# Broken GPU

## chris...

I think my GPU on my laptop is broken

It worked fine for years both nvidia driver and when I tried the nouveau driver

Today it fails to work as expected when loading either

When starting X with the nvidia driver the log said something about the card not having the power connected and to connect the power cable, no such cable exists in my laptop

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## Yuu

Hi chris,

could you post your /var/log/Xorg.0.log (using wgetpaste) ? Maybe some relevant informations are in this logfile.

Also, I don't think your GPU is completely died : if it was the case, I think you'll get a black screen when starting your laptop.

And what is your GPU model ?

Thank you and good luck :]

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## chris...

xorg.0.log

http://paste.pocoo.org/show/361090/

from lspci

```

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation G86 [GeForce 8600M GS] (rev a1)

```

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## Yuu

Thank you. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any good solution.

Some basic ideas :1) Could you try booting on a random liveCD to see if the problem persists ?

2) Or maybe try on Windows if you have it ?

3) or maybe update your nvidia-drivers to the next stable version ? (260.19.36)

4) years ago, I heard about a special bios for 8600M series (that prevent overheating and other things); do you have the lastest BIOS for your motherboard ?

Also, I've found this post where NeddySeagoon said :

 *NeddySeagoon wrote:*   

> dantrell,
> 
> Attempting hardware accelerated 3d graphics with the extra power cables missing can damage your graphics card and motherboard as the graphics card tries to draw far more power than the printed circuit tracks can carry.
> 
> The vesa driver will not cause any damage as its not capable of 3d graphics anyway.
> ...

 

So, I've got a very ugly solution, but It could really damage your hardware permanently :

```
Option "NoPowerConnectorCheck" "boolean"

                The NVIDIA X driver will abort X server initialization

                if it detects that a GPU that requires an external power

                connector does not have an external power connector

                plugged in.  This option can be used to bypass this test.

                Default: the power connector test is performed.
```

Be carefull If you want to test it; also, I'll not be responsible if you dammage your card with this.

As I know that the 8600M series from NViDiA were quite bad (there's a lot of problems with them), it wouldn't surprise me if your card was badly built by NViDiA :/

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## NeddySeagoon

Yuu,

In a laptop, that's probably ok as there is no PCI/AGP connector. The GPU is soldered down to the motherboard.

It won't have the separate local PSU on the graphics card that plug in cards must have.

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## chris...

 *Yuu wrote:*   

> Thank you. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any good solution.
> 
> Some basic ideas :1) Could you try booting on a random liveCD to see if the problem persists ?
> 
> 2) Or maybe try on Windows if you have it ?
> ...

 

1) I was going to try that at work but forot to bring a cd

2) No windows available

3) Thats when I first noticed it. During a recent update of some packages

4) I couldnt work out how to update the bios without windows so I still have the one it came with

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## jbouzan

 *chris... wrote:*   

> 4) I couldnt work out how to update the bios without windows so I still have the one it came with

 

Download freedos, install on a thumbdrive, run the dos version of the bios installer.

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## chris...

 *chris... wrote:*   

> 
> 
> 1) I was going to try that at work but forot to bring a cd
> 
> 

 

1) tried gparted and the 2008 livecd, neither worked

Tried the no power connector check and that didnt work either

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## NeddySeagoon

chris...

Post your xorg.conf and /var/log/Xorg.0.log so we can see how you set up Option "NoPowerConnectorCheck" "boolean" and what xorg actually did.

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## chris...

xorg.conf

http://paste.pocoo.org/show/361771/

Xorg.0.log

http://paste.pocoo.org/show/361775/

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## NeddySeagoon

chris...

I would expect the 

```
Option "NoPowerConnectorCheck" "True" 
```

to be in your Section "Device" above the Screen 0 line as its device related, not screen related.

However, the driver has seen it and obeyed it as the log says

```
[ 33977.051] (II) NVIDIA(GPU-0): Skipping Power Connector Check.
```

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## gerard27

Hi Chris,

Saw this in your xorg.conf:

Section "Device"

    Identifier  "Nvidia"

#    Driver      "nouveau"

    Driver      "nvidia"

#    Driver      "nv"

#    Driver      "vesa"

#    Driver      "intel"

    Screen 0

	Option "TwinView" "true"

        Option "ConnectedMonitor" "DFP-0, DFP-1"

        Option "MetaModes" "1440x900,1280x1024; 1440x900,NULL"

        Option "TwinViewOrientation" "DFP-1 LeftOf DFP-0"

        Option "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-0, DFP-1"

EndSection

Just my 2 cents but should "Screen 0" be in there?

And Neddy is right about the place of no connector check of course .

Gerard.

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## chris...

still not working

even got rid of twin view

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## gerard27

Somewhere in one of your posts you mentioned having done an upgrade.

Did you try to re-emerge nvidia-drivers after that?

When xorg-server is upgraded that's necessary.

Gerard.

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## chris...

re-merge and downgrade nvidia drivers and emerge noveaua, and use 2 live cds

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## gerard27

Sorry I'm out of ideas.

Gerard.

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## NeddySeagoon

chris...,

Why do you think its not working ?

Your Xorg.0.log said it did.  Exact error messages please

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## rapsure

Sounds like you have been bitten by the faulty nvidia GPU problem that occurred a couple years ago.

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## chris...

I believe its broken based on the fact that 

1. The X process disappears after about 5 seconds

2. I've been using Linux longer then Gentoo has been around and that it had been working fine, then suddenly wasnt, completely blank screen. 

3. There is also a hatched artifact on the initial bios screen which is new

I bet it'll cost more then my new laptop to fix

I bought one of them cheap 12" CULV laptops

Way better then those atom based netbooks

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## Gusar

As rapsure says, it's very possible you got hit by bumpgate. There's one thing you could try, it works for my Geforce Go 6600, but no guarantee it'll work for you - force the graphic card into it's lowest performance mode by adding this to the Device section in xorg.conf:

```
   Option "RegistryDwords" "PerfLevelSrc=0x2222; PowerMizerLevelAC=0x3; PowerMizerLevel=0x3"
```

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## krinn

 *rapsure wrote:*   

> Sounds like you have been bitten by the faulty nvidia GPU problem that occurred a couple years ago.

 

Agree, nearly all 8600M are going to die soon, from what i saw they never correct the flaw, they instead increase warranty & increase the fan speed/downclock the card...

I don't know for your country, but here, this kind of "per factory" default are covered by lifetime warranty, you might have similar law to protect users in your country you could use.

And here's a link that should cover all your questions about how/who/why...

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-compaq/296979-dv9500-nvidia-8600m-gs.html

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## chris...

I'll contact Dell Australia and see what they say

On the plus side when I selected the upgrad GPU to Nvidia option I got $250 discount

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