Sony LS37E Graphics Card Died - work around ideas. (It is an All in One, and an pretty old one)

[DuckRyder]

As above the graphics card has apparently dies on this, its a N-Vida card from the time they were somewhat problematic... the screen will not come on, briefly it would come on for a few minutes, but i was not able to get stuff off of it.

I have tried a USB display and it does not work.

Before I go nuclear and tear the hard drive out of it and stick it in an enclosure, any other ideas... ?

 

[fsdork]

Have you tried booting in safe mode? It won't help if the video output is totally fried, but worth a shot to see if low-res helps as a workaround.

 

[DuckRyder]

Have you tried booting in safe mode? It won't help if the video output is totally fried, but worth a shot to see if low-res helps as a workaround.

i am pretty sure i have but i will definitely try before i take the drive out.

 

[skyactiv]

I had a gaming desktop long ago the graphics card gave out. I researched the issue and removed the card, baked it in a hot oven for a bit, reinstalled it and it worked fine again for a few months.

 

[Vercingetorix]

Nevermind.

 

[Skippy722]

If you’re lucky, it’s in a socket and a simple reseat may fix it. Otherwise, as is most likely, it’s soldered to the motherboard and the solder has failed.

 

[partspro]

As above the graphics card has apparently dies on this, its a N-Vida card from the time they were somewhat problematic... the screen will not come on, briefly it would come on for a few minutes, but i was not able to get stuff off of it.

I have tried a USB display and it does not work.

Before I go nuclear and tear the hard drive out of it and stick it in an enclosure, any other ideas... ?

SONY has a website but doesn't appear to sell direct, they point you to BEST BUY, that could help. BTW to get external monitor to work enter bios, disable N-VIDEA, enable integrated intel graphics, then it should find usb monitor.

 

[LvR]

SONY has a website but doesn't appear to sell direct, they point you to BEST BUY, that could help. BTW to get external monitor to work enter bios, disable N-VIDEA, enable integrated intel graphics, then it should find usb monitor.

Neat trick that .................... especially when you cannot see what you do to disable/enable anything

 

[LvR]

As above the graphics card has apparently dies on this, its a N-Vida card from the time they were somewhat problematic... the screen will not come on, briefly it would come on for a few minutes, but i was not able to get stuff off of it.

I have tried a USB display and it does not work.

Before I go nuclear and tear the hard drive out of it and stick it in an enclosure, any other ideas... ?

The problem with the USB or any other tech is it needs drivers - so only once you can somehow get into Windows while internet access is allowed and the machine can auto-update to install good drivers, the other display tech should work................... still cannot help with getting into Windows in the first place.

You don't have somebody with the same machine you can buy a beer to swap drives, install your choice of new display tech there on THAT machine, and then simply move your drive back to your own machine where the new display tech should be ok immediately?

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

Take it apart, remove the heatsink from the CPU and GPU, scrape off all the old heatsink compound and clean it well, replace it with some fresh goop and see what happens.

Are you trying to make it work again or just trying to recover files off of it?

 

[PandaBear]

Sony went downhill long ago, and they likely won't have anything you can repair it with unless you go to eBay to buy parts to swap. I would just replace the whole machine with another one and recover the files on the HDD / SSD from it. It may end up cheaper to replace the whole machine and part out the Sony on eBay, at least less headache. It is a Core Duo 2GHz, 2GB RAM and 19" monitor, none of the parts are worth anything anymore.

 

[DuckRyder]

Appreciate the suggestions so far.

I will try them this weekend probably. I am fairly sure it is not a socketed card but i could be wrong, i do not know anyone with a similar computer.

It would be nice if i could make it work again... I actually like it even though it is ancient.

 

[Skippy722]

SONY has a website but doesn't appear to sell direct, they point you to BEST BUY, that could help. BTW to get external monitor to work enter bios, disable N-VIDEA, enable integrated intel graphics, then it should find usb monitor.

The CPU in his computer is an Intel Core 2 Duo mobile chip with no integrated Intel graphics.

 

[OVERKILL]

Appreciate the suggestions so far.

I will try them this weekend probably. I am fairly sure it is not a socketed card but i could be wrong, i do not know anyone with a similar computer.

It would be nice if i could make it work again... I actually like it even though it is ancient.

If you pull the back off it, if it has a PCI or PCI-E slot, you could craigslist yourself an el-cheapo graphics card that you could jerry rig into the unit just to have some display to back the old girl up. If the onboard graphics chip has packed it in, you are pretty much screwed unless you replace the board. You MAY be able to find a used board on e-bay, but who knows how long it will last?

Cheapest option would probably be just pulling the drive though.

 

[blufeb95]

The problem with the USB or any other tech is it needs drivers - so only once you can somehow get into Windows while internet access is allowed and the machine can auto-update to install good drivers, the other display tech should work................... still cannot help with getting into Windows in the first place.

You don't have somebody with the same machine you can buy a beer to swap drives, install your choice of new display tech there on THAT machine, and then simply move your drive back to your own machine where the new display tech should be ok immediately?

Yep, essentially those USB "monitors" are a little more than just a standard monitor, they're essentially the equivalent a crappy 90s video card interfaced to USB that outputs to the built in LCD panel.

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

Take it apart, remove the heatsink from the CPU and GPU, scrape off all the old heatsink compound and clean it well, replace it with some fresh goop and see what happens.

To be clear, I'm assuming it's more or less a laptop inside that thing with the CPU and GPU cooled by a common copper heat pipe and fan setup. You should be able to remove the whole apparatus, clean the surfaces and replace the thermal compound. The GPU may simply be overheating immediately as soon as it's switched on.

 

[DuckRyder]

To be clear, I'm assuming it's more or less a laptop inside that thing with the CPU and GPU cooled by a common copper heat pipe and fan setup. You should be able to remove the whole apparatus, clean the surfaces and replace the thermal compound. The GPU may simply be overheating immediately as soon as it's switched on.

I think you are right about that, i think the GPU is a "mobile" GPU. Not sure what other complications it may involve, but its also sort of a TV, though I've never used it as one... actually it is a TV, but i've never used it as one.

I'm arms deep in ford Ranger probably rest of the week, so might be the weekend or later before i have a chance to mess with it...

 

[nthach]

Yep, essentially those USB "monitors" are a little more than just a standard monitor, they're essentially the equivalent a crappy 90s video card interfaced to USB that outputs to the built in LCD panel.

Those USB monitors use a DisplayLink chipset to provide graphics over USB. For Mac users, it’s the only way to get multiple screens working since MacOS doesn’t support MST over DisplayPort and the only other way to do so is with a Thunderbolt 3 dock(and connect one display to the Thunderbolt port on the dock) or a hub that takes in two USB-C Alt Mode connections.

 

[nthach]

I think you are right about that, i think the GPU is a "mobile" GPU. Not sure what other complications it may involve, but its also sort of a TV, though I've never used it as one... actually it is a TV, but i've never used it as one.

I'm arms deep in ford Ranger probably rest of the week, so might be the weekend or later before i have a chance to mess with it...

Almost all all-in-ones use a mobile dGPU(Nvidia GeForce or AMD Radeon), some may use a desktop one.

Dell wanted to push a “modular” upgradeable dGPU and even had it on Alienware and Precision laptops. It used a proprietary slot for the PCIe x16 data/power/eDP(or LVDS) connections. However, with many things Dell, it was either vaporware or no longer supported.

 

[DuckRyder]

OK to be frank I'm not even real sure what is what, i'm guessing that thing with the big fan on it and the copper heatsink is the GPU?

The HDD appears to be under the big Alum casting. Memory i got, wireless card i got, CPU/GPU?