How hard is it to replace the video card on a laptop?

[krispos42]

My HP laptop, make in I think 2004, just decided to have problems with the video card.

I wanted to watch some Netflix streaming video on my parent's HDTV. So I bought a cable to connect my laptop to the TV, figured out how to activate the 2nd-screen option for my laptop, and lo and behold, commercial-free "Arrested Development" for everybody to see!

Well, it's about a week later and all of a sudden the screen had turned to hash. Some of the pixels are the wrong colors, making text difficult to read. It's on both the built-in monitor and my parent's HDTV, so the problem logically has to be the video card, right?

Anybody have any experience with this?

[hobbit709]

1. Video on a laptop is part of motherboard.

No way of replacing without replacing whole motherboard.

[krispos42]

2. Fuck.

I was afraid that was the case. :cry:

[struggle4progress]

3. It may actually depend on the laptop. You can buy videocards for some laptops,

but ease of replacement probably depends on the machine. Sometimes, doing ANYTHING to a laptop can be a nightmare involving taking off the screen and the keyboard bezel and the keyboard ...

I have no idea what the general situation with HP is: hobbit is very probably right. But HP may have some manuals available at their website: I found a comprehensive manual there for an old off-lease machine I bought this spring. Start here: http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/support_task.html

[krispos42]

4. Okay, thanks!

I'll have to look at it later when I have more time, but thank you.