Graphics card replaceable? upgrade-able?

[Vesperescence]

I have an HP pavillion dv9700 that has had graphics errors.  I have had several blue screens, few and far between, and finally today as I was loading the login screen of World of Warcraft, it froze, audio, video, the whole thing froze like a broken record so I had to hard reboot the computer.  When it came back it had a resolution of 800x600, and seems to be using the integrated graphics card instead of the Nvidia GeForce 8400m GS.  The drivers are up to date, but Windows 7 no longer sees this card and gives me an error.  World of Warcraft will not load as it tells me that I do not have a compatible graphics card.

"World of Warcraft was unable to find a suitable graphics card, please check that your graphics driver is up to date and that you are not running in safe (VGA) mode.  For mroe information please see http://us.battle.net/support/en/article/driver-update-information"

Please advise on what the next step should be.  Is this card replaceable? and if so... upgrade-able?  What will this entail to fix?  I am able to use the machine, but with a lower graphics ability than before.

It is no longer under warranty, and has had windows 7 installed on it at this point.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

The dv6000/dv9000 motherboards were plagued with oveheating issues and resultant damage to the GPUs and wireless cards.

Yours may be on the way out.

The graphics cannot be upgraded or replaced. The entire motherboard has to be replaced, and that would be throwing good money after bad.

Try uninstalling the graphics adapter in the device manager (right click on it and select uninstall, and check the uninstall driver box too if applicable).

Reboot the PC and cross your fingers.

You may need to reinstall the nVidia driver from your notebook's support and driver page if it does not install automatically.

Paul

[Vesperescence]

The reason i'm wondering about replacing it is that it's in ADDITION to the onboard motherboard graphics adapter.  I can still use my computer, just not do things like photoshop and world of warcraft and such because it's running off the motherboard adapter, and not the Nvidia one.  That was something we paid extra to upgrade when we purchased the laptop.  

I'm aware of the running hot issue, but the battery I have was never listed in recall, and there was nothing I could do even when i contacted HP directly years ago.  It seems a little ridiculous that an added card could not be replaced.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

You are runnng off your 8400GS. There is only one GPU in your notebook, and that is it.

The adapter was not added. The GPU is a chip integrated into the motherboard.

The upgrade was to not have the motherboard with the GPU that uses shared system memory.

The motherboard in your PC has the 8400GS GPU with discrete memory, but again, that is not in addition to the GPU that uses the system memory.

The driver either got corrupted, or the GPU has begun to deteriorate, and your graphics is toast.

It is not using another adapter, but is being run in VGA mode.

There is probably 1 in 1,000 notebooks where you can change the GPU like a memory chip, and I don't think you can on any HP notebook made in the last 7 years or so.

Paul

[Velenoso]

{Content Removed} that laptop is not worth fixing, that other guy gave you the good oil!

You could no doubt buy a better second hand laptop off ebay with a better GPU for near enough the same coin to what it would cost to fix that.

I know you are emotionally attached because anyone who wasn't would be looking at another box made of wires, metal and plastic at this moment in time instead of (like the other guy said) throwing good money after bad!

[Vesperescence]

1)  I'm not a "dude" and

2) It IS worth fixing to someone who can't afford to just randomly up and buy another one. 

3) I have a computer degree dealing with desktops.. so I'm not an idiot and don't appreciate being treated like one, velenoso.

[Vesperescence]

Sounds like I can replace the whole motherboard graphics card and all and be just fine.  I'd rather pay to get the piece and fix it than pay more for an ebay laptop with money I don't have right now.

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Yes, that would fix it.

If you want to go that route, that is your prerogative.

It will entail a lot of work, and working on a notebook PC with all that old overheated, brittle plastic is nothing like working on a desktop.

Below is the link to the service manual.

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c01951704.pdf

You will find the list of motherboards with HP part numbers in chapter 3, page 21.

Removal and replacement procedures can be found in Chapter 4.

Good luck,

Paul

[Vesperescence]

Thank you for being both courteous and helpful.  I realize it's complicated and a long shot, but until a bit down the road (6-9 months) I can't do much else.. so it's worth a short for the time being.

[Velenoso]

{Content Removed} the 8400GS was a poor GPU when it came out many years ago {Content Removed}.

If you search ebay for $200 laptops you can find something much better, get a part time job if need be, because you will regret wasting your time and money on that relic!