model. Newer laptops come with LED-backlit LCD screens. These screens don’t have inverter boards.
October 25th, 2011 at 12:29 am
my hp pavilion dv5-1250 ev have desktop white bat if i connect a old desktop i see very good
October 25th, 2011 at 9:47 am
my laptop have the same problem although i have a home made cooling pad but it sims not 2stop the over heating so i opened it just as before but wait a sec i notice some thing the fan stress was not as before when playing game i looked under and saw the gpu on top of d cooling pad….may be this might work wat about if a fan can be fix facing the nvida gpu chip…….
October 26th, 2011 at 7:04 am
@ marian,
I have a post dedicated to white screen problem: http://www.laptoprepair101.com.....ned-white/
It’s possible the video cable not making good connection with the LCD screen. Try reseating the cable.
Here’s how to take apart HP Pavilion dv5 notebook. It’s not easy.
http://www.insidemylaptop.com/.....v5-laptop/
October 27th, 2011 at 12:28 am
Toshiba Satellite P10-873 charging problem
My problem is as follows
When I socket the AC Charger into a power supply, the led light indicator on the charger will be on showing that the charger is working properly, but when i try to connect the charger to the laptop, it will give off a small electric spark upon making contact with the laptop charging port, the laptop itself will show no sign of charging, meanwhile the charger will stop working. But when i disconnect the charger from the laptop again, the led indicator on the charger will come on again showing that the charger is working properly.
I use the specified charger for the laptop. My laptop model is
Toshiba satelite P10-873.
Pls anyone with a step-by-step guide to solve this problem should please help me out urgently.
thanks.
October 27th, 2011 at 8:07 am
@ vin,
It’s hard to tell what is causing the problem but it could be one of the following:
1. Bad AC adapter. Test your laptop with another AC adapter.
2. Laptop DC jack is bad or not making good contact with the motherboard. If that’s the case, you’ll have to replace the DC jack. Maybe the jack is bad and shorts the AC adapter.
Here’s how to remove the motherboard: http://www.irisvista.com/tech/.....oard-1.htm
Here’s how to replace DC jack: http://www.laptoprepair101.com.....air-guide/
If it looks difficult, I would suggest taking the laptop to a repair shop.
October 27th, 2011 at 9:50 am
pls help me i have 3usb port one is working fine but the other 2 is not when i plug a usb card reader the system wil not read it but when i put it in other one it wil boot up.but the 2 that is not working stil have current in them but not has full as the working one
October 27th, 2011 at 10:04 am
@ smoby,
It’s hard to tell what’s going on. It’s possible those 2 USB ports got disconnected from the motherboard and have to be resoldered.
Do you know if 2 not working USB ports located on a separate board? Maybe this board is defective and has to be replaced.
I cannot help you without looking at the laptop.
October 28th, 2011 at 2:08 am
I’ve watched this for a while now and am about to try the method. I’d like to know since you said this…..
“Will it last for a long time? I don’t know. Still testing.”
How long did it last? I’d like to have an idea of how much time between repairs it would be.
Thanks for the great guide and all your help!
Thomas
October 28th, 2011 at 6:44 am
@ Thomas,
My laptop still works but I’m not using it every day. It was a test laptop.
Some people say this fix might last for a few months maybe even longer.
October 28th, 2011 at 8:03 am
As soon as I’ll get my hands on a heat gun, I’ll try the same method. But I don’t know exactly what or where the problem is, so I’m planning to heat the entire motherboard. Are there any parts that can’t stand heat at all and should I cover them with foil?
It’s an Amilo Xa3530 if that makes any difference.
October 28th, 2011 at 9:09 am
@ Gaius,
You can damage the motherboard. I was heating up just the NVIDIA chip, nothing else.
October 28th, 2011 at 10:34 am
Well it can’t get any worse, plus a new laptop has already been bought, because this one has been to 2 repair shops and both of them said it’s toast. So I’ve pretty much accepted that. I can’t heat only one chip since, like I said before, I don’t know where exactly the problem is and there is no way to find out for sure. I belive it is the GPU causing it because before dying, the graphics got worse and worse. So what would you suggest? Should I heat only the GPU or all the chips (there is 4 counting the CPU) or the entire board?
November 4th, 2011 at 7:18 am
Guys; i dont know if i have the same problem, my laptop just shut down on me and refused to boot up again. The caps lock light blinks when i turn it on but nothing shows on the screen. according to hp website, my motherboard is dead, but here i am hearing you guys talk about gpu; my laptop is out of warranty; my warranty expired just his august which is sad but i want to confirm if i am having the same problem so that i can try this method; thanks
November 4th, 2011 at 7:22 am
@ Anietie,
Did it happen just recently? Try this. Unplug the AC adapter, remove the battery, push on the power button for a few second. Now plug in the battery and adapter and try again.
Also, it’s possible the laptop shut down because of overheating. Did it feel hot on the bottom before shutting down? Wait for a while, let the processor to cool down and try again. Does it start after a while?
November 4th, 2011 at 9:52 am
one at the left is onboard but the 2 at the right is attached one of the attached is working fine but the other is not……just as the left
November 4th, 2011 at 11:45 am
my compaq presario v3000 is running propely sudden it stop working and switch off and now it start until ……….so what i do repair shop told me about the nvidia problem so is this can i apply or do something else…………
November 6th, 2011 at 5:58 pm
Worked like a charm, you da man!!!!!
November 10th, 2011 at 3:21 pm
I have an HP 6735B laptop that lasted just over a year before overheating. It was showing a start-up light sequence of 1 flash 5 times. I want to thank you for your post because I have just followed your method using a Fermi FHG2000 heat gun and the laptop lives! I heated the AMD Radeon GPU and southbridge chips for about 50-55 seconds each after timing this using solder on a penny.
I will report back if I notice anything strange happen…
Regards
November 10th, 2011 at 6:18 pm
@ Stephen Piper,
I’m glad this method worked for you.
I guess this trick works not only on NVIDIA chips.
Please report after a while if your laptop still working fine.
November 15th, 2011 at 9:15 am
Hi, My laptop is Acer Aspire 4937G, using Nvidia G105M graphics chipset. It started to shutdown suddenly whenever i run some memory dependent software (movie player, 3D games, multi-tabbing on Chrome).
I tried cleaning the heatsink and everything but still the problem persists. I suspect there’s problem with the graphics card, i removed the old thermal compound(it’s dried out hard as a chunk of play-dough!) and applied some new thermal paste and things got worse. I can’t boot into windows anymore(shuts down at welcome screen).
I’ve been using ubuntu(didn’t install drivers for the graphics card, shuts down halfway during installation when i try) and runs fine but would still shutdown if i run any of the software stated above.
I don’t think its because of separated graphics chip.
I haven’t tried your way with the oven or the heat gun since i’m afraid of frying the whole board, so it there any alternatives?
November 15th, 2011 at 10:31 am
@ Klevin,
Take a closer look at the cooling fan. Does it start spinning at all? I’m thinking maybe the fan failed and the laptop shuts down because of overheating.
November 17th, 2011 at 7:14 am
The fan spins, i’d even propped a table fan next to my laptop but the same thing happens too. The laptop is not even hot by touch as it should be if it’s really overheating.
November 17th, 2011 at 2:05 pm
@ Klevin,
If the fan works fine, probably you are correct. This is some kind of motherboard (graphics card) failure.
November 21st, 2011 at 11:51 am
(my usb port not working) one at the left is onboard but the
2 at the right is attached one of
the attached is working fine but
the other is not……just as the left
November 21st, 2011 at 3:09 pm
@ smoby,
I cannot tell what’s going on without looking at the laptop. It’s possible the USB port separated from the motherboard and has to be resoldered.
If it doesn’t help, you can use an external PCMCIA USB or ExpressCard USB.
November 22nd, 2011 at 12:20 pm
Pls i have a Asus F2HF Laptop, i dont knw d cause of it problem, but anytime i on the laptop, it only shows the green light, the fan does not spin, no beep from the ram, and nothing display on the screen….i have try to wash the board with some spirit and dry it in the sun but the problem still persist…can somebody help me with the solution…cos i dont have money for a new laptop now, and its even expensive to get here
thanks,
Adetola
November 24th, 2011 at 4:25 pm
@ Adetola,
I suggest testing the laptop with external monitor. Do you have the same problem on the external monitor or it works properly?
December 3rd, 2011 at 12:38 am
Well I applied this fine technique, worked fine for few days. Now I am facing another problem that my laptop boots and but before login onwards screen goes blank. That means I have only option left with me is to boot in safe mode and run my laptop.
I guess in safe mode graphic card hardware is disabeled so it boots up properly. Can you comment on this problem please.
December 7th, 2011 at 12:55 pm
@ Ravi,
I guess it hasn’t been fixed completely. There is still a problem with the graphics chip.
December 13th, 2011 at 4:15 am
Thanks a lot for sharing this info. I am actually been sending my clients laptop into a repair shop every time i encounter this problem, and i am not getting any clue as to how they are doing it because they are hiding it from me, may be because they know how easy it is to learn.
I will definitely try this as soon as another client comes with the same issue.
Thank you very much and Happy Holidays to you and your love ones.
Stay Blessed,
Carlos
Manila
Philippines
December 17th, 2011 at 8:00 pm
Hi My laptop got the same problem with graphics card and after repairing by an engineer it start working as normal but after a month it again went to same state. This time i am trying to use this technique by my self. Is it alright to heat the graphics card again?
Thanks
December 23rd, 2011 at 2:39 am
ive been into laptop/desktop repairs for about 3 years and i can only conclude that these technique is only worth a while, even reballing doesnt help alot if the chip keeps overheating… therefore these are not permanent fix but if u are able maintain a good airflow (laptop coolers) after reflowing then your good to last long… what i did in one of my customer is drilling holes underneath the laptop’s case where the heatsink is located after reflowing bec, some brands doesnt have any holes to grasp air within… so what i did is escalate the heat dissipation by using those holes so the laptop cooler will provide air directly to the heatsink… keep in mind that reflowing too much will burn up the chip… but some large chips needs to be reflowed thorough for about 1:30 mins as unlike the chip in tx2000…
December 24th, 2011 at 11:29 am
My HP dv7 was broken. It would blink the caps lock and num lock led code once every few seconds. According to HP site, that code indicates CPU failure. After reading this and other information on the internet I decided to reflow the ATI GPU and also the northbridge chip while I was at it. Both of those chips are cooled by the heat pipe. I decided the “oven soak method” would be smelly and ruin other devices on the board. I used a similar heat gun and to monitor temperature I used a thermocouple attached to the top of the chip with kapton tape and another on the underside of the board. I slowly heated the chips by bringing the gun closer to the chip over a minute or two making sure the heat soaked to the underside of the board. I monitored the temperature and made sure to never exceed 200C. I held the temperature for maybe a minute at most until the underside temperature stabilized and then I cooled it down slowly by pulling the gun away from the chip. Thanks for your post, it was very helpful.
December 26th, 2011 at 1:16 pm
@ Muji,
It’s OK to try it again.
December 29th, 2011 at 12:01 pm
I have a problem with Compaq n610c, it won’t start at all. Power adapter is fine, i tried another one, but still the same. Any help would be appreciated?
December 29th, 2011 at 1:26 pm
@ pillje,
Do you have any lights on the laptop at all?
Wiggle the power plug inside the DC jack. Does it feel loose?
It’s possible the DC jack is broken and the laptop doesn’t get any power from the AC adapter.
If it’s not the jack that this is motherboard failure.
December 29th, 2011 at 1:37 pm
Hi
Is there a good reason for not just getting the heat off the GPU and letting the computer overheat the GPU its self?
What are the advantages of using these other methods?
Thanks a lot
Joe
December 29th, 2011 at 2:22 pm
@ Joe Shields,
I don’t really understand the question.
Different methods require different tools.
I think the heat gun method is more reliable but you need to buy special equipment and also it’s necessary to remove the motherboard.
The bubble wrap method works too sometimes but it’s not as good as the heat gun method. Also, sometimes the laptop just doesn’t turn on, so you cannot overheat it.
The oven method is cheap but you can damage the motherboard and also it could be dangerous.
December 29th, 2011 at 3:34 pm
Sorry I missed a word out of my previous post!
Is there a good reason for not just lifting the heat sink off the GPU and letting the computer overheat the GPU its self (if the computer is able to turn on)? Would this not be better than heating the whole computer up using the bubble wrap method (assuming you have a screw driver and can take the back off the computer)?
I did this once by letting the computer run without the heat sink for 15 mins, the computer worked for a day, but then it stopped working again. I have tried this technique again but am getting no signs of life
Any ideas?
Thanks a lot for your speedy reply!
p.s. nice linux!
December 29th, 2011 at 4:05 pm
@ Joe Shields,
I think it might work. I don’t know if the GPU can get hot enough when it’s exposed to air.
In order to make it work, you have to melt solder under the GPU.
I think the next step would be using the heat gun.
January 7th, 2012 at 5:36 pm
I have a HP Pavillion DV6000 series limited edition laptop. The problem is when you press the power button to turn it on, it comes on for a second and shut right off. what might the problem be.
January 8th, 2012 at 10:27 am
@ sylven Black,
Take a look at the blue light around the power socket. Does it stay on after the laptop shuts off?
January 8th, 2012 at 6:48 pm
Hi, great post, i was wondering… with the flux.. at what point do you apply it, and if its when you mention it in your post… why would there be a gap for the flux to seep through?? isnt the chip soldered on firmly?
Im guessing i lift it up a little first or something?
Thanks a lot i can see your answering a lot of people!
Take care!
January 11th, 2012 at 11:10 am
Sir,
I want to thank you for publishing this extremely helpful information.
I was able to fix a Macbook Pro A1229 model suffering from a known NVIDIA Geforce 8600m GT issue using this method, but failed outside the 4 year window for FOC manufacturer fix.
Thank you again.
January 11th, 2012 at 10:04 pm
@ Santi,
You apply flux right before heating up the chip.
Yes, the chip is soldered to the motherboard but there should be a gap between the chip and motherboard. It’s not like a huge gap but should be enough for flux to the under the chip.
No!!! Don’t lift up anything. Just apply some flux (a drop or two) between the chip and motherboard and let it get under the chip.
January 16th, 2012 at 11:14 pm
Hi!!!
Thanks for this!!! Yesterday I revived my graphics chip on my laptop!!!
I use flux, and less temperature; 300ºC 30 secs 400ºC 10 secs.
Thanks one more time for the idea!
January 18th, 2012 at 9:51 am
I tried it for my Compaq presario f500.
It works for 2/3 days then again same problem….
I used hot gun method…i did it for 5 times..then after 2/3 days same issue….
One thing i did not used liquid flux…
Now what can i do…
i become bored …
Pls help me…
January 18th, 2012 at 12:58 pm
I tried to heating it and it worked once. I tried again but couldn’t work again. Can I get any other way to fix a intel board which does not display and also Amd board which doesn’t display either. Is there any way to repair Harddrive or processor?
January 20th, 2012 at 11:48 pm
@ Rayhan,
I guess it’s time for a new laptop.
January 21st, 2012 at 8:44 pm
This goes without saying usally, but make sure the motherboard is plumb when you heat it up, and make sure there is plenty of Kester’s flux on the solder balls and cups. The best rig is infrared reflux, but short of that, a heat gun will do. Last, make sure you put back the heat sinks with a good quality heat transfer paste – not too much. Clean the surface of the chips real good with alcohol or mild solvent. Then put on the paste, and pull a razor blade over it to you have a uniform layer of thermal compound, and button it up. Do make sure the house dust and fibers are all out of the radiator/heat exchanger and that the fan is working well. If it does not work now, it is because it has been cooked before. Bad air flow in the heat exchanger or hair fibers of hypereutectic solder that shorted it out. Dang tree huggers and their foolish laws!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
January 24th, 2012 at 6:09 am
HP-6735b update… The laptop I fixed with a heat gun failed after about a month. Its startup was intermittent until one day it failed as before with startup lights. I have just re-done (heater) the GPU and applied some pressure after 55 seconds to see if I could force the chip back on. It is now working again and will update again when it fails!
January 24th, 2012 at 8:32 am
I’ll love to be receiving tips or is any forum which I can join because your tips has helped me a lot.
I’ll really appreciate it if you guys will help me with this favour..
January 24th, 2012 at 12:47 pm
@ Stephen Piper,
Did you use any flux the first time?
January 24th, 2012 at 12:58 pm
@ Mohammed Ali,
You can subsribe to my twitter account at: http://twitter.com/laptopfixed
January 27th, 2012 at 12:17 pm
Thanks for all great info it helped me sort out my Sony Vaio’s VGN-NR31J/S GPU.Although i would suggest to everyone to try and download a repair manual from manufacturer and use your guide as well and include the following(at least basic tools) for the job:
1.Anti-Static ESD wristband
2.Liquid flux
3.Heatgun (any whith a concentrated nozzle will do)
4.Heat Paste (preferably silver compound – i used arctic silver 5)
My machine works a treat after a day at GPU 69 celcius max testing it on max battery with rally game. A reduction of 8 degrees in total and no crashes.
Will let you know if or any hickups as i go along.
Cheers
Jim
January 28th, 2012 at 6:12 am
my pavillio DV9000 don’t want to turn on?
February 2nd, 2012 at 8:56 am
@ mike,
More details please.
Does it show any activity at all? Any light? Any image on the screen?
February 5th, 2012 at 1:08 am
my acer aspire 4551 fan stop working after 5 second!please help!black screen!
amd
February 8th, 2012 at 9:10 am
Looks like you pulled the CPU too. I imagine as a precaution considering its proximity to your heat gun.
February 9th, 2012 at 4:45 am
hi
the zif touchpad connector came off the board on a hp tx1000 it took 2 of the tracks with it. would you know where the 4 connections terminate on the board to enable me to fit another zip socket and wire onto the motherboard
thanks
February 9th, 2012 at 4:22 pm
@ alexlee,
I don’t know if this is true for your Acer Aspire 4551 laptop but on some laptops the cooling fan works only for a few seconds on startup and later it turns on when the CPU gets hot.
No video? Have you tried removing memory modules one by one? This could be memory related failure.
February 10th, 2012 at 2:05 pm
@ David,
Yes I did, but I don’t think it was necessary.
With a good foil shielding the CPU should be safe.
February 10th, 2012 at 2:07 pm
@ dave,
Take a look at this post:
http://www.laptoprepair101.com.....therboard/
This could be helpful.
February 11th, 2012 at 1:51 pm
After 2 weeks applying the fix laptop failed again.Obviously my own fault as well as ran Furmark and OCCT almost 3 times a day in separate occasions to see how far i can push the machine lol!
On next fix will follow same steps as on my old post on Jan 27th and place copper shim on top of GPU chip after applying thermal paste and thermal paste again on top of copper shim and drill a few holes at bottom of plactic cover where GPU is located (using a soldering iron) and using a custom made laptop cooler (which propels air into the holes)
Any ideas/suggestions are most welcome and fingers crossed
Thanks
February 25th, 2012 at 6:36 am
Looking for the tech manual to dismantle an Acer 9303WSMi which has the NVidia problem and weak wireless. Ideal guinea pig but Acer won’t supply the docs to pull it apart. Can you please steer me in the direction of a guide so I don’t break it before I get to reflow?
February 25th, 2012 at 12:19 pm
Hello, I have a HP Pavillion DV6000
When I push the power button, the LED blue lights turn on, the dvd drive make noise and hd makes noise… activity. wireless led is amber but the screen…..no image or flash of an image on the screen (no post either). then after 10 seconds the laptop switches off and immediately tries to restart and just restarting over an over again. Also does not show post or anything through external monitor.
Is this related to the graphics chip mentioned in this post?
Any help be fantastic…..please
February 27th, 2012 at 3:14 am
Hello!
I did same with Asus Z96s with nvidia 8600m GS chip and it worket !
February 29th, 2012 at 3:28 am
i did that to my HP pavillion tx2000 and worked
but there’s a problem , GPU temp is over 95 “95-105″
and i want to know can i put thermal paste on this chip although there are thermal pads . plz anyone answer me
March 8th, 2012 at 1:25 pm
A good article well written and it does work fine on most of these faults – just one thing i’d want to mention though, something I did by mistake and the board never worked after lol (no loss, i was testing the idea on a very old board).
The thing is, laptop boards have the button-cell batteries fitted, and that means the board is carrying the usual 3 volts around. Also, many boards still keep some voltage from when turned on previously in components such as capacitors.
By putting tin foil over the circuit, it can touch and secretly short out the board. You’l not know it as it’s going to be such a small short, but enough to risk damaging the board in other ways.
I suggest, removing the CMOS battery from the board, and hold the power-on button on the laptop down for at least 30 seconds, to help drain as much power as possible from the board.
It’s just a thought, and could help explain why some boards refuse to fix again after being heated this way once.
Many thanks for the helpful article.
March 15th, 2012 at 1:03 pm
@ Filesponge,
Probably it’s a good idea to remove the CMOS battery. I didn’t think about it because in my case it wasn’t on the side I was covering with the foil.
March 17th, 2012 at 6:20 am
I am sorry if I post this at wrong section but I just want to ask about my problem with graphic card and I hope you can help me. I have compaq presario v3000 and it use Mobile Intel® 945GM Express Chipset Family, the problem is I cant play game that I usually played, it says not enough graphics memory. I don’t know since when it become like this but I guess maybe after I upgraded it BIOS. I already taking my laptop to local repair shop and they dont know how to fix it(maybe they dont know the problem at all). After I check it online, I knew the problem is because of my maximum memory size of my graphic card is set to 32Mb. The default size should be 224Mb(i check it at intel support). I read about how to set it and it mention about a setting in system BIOS but i know nothing about BIOS, can you help me change it back to 224Mb size?
March 29th, 2012 at 10:30 am
I have a Lenovo Thinkpad Product ID:28472MU with display problem. It can’t display both internally and externally. How do i fix it? Thanks.
April 24th, 2012 at 3:06 am
I have a tx2500z and it shows a bunch of green dots moving to many places at times. It it likely that this method will fix it? Windows always shows “Nvidia driver fails” no matter which driver I installed.
Thank you.
May 3rd, 2012 at 1:33 pm
I’m a little confused… Do I apply the liquid flux underneath the chipset, and then remove and put new thermal grease on top of the chipset prior to using the heat gun?
May 3rd, 2012 at 4:09 pm
@ Connery Johnson,
1. Remove old thermal grease from the chip.
2. Apply liquid flux under the chip.
3. Heat the chip.
4. Apply new thermal grease and install heatsink.
May 4th, 2012 at 1:27 am
I am having issue with my HP Pavilion DV6700 laptop.
Sr. Nodv6812nr
Problem: Continuously blinking LED lights (No beep) and no display on screen.
I have done all basic troubleshooting but no joy
After pushing to power button, it gives the continuous LED blinking lights on the keyboard and nothing on the screen.
I have tried removing and reseating the hard drive and the memory modules with no change.
Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.
Also let me how how to connect laptop hard drive to my desktop(I have SATA Port on my Desktop)
Please do the needful.
Many Thanks
Sumedh
Pune (India)