Laptop graphics cards ? Radeon X600 Mobility

[trev1976]

Hi

ill ask on here cause i get more sence out of you guy's then anyone

Anyway im not that clued up with PCs but ive got a HP ZD8000 laptop with an ATI Radeon X600 mobility graphics card , yesterday this started playing up with a garbeled screen and then would go completly black

Ive manage to adjust the accelerator hardware on it down to none and it seems to be sort of working

but im sure i still need a new one , question is where can i buy one and is it possible to upgrade mine as i might as well get a better one since my is knackered

also is it a hard job to replace one in a laptop , ive heard laptops are a bitch to work on

Thanks
Trev

[EJG1980]

I'd send it back for a repair / replacement as you can't really replace anything in a laptop, save for the memory and hard drive. Everything else is directly integrated onto the motherboard (has to be to save space) and you can't swap new graphics cards, sound cards, etc., in and out like you can on a desktop PC.

[trev1976]

oh bollocks its out of warranty , i might have to get in contact with HP then

[trev1976]

anyone know of a good laptop repair place ?

[Resonance]

http://www.notebookreview.com/ has a good forum for all things laptop related. Everyone on there is quite friendly too which helps. From what I hear the X600 Mobility is actually removable and replaceable as it is a separate piece of hardware from the Mobo.

Have you tried reinstalling windows or just reinstalling the drivers? It might be an issue with one of these being a bit broken.

[trev1976]

i wouldnt know how to reinstall windows god im such a noob , would that wipe stuff from my HD ?

Im downloading a driver for it now so ill try to install that see what happens , good news that the card is removable , thanks , ill let you know how i get on

[tenrou]

I went and had a look on google and it seems the ZD8000 is Axiom.

"But the ZD8000 is built using ATI's Axiom modular upgrade design"

Axiom is ATI's laptop standard for graphics cards. There i believe 3 types though, I, II and III. Each has different power requirements so you'll need to get a replacement card that matches your spec. X600 is type I so you'll need to get one that fits. I'd also recommend trying to contact HP as they be able to supply you with an upgraded card. I think the best model I axiom is x700 64mb but don't hold me to that.

Also be aware that dell models wont fit. They use a propriety Axiom/MXM card that only work on specific model dells.

[trev1976]

well installed a new driver and its the same

[Mofoman]

Give me your laptop name and product number, I can tell you what can be done, also the first thing you should try is the recovery disk as it could be a virus which has caused a problem with the operating system.

I'll also link you to some software so you can do a full check on the system.

http://www.astra32.com/

[Mofoman]

right got in contact with my laptop expert, and as far as he is aware, the graphics card is built onto the motherboard, so the only way for it to be repaired is to be sent to HP, but since this is such a quality laptop, I would see the price of a repair if a recovery does not work.

[trev1976]

Yeah its a HP Pavilion ZD8000 P/N:P R315ua#aba

heres a pic , the screen should be black


ill try the recovery disc and ill scan in safe mode , but i think the motherboard is ****ed tbh

Thanks for your help ill keep you posted

[trev1976]

ive downloaded that program but how doo i find out if somethings wrong ?
Thanks

[Hohum]

Looks like the graphics core has died, or there is a problem with the hardware associated with it (RAM perhaps). My ATI 9700pro (in a regular pc) started producing the same kind of garbled mess when it failed.

[Mofoman]

I didn't realise the problem was that bad, I can say almost definetly that your graphics chip has become corrupted.

That program will just determine if the drivers think the device is working properly.

Got to PCI/agp then selct the graphics card, and it will tell you.But generally the drivers cannot become fully aware of this type of corruption all the time.Strange I know but it will pass a few internal tests.

Let me know how you get on.

[trev1976]

yeah drivers are fine , sorry i dint reply earlier but i didnt get an email notification im pretty sure its toast HP are bunch of useless mothers as well cause they never got back to me

oh well , ill see

how i stand via insurance as this thing cost me £1300 new