sinnatra

Distinguished
Aug 13, 2011
1
0
18,510
Hi,

I have a MSI GT60 0ne that is out of warranty, barely. It just powered off while I was playing World of Tanks. When I tried to turn it back on the power light would come on for a split second then nothing. I let it cool down, checked the power cord to make sure everything was seated correctly, etc, nothing fixed the problem. I looked up similar issues on google and most of the results indicated that it was the motherboard. So I called MSI and got an RMA and shipped it back to them. After 3 weeks they finally get back to me and tell me my VGA (GTX 680M) and HDD are dead. They want $1100 to fix it!!!

Okay, first of all the HDD is an easy fix and I am pretty sure I can handle that. I worked I.T. for 14 years but it was 12 years ago but I am still pretty good with computers and electronics. I am pretty sure I can handle something as easy as a HDD swap in a laptop. What bugs me is that I would think that there would be some kind of indication at power up if it was the graphics adapter, some beeping or light sequence to help identify the problem. Has the industry gone away from these kinds of aids in order to help identify issues at boot up?

Second, I have been looking at GTX 680m cards on ebay and they look similar to other GTX cards, like the 780M for example. I am wondering if these and possibly any other cards are interchangeable with the 680M. Also how difficult would it be to replace one of these cards? I am no stranger to repairing laptops but like I said it's been 12 years and I am not sure how much things have changed.

In advance I want to say thanks for any advice or information.