[jebfour]

I'm messing around with a Sony Vaio for my father-in-law that I (and another guy) suspect has a shot video card. The LCD screen seems to work fine when you first start up the system and then the screen goes black. The machine also has an attitude about booting up (I've got this machine to boot up two times total).

Has anyone ever replaced the video card in a laptop before? Do you have any tips or perhaps an online tutorial?

Thanks!

 

[Pau11y]

Most I've seen are on the MoBo, especially the older ones. So you might be looking at a nightmare...MoBo replacement
If it's a new lappy, then you might get lucky and the vid card is a removable unit. I think those 7800 mobile that you can find in the big Dell 93/400 are removable.

 

[binary visions]

If it's anything less than a real high end video card (and the guy who bought it will probably know if it is because it was probably an optional upgrade), it'll be soldered right onto the motherboard and you'll need to buy a new one. Sorry.

Probably best to contact Sony and see what they can do for you.

 

[jebfour]

You know what? You two guys must be some seriously cool guys. I have posted things on a variety of subjects (from bikes to computers) and usually I get a response from one of you two....usually BV....I'd just like to say thank you.....

Here is the "rest of the story"....

My father-in-law said that if I fix the Sony Vaio that I was talking about, then he would give me his smaller Sony Vaio......smaller screen, Pentium III instead of a Pentium IV, less ram, less everything....but still a cool little machine!

As far as a laptop is concerned (and as far as a Sony Vaio) is there any way to combine the best of both worlds? I could likely get both of them at a good price........if not I could likely get the small one at a good price........

Thanks again!

jeb4

 

[binary visions]

It's a far greater pleasure to post responses in this tech forum where people listen to you than the years of tech support I did where people don't.

Unfortunately, the problem is that the video card is soldered onto the motherboard. This means that even if you were to go as far as to pull the motherbord out of the faster computer, the video card is attached and will be just as dead when you put it in the smaller laptop (if it will even fit, that is).

If the new Vaio has a Pentium 4 in it, it might actually be worth fixing. You could see how much Sony will quote you for a new motherboard and labor. If you're feeling super adventerous, you could try doing it yourself although I've never opened up a Vaio and wouldn't necessarily recommend it.

Little laptops are fun. A slow, small laptop is, IMO, much better than a fast, bulky (and heavy) one. I have a heavy laptop right now and hate it - but it was free, so I can't complain too much. If you need a laptop and can get it for a good price, well, throw a wireless card in there and install a wireless router in your house, and you've got internet access from the porch, baby

 

[D_D]

If the manufacturer lets you chose a card when you buy it then the card is very likley to be separate. If they don't there is still a chance it is seperate.
It often costs less to do a single big run of motherboards with a socket than do several small runs with different cards on the motherboard.

The card being seperate still doesn't help much. Due to how tightly everything is crammed into a laptop the cards are usually shaped to fit in a specific laptop and won't fit in anything else. Often even other laptops produced by the same manufacturer at the same time will use different cards.
Sometimes you will get lucky and find someone parting out an otherwise broken laptop on ebay. If you don't then the only other source is the manufacturer and they are generally really expensive.

I'd take it appart and see if there is obviously anything wrong. More worthwhile on a laptop as they get bashed about and are a lot more vunerable to spills and crumbs etc.

 

[Silver]

Do you see the BIOS screen, or a Sony logo on boot?

 

[jebfour]

Only see a Sony logo and then the screen gets "kinda red" and then goes black.....

 

[Changleen]

If you get any kind of image at all the card might well still be working. What you've described might be a windows / hard drive corruption thing rather than a graphics card thing.

 

[Pau11y]

I'm in agreement w/ Changleen. If you see a color Sony logo, then your vid card isn't the culprit. If it was the vid card, you usually see a bunch of big blocks of color if anything at all when the power comes on.
Try this: When the Sony logo comes on, hit either delete, F2 or F10 or F12. The idea here is to try and get into BIOS. The BIOS page usually has some funcky DOS colors (or even if it's b&w). Anyway, if you can get into BIOS, your vid card is good and it's something else.
I don't recall if lappys beep like desktops do. But if it beeps on boot, then count the number of beeps and do a search on "boot error, beeps" and it'll tell you what it is.
If it doesn't beep, it's most likely a crapp'd HDD or hosed OS. In this case, try re-installing the OS first. If it doens't get thru an OS install (it'll usually choke during format), then pull the drive from your other dead lappy and swap HDDs.
Another thought here. If your dead lappy isn't too old, you might beable to strip the SODIMM sticks and upgrade your non-booting lappy once you get it going...

 

[Ciaran]

I am in agreement with Changleen and Pau11y.

If you are getting a screen on boot and it is failing as Windows starts up it may be hosed software.

Good luck!

 

[binary visions]

Just to point out, if the machine will only boot sporadically, and on those sporadic boots you get funny colors and then a black screen, my bet is still on the video card.

If the machine booted 100% of the time, I'd say yeah, video card is fine and it's probably another piece of hardware or a software issue. But he's only gotten it to boot a couple times, and then screen goes red, then black. I've never seen a software or hard drive problem that would cause that kind of problem with the screen. I have had many video cards that were cooked but would occasionally still boot.

 

[Ciaran]

Just to point out, if the machine will only boot sporadically, and on those sporadic boots you get funny colors and then a black screen, my bet is still on the video card.

If the machine booted 100% of the time, I'd say yeah, video card is fine and it's probably another piece of hardware or a software issue. But he's only gotten it to boot a couple times, and then screen goes red, then black. I've never seen a software or hard drive problem that would cause that kind of problem with the screen. I have had many video cards that were cooked but would occasionally still boot.

Ahh... I missed that... the red and black part. I need to work on my reading comprehension.