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Screen or Video card, m9750 black screen

post #1 of 16
12/27/10 at 11:32pm
Thread Starter 
Well, my 9750 has been runing very well for about 3 years, and I have not even cleaned it one time. This is a picture of an external screen, since the main screen is black now.

The other day, I think it got really hot, it just shut off completely. But it started right back up, without any problems. Now, I shut i down the correct way, and I get a busted screen....... Now what? Is it the screen or video card?

I am having booting issues now, probably from me rebooting about 37 times, as if the problem would magically go away..... So I think that is a seperate issue...no?

Video/Graphics Card: Dual 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce® Go 7950 GTX - SLI Enabled
Chassis: 17" WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD with Clearview Technology - Stealth Black
Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7400 2.16GHz 4MB Cache 667MHz FSB
Memory: 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz – 2 x 512MB
Operating System (Office software not included): Windows Vista® Home Premium
LL
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post #2 of 16
12/28/10 at 4:50am
Time to take the poor good thing apart and performing a good clean up inside with new thermal paste application - might want to bake the card at the same time whilst you are at it

About the black internal screen, a simple inverter replacement might do the trick

cheers ...
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post #3 of 16
12/28/10 at 10:39am
Thread Starter 
Yea.....I was thinking that, it's never been open aside from a ram upgrade.

Had to reinstall vista, to get it to run outside of safe mode. Looked at pulling the cards (pulled the small cord that connects the 2) and changed my mind since I dont have any paste. Fired it up, screen magically came back, and then it started to act up again (very small green lines). Now I'm back to using external monitor, and looks like it's in safe mode (but it's not). I'll pick up some paste and clean her up. Thanks! Is there a way to identify the bad video card?
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post #4 of 16
12/28/10 at 1:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bconwayls1 View Post
Yea.....I was thinking that, it's never been open aside from a ram upgrade.

Had to reinstall vista, to get it to run outside of safe mode. Looked at pulling the cards (pulled the small cord that connects the 2) and changed my mind since I dont have any paste. Fired it up, screen magically came back, and then it started to act up again (very small green lines). Now I'm back to using external monitor, and looks like it's in safe mode (but it's not). I'll pick up some paste and clean her up. Thanks! Is there a way to identify the bad video card?
When it stops your comp from starting up or causing funny things on the external and internal LCDs.

cheers ...
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post #5 of 16
12/28/10 at 1:47pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by qhn View Post
When it stops your comp from starting up or causing funny things on the external and internal LCDs.

cheers ...
Thanks qhn, but how do I determine which card is bad? The sticky said not to bake a card if it's not bad, so I don't want to throw both in the ole' oven
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post #6 of 16
12/28/10 at 2:04pm
I bake the cards when it's dead or when it's failing for sure

If after everything you do (new OS installation, cleaning up + thermal paste, drivers, checking cables, inverter) and nothing comes out of it - time for the card to take a sauna

cheers ...
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post #7 of 16
12/28/10 at 2:17pm
Thread Starter 
Gotcha, but which of the 2 do you bake if necessary? Sorry for the confusion.....

Also, what make the computer decide not to use the internal screen, and use an external one in this case?
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post #8 of 16
12/28/10 at 3:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bconwayls1 View Post
Gotcha, but which of the 2 do you bake if necessary? Sorry for the confusion.....
??? I just bake either or in my post

Quote:
Originally Posted by bconwayls1 View Post
Also, what make the computer decide not to use the internal screen, and use an external one in this case?
If there is no response back from the internal at boot, BIOS will look for the external when available. It does not really decides, since the video output signals are always being sent to all available ports.

The no-response comes from bad inverter, bad cable, bad screen - this no-response is NOT the same as when a dead card is present, since it controls the signals to the external as well. In this case (a dead card), system stops!

cheers ...
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post #9 of 16
12/28/10 at 3:17pm
Thread Starter 
So do I have 2 problems since I am working on a external right now?

I did get the internal to work briefly yesturday, (actually both I/E were on)
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post #10 of 16
12/28/10 at 4:00pm
The only worst thing that I can say in your case is a failing GPU. Thus the recommendation of cleaning up and applying new thermal paste first and see.

cheers ...
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post #11 of 16
12/28/10 at 4:08pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by qhn View Post
The only worst thing that I can say in your case is a failing GPU. Thus the recommendation of cleaning up and applying new thermal paste first and see.

cheers ...
Thanks bro
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post #12 of 16
12/28/10 at 4:20pm
No problem, hope things work out in the easy way for you.

cheers ...
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post #13 of 16
12/29/10 at 10:47am
Thread Starter 
Well.........the new thermal paste did not work, but the Betty Crocker bake method sure did! I ended up baking the primary (daughter) card according to the recipe you all have provided. Thank you so much!

What replacement cards should I be looking out for in the meantime? I prefer the equivelent or better to (2) 7950GTX's
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post #14 of 16
12/29/10 at 1:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bconwayls1 View Post
Well.........the new thermal paste did not work, but the Betty Crocker bake method sure did! I ended up baking the primary (daughter) card according to the recipe you all have provided. Thank you so much!
Another crazy baker just graduated

Good going.

Quote:
Originally Posted by bconwayls1 View Post
What replacement cards should I be looking out for in the meantime? I prefer the equivelent or better to (2) 7950GTX's
We have a sticky here or in the Dell Section about replacement / compatible GPU - you might want to browse it - it's good.

cheers ...
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post #15 of 16
12/30/10 at 11:29am
Thread Starter 
Is this the section I should be looking at?

XPS M1710
ATI X1400
Nvidia 7900 go GS
Quadro FX1500M
Nvidia 7900 go GTX
Quadro FX2500M
Nvidia 7950 GTX
Quadro FX3500M

Quadro FX1600M*
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post #16 of 16
12/30/10 at 4:38pm
Yep - looks like it.

cheers ...
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