Can I just remove my laptop graphics card

[Guest]

Hello,

I have an alienware m5550 and my nvidia go7600 card has packed it in. I was wondering can I just remove the damaged can without replacing it and just use the default whatever for now. I have the card disabled at the moment and it works fine on windows 7 with areo disabled but it crashes every so often so I just want to remove it completely but will me system boot up then? Thanks

 

[Timop]

I doubt it has another IGP on board.

I think now you're simply running the card using the VESA driver, which still uses the GPU, albit only somewhat.

Look on ebay for a replacement, thats probably your best choice.

 

[Guest]

I doubt it has another IGP on board.

I think now you're simply running the card using the VESA driver, which still uses the GPU, albit only somewhat.

Look on ebay for a replacement, thats probably your best choice.

Ah ok, thanks that makes sense. I checked ebay and cant find a replacement so is there somewhere I can find out what modern card will not fit, I am not looking for performance just something that works

 

[Timop]

Have you taken apart the notebook yet?
The M5550 should use a MXM type II/III card, so something like this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ATI-Radeon-X1600-MXM-II-VIdeo-Card-409979-001-HP-Laptop-/230502886818?cmd=ViewItem&pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item35ab0aeda2 or this http://cgi.ebay.com/nVIDIA-Go6200-Go-6200-NV44M-MXM-AlienWare-FSC-VGA-Card-/170506279417?cmd=ViewItem&pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item27b2f759f9
MIGHT work.

Whats wrong with the card though?

 

[Guest]

Have you taken apart the notebook yet?
The M5550 should use a MXM type II/III card, so something like this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ATI-Radeon-X1600-MXM-II-VIdeo-Card-409979-001-HP-Laptop-/230502886818?cmd=ViewItem&pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item35ab0aeda2 or this http://cgi.ebay.com/nVIDIA-Go6200-Go-6200-NV44M-MXM-AlienWare-FSC-VGA-Card-/170506279417?cmd=ViewItem&pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item27b2f759f9
MIGHT work.

Whats wrong with the card though?

There are artifacts on the bios screen. The OS kept crashing and when I disable the card and uninstall the driver it works ok for the past 2 months. Now it is begining to crash again even with the card disabled so not sure if the driver is being downloaded without me knowing.

 

[Timop]

There are artifacts on the bios screen. The OS kept crashing and when I disable the card and uninstall the driver it works ok for the past 2 months. Now it is begining to crash again even with the card disabled so not sure if the driver is being downloaded without me knowing.

Since the card is broken anyways, you could try baking the card, which could potentially do a reflow on the card and make it work again.
CAUTION: Theres is a chance of completely breaking/melting the card altogether, so do it with caution and think over it.


Read more here:
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=606658
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1421792