Can a GPU repair itself?

[Mattemeo]

My laptop has had a history of GPU failure. It's a Sony Vaio bought in 2007 and has one of the faulty nVidia chipsets in it, but Sony won't admit it's a problem on my particular model (because not enough people use it, is my guess), so won't do me a warranty repair - they think charging me nearly as much as it cost to repair it is fair. I think they're mental. Anyway, after 2 warranty repairs in the first year, it was ok for a while, then the GPU started acting up again towards the end of last year - blackouts etc, then earlier this year, it started getting VGA failure - three beeps on startup, screen never comes to life, required multiple attempts to boot into windows.

I could live with that, but while playing WoW at the end of february, the GPU gave up the ghost entirely. I was able to salvage some use out of the laptop by going into safemode and disabling the graphics card, let the machine run off mobo integrated graphics so I could at least use the machine as The World's Only 17" Netbook™ - good for the internet but not a whole lot else - certainly not photoshop or digital artwork, let alone games.

Anyway, even with the card turned off, the laptop still announced VGA failure at times, sometimes not at all, but the glitched graphical start up (dead GPU patterns and the usual signs) were always there before Windows booted. Yesterday night, they were gone. I didn't want to risk turning the GPU back on before a backup, which I did this morning, and since then I've re-enabled the GPU and rebooted. VGA failure struck twice, so I know it's not totally ok - but after a slow boot up, Vista started, logged in and the Aero effect is back on (it's GPU assisted, doesn't work without it) - translucent windows etc. In a minute, I'm going to try something a little more graphically intense than Peggle - probably just log on WoW, if I can.

So before I do, I'm just wondering if anyone else has had seemingly ruined hardware repair itself to some extent?

I'm still going to get a new laptop (though money's too tight to mention right now). The VGA failure warnings are enough to let me know I simply can't rely on this one anymore. But I am, at the very least, intruiged as to how this has happened.

[bhodi]

Yes. Heat caused by operating temperatures, cooling by turning it off and humidity of the room all contribute to a expansion and contraction of the circuit boards. On the faulty nVidia chipset, some of the components gradually come unglued due to this, and so become unreliable when they expand/contract away and towards each other. It's not uncommon for it to work, and then stop, and then work, depending on random environmental factors.

[Salamok]

Short answer: no, your video subsystem is never going to go back to the way it was.

Mystical answer:  You may be experiencing some sort of "melted itself back into a less fucked up situation" scenario (akin to the xbox wrapped in a towel voodoo).

[Mattemeo]

Well, I've just spent the last 2 hours scanning in a boat-load of completed line art through Photoshop, 600dpi resolution, so big, big stuff, and there wasn't a problem - something I couldn't do the day before yesterday - I still don't think I can rely on the laptop to actually start digital painting on layers etc, but at the very least I have some work in progress stuff I can add to my digital portfolio and send people.

I also rebooted the system just to make sure it wasn't a fluke, and again, slow startup but this time, no VGA failure and on logging into Vista, I got a nice 'oh shit your laptop's been faulty' Problem Reporst and Solutions window. It hasn't come up with much helpful - 'update this and that' etc, but at least the laptop has acknowledged the fuck ups - a source of neverending frustration when you're stuck in safemode and unable to diagnose a goddamn thing because despite damning evidence to the contrary, it thinks there's nothing wrong...

Updated WoW, logged in, no problems. god knows how much game-mail I've lost over the last month and a half, but hey, c'est la vie. I'll try playing later tonight when the graphical load will be heavier to test the risen GPU out, I guess.

Short answer: no, your video subsystem is never going to go back to the way it was.

Mystical answer:  You may be experiencing some sort of "melted itself back into a less fucked up situation" scenario (akin to the xbox wrapped in a towel voodoo).

Yeah, I'm getting a new laptop regardless. I can't trust this one to stay alive to do artwork on, and that's a massive part of what I need my laptop for.
As for the melted itself back scenario, I know you can reball/rebore a GPU (or other chipset) if you have the knowhow and equipment but it's not a sure-cure either way. Maybe that's what has happened here. Somehow.

[Murgos]

...unable to diagnose a goddamn thing because despite damning evidence to the contrary, it thinks there's nothing wrong...

Heh, for some reason my girlfriends laptop (Win 7) will drop off the network and then tell me that the wireless AP is not turned on and that I need to turn it on.  This despite the fact that the other 6 or 7 wireless devices in the house have no problem seeing and talking to the AP.

[Yegolev]

...unable to diagnose a goddamn thing because despite damning evidence to the contrary, it thinks there's nothing wrong...

Heh, for some reason my girlfriends laptop (Win 7) will drop off the network and then tell me that the wireless AP is not turned on and that I need to turn it on.  This despite the fact that the other 6 or 7 wireless devices in the house have no problem seeing and talking to the AP.

My wife yelled at me for the same thing!  It's not my trusty WRT54-GL, that much I can tell you.  However, since I grabbed some Win7 drivers for her wireless card, it's been pretty solid.

Yea, I knocked the dust off of "update your drivers".  The oldest ones are the best ones.

[Engels]

I've found on random occasions that uninstalling the IP6 stack on the network card profile can help with some intermittent connectivity issues. You can try it, then re-check the check box if it don't work.

[Mattemeo]

Way too good to be true. GPU granted me about an hour's worth of WoW time tonight, then blacked out and died on me in the middle of Stranglethorn. Oh well! I said I couldn't trust it, and I was right. What a weird day it's been. At least I got to scan in a bunch of art work and say hi to the guild!

[TheWalrus]

I'm working on a cooked motherboard right now. Couple months ago, I'd bluescreen every 2 hours, now nothing. Still waiting to see if it finally says fuck it, or I get enough spare money on the side together to justify another PC expense to the wife.

[Sheepherder]

My Radeon X1900 GT is giving me intermittent screen spaghetti when it displays certain shaders, my keyboard randomly loses sensitivity in half a dozen keys, my mouse occasionally has a life of my own and spins crazily all over the place, and my DVD drive detects as a CD device and fails to read most media.

On the positive side, my new motherboard isn't warped like the old one.

[Lantyssa]

Way too good to be true. GPU granted me about an hour's worth of WoW time tonight, then blacked out and died on me in the middle of Stranglethorn. Oh well! I said I couldn't trust it, and I was right. What a weird day it's been. At least I got to scan in a bunch of art work and say hi to the guild!

Sorry I wasn't on to say 'hi'.

[Mattemeo]

You might see me, still. After last night's blackout, the GPU looks like it breathes again today - haven't tested it yet, mind. Either way, if it's just going to keep rising like Kevin Smith's cholesterol and falling like Kevin Smith's career, I'm not sure how long I can be bothered rebooting and re-enabling.

[Ghambit]

Many of these boards (GPU's included) have weak soldering points.  The reason they randomly repair themselves is because the connections are intermittant and perhaps due to heat, re-soldering themselves.  The easy fix is sticking the board in the oven on 350+ degrees; let it cook and resolder itself.  No sense in not trying unless your part is under warranty.  You can google the exact procedure, but for the most part it's that simple.  A strong industrial heatgun is another option, but you have to be very careful.