One of the first signs of a failing laptop can be the loss of your wireless.

Your internet/network stops working and the wireless card is not detected in device manager.

Another way is no display to the laptop screen. The laptop power lights etc come on, but there is no display and the screen stays black.

Both the above problems can indicate a failing Nvidia GPU.

The term GPU refers to the Graphical Processing Unit or otherwise known as the video card

Every laptop has a GPU. Without one you wouldn't see any image on your screen.

Some GPU's are made by Intel, some by ATI and others by Nvidia.

To date, we have only had horror stories with the Nvidia GPU's.

The failures are caused by a solder bump on the underside of the GPU that connects the I/O termination, basically the "feet" of the silicon chip, to the pad on the substrate.


In Nvidia’s GPUs, this solder bump is created using high-lead.

Due to the extreme temperatures generated by these chips and due to the constant power cycling, defects between the die and the substrate has substantially grown in recent chip generations, apparently leading to fatigue cracking.

Fatigue cracking is where the solder bumps on the underside of the chip break away from the mainboard causing the loss of video.

Add into the equation a growing chip size (double the chip dimension, quadruple the stress on the bump) as well as generally hotter chips and you have the perfect scenario to take the solder beyond its limits.

Apparently, problems arise at what Nvidia claims to be “extreme temperatures” and what we hear may be temperatures not too much above 70 degrees Celsius.

Yorkshire Repairs can fix faults down to component level, This type of repair is a lot more cost effective than replacing the laptop itself.

Most High Street companies will tell you that a repair cannot be done and try and sell you a new laptop, This is not always the case and 90% of faults can be fixed.

If you have a laptop with an issue get in touch and see if we can repair the fault. We offer a no fix no fee service on this type of repair.