nVidia GPU meltdown.

[tvduude]

i learned about the GPU meltdown epidemic last year when someone gave me a Dell that was afflicted.

i was wondering if its feasable to cut the power to the GPU via surgery
and run the machine as a drone via remote desktop such as VNC?

[ratdude747]

Re: nVidia GPU meltdown.

No. You need the GPU in order to boot.

Either replace the mainboard or part it out (I assume it's a laptop).

[mockingbird]

Re: nVidia GPU meltdown.

Some Dells with a G8x/G9x GPU will have an MXM-like module for the GPU. It's not quite MXM, so you can't just swap it, but I'd reckon that you could keep switching the Dell proprietary GPU modules, but that would be kind of expensive.

For the ones with the integrated GPU, people actually buy G8x/G9x chips and change them. It's a lot of work though for a laptop which I can't imagine to be worth more than $200.

[tvduude]

Re: nVidia GPU meltdown.

any software tricks to hibernate the GPU?

[stevo1210]

Re: nVidia GPU meltdown.

Some Dells with a G8x/G9x GPU will have an MXM-like module for the GPU.

Was it both the 9xxx and 8xxx series that were affected or just the 8xxx series?

[mockingbird]

Re: nVidia GPU meltdown.

Both. At the end of the G9x's production, nVidia claimed that they had already fixed G9x (And released a memo to that effect, indicating part numbers that had been fixed), but this turned out to be a lie.

[Agent24]

Re: nVidia GPU meltdown.

You could try reflowing it with a heat gun or in an oven, since it's not working now the worst you can get is that it still won't work.