XPS meltdown

Gmanx

I love my Dell XPS M1710 gaming notebook, so I was extremely upset when the graphics card - an nVidea GeForce Go 7950GTX - had a meltdown, especially since it's just out of warranty (isn't it always).

This nVidea thread details the issue I've been having, but basically I've only been able to get vga graphics in safe mode (in vista) so no graphics hungry apps or games for me....

It appears to be an overheating issue, which can be terminal. In my case I still have some graphics capability.

Replacements for these things are not that common and cost a couple of limbs to buy either from Dell (if they have stock) or from eBay etc.

I think I'm going to look for a re-conditioned card online and fit it myself. I might even see if there's an engineer who can look at my dodgy card and fix it (I've heard that it can be successful).

I'm not down on Dell, and still think this is a great machine, but I'm going to go back to a desktop PC for serious work... Repairs and upgrades are easier, cheaper, and the open framework makes cooling much less of an issue.

We've had the hottest day for 3 years here, and the hottest June since 1995 - which could go part way to explain why it should die now - but it's still nowhere near as hot as the southern US for example...

So, I now have an HD widescreen display with an 800x600 resolution stretched across it. At least my red-ringed 360 has returned fit and well.

notman

Maybe open it up and see if there is a way to improve cooling? Maybe the fan for the video card is starting to crap out. I didn't look at that thread yet, so maybe this is something at a hardware level that is unavoidable, but it's at least worth opening the laptop up for an investigation.

Gmanx

Thanks Notman. One of the recommendations I've seen is to do exactly that - try re-seating the card. I'm going to give that a go tonight. I'll have to remove the display, keyboard, drives, palm-rest - basically strip down the whole thing, which will be an experience... I'm hoping that it'll be that easy to fix, but I'm 99% sure it won't be..

MRico

This happend to me twice with my Alienware m9750, luckily I had a 3 year warranty and got my graphics cards replaced for free both times. You might want to open it up and put some thermal compound on the GPU to help with cooling.

notman

Yeah, like autopsy said, you can try new thermal paste (don't put on too much), and reseat the video heatsink. Many times you don't need to take everything apart. Usually you can take a few screws off the back, then remove the keyboard and have access to many things. Usually you only have to disassemble everything to remove the part completely.

Gmanx

Thanks guys. I stripped it down completely to see if the card had slightly slipped out of it's mounting, since the tolerances on these things are so small.. No such luck. Also, it looks like the damage is done since it fires up like this from cold, and the glitches I see are well documented elsewhere.. I reckon the card is 'cooked'. Bugger. At least I know that if I do get a replacement, I'll feel confident to fit it myself (being Cisco certified).

Here is what the card assembly looks like. I don't think I can get under the copper sub-assembly to re-apply thermal paste...

MRico

You should be able to just unscrew the heatsink off the graphics card, because when you buy the graphics card it doesn't come with an extra heatsink, although it might be to late to put thermal paste on it.

Sorry bro, I know how frustrating this shit is.

Gmanx

Y'know, I might just do that as a last resort. But I'll want a replacement recon'd card put aside (or another functioning machine ready in the wings) before I do. I'd hate for it to completely fubar the card and not have a machine at all. One needs one's interwebzz.

Thanks for the sympathy - Honestly, I feel like my pet's died or something...

Gmanx

I took some scary pics last night, including recording all the serial numbers etc.



PC snuff pic!!

Gmanx

I contacted Dell, gave them my old service tag number, and lo-and-behold, I still have a service contract. They thanked me for the time and effort I'd taken to try fix it myself - outstanding!

They asked me to do a few checks and update drivers. I'm feeling more optimistic about this now, but I'll echo what others have said in 'I'm thinking of buying a laptop' threads:

ALWAYS GO FOR THE MAXIMUM EXTENDED WARRANTY especially on these high-end machines.

Gmanx

Just to wrap this up:

The engineer called yesterday and fitted a new graphics card. Excellent service from Dell, can't fault it....

Now, I'm looking to add a cooler to my set-up.

Jesse Moody

Awesome. Yeah i have a M1710 with the 7950GTX in it. It gets HOT!!! LOL I have had to have it replaced twice. No problems there. Dell has always sent someone out quickly and been very efficient.

I love this machine. It's a bit slower now compared to some others coming out but it's been my work horse for the past 2 1/2 years.

From what I have read on notebook forums is that the card in here gets dust in the fans easily due to the design and it's hard to blow it out without taking your computer apart so it just binds up and over heats leading to catastrophe.

Anyways. Glad it all worked out.

dejawolf

yeah, dust buildup in laptops is very common. sadly, its also very common that the fans are hard to get at. i have a medion laptop which i used for years, and it was getting slower, and started smelling burnt when i ran it, so i opened it up, looked at the heatsink and fan area, and.. there's this carpet of dust between the heatsink and fan, about 2mm thick!
it was so dense i could probably have made a shirt out of it..

Gmanx

Thanks guys - Dell certainly delivered! I have no problems stripping the machine down to clean it out from time to time - but I'd rather not have to do it of course!

I've just ordered a notebook cooler - this one from Zalman - which will cool the bottom of the case where it gets really hot, and hopefully lessen the load on the not-too-efficient onboard fans and sinks.