Question Can i remove graphics card from my laptop?

[ersnnerdem]

I have an old laptop that runs normal when i install windows to it first, but as soon as it tries to install the dedicated graphics card driver it artifatcs the screen and it goes dark. My thought is can send it to a repair shop and make them desolder the gpu and remove it completely and try to use it with integrated graphics from my cpu. Would it work? i dont wanna buy a new graphics card for such an old laptop but all the other components seems to run normally i wanna use it as a streaming device for my old tv. Thanks for the help.

 

[Eximo]

Would need details on the model to give a proper answer.

You may be able to disable a discrete GPU from the BIOS.

Desoldering things is likely to break the laptop motherboard. If the laptop has a removeable discrete GPU, would just be a matter of taking it out.

Depending on how old it is, have you considered just getting an entire motherboard?

 

[ersnnerdem]

Would need details on the model to give a proper answer.

You may be able to disable a discrete GPU from the BIOS.

Desoldering things is likely to break the laptop motherboard. If the laptop has a removeable discrete GPU, would just be a matter of taking it out.

Depending on how old it is, have you considered just getting an entire motherboard?

Its a toshiba satellite C855 - 1R0
Gpu isnt removable i already repasted it and saw it was soldered to the motherboard
Where i live anything electronic is pretty expensive. It simply isnt worth buying anything new for that laptop. If it can theoretically run without the gpu i would try to desolder it if it cant i would just use it for spare parts or dump it to trash.
I couldn't see anything to disable discrete GPU from the BIOS if you know anything about that i would appreciate your help thanks.

 

[Eximo]

Not on that particular machine, no. If you can't find it, it may not be an option. Rather stupid of them.

You might be able to poke around in the system registry to kill a device from loading drivers.

HKEYLOCALMACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services

Look around for the ATI/Radeon related sections. Should be a key called Start, if set to 4 it will disable it on startup. Then maybe just reboot.

Not sure how well it will work, not something I have personally tried.

Take a backup of the registry before making an attempt.