Is This Typical GPU Failure ?

[reaper57]

Re: Is This Typical GPU Failure ?

Nvidia 7300 GT or the 7600GT probably the former.

It's bad because this is common enough that they are hard to come by.

It should be a 7300GT. Swapping the card for something like a 7600GT, 8400 or a 8600 should work (an ATI X1600 should also work), but I think it needs to have a mac bios. I don't think that the normal ones will work. MXM cards cost a lot so if you can't fix this one and don't already have a spare MXM card it might not be worth buying one.
P.S. I think I was right, the cards need to have a mac bios. Quote from wikipedia, "As with full-sized PCIe GPUs, the cards must be capable of accepting the installation of Macintosh firmware in order to work with Macintosh drivers.".
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_PCI_Express_Module

[mmartell]

Re: Is This Typical GPU Failure ?

Should I not be baffled that a malfunctioning video card can't render a text based application properly but CAN render a gui perfectly and that the way in which it fails to render is always predictable and repeatable ?

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Is This Typical GPU Failure ?

It's a faulty nvidia. They do lots of weird and wonderful things. It could very well be that while you were messing around with it, it warmed up a bit and the bumps inside dillated enough for it to regain basic functionality, hence why it works fine now with Puppy Linux.

Try installing a driver on that and see how it performs... My guess would be "not good".

[reaper57]

Re: Is This Typical GPU Failure ?

Should I not be baffled that a malfunctioning video card can't render a text based application properly but CAN render a gui perfectly and that the way in which it fails to render is always predictable and repeatable ?

Well I have an HD4850 that works almost fine on DVI and gives a screen full of artifacts when using VGA. And one of the weirdest things is that when using DVI you can see thick lines when there is mostly one or only one color on the screen, but when using VGA the screen is full of green and white dots! Regardless it always causes a BSOD when installing the drivers.

[mmartell]

Re: Is This Typical GPU Failure ?

It's a faulty nvidia. They do lots of weird and wonderful things. It could very well be that while you were messing around with it, it warmed up a bit and the bumps inside dillated enough for it to regain basic functionality, hence why it works fine now with Puppy Linux.

Try installing a driver on that and see how it performs... My guess would be "not good".

Ok these chips are faulty internally, nothing to do with bga solder joints, gotcha.

You say they changed the manufacturing process in 2010 so if I was so inclined I would be looking for anything after Jan 1 of that year as a replacement ? Thanks for the great info btw.

[mmartell]

Re: Is This Typical GPU Failure ?

It should be a 7300GT. Swapping the card for something like a 7600GT, 8400 or a 8600 should work (an ATI X1600 should also work), but I think it needs to have a mac bios. I don't think that the normal ones will work. MXM cards cost a lot so if you can't fix this one and don't already have a spare MXM card it might not be worth buying one.
P.S. I think I was right, the cards need to have a mac bios. Quote from wikipedia, "As with full-sized PCIe GPUs, the cards must be capable of accepting the installation of Macintosh firmware in order to work with Macintosh drivers.".
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_PCI_Express_Module

If the bios info held in the atmel on the daughtercard then I can swap it to another mxm 7300GT anyway.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Is This Typical GPU Failure ?

Ok these chips are faulty internally, nothing to do with bga solder joints, gotcha.

You say they changed the manufacturing process in 2010 so if I was so inclined I would be looking for anything after Jan 1 of that year as a replacement ? Thanks for the great info btw.

Yes, if you were to have your graphics card repaired professionally you would ask the tech to solder one of those chips: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Brand-New-NV...item2a26ba69ee

If the bios info held in the atmel on the daughtercard then I can swap it to another mxm 7300GT anyway.

Yes, that's the BIOS chips, but not all are cross-compatible, flashing the chip on the replacement card is the recommended solution. You can try just moving it to the new card, but a SPI programmer can be done extremely cheap, just a few resistors from the parallel port and a 3.3v source. That's assuming you still have a computer with a parallel port lying around. If you do, there's no excuse not to build one, really. It comes in handy especially since computers have been using SPI BIOS chips exclusively for years.

Original info here: http://rayer.g6.cz/elektro/spipgm.htm however i have some observations. It works better with 220 or 330 ohms resistors, with 150 i was getting issues on the laptop i used it with (Compaq Evo N410c). The diodes as shown in the schematic are not necessary, and i think they weren't even drawn in there when i first saw it. Also, you can do away with external power entirely, but a picture (or in this case, a schematic) is worth a thousand words, i'll share how i did it later, as i actually figured that out after i built my current (2nd) board using this scheme and i haven't updated the PCB design yet.

[mmartell]

Re: Is This Typical GPU Failure ?

Those ic's you linked to are labelled differently but they are the same ?

I had the heatsink off my ic tonight - datecode 0830 so Aug 2008. If I'm not mistaken this must be a replacement already as they stopped manufacturing the a1200 in 2007.

Where do you find the mac bios .bins to flash the atmel ?

[reaper57]

Re: Is This Typical GPU Failure ?

Those ic's you linked to are labelled differently but they are the same ?

I had the heatsink off my ic tonight - datecode 0830 so Aug 2008. If I'm not mistaken this must be a replacement already as they stopped manufacturing the a1200 in 2007.

Where do you find the mac bios .bins to flash the atmel ?

Check this out http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=877441. They mention a tool that can generate the BIOS, but I'm not sure if it can generate a 7300GT BIOS.
If you can't find a BIOS file, can't you just dump it from the old card?

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Is This Typical GPU Failure ?

Those ic's you linked to are labelled differently but they are the same ?

I do not know the exact model number of a 7300GT off the top of my head so i googled it and that's what came up. It could be the wrong one. What is the model number on your chip?

I had the heatsink off my ic tonight - datecode 0830 so Aug 2008. If I'm not mistaken this must be a replacement already as they stopped manufacturing the a1200 in 2007.

Yes, it is likely a replacement. However, nvidia only figured out what they were doing wrong at the end of 2008, so most chips from 2008 are affected by the so-called "Bumpgate" as well.

[mmartell]

Re: Is This Typical GPU Failure ?

I do not know the exact model number of a 7300GT off the top of my head so i googled it and that's what came up. It could be the wrong one. What is the model number on your chip?



Yes, it is likely a replacement. However, nvidia only figured out what they were doing wrong at the end of 2008, so most chips from 2008 are affected by the so-called "Bumpgate" as well.

I think mine had GO7300 on it. Crap, I should have taken a picture.

As far as I can see the 7600GT is superior. A replacement 7300GT plus the cost of getting it soldered to the board gets me in this territory...

http://m.ebay.ca/itm/151312980280?_mwBanner=1

It would likely need to be flashed for mac. Going to try to get a datecode off one of them.

[mmartell]

Re: Is This Typical GPU Failure ?

Check this out http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=877441. They mention a tool that can generate the BIOS, but I'm not sure if it can generate a 7300GT BIOS.
If you can't find a BIOS file, can't you just dump it from the old card?

Nice link gonna spend some time reading

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Is This Typical GPU Failure ?

GO7300 is a different animal. It is the mobile (laptop) version. Not surprising to see the GO7300 on it since it is a MXM card. And there are several revisions of that, all compatible with each other tho. But they come in two different physical sizes so care must be taken. Also, it is a high demand chip so it's a bit more expensive, it runs about $35.

I agree with you on getting a 7600 rather than getting this 7300 repaired. Besides being more powerful, there are plenty of them which still live to this day despite running hot, so with good thermal paste it will last you a good while. Seems like it was built a little bit better than the other chips affected by Bumpgate.

[mmartell]

Re: Is This Typical GPU Failure ?

I don't understand ? The GO7300 is the 7300GT and the GO7600 is the 7600GT or what are you saying ?

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Is This Typical GPU Failure ?

If it says GO7300 instead of G73 on the chip then it is the mobile version optimized for lower power consumption (and thus lower performing). The G73 would be what you would find in a desktop pci-e 7300GT card. They are different chips and one cannot replace the other. Just pointing that out in case you want to go the route of replacing the BGA on your existing card.

[mmartell]

Re: Is This Typical GPU Failure ?

Got it. Tore it down again and you were right. And on top of it the date code is 0632 not 0832 so this is probably original.

I hit it with some heat but either this is too far gone or it wasn't enough heat (my wand can't effectively wet large ics). Reassembled and the symptoms had changed just not cured.

Question on these bumps.. are they in the die or throughout the substrate as well ? Just for fun I'm going to try and hit it again and would like to know where to concentrate my efforts.

[mmartell]

Re: Is This Typical GPU Failure ?

Oh and how do you find manufacturer production runs so someone doesn't buy a "new" ic made in 2012 that's been out of production for 10 years ?

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Is This Typical GPU Failure ?

Okay, that is a desktop chip. It happens to be exactly the one i had linked in the ebay auction above. So if you break it, you know what you need.

The bumps are in the die, the black square. Concentrate all your efforts on there. Heat it for a good 3-4 minutes with the air set to around 10 o'clock and temperature to what you would normally set it to for, say, soldering a QFN chip with lead-free solder. In my case this is around 450C on the dial.

Have a heatsink on hand or something else that you can apply some pressure with without burning yourself. When you lift the wand away from the die, apply slight pressure to the die and hold it there for a minute or so. Then re-install the card and test it. Should work, but remember it is a temporary fix, and how long it lasts depends mostly on luck.

Avoid heating the substrate too much or it will bloat and short out the chip. Also known as "popcorning".

[mmartell]

Re: Is This Typical GPU Failure ?

Awesome information, thanks so much !

[mmartell]

Re: Is This Typical GPU Failure ?

Reflow did not help - symptoms remain unchanged. Though I'm not averse to doing this several times for the learning aspect (computer doesn't work anyway!) I'm loathe to keep disassembling this thing for a temporary fix. I'm still trying to find the type of ram used on the listing I posted above before I make my next move.