Help with Latitude D800, I think the video card may have gone out ><

[Lyfer]

So I was gaming on my Dell Latitude D800 and it crashed one night. During startup I get nothing but garbled images, I AM able to navigate through the BIOS tho which leads me to thinking it maybe just my GPU which is a Geforce Go 4200.

I have tried connecting an external display to the unit and get the same results but upon switching back to internal display I was able to startup into windows (with no garbled images) upon crashing the very next second when launching a game. This put me back at the same situation with the garbled startup screen.


Does the Latitude D800 have an integrated GPU I can enable? or is it something else other than the video card?


Thanks for any help


P.S. I found an option in the BIOS to enable video based off "system" or "dock card", I get garbled images on both and the dock card still shows up as the primary display when using "system".

 

[Brainonska511]

I doubt you'll be able to access any sort of integrated graphics that might be on the northbridge. If you bought the notebook with a dedicated card, Dell probably used a motherboard that did not use integrated graphics to save a few cents (as Intel generally offers 2 per chipset - 1 with integrated graphics and 1 without). And even if it did, there would be a high probability that the GPU is not socketed and is soldered into place.

The "Dock" graphics card option is for when you're using the advanced Dell dock which has a PCI slot, where you could put a graphics card.

You could also try reseating the memory modules (or just trying to boot up with one in and then change it out) to see if there are any changes and rule that out as well.

I assume this laptop is out of warranty? If it is, you'll probably be better off replacing it as it would be too expensive to repair.

 

[Lyfer]

Tested the ram with another machine and they work fine. I took the notebook apart and found that the GPU is removable, Video card image. Looked on online seems to run for $50-$100. Now the decision to buy it and see if it is my GPU or not. (notebook is for the kids to mess around with on the web/hw)


Thanks!

 

[Brainonska511]

Originally posted by: Lyfer
Tested the ram with another machine and they work fine. I took the notebook apart and found that the GPU is removable, Video card image. Looked on online seems to run for $50-$100. Now the decision to buy it and see if it is my GPU or not. (notebook is for the kids to mess around with on the web/hw)


Thanks!

If it only costs $50-$100, it might be worth the attempt to try and fix it. Obviously, if that fix doesn't work, don't sink more money into it as at that point, it isn't worth it.