Graphics chip gone bad

[whatsinthename]

I have a thinkpad T42 2378-FVU with 64mb ATI mobility radeon.

The graphic chip on my laptop is dead. It used to give a lot of "ati2dvag: stuck in infinite loop" errors which I solved using catalyst drivers and ati tray tools. However recently it started giving hardwares tuck in infinite loop, used to lock up my system and reboot. After like 4-5 "Windows recovered from a serios error" the system refused to boot. I get nothing on the LCD screen, and nothing from a external monitor (tried both vga and svideo).

My question is which of the two is feasible:

1. Is it entirely possible to get a new graphic chip and solder it on to the system board inplace of the existing one?

2. Can I use a docking station with a external PCI graphics card so that the system does not have to use the internal one? Since the internal chip is blown, and the system wont boot....will it work with a docking station?

I know people use the docking station with external cards to run dual monitor setups, however is it possible to drive the thinkpad LCD with that graphics card?

If these are not possible my only alternativ is to replace the system board which is like a 400$ investment...better to get a new laptop.

Any comments appreciated. Thanx in advance.

[taz42zero]

is your system under warranty? if so, that'd be covered...

[whatsinthename]

is your system under warranty? if so, that'd be covered...

Not under warranty

[christopher_wolf]

1.) It is not possible, or otherwise extremely difficult even with a proper setup and expert soldering, to solder a new GPU in place of the existing one.

2.) I haven't tried that with any Thinkpad as of yet, but I am not entirely sure it will work as the external card is probably not able to drive the internal LCD. You could, however, connect it to an external monitor with the card in the dock and do it that way.

HTH