Lovely. Laptop video board or mainboard going bad.

godzilla525godzilla525 Western Pennsylvania Member
edited February 2007 in Hardware
Well my 4 year old Inspiron 8200 laptop is about to toss the video card.

Thankfully it waited until I was done (completely) with school before it decided to go nuts. I have one last project to finish before they mail me my degree (finally... :rolleyes: )

I have to wiggle the display connector to see the bootup screen and recently got a flashing BSOD a la bad Nintendo cartridge. (ruling out that it's limited to the actual display, since Windows doesn't care about output devices) I found a threaded bushing that broke loose from the mainboard and soldered it back on. THat's happened before and usually the part affected is the battery charger board, unfortunately it didn't fix the video issues. Apparently there's a bad part or solder joint somewhere on the video board.

Hopefully the problem is limited to the video board. I don't want to have to go looking for a new mobo for this thing.

for video boards I have some options.
1. downgrade to various GeForce 2 Go or Radeon 7500M units (absolutely not)
2. spend $110 for reman GF4 Go 440 32MB (Dell spare parts)
3. spend $210 for reman GF4 Go 440 64MB (Dell spare parts)
4. get ripped off on eBay/3rd party vendors for the illusive Radeon 9000M 64MB

Generally I like to take the opportunity when something goes bad to upgrade, but ouch. >$210 for a hopelessly obsolete video board that won't run anything released within the past 2 years or so is absurd. ...and I'm not even 100% sure that's where the problem is, after all, the micro-AGP socket on the mainboard looks a little warped...

and while I'm at it, this thing needs a new lid and base from age and falling off the bed. :mean:

Unfortunately buying a new laptop isn't an option, and from what I've seen with laptops, the only thing that would physically hold up these days would probably be a Toughbook.

Comments

  • godzilla525godzilla525 Western Pennsylvania Member
    edited December 2006
    Never mind. Took the eBay plunge and picked up a GF4 Go 440 64MB.

    (further updates as events warrant)
  • godzilla525godzilla525 Western Pennsylvania Member
    edited February 2007
    Got it all back together with the new video board and the right side hinge decided to break a couple days later. had to get a new LID from eBay and it took ages to get here (early Feb.), so now my laptop is fixed.

    And, of course, the LCD monitor on the other PC got b0nked while vacuuming and is now bleeding black pixels. I eBay'd a used screen and dealing with this particular high-volume seller is sheer hell. ...will start a separate thread on that debacle once the Paypal claim is resolved.
  • edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian
    edited February 2007
    So it went back together and works fine?
    I hate working on lappys, You swap one damn part and they refuse to configure correctly.
    I am glad that you are running again.
  • MissilemanMissileman Orlando, Florida Icrontian
    edited February 2007
    If you ever have problems with a Dell laptop give these guys a try.

    http://www.parts-people.com/

    They have good prices and do great work. I had a couple of work lappys refurbed by em and they were fast and did a great job.
  • godzilla525godzilla525 Western Pennsylvania Member
    edited February 2007
    Thanks, I'll keep that site in mind for the next time something breaks. Given its age and mileage, it's not if, but when. It still does everything I need it to do sans latest games.

    (Most of the parts on this laptop are modular and work in the 8000 and 8100 series as well... I typically check Dell's spare parts site to see if they sold a particular part for it first before buying.)
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