Is my GPU dead or Just a faulty cable issue?

Raptor_Zx

Commendable
Mar 1, 2016
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My Laptop is around 3-4 Years old , Its a Vaio SVE15117FNB model with AMD Radeon HD 7650M - 2GB - Shared memory type.
Worked fine for all thses years until recently while i was Playing games and Streaming Vids ... I pushed back the laptop and all of a sudden the screen went nuts.
First the whole screen got pixiliated into small white and black squares , I had to force shutdown it .
Later on turning it back on , the windows logo loading screen had an unusual set of 4 thick multi-colored with white majority stripes of eash about 3-4 inch and equally spaced and after the loading the screen goes alternating between the pixiliated screen and blank screen.

Later I got into the safe mode and found those 4 stripes still re-occur but the pixiliated screen dosent appear instead the normal safe mode works fine but those 4 stripes remain unaltered. The safe mode worked on 1024x786 mode and after i tried changing to 1366x786 mode those stripes dissapeared and the whole screen goes blur with horizontal lines with some minimal visibility.

I later unstalled the display drivers and restarted. Now the interface runs fine on normal mode but the usual horizontal blur lines on 1366 mode and Vertical stripes on 1024 mode remain unchanged.

I downloaded the latest drives for my GPU and during the installation process after detection of GPU and while installing the drivers , the screen got back to white and black Pixiliated squares.Hence I had to retrace back to safe mode - Uninstall the drivers and Back to normal mode . The horizontal lines return back.

Please guide me on what i must do to fix it..

Sorry for long explanation but this was my struggle from last 2 weeks.

Thanks a lot in advance.
 
Solution


What is happening pretty much shows that your video card is NOT functioning, only way to test it is to use it and see if it works.

To rule out any software issues, use a spare hard drive install Windows on that, install the drivers from the laptop vendor and see if the same things happen.

thejackal85

Reputable
Jan 18, 2016
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5,960
Multi-colored lines appearing even though you're in safe mode is probably a GPU problem. In that case, updating the drivers and things won't resolve the issue as it's a physical program with the GPU.

It's up to you, but if the graphics are going out, you have a couple options. Live with it until it dies or you buy a new laptop. Second, you can try one of the video outputs and see if that clears it up, although I doubt it will.
 

Raptor_Zx

Commendable
Mar 1, 2016
8
0
1,510
I did try connecting it to my Television through the HDMI cable , none of the loading screens or the horizontal blur lines or vertical lines appear instead when my laptop screen gets those pixiliated black white squares ; these are projected on my tv as well.. So i assumed my screen is fine.

I did open up my laptop and found the gpu under the copper heat sink ; https://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/1210/radeon-hd-7650m.html : this is my gpu.

On carefully assesing the GPU , I found small red globules pairs on each corner of my GPU ; total 8 in number. I think this material prevents me from removing the GPU from the main board , Hence is there any way I could surpass it and be able to replace my GPU with a new one.
 

thejackal85

Reputable
Jan 18, 2016
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Yeah, those are put there to prevent people from tampering with it. I hate to say it, but you're going to have to take it in somewhere if you want to get it fixed. Depending on the cost, it might just be easier to get a new laptop.
 

Raptor_Zx

Commendable
Mar 1, 2016
8
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1,510


That might be the case but , my laptop screen changes wildly when i try installing the appropriate drivers and the screen goes black/white pixeliate squares .. so again might be GPU fault
 
What do you mean you pushed back the laptop and these issues started. As in you just slid it across the desk a bit? Did you reseat the video cables in the system? Most of the time image defects like you are seeing are caused by a bad or overheating video card, but since the issue started right after you moved the laptop from what I understood in your post, you should check connections first.
 

Raptor_Zx

Commendable
Mar 1, 2016
8
0
1,510


Yeah , I physically pushed my laptop on the desk and immediately the screen got the above said issues , i have opened up my laptop , found the video cable from my screen to motherboard and made sure it was properly seated. Should I open up my back side of laptop screen and check it the other end is well seated too ?
 

Raptor_Zx

Commendable
Mar 1, 2016
8
0
1,510


Is it possible to somehow remove my GPU said that it is apparently stuck to the motherboard ... buying new laptop is well far off more expensive ... Any idea on how much would a spare GPU cost ?

This is my GPU : https://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/1210/radeon-hd-7650m.html

Thanks.
 


If the video card is in an MXM socket then you can remove it. For a Sony Vaio it's likely not though, those sockets are generally only used on higher end gaming systems. MXM socket looks a bit like a RAM slot.
 

Raptor_Zx

Commendable
Mar 1, 2016
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1,510


I guess the slot is a PCIe 2.0 x16 Bus Interface with DDR3 Memory Type.
I've been inspecting the Video ribbon too .. it seems to have 3 end connections ; First to motherboard , Second to LCD screen on its back side and Third to the chip housing the laptop camera... Whats the market description of this component so I can try purchasing it online..
 


That is not the "slot" the video card is in, just the type of interface it is that connects the video chip to the motherboard and CPU. The connection is just a video ribbon cable but you need to get the exact one for your model if you want to try replacing it, and it may be a bit tricky.
 

Raptor_Zx

Commendable
Mar 1, 2016
8
0
1,510
Another observation : The brightness control dosen't work anymore after the problem occured.
Programs like Flux have no effect over brightness too.
Is there any way to check is my GPU is functioning 100% and not over-heating?
 


What is happening pretty much shows that your video card is NOT functioning, only way to test it is to use it and see if it works.

To rule out any software issues, use a spare hard drive install Windows on that, install the drivers from the laptop vendor and see if the same things happen.
 
Solution