Laptop overheating, got a Nvidia GPU?

If you have the above problems, particularly with an HP Pavilion or Compaq take alook at these two links before you fork out any money or waste months of your time looking for a solution. hplies.com and nvidiadefect.com If you are one of the many thousands affected, welcome to the club!! I wouldn't be able to post without my ice blocks! Without them my core temp reaches 93 degrees celcius.

 

Nvidia cards are notorious for running hot when under stress, I have just burnt out a GTX295 $600 bucks worth, I had it for a little over a year (warranty is out) and under stress (most of the time) it was always around 95c and no matter how i configured the cooling it only shifted by 1 or 2 degrees.

I realize this is not a laptop but it seems to be a problem with Nvidia.

With a factory installed unit i can understand you going to litigation as a way to resolve it.

 

Bill depending on the make you should for at least 3yrs or more. Try emailing or ringing the Co. direct.

 

Ok; the real skinny.......
NVidia confessed to having a defective production line that resulted in improper heatsink bonding within the encapsulated parts. This virtually guaranteed their failure, sooner or later.
Now, it doesn't affect every NVidia chip and the predominant failures were in laptops made by HP, Compaq, and Dell between 2006 and 2008.
What bugs me is that, even though HP has quietly doubled the factory warranty, they did nothing to notify owners and most don't realize that the wireless NIC disappearing or the battery failing to charge is the first sign of failure. So far, I've gotten 3 repaired for free (one at 25 months); but, I also have 3 they refused.

 

Thats why I posted those links, I spent 8 months messing around trying to fix fuzzy screens,BSOD, blank screen at bootup. I had to disable my Nvidia, as I got a BSOD at every boot. This is supposed to be an entertainment PC!!!! Without the Nvidia, I cannot get the windows media player for Vista to run, says my laptop does not meet the the basic requirements! HP customer service stinks, when they do reply I am told where to take it in this country, and the HP agents here have been given specific instructions not to touch any Pavilion or Compaq brought in with a problem! The HP agent I tried, was livid when I forwarded the e mail I received. He demanded clarification from HP HQuaters and 6 weeks later has had no reply! I know I live in a banana republic, but I never expected HP to be a banana company!:-D

 

I have repaired many laptops of this type (DV6000, DV9000, V6000) with NVIDIA GPU problems. If you feel up to the task here is a link showing you how to reflow a BGA GPU.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vR8L3B3eDr0

The GPU is near the CPU on the motherboard. The other NVIDA chip is the north bridge. You will need a temperature adjustable heat gun and heat the chip for 30 secs.@ 250F 30 secs.@ 450F and 45 secs.@ 700F. DO NOT BUMP BOARD WHILE REFLOWING.

Also I use a copper shim to replace the thermal pad to increase heat transfer to the heatsink. Here is a link to them.

http://cgi.ebay.com/1x-THERMAL-COPP...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3359a62369

Make sure to cleaned the heatsink and always use Artic Silver compound. I have repaired over 20 laptops of this style and only one has come back.

Also make sure to update the bios to the latest version because the new bios version makes the cpu fan run constantly keeping the GPU temps down.

Wont hurt to try your laptop is a brick anyways.

 

Hey thanks, that tube was very helpful, if I have no luck with HP (I keep bugging them) I will give it a try. The fix sounded beyond me, but should manage after seeing the tube!

 

That video should work nicely on the Toshiba M35X I have which needs the BGA resoldered (The unit works as long as you press down on the loose chip); but, shouldn't affect an encapsulation problem where the chip needs replacement, at all. And that is what NVidia fessed up to; that the thermal bonding inside the finished part is defective....

 

From what I hear the materials in the solder that attaches the BGA package to the motherboard are substandard and is cracking under high heat situations. That is why I use the copper shim on the GPU to keep it as cool as possible after reflowing it. Here is a link explaining the problem.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Nvidia-GPU-failure,6248.html

Another "trick" I use, stack 5 quarters ontop of the GPU when heating the chip. This will put some pressure on it while reflowing the chip.

Of course the only way to properly fix it is to remove the chip and reball using eutectic solder which is way over my head. rolleyes

 

Good stuff; thanks!
But; from that, too, it is the connections inside the chip carrier that need reheating, not the BGA.
Is it then necessary to heat the whole system board and I'd love to know why you heat it up so slowly?
Also, what is the model of your heat gun?

 

I have a Bosch 1944LCDK adjustable from 120F to 1200F in 10 degree increments. The purpose of heating it slowly is to allow for board expansion and dissipate moisture. I am by no means a expert at this but the customers laptops are still working after 6 months of use. As far as the internal connections I think stacking quarters put pressure on the "shiney" heat sink part. I think there are solder connections under that area also. If a customer can get some more use out of there laptop that H/P refuses to replace is better than a door stop.

 

Today I tried to boot up my laptop after uninstalling a program, I have the Phoenix BIOS. I got one long beep and 2 short, which appears to be the Video. I tried a hard reset, no luck. I tried removing the RAM and reseating it and another hard reset. Still got the same beeps and black screen as before. Has anyone got any other suggestions?

( I havn't tried the reflowing trick for the Nvidia as I don't have a heat gun)

 

You may have to RMA the laptop to the manufacturer to have the chip replaced. This should be free if you are inside the recall. Please note this may result in a new system for you so remove the hard drive from the laptop and back up all your data.

 

Thanks Collins, but my laptop is not listed as being covered, and the nearest authorised repair centre is in another country.

But, I did get it going after 8 hours of searching the net off my old desktop. For those of you without a heat gun, it may help. I wrapped my laptop in two towels to block the airflow, powered up on mains and left it for 30 minutes to heat up. Switched it off and let it cool right down, as mine only boots when cool. And it worked!!! here is the link, scroll down to Jay Kinnorgs post dated March 2009.
http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service...47626+1267609815236+28353475&threadId=1191277