How much do you think SONY will charge me to replace a graphics card and/or mother board?

Somewhere between zero and a million bucks.

Laptop or desktop?

Laptop. 3 years old. VGN AR 250G

I figured as much. I’d guess anywhere from $150 to $400 for a motherboard done at the factory. I’d try an independent first. Some little guy who works out of his house, or a storefront, to one of the chain outfits like Best Buy/Geek $quad. If Sony won’t quote you a flat price, you might consider another brand next time around.

Let me tell you what Geek Squad said. If I bring it to them, they will send it to THEIR guy and I pay the $35 shipping. Then, I pay HIM for whatever he does. If he can’t fix it, they send it to SONY and I pay SONY whatever they charge.

@Mr_M So everybody wins! Well, except you. Perhaps you should take one for the team.

Why not buy a graphics card yourself and install it yourself ?
Cheaper and easily done

@sandystrachan, it’s not like doing it in a desktop. It may be part of the motherboard and I’ll need that too.

@sandystrachan , some laptops have removable graphics cards, but more often, it’s just a chipset on the motherboard itself.

@Mr_M, I meant to say I’d recommend an independent over Best Buy. I’d never take anything there unless they sold it and it was still under warranty.

@IchtheosaurusRex , I will NEVER buy a SONY computer again.

From what i see your graphics card is “NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600” you can buy one of these from ebay or somewhere and replace it yourself .

Well, I’ll look into it. Clearly SONY and the Geeks are robbing me.

Damn straight Sony are money grabbers they don’t care unless they get money .
If i were you i would buy the graphics card or even a back up laptop , Ebay selling one like yours for $64 for your laptop and you can use it all as spares . Just make sure its in working order or the parts you want are in top condition .

If it’s this model:

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=11035670

it doesn’t appear to have a detachable graphics card. I could be wrong, but they didn’t give me any pictures. If it’s removable, you should be able to find the compartment on the underside of the computer.

@IchtheosaurusRex Are you blind it even tells you on that page the exact same graphics card i stated above . And its on Ebay for $161

@sandystrachan , this is all I see there:

Graphics
Processor : NVDIA® GeForce® Go 7600
Video RAM : 128MB
Chipset : Intel® 945PM
Interface : VGA out w/ Smart Display Sensor, HDMI™ out and S-Video out
TV Tuner : Yes (NTSC)

This tells me what the chipset is, but not whether or not the card can be pulled out. I’m not saying it can’t, I’m just saying it does not appear so. Most laptops don’t have removable graphics cards. Now, if you can prove me otherwise, I’m sure Mr_M will be delighted.

This is a Go 7699 card for a desktop:
http://www.techzine.nl/uploaded/31617_09e53c9c.jpg

Which is not gonna help him.

Yeah. I was about to look at the nVdia website to see if there were 2 versions of their graphics card/

IF IT’S THE MOTHER BOARD, CAN I CHANGE IT?

Your laptop is actually able to run two graphics cards .
Your card on ebay : http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Gateway-NX860X-NVIDIA-GeForce-Go-7600-128MB-33PA6VB0045_W0QQitemZ130299394091QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPCC_Video_TV_Cards?hash=item130299394091
If you want to buy a new motherboard your looking at alot of money . You should just buy a new laptop if the problem bothers you . Or buy a spares laptop and use the bits from it .

@Mr_M , you can change a motherboard, but it will be costly, and laptops are hard to work on. The cases are snapped together, and it’s hard to open them without cracking the plastic, even if you’ve got the right tools. It usually involves removing the keyboard and getting at some screws underneath. But mostly you have to pry the damn thing apart. I hope sandy is right and you can get away with just the graphics card.

It looks like I’m gonna have to send it to SONY. And the problem is getting worse.

Well, at least call around to the independent repair shops first. With times being hard, you can probably negotiate something cheaper with them.

Good point. Thanks.