[Architecture-er]

Hey guys, wondering if anyone could help me.. I had my laptop on today and went out the room, when I came back the screen had big verticle lines running down the screen, maybe 8 bands of them? Nothing was working, so I restarted the computer.

Everything was fine at first, but then around 10 minutes in, after I started a computer game, the screen went black apart from the mouse cursor, which had a largish square of weird colours around it.. So I restarted the computer again.

Now, unfortunately, the screen looks like this:



- If I start the computer in normal boot mode it'll go through all the startup loading, then when the windows icon should appear with the music, there's just a black screen (but can still hear the computer boot). Then the screen intermittently flashes from black to grey, with bursts of broken-up colour across the screen. Starting the laptop in safe mode shows me a screen where I can log in and see my desktop, but the pixels are all distorted as shown above..

I'm guessing this is either a software fault with the graphics driver, or a hardware fault? I was wondering if anyone had any experience with what this could be.. thanks

The laptop is around 4 years old, a Toshiba Satellite P300-150.

[Architecture-er]

bump

[spikeymike]

(Original post by Architecture-er)
bump

Sounds and looks like GPU failure. Considering its age, warranty is out of the question probably. Time for a new laptop? back up ASAP.

[Architecture-er]

(Original post by spikeymike)
Sounds and looks like GPU failure. Considering its age, warranty is out of the question probably. Time for a new laptop? back up ASAP.

Why do I need to back up my computer if it's only a GPU failure?

Surely if my graphics card completely fails I can just replace it and carry on as normal? (or take out my hard drive and copy my files from it using a different computer?)

[Iqbal007]

(Original post by Architecture-er)
Why do I need to back up my computer if it's only a GPU failure?

Surely if my graphics card completely fails I can just replace it and carry on as normal? (or take out my hard drive and copy my files from it using a different computer?)

If your gpu fails, it means your graphics, therefore it means it cant display your screen or an external monitor.
You can take out your hard drive, but you got to be able to have the supporting cables to be able to transfer the files.

Laptops are very difficult to change things on apart from hard drive and optical drive.
You got to find a compatible gpu, which is hard as laptop gpus aren't exactly sold widely, than the size, etc.

[Architecture-er]

(Original post by Iqbal007)
If your gpu fails, it means your graphics, therefore it means it cant display your screen or an external monitor.
You can take out your hard drive, but you got to be able to have the supporting cables to be able to transfer the files.

Laptops are very difficult to change things on apart from hard drive and optical drive.
You got to find a compatible gpu, which is hard as laptop gpus aren't exactly sold widely, than the size, etc.

Ahh I see, thanks for clarifying

I've taken it to the IT guys at my work, and they agree that it's probably a GPU hardware issue, hopefully it's just a loose connection and I can get it fixed without having to find a replacement - how easy do you reckon it would be if I simply found an identical model, to just swap out the old one and replace it? (Assuming the issue isn't merely a loose connection)

[spikeymike]

(Original post by Architecture-er)
Ahh I see, thanks for clarifying

I've taken it to the IT guys at my work, and they agree that it's probably a GPU hardware issue, hopefully it's just a loose connection and I can get it fixed without having to find a replacement - how easy do you reckon it would be if I simply found an identical model, to just swap out the old one and replace it? (Assuming the issue isn't merely a loose connection)

Incredibly unlikely because laptop motherboards are ripped out from broken laptops and sold on as spare parts. You won't get a brand new one.

[Architecture-er]

(Original post by spikeymike)
Incredibly unlikely because laptop motherboards are ripped out from broken laptops and sold on as spare parts. You won't get a brand new one.

I'm talking about the GPU, not the motherboard

[Iqbal007]

(Original post by Architecture-er)
Ahh I see, thanks for clarifying

I've taken it to the IT guys at my work, and they agree that it's probably a GPU hardware issue, hopefully it's just a loose connection and I can get it fixed without having to find a replacement - how easy do you reckon it would be if I simply found an identical model, to just swap out the old one and replace it? (Assuming the issue isn't merely a loose connection)

As mike said, no one sells brand new laptop gpu's, they are always used parts, so you might end with the same issue.
If it was a lose melted connection, it would kinda be easier.

[Architecture-er]

(Original post by Iqbal007)
As mike said, no one sells brand new laptop gpu's, they are always used parts, so you might end with the same issue.
If it was a lose melted connection, it would kinda be easier.

Ahh right, mightn't Toshiba keep some, as an obligation to old customers? If not.. that sucks

Either way get back to the UK in just over a week's time, so I'll give 'em a ring

[Iqbal007]

(Original post by Architecture-er)
Ahh right, mightn't Toshiba keep some, as an obligation to old customers? If not.. that sucks

Either way get back to the UK in just over a week's time, so I'll give 'em a ring

If you had warranty, they probably would have given you a new one to be honest, they might have even offered to transfer your data.

[Architecture-er]

(Original post by Iqbal007)
If you had warranty, they probably would have given you a new one to be honest, they might have even offered to transfer your data.

That would've been nice!

Unfortunately kinda exceeded my warranty now, but I suppose if I was still inside my warranty then the GPU would probably not be at risk of overheating, so we'd be running in theoretical circles!

[Iqbal007]

(Original post by Architecture-er)
That would've been nice!

Unfortunately kinda exceeded my warranty now, but I suppose if I was still inside my warranty then the GPU would probably not be at risk of overheating, so we'd be running in theoretical circles!

Laptops are more likely to overheat to be honest, thats why you got to clean out the dust every once in a while

[spiral87]

Most laptops have fully integrated GPUs, the only option is a full motherboard replacement.

[Architecture-er]

Ok, one more thing, basically would like to know for certain if it's a hardware issue or not - based on the following parameters:

- I have graphics distortion immediately on startup (does this definitely mean hardware issue, since drivers aren't loaded? Or could this be a BIOS problem, since I had an error message a day before this all crashed saying I might need to update my BIOS or Nvidia graphics driver, though I run on AMG not Nvidia)

- When booting normally I end up with a black screen instead of a log-in screen, will sometimes eventually move to a blue screen of death with distorted writing on it (unfortunately can't read anything due to graphics problems). However if I run it in safe mode I can get onto my desktop but with graphics distortion - does this lend weight to it being a hardware issue? My question is: does safe mode use graphics in a way that might let a physically damaged GPU display some sort of image, when it black-screens on a full boot?


If both of those symptoms certify that it's a hardware issue then I can comfortably look about replacing it, I'm just unsure if it's something related to updates not working properly / me buggering something up in the software.



If anyone could provide definitive information on what these symptoms mean, software or hardware, then I'd be greatly appreciative! Also if you could explain how I get some sort of display in safe mode, yet nothing in normal boot, just for future knowledge