How to fix laptop motherboard with failed NVIDIA graphics chip

In this post I explain how you can fix a laptop motherboard with failed NVIDIA graphics chip. This repair might apply to some HP/Compaq laptops and probably some other laptop brands. If this repair works for your laptop, please mention the brand and model number in comments after the post. This will help other readers with similar laptops.

This method should work for the following models: HP Pavilion dv2000, Pavilion dv6000, Pavilion dv9000, Compaq Presario v3000, Presario v6000, HP Pavilion tx1000, Pavilion tx2000.

By the way, I just fixed my son’s Xbox 360 with red ring of death (error 74) using exactly same technique.

MOST COMMON PROBLEM SYMPTOMS

1. Laptop turns on with garbled video on the internal laptop screen and external monitor.
2. Laptop turns on as normal but there is no video on the internal laptop screen or external monitor.

MY UNDERSTANDING OF THE PROBLEM

The NVIDIA graphics chip soldered to the motherboard. When the laptop gets very hot, the NVIDIA chip separates from the motherboard and laptop video fails.

HOW TO FIX FAILED NVIDIA CHIP

I have previous posts explaining how I fixed same problem by baking the motherboard in an oven or bubble-wrapping the laptop. But today I’m going to fix the motherboard using a heat gun. Basically, I’m going to heat up the NVIDIA chip with a heat gun to solder it back to the motherboard (reflow). I think this method is more reliable and the repair should last for a while.

WARNING!

There is no guaranty this method works all the time. While doing this repair you may damage the motherboard and make it unrepairable. Also, you may damage the laptop while taking it apart.
Proceed at your own risk and don’t blame me if you turned your laptop into a very expensive door stop.
If you don’t feel comfortable doing this repair, take your laptop to the repair shop.

HOW I FIXED THE MOTHERBOARD

First of all, you’ll have to disassemble the laptop and remove the motherboard. You can find laptop disassembly procedure in the service manual. If you having trouble finding the manual, leave a comment and maybe I can point you to the right direction.

In my example I’m using a motherboard removed from HP Pavilion tx2000 laptop.

In most laptops the graphics chip located under the CPU heatsink (and it has NVIDIA logo on it), so there shouldn’t be a problem locating the chip. The chip has a glossy top surface.

For this repair I’m going to use an Ecoheat heat gun EC-100.

In order to figure out how to position the heat gun and for how long, I tested it on a penny with a small piece of solder on the top.

The Ecoheat heat gun has a switch on the handle. There are two positions for the switch. Position 1 – slow. Position 2 – fast.
I used position 1 – slow.
I positioned the heat gun about 1 inch away from the penny and turned it on.

After about 40-45 second the solder started melting. After 50 seconds the solder melted completely.

To protect the motherboard from the heat I used a regular cooking aluminum foil. I cut off a piece of aluminum foil and folded it a few times to make my protection shield thicker. After that I cut off a square opening right in the middle, same size as the NVIDIA chip.

After I removed the heat sink, I had some old thermal grease stuck on the NVIDIA graphics chip. You can remove old thermal grease using alcohol swabs. It’s not necessary to make it perfectly clean. Just make sure there are no large chunks of thermal grease on the chip.

UPDATE: Some people mentioned that I should have applied some liquid flux underneath the NVIDIA chip for better results. I didn’t do it this time. I’ll definitely do it next time if the motherboard fails again. I found this video explaining how to apply liquid flux under the GPU chip. This video was made for Xbox 360 motherboard but should apply to any laptop motherboard too.

Liquid flux for GPU reflow available on eBay.

Finally, I positioned the heat gun above the NVIDIA chip about 1 inch away and turned the heat gun into the position 1.

After 50 seconds I turned it off and let the motherboard cool down for about 20 minutes.

Don’t forget to apply new thermal grease on the NVIDIA chip when you install the heat sink.
Some laptops use thermal pads instead of grease. If that’s the case with your laptop, make sure the thermal pad positioned correctly.

After I assembled the laptop back together, the video started properly!
The NVIDIA graphics chip problem fixed!
Will it last for a long time? I don’t know. Still testing.

Fixing Compaq Presario V6000 laptop motherboard with “no video” issue

Here’s how I fixed a Compaq Presario V6000 motherboard with “no video” issue. Not sure if this fix will last forever but it works and the laptop is back to life.

Also, this fix might work for the following HP/Compaq laptop motherboards: HP Pavilion dv2000/dv6000/dv9000, Compaq Presario V3000 and probably some other models.

WARNING!
This repair might be harmful for your health and baking motherboard in an oven could be a bad idea. It could be toxic. I don’t know if it is or not. I did this repair for myself, at my own risk. I’m just sharing my experience. If you decide to fix your motherboard the same way, please do it at your own risk.

Again, proceed at your own risk. Otherwise, close this page and take your laptop to the professional repair shop.

FIXING “NO VIDEO” ISSUE BY BAKING THE MOTHERBOARD.

Problem description: I had an abandoned Compaq Presario V6000 laptop. The laptop was turning on when I press on the power button but after a few seconds turning off by itself. There was no video on the laptop screen or external monitor. I tried another AC adapter, new memory modules but it didn’t help. I was pretty sure this is motherboard related failure.

Research: After I did some research on the Internet, I found that this is a known problem with Pavilion dv2000/dv6000/dv9000 and Presario V3000/V6000 motherboards and most likely related to the graphics chip failure. The graphics chip (aka GPU or video chip) is soldered to the motherboard. Apparently, there are bad solder joints between the graphics chip and motherboard. Overtime the graphics chip separates from the motherboard causing all kind of different video problems.

Possible solution: One guy suggested baking the failed motherboard in a conventional oven preheated to 385 degrees Fahrenheit for exactly 8 minutes. This process should reflow the graphics chip solder joints and give the motherboard a second life.

I had nothing to lose and decided to give it a try. Here’s how I did it step by step.

First of all, you’ll have to disassemble the laptop and remove the motherboard.

STEP 1.

Remove all peripheral components installed on the motherboard (memory, cooling module, CPU, etc…). Remove all protective films from the motherboard. The motherboard will be baking at a very high temperature and all that can burn has to be removed.

Tip: Make lots of pictures while stripping down the motherboard. They will help you to put all removed protective films back in proper locations.

STEP 2.

Here’s how the same side of the motherboard looks without protective plastic films.

You can see the problematic graphics chip, it’s on the right side from the CPU socket.

STEP 3.

Remove all protective plastic films from the other side of the motherboard. Disconnect the audio cable.

STEP 4.

The motherboard will be seating in the oven on the baking pan. In order to elevate the motherboard above the baking pan I’ll use a few screws.

STEP 5.

I installed screws in four corners of the motherboard. There are plenty holes for screws.

STEP 6.

You can see there is a 3/4 inch gap between the motherboard and desk surface. By the way, I positioned the motherboard so the graphics chip seats on the top.

STEP 7.

Place the motherboard on the baking pan. Make sure it’s not touching anything.

Preheat the conventional gas oven to 385 degrees Fahrenheit and place the motherboard in the middle of the oven for 8 minutes. You’ll smell some burning plastic in about 6 minutes.

After that remove the baking pan with motherboard and let it cool down for about 30-40 minutes.

Install the motherboard back into the laptop, assemble the laptop back together and see if it works.

This fix worked for me! After I assembled the laptop, it started properly right away taking me to the BIOS setup menu. I didn’t have the hard drive, so I tested my laptop with a Knoppix live Linux CD. The laptop video works great!

RELATED POSTS:

In the next post I’ll show a much safer way to fix same problem using bubble wrap. Which requires no laptop disassembly.

Here’s another way to fix failed NVIDIA graphics card with a heat gun.