Dead Graphics Card?

[Twm1988]

Hi guys, I have on older Toshiba x200 laptop that still runs Windows Vista Ultimate 32bit, with a 8700M GT graphics card, 3GB RAM. I only use the computer mostly to play a dozen or so older PC games from time to time.

I had updated the graphics driver a little over a year ago, to one of the latest issues (2013 or so) they had on the NVidia website, and the computer was running beautifully this whole time. Now, I was in the middle of a game and the screen started to have these little specs or flakes all over the place and then moments later it froze up and looked something like the pictures I attached here.

I tried a hard reboot and the computer came back online normally, then I installed an older driver that I knew was safe and worked for years before the last one I installed... and the computer did the same thing only a couple minutes into a game. Now it has stopped outputting anything to the screen at all. When I do a hard reboot there is nothing coming up on the screen, but I can hear the logon chime/noise when the computer enters desktop, but I still cannot see anything on screen, just black.

Is there anyway to start up in Safe Mode, without me being able to see the screen and choose the option? I tried holding F8 while the computer was restarting but nothing happened. Is the Graphics card dead, or can I get it working by somehow uninstalling/deleting all video drivers and installing the basic factory ones again?

Would connecting the laptop to my tv with HDMI cable let me see the screen, or will that not work either if the card is not functioning?

Very much appreciate any advice you guys have.

[Bigdog]

Originally Posted by Twm1988

Hi guys, I have on older Toshiba x200 laptop that still runs Windows Vista Ultimate 32bit, with a 8700M GT graphics card, 3GB RAM. I only use the computer mostly to play a dozen or so older PC games from time to time.

I had updated the graphics driver a little over a year ago, to one of the latest issues (2013 or so) they had on the NVidia website, and the computer was running beautifully this whole time. Now, I was in the middle of a game and the screen started to have these little specs or flakes all over the place and then moments later it froze up and looked something like the pictures I attached here.

I tried a hard reboot and the computer came back online normally, then I installed an older driver that I knew was safe and worked for years before the last one I installed... and the computer did the same thing only a couple minutes into a game. Now it has stopped outputting anything to the screen at all. When I do a hard reboot there is nothing coming up on the screen, but I can hear the logon chime/noise when the computer enters desktop, but I still cannot see anything on screen, just black.

Is there anyway to start up in Safe Mode, without me being able to see the screen and choose the option? I tried holding F8 while the computer was restarting but nothing happened. Is the Graphics card dead, or can I get it working by somehow uninstalling/deleting all video drivers and installing the basic factory ones again?

Would connecting the laptop to my tv with HDMI cable let me see the screen, or will that not work either if the card is not functioning?

Very much appreciate any advice you guys have.

I would say it might be worth a shot to try and connect it to a tv screen, but with it artifacting before it died says gpu problem to me. Sounds like your going to be in the market for a new laptop imo.

[BiggusDickus]

I'm guessing you could connect the laptop to an external screen just to make sure it is the card and not some wiring failure to the laptop screen, or some other screen issue, but either way is no easy fix, so probs time to upgrade.

I actually upgraded my old Acer laptop a year ago and during the disassembly discovered the graphics card was actually a pluggable card, albeit no upgraded GC boards were ever produced. I don't think its is the norm to have an upgradable GC in a laptop, but doing a quick ebay search on yours yielded a single listing:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/223963080...UAAOSwabhUYW5M

I don't know if this is your exact model, but looks like the GC in the Toshiba is also separate (but not as easy to connect/disconnect as mine was from the looks of it - yours is a ribbon cable); if it is, you could theoretically disassemble the laptop and replace the card. But you obvs need the confidence to do it (or get a friend to do it for you). I've built all of my previous desktop PC's from scratch, but only ever had the one laptop, and it was a minefield of undoing screws, detaching ribbon cables, removing something and repeat. There was a disassembly video someone had made for my laptop on YouTube, dunno if there is one for yours. I mention all of this only as an option you could consider.

Found this YT vid -

Random Teardown #009: Monstrous Toshiba X200 Multimedia Laptop - YouTube

(The GC card area comes up around 35:50, but its not quite the same as the one in the ebay listing, you'd need to double check your precise model. Lot of diassembly tho!. Probably too much hassle.

[Twm1988]

Ok, thank you so much guys.

Yeah it does seem like it is a goner, but I will try and connect the computer to my TV with an HDMI cable and see if I can at least get some of my files transferred to a flash drive. I will also take a look at that video,... from what you're saying though it sounds like it is probably beyond what I'd want to get into, replacing the card.

I can probably get a whole new laptop with much more powerful CPU and GPU for a 10th of what this one originally cost, lol.

Thanks again for the advice!

[BiggusDickus]

Originally Posted by Twm1988

Ok, thank you so much guys.

Yeah it does seem like it is a goner, but I will try and connect the computer to my TV with an HDMI cable and see if I can at least get some of my files transferred to a flash drive. I will also take a look at that video,... from what you're saying though it sounds like it is probably beyond what I'd want to get into, replacing the card.

I can probably get a whole new laptop with much more powerful CPU and GPU for a 10th of what this one originally cost, lol.

Thanks again for the advice!

In terms of copying files off, it should be quite easy to remove the HD from the laptop and put it in a cheap 2.5" HD Enclosure such as this and connect it to another PC via USB, and you can copy files off, reformat the drive as a spare external HD at your lesiure. Quite a simple process.

[Twm1988]

Originally Posted by BiggusDickus

In terms of copying files off, it should be quite easy to remove the HD from the laptop and put it in a cheap 2.5" HD Enclosure such as this and connect it to another PC via USB, and you can copy files off, reformat the drive as a spare external HD at your lesiure. Quite a simple process.

Ok, perfect thank you... will do exactly that if connecting to my TV doesn't work out! I see how that guy in the video early on removes the hard drive from it... I can handle that

So the hard drive, once formatted, would essentially be like a 250gb flash drive then? Could it be used to say connect to a satellite receiver to add more space for recording movies/TV shows?

[BiggusDickus]

Originally Posted by Twm1988

Ok, perfect thank you... will do exactly that if connecting to my TV doesn't work out! I see how that guy in the video early on removes the hard drive from it... I can handle that

So the hard drive, once formatted, would essentially be like a 250gb flash drive then? Could it be used to say connect to a satellite receiver to add more space for recording movies/TV shows?

Yeah, can certainly be used for that. My only issue would be its potential reliability long term; its obviously quite old and has seen a lot of use already I guess, so I wouldn't use it to store anything vitally important.

Another device you could consider is something like this which, rather than a permanent solution, is just a device to access the hard drive to get your files off. It can also be a useful tool for friends or family if their PC/Laptop goes down and you want to try and get data from their hard rives for them. It also doubles as a card reader.

[Twm1988]

Originally Posted by BiggusDickus

Yeah, can certainly be used for that. My only issue would be its potential reliability long term; its obviously quite old and has seen a lot of use already I guess, so I wouldn't use it to store anything vitally important.

Another device you could consider is something like this which, rather than a permanent solution, is just a device to access the hard drive to get your files off. It can also be a useful tool for friends or family if their PC/Laptop goes down and you want to try and get data from their hard rives for them. It also doubles as a card reader.

Awesome, thank you. Yes that is another great option to be able to read the hard drive too, so I have a few choices thankfully! Understood about the reliability of the hd as well, thanks for that. All the help was very much appreciated guys!

[Twm1988]

Hi guys, thanks again for all the help. Just wanted to give an update and say that I was able to connect an HDMI cable from the laptop to my TV and was able to view it and get into all my files and transfer them via Ethernet to another computer, thank god!

My computers screen/desktop that was shown on my TV was in a very low resolution and still had a good amount of artifacts like the pictures I added in my first post, but it was still viewable and the computer functioned normally enough to transfer the files and run properly.

In the Device Manager, I clicked on my graphics card's properties and it had a message in there that said " windows had stopped this device because it has reported problems". It also mentioned "code 43" on there somewhere too.

Now that I can get into the computer and view it via another screen, is this a fixable problem at all? I tried to Roll Back the driver, then restart computer, but it came back with the same artifacts after restarting. Then I tried uninstalling the device and restarting, reinstalling... but same artifacts after another restart.

Is there a more advanced way of uninstalling the device/driver that I need to do, or is this most likely a fried graphics card after all?

[Vilya]

Diagnosis:

[Twm1988]

Originally Posted by Vilya

Diagnosis:

Haha, dang! Was hoping it would be fixable, but I'm glad I at least was able to get my files off of it. I will recycle it and get a good quality computer on the second hand market. Thanks again!