Does anyone know how reliable IGPs are in general?

[Eeqmcsq]

I'm helping someone troubleshoot a PC problem, and they suspect the video card is dying. But I discovered that the video card is actually an AMD HD 6530D IGP, which is a Llano IGP integrated with the CPU.

I don't know how reliable IGPs are, but I haven't had an issue with any of my motherboard-IGPs in the PCs I've built and used. Also, CPUs are usually very reliable, and I don't see why a CPU-IGP wouldn't also be reliable. My gut tells me this is more of a software problem.

So does anyone know how reliable IGPs are in general?

 

[Cloudfire777]

I dont think I have ever heard about the IGP part of the APU suddenly dying.
APUs and CPUs should be extremely reliable so I find this very strange.

How do you know the IGP have died btw?

 

[PhIlLy ChEeSe]

I'm helping someone troubleshoot a PC problem, and they suspect the video card is dying. But I discovered that the video card is actually an AMD HD 6530D IGP, which is a Llano IGP integrated with the CPU.

I don't know how reliable IGPs are, but I haven't had an issue with any of my motherboard-IGPs in the PCs I've built and used. Also, CPUs are usually very reliable, and I don't see why a CPU-IGP wouldn't also be reliable. My gut tells me this is more of a software problem.

So does anyone know how reliable IGPs are in general?

Try a full format, then update windows fully then back it up, then add drivers boom should be good to go. Have you run the IGP with real temp to see what the temps are reachin? ID look at it anyway.........May need a better cooling solution.

 

[jana519]

Would be very rare for the IGP to stop working and the CPU to keep working since they are on the same die. If something takes out the IGP it will probably take out the CPU with it.

 

[Eeqmcsq]

Try a full format, then update windows fully then back it up, then add drivers boom should be good to go. Have you run the IGP with real temp to see what the temps are reachin? ID look at it anyway.........May need a better cooling solution.

It's not my computer. It's my sister's work PC, and she's located very far away, so I can't easily check the temperature. Also, it's an HP Pavilion p6-2120, and she doesn't do much on the PC, except data entry using the web browser, and other basic office tasks. At the moment, I doubt it it's an overheating problem, but thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Stuka87]

If the issue is hardware related, its in the motherboard. Either the video connector, or some component between the APU and the display connector.

In all my years I have only ever seen one CPU just outright fail. And that one was tested in multiple motherboards with the same issue in every case.

What are the actual symptoms? Black screen, weird colors, flickering screen?

 

[Eeqmcsq]

What are the actual symptoms? Black screen, weird colors, flickering screen?

Going from memory from our phone conversation, roughly 3 weeks ago, the Windows 7 PC suddenly changing resolutions and getting bigger and blurrier. She changed the resolution back, but she said it was still obvious the visual settings was not the same as before. She said she also saw some kind of error about problems loading some video driver. She said she followed some link that told her to install the latest drivers, but there was no difference.

Today, mysteriously, the after powering up the PC to start her work day, the visual settings returned to their previous, sharper state. She's not a computer person, so she concluded that the video card must be "on the fritz". I concluded that it was possible that the video card may be showing signs of dying... until I found her PC model and found out she had an IGP. This led me suspect that the IGP is not an issue, but I posted the question here about IGP reliability to get some 2nd opinions.

She told me that the only unusual thing that happened recently was that she ran a Windows update on Friday before going home. I told her that maybe the update fixed a driver issue or something, and she didn't see it until powering up this morning. For now, I told her to keep an eye on her visual settings to see if it changes again.

On a side note, she's currently dealing with more pressing Windows 7 issues. Some time this afternoon, her MS Office and Internet Explorer started crashing on her with the "Something Went Wrong" error box. Apparently, she's not the only one.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2013_release

 

[wilds]

Sounds like she should reformat because of all the issues. If display corruption continues after re-installation of Windows and drivers, then I would take the notebook apart, clean/dust it, and verify the display ribbon is properly connected.

Or do that step first; entirely up to you. If you cannot reformat, I would download Malwarebytes, Hitman Pro, and other tools that you like to remove the malware that is likely on the machine.
Another option is to download Ubuntu and install it on a usb. You could easily boot into Ubuntu to check display quality.

Another way of telling if the display connection is loose or going bad, is to apply light pressure to the sides of the screen to see if you can temporarily fix or replicate corruption.

Some notebooks are really easy to disconnect and reconnect the display. Heck, I know a few notebooks that are very easy to replace the entire display! It all depends on how it's built.

 

[Stuka87]

I do not think reformatting is required. Just run one of the driver sweeper utils, and then install the latest WHQL driver. And go from there.