Acer Aspire 5920G - Fried GPU needs replacement, seeking advice

[jrlepage]

Hello everyone,

I've been googling around trying to find the solution to my problem myself, but without success, which is why I have come to you.

Here's the deal: a friend of mine gave away his 3 year-old Acer Aspire 5920G (5920-6642 to be exact) to me, because apparently it had a busted hard drive. I took it home, managed to fix the issue (the HDD was actually fine), then formatted and installed my own stuff on the laptop... Only to have the GPU fail 2 weeks later while I was using a music editing program (it froze with the audio looping for about 3-4 seconds before I shut the machine down by holding down the power button).

After I tried to reboot, there were artefacts all over the screen and Windows 7 wouldn't boot (froze at loading screen 3 times). After I unscrewed the GPU to look at it, then put it back in, then nothing. All I get is a black screen. Whenever I press power, he HDD light comes on, then the caps lock light and then the laptop goes "bah f**k it" and the fan stops spinning and nothing happens.

I'm fairly sure it's the video card that's at fault because I tried booting with just one RAM stick, then the other, then none of the two, and still I get a black screen. Same happens when I boot without the HDD. When I boot with the GPU removed however (and both RAM sticks in place), the back light turns on and after a brief moment the screen goes completely white - which it doesn't when the graphics card is in place.

After doing some research, I found out the video card that came with my laptop was an nVidia 8600m GS, but I also found out that other models of the 5920G came with other cards.

Aspire 5920G - MXM-II, 8600M GS, 8600M GT, 9500M GS, HD 3470

This website says some 5920G's came with the 9500m GS, which is the one I'm interested in buying because I found a rather good deal on eBay, but that listing says the 9500m is incompatible with the 5920G! Other sources seem to agree with the seller (this guy tried to install not one but three 9500m's with no success at all, just black screens like mine), however u6b36ef from this forum is convinced that it should work as long as the card isn't faulty.

I'm confused; is there specific sub-models of the 5920G that support the 9500m, and others don't? Do I have to have a specific BIOS version installed? Should I steer clear from that card and instead get the same one I already have? Any help is very much appreciated, and I apologise for the long post... :s

 

[Mussels]

i'd suggest going for the one your system came with initially, since other people have failed to succeed in upgrading like you intended.

 

[enaher]

i'd suggest going for the one your system came with initially, since other people have failed to succeed in upgrading like you intended.

+1 go with the safest option.

 

[micropage7]

what about warranty period, if it still in that you could take rma

 

[INSTG8R]

The reason I have found when coming across cards that say there aren't compatible it is because Acer cards have a different PCI/Vendor ID than other cards. Most laptop OEM cards do.

It could be sorted out by a BIOS edit if it really was an issue I suppose.

 

[jrlepage]

The reason I have found when coming across cards that say there aren't compatible it is because Acer cards have a different PCI/Vendor ID than other cards. Most laptop OEM cards do.

It could be sorted out by a BIOS edit if it really was an issue I suppose.

By that do you mean I could indeed purchase that 9500M (which according to the listing was lifted from an Acer laptop) and then edit the BIOS to make it work? I'm afraid I'm not as knowledgeable as I'd like to be about those things... :\

 

[brandonwh64]

What you should do first is if you live in the states, go to harbor frieght.com and order a heat gun. when it arrives, heat gun the old GPU really good and try to reinstall it. It this helps it boot then I would buy the 9500M to see if it will work. It it doesnt then you have a card to fall back on.

 

[INSTG8R]

Well what I mean is that when they say it isn't compatible with Acer's it means it's device ID is another companies. If it was taken from another Acer laptop and is the same MXM slot then I don't see it being any kind of issue.

 

[jrlepage]

What you should do first is if you live in the states, go to harbor frieght.com and order a heat gun. when it arrives, heat gun the old GPU really good and try to reinstall it. It this helps it boot then I would buy the 9500M to see if it will work. It it doesnt then you have a card to fall back on.

Unfortunately I am Canadian and without much money to spend on this... If the new card itself + the heat gun end up costing too much then there isn't much point in buying this rather than a new laptop altogether. :\

Besides, I've already ovened it (@ 385ºF for 10 minutes), with no success at all... Thanks for the response though, I really appreciate it.

Well what I mean is that when they say it isn't compatible with Acer's it means it's device ID is another companies. If it was taken from another Acer laptop and is the same MXM slot then I don't see it being any kind of issue.

So you're saying if this card I found on eBay came from an Acer laptop (which it does), then it will go into my laptop and it'll work?
And then - and this is hypothetical of course - if it doesn't boot, is there anything I can do about it?

 

[brandonwh64]

I say you test the 9500M out!

 

[jrlepage]

I say you test the 9500M out!

Oh but I'm dying to do just that! But unfortunately I don't have infinite money to put on this, and I want to make sure that if I purchase it it won't become a waste of my money, i.e. that if something goes wrong with the 9500M it can be fixed somehow. For now I'm waiting for INSTG8R's input (or indeed anyone else's who is knowledgeable in that area) on how to make the 9500M work if it doesn't straight away...

 

[FreedomEclipse]

If the 9500M replacement its cheap, then theres no loss.

If the replacement doesnt work. then theres not a lot you can do. Id suggest trying to find the correct bios for the card and try and flash it, but that would be a lot of work

#1 Bios's for Mobile/mobility GPUs are exceedingly hard to find
#2 if the card didnt work in the first place theres no way to flash it.

----

you got the laptop for free anyway so its no loss. just part it out and sell off the parts individually. a secondhand laptop screen still goes for a really good price on ebay. sell off the parts and put whatever profit you make towards a new or 'working' laptop.

 

[jrlepage]

Well, I talked to the seller of the 9500M, and he confirmed that it won't work in a 9500M - he tested it himself and even did some research which confirmed his results. Something to do with the 5920G's BIOS itself, apparently. How Acer got their own 9500M's to work beats both of us though.

So... Should I take everyone else's advice and go for another 8600M GS? Is it safe to upgrade to 8600M GT? What are your opinions on this?

@FreedomEclipse: I already considered taking the laptop apart and selling its parts separately, but it's a tedious process, not to mention it wouldn't feel right to do that to a laptop that was given to me as a gift (so to speak).

So yeah, right now I'm pretty sure I'm going to go for a 8600M, I just want to be sure I can safely insert a 8600M GT when my system came with GS.

Thanks again

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Well, I talked to the seller of the 9500M, and he confirmed that it won't work in a 9500M - he tested it himself and even did some research which confirmed his results. Something to do with the 5920G's BIOS itself, apparently. How Acer got their own 9500M's to work beats both of us though.

So... Should I take everyone else's advice and go for another 8600M GS? Is it safe to upgrade to 8600M GT? What are your opinions on this?

@FreedomEclipse: I already considered taking the laptop apart and selling its parts separately, but it's a tedious process, not to mention it wouldn't feel right to do that to a laptop that was given to me as a gift (so to speak).

So yeah, right now I'm pretty sure I'm going to go for a 8600M, I just want to be sure I can safely insert a 8600M GT when my system came with GS.

Thanks again

If the laptop originally came with the 8600M GS then id stick with one of them just to be on the safe side.

Im not too sure if the mountings on the laptops heatsink are compatible with the other cards (which is my main worry). the holes might not match up with the screws/pins etc etc.

as for parting the laptop out....gift or not. your friend cant expect you to keep hold of a laptop that DOESNT work or isnt fully functional.

If it was in working condition and you sold it off to pay for a newer one then yes that would make you look like an ass.

For example, if your Auntie buys you a sweater for christmas thats 4 sizes too small for you, She doesnt expect you to keep it if its too small. what good is a gift if that gift isnt fit for purpose?

stop guilt tripping yourself.

#1 give it back to your friend

#2 get a 8600M GS and be done with it

#3 part it out, sell it and use the money for something that works.

 

[xBruce88x]

Another thing to keep in mind is if the laptop could power a more powerful gpu or not. Also, i think there were a lot of issues with the 8600m GTs so be careful buying one. I'd stick with what came with it as a replacement aince we dont even know if the motherboard or cpu works (or do you)

 

[jrlepage]

If the laptop originally came with the 8600M GS then id stick with one of them just to be on the safe side.

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.

as for parting the laptop out....gift or not. your friend cant expect you to keep hold of a laptop that DOESNT work or isnt fully functional.

If it was in working condition and you sold it off to pay for a newer one then yes that would make you look like an ass.

For example, if your Auntie buys you a sweater for christmas thats 4 sizes too small for you, She doesnt expect you to keep it if its too small. what good is a gift if that gift isnt fit for purpose?

stop guilt tripping yourself.

Thanks again for the insight, you're probably right on this as well. But still, I think the net cost of selling the laptop in bits and buying a new one vs. just replacing the gpu would still end up being higher, don't you think? Assuming I wanted something similar to what I already have and not something much older and worse, of course.

Also, i think there were a lot of issues with the 8600m GTs so be careful buying one.

Did the issues only affect the GT and not the GS? I'll probably buy a GS anwyay, but just wondering.

 

[Mussels]

Did the issues only affect the GT and not the GS? I'll probably buy a GT anwyay, but just wondering.

you ahve to realise that if your laptop has issues with cards other than what it came with, even changing from a GS to GT is a large risk. replace it with what it came with, or you're really just throwing money away.

 

[jrlepage]

you ahve to realise that if your laptop has issues with cards other than what it came with, even changing from a GS to GT is a large risk. replace it with what it came with, or you're really just throwing money away.

Oops, I completely agree and originally meant to say I'd buy a GS. Fixed!

 

[Mussels]

if possible find an acer one so that the BIOS matches up too, but that may be hard.

 

[jrlepage]

if possible find an acer one so that the BIOS matches up too, but that may be hard.

I found a listing on eBay, nVidia GeForce 8600M GS 512MB DDR2 MXM-II, Acer BIOS.

Comes from China though so it might take a while to get here. Oh well, better than nothing. Here's hoping I won't end up with a DOA unit...

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Yeah Its a real shame about these MXM cards. they could make quite a bit of money if they stopped locking their bios's down and allowed the user to upgrade their laptops fully, Right now the best you can do is RAM, CPU, HDD and Laptop screen (to support higher resolution)

When these MXM modules first appeared on the market, everyone was really positive about it. But the only real people to benefit from the MXM platform is the OEMs themselves as they can use the same laptop motherboard and use it to build a monster gaming laptop or fill it with budget parts for a cheap build, they save money having not to manufacturer different mobos for different budgets.

If OEMs can do it. Consumers should be able to do it too.

Those that arent savvy enough in tech would probably take it to a shop or to a friend who knows how to fit the parts.

This will obviously mess with the warranty though.