I has a sad :( (Computer died)

Wahlgren

So yup. Guess my personal work grinded to a halt the other day. Graphics card died and since it´s a laptop it´s more or less just easier to buy a new one than trying to find a graphics card. Warranty is up aswell. I think my comp 3 years old now so i was planning to change it out in 6 months anyway.

Horrible timing since i just bought a new wacom, camera and stuff so the economy is a bit low.

I can still use the comp aslong as i use the "vga controller" thingy. As soon as i try to use the gfx card it just blue screens every time i try to enter windows... that and the first bios screen is filled with green stripes. Oh well. At least i can browse the web in safe mode (in shitty resolution)

Anyway. Just wanted someone to feel my woe. Now the pennypinching starts. Time to save every single coin that comes my way. Next comp aint gonna be cheap (another laptop but with a bit more warranty hehe).


PS: All personal work files and saves are backed up on dropbox and an external drive so i´m not screwed like that.

SHEPEIRO

i feel ur sad

ice_killer

thats sad , what kind of GPU did you had ?

HAL

I see you haz sad

And I guess you dont have a replacement yet

dyf

how the heck do you do graphics work on a laptop?
these things get hot and possibly shut off at moderate workloads.

Ruz

dyf I use my laptop all the time and it only got a bit hot once becasue the intake fan was full of dust.

Notorious P.I.G - my laptop seems to be going the same way, verical grey lines even on the bios screen. its stopped now, but a worry nontheless

dejawolf

i've used lappies for a good while myself. if you buy a powerful one, they can stand punishment all day long.

Wahlgren

Thanks guys. Been thinking over my alternatives and im leaning towards getting a regular small notebook (10 inch you know) to tide me over and then buy a stationary in the immediate future. Got a lot of traveling coming up so i need something. Dont know how much time i get to work under that time.

More bang for the buck basically.... and it´s easier to repair if something goes fuck-o.

The card was a nvidia 7900gs. Laptops work pretty well for working on though but maybe i should go back to a stationary one and use a smaller one just for surfing. Ah well. Decisions decisions

Gmanx

Same thing happened on my Dell XPS a little while ago - the card was a nVidea GeForce Go 7950 GTX 512mb - it just got too hot, shrivelled up and died, luckily in warranty. I now have my lappy sat on a Zalman cooling deck, which helps.
I feel UR pain.. Save that little bit extra and go for the longest warranty you can get!

c0ldhands

May I ask what kind of brand the laptop was, I myself had a Hp once that had the same mistake, Im at my second now and i pray everytime before I go to bed that the grim reaper of GFX cards wont take my baby away.

Taylor Hood

OH NOEZ YOUR LAPTOPZ HAS BEEN DIED.

Hope you get a shiny new one.

notman

If the laptop is out of warranty, and you want to continue using it, look on ebay for the video card. They aren't the 'easiest' thing to replace, but they are just plugged in. It's cheaper than an new machine

SlappyBag

My girlfriend accidently smashed my laptops screen, luckily within warrenty and so they sent me £650 for a new laptop and I spent £150 replacing the first laptops screen. Basically got a free laptop - fun times.

She doesn't use it anymore =P


I still prefer a desktop for all other work though.

Wahlgren

Ruz. I´d be worried if i were you

coldhands. Dell Inspiron 9400 / 1705. It has served me well though and was a really good machine and dell was a good company. I was planning on replacing it in a few months though... Guess that came a bit earlier than i thought. I also wanted to hand it over to a relative.

Most of the dying was probably my own fault though so i got what was coming. Overheating, warning signs etc. Anyway i´m gonna try and do my best to get it working again.

notman. That´s what i will try.

---

So. I´m now writing from the replacement and it feels odd. So smaaaall. Bought a netbook (samsung n10) to use as a travel-comp and lifeline to the world. Will buy a stationary to complement it later.

I´m gonna do lots and lots of drawings now though. Good opportunity for me to learn. I can still use the work-comp for 3D

Anyway. Thanks for feelin my sad´s and sorry for the ramblings. Lots of emotions

PS: Most expensive vacation ever but lots of new tech to play with.

kat

Don't feel sad... get yourself a USB VGA adaptor and plug in an external screen for now... it should work despite the dead gfx chip.