Got the GPU loose issue? Please post your graphic card

[closersource]

Why is the Fire GL T2 synonymous with the Radeon 9000 in the poll?

[ulrich.von.lich]

I put them in the same group because I thought Radeon 9000 and FireGL 9000 were less common than the 7500 or the 9600. Now it turns out the 9600 is pretty rare too. It'd be appreciated if you precise the model(s) you have in the post.

ajkula66, I'm surprised to hear that at least one fourth A31ps have a bad graphic chip. I always thought they were as solid as they look.

Is the GPU failure the only way a motherboard dies? Why do older GPUs have longer lives? Many 600Xs are almost 10 years old now and I don't see any long thread called "600X shuts down when I move it"...

Robbyrobot, I don't know if it's different in Germany but according to what I've seen on EBay France, a working T4x is about 300 to 400 EURO and a non working for parts T4x can still be sold at about 100 to 150 EUR. I guess those people who actually buy them are quite confident in repairing them. Which I wouldn't understand if the success chance was only 10% or something.

jimmy274, good luck with the reflowing!!

Thanks everyone for sharing your thoughts/experiences

[jimmy274]

Bummer - it turned out that it's an R51 board with integrated video (Intel Extreme Graphics 2) and it's completely dead... Actually, that's not that bad, since if I repair it, I have a good motherboard with no GPU, thus no GPU problem - pretty handy isn't it?
I'm still thinking of reflowing a T40 board that my friend gave me - it's a Radeon 7500 Classic... Problems, of course...

[ajkula66]

ulrich.von.lich wrote:

I'm surprised to hear that at least one fourth A31ps have a bad graphic chip. I always thought they were as solid as they look.

I'm sad to disappoint you, since I know that you love them, and so do I (surprised... )...however, It was Aristotle who said of Plato: "Plato is my friend, but truth is a bigger friend of mine"...the same goes here...

I've been playing with A31p units since they were new, and have gone through a ridiculous number of them...the original one, bought new from IBM in 2002 is now on its fourth mobo and third LCD, and although it's not in my possession anymore, I will tell you that it has been very well cared for throughout its entire life. Out of three that I currently own, two have had some type of motherboard repair/replacement done, and that's to my knowledge...I could go on, and on and on...but you get the point.

With A31p, it's not mobo flex as much as it's the inefficient cooling of the GPU, at least in my opinion. And, tough as they may seem, they actually flex quite a bit if you carry them around, and stress marks on plastic around drive bays are a pretty sure sign of trouble to come. Going back through A series, A30p (Radeon 7000) and A31 (Radeon 7500) are troubled with same issues...and T30, as tough as it is, has been known to suffer from them, although to a lesser extent.

No, you won't hear of GPU problems on a 600 series...but that's probably the sturdiest ThinkPad ever. However, you will hear of issues similar to what we're discussing here involving 240/x, and 570/e, though...

Hope this clears some of the fog for you...

[Robbyrobot]

Robbyrobot, I don't know if it's different in Germany but according to what I've seen on EBay France, a working T4x is about 300 to 400 EURO and a non working for parts T4x can still be sold at about 100 to 150 EUR. I guess those people who actually buy them are quite confident in repairing them. Which I wouldn't understand if the success chance was only 10% or something.

The mainboard isn't the only thing in a T4x, Ulrich. The rest is worth a fair amount too. If you part out a T4x with a defective mainboard, you can easily get more than EUR 100 for it.

[jimmy274]

The mainboard isn't the only thing in a T4x, Ulrich. The rest is worth a fair amount too. If you part out a T4x with a defective mainboard, you can easily get more than EUR 100 for it.

I would go even further by saying that here, in Serbia, you could even be getting the full amount if you part out a T4x, if you're armed with patience of course...