Direct2Dell

Hi everyone,

To make sure everyone has the most recent information we're disabling comments on these older NVIDIA GPU posts.  Lionel's fourth post can be located here and you're welcome to post any comments there.

I purchased an Inspiron 1720 in March 2008, with a T9300 CPU, 4 Gb of Ram, and the 8400 graphics chip.  I couldn't use the Vista OS, so I manually downgraded to XP Pro, and had to find the drivers on the Dell website for earlier models of the 1720 because Dell wouldn't send me XP disks.  I'm now using the March, 2008 video driver, which is still the one listed on the website for the 1720 running XP.  I haven't had any of the symptoms people are reporting that indicate a video card issue, but it could be just a matter of time, and I can't afford to have a sudden failure.  Is there anything else I can or should do to protect myself? 

I'm upset that I ended paying more for a poorly designed video chip that might fry my system, and is probably reducing my battery life as well.  I'm also upset that Dell's only answer (after a ton of complaints) is to extend the warranty one measly year for that particular problem.  An expensive laptop should last 5 to 10 years, not 2.

One other thought.  Due to some vision problems and the lighting conditions I work in, I ordered the non-glare display, which only comes in a relatively low 1440 x 900 resolution.  I presume that reduces the demands on the video card, compared to the glossy, high-res displays.  Has anyone who is also using a non-glare display experienced a video chip failure?   Has anyone with a high-res card tested the effect of reducing the resolution?

Iorek888 

I'm another 9400/E1705 owner who now owns a 17" paperweight. 

I purchased it direct from Dell for my son with the Nvidia card in August of 2006 .  It now has a fried motherboard. The one year extension does me no good.   

Can anyone at Dell tell me why I should EVER purchase another product from them?  They intentionally did not notify their customers of the fact that they had sold products with a known defect.  

Dell has become the new "e-machines".

test

Here is the problem.  The video card is fine.  The problem is how its cooled, there is a thick thermal pad in between the GPU and the heatsink.       This is why the cards are running hot.   It is not removing heat fast enough.  The dell bios rectifies the problem by downclocking your video card when it gets hot.     Ive seen it get up to 100c.   What really has to be done is , 1) thermal pad must be removed  2) copper shim installed to bridge the gap. with a thin layer of as5

 This is not for the faint of heart .  You must gut the whole laptop to get to the GPU.  Many many many screws, did i mention many ?     Its doable i took it apart yesterday.   Ruined the thermal pad by mistake , so i added a bit of extra paste while i wait for the copper shims to arrive.    If you take pictures of screw placement and follow the service manual its quite simple.

For my vostro 1400 i ordered  1mm thick  0.04"    and about 14mm wide .55"   x   14mm  .55"  .            Ordered 2 of them  it was $13 shipped    https://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant.cfm?id=966&step=2&top_cat=87

Hi you poor people,I to have dell inspiron 9400/1705 with the nVidia geforce 7900 gs graphics card,my laptop is just two years old,my card is dead,I contacted dell spain for help and advice,as my 9400 is out of warenty they quoted me 1.030 euro (1200)dollars for repair.How do dell and nVidia hope to retain us as clients if this kind of absurd quote for a graphics card repair.I have since contacted many tec reps at variouse news agencys and hope they will make this real problem know to there viewers and readers.I will never buy dell goods again.

Hello everyone,

Lionel had posted an updated blog with additional information, which you can read here.  I would highly recommend that if you have any questions to read that post as it may answer them for you.   If you have any additional comments or questions you can post them on that blog as well.

The Inspiron e1705's should really be added to this list.  I bought mine in 6/2007 with the 3-yr ext. warranty and NBD service.  The first time the GPU broke, was 13 months after I bought the system (just after the 1 year mark).  I was placed on the phone for a total of 10 hours in a course of 2 days by tech support who refused to believe this was a hardware malfunction, they pushed that I just didn't have the right drivers (even though it worked perfectly fine for a year).  After doing my own research and poking through the diagnostic tests they gave me, I got an error message that confirmed this was a h/w error.  I had to call back tech support because they failed to call me back while I was doing these tests.  The tech support people did not want to send someone to replace the card (despite my NBD service) they instead wanted me to send in my laptop to a depot here in the US.  Needless to say, I got my laptop a little over a week later and I still had to reinstall all my programs.  The laptop worked fine until 3 months later.

The next time it happened, I called tech support and they wanted to push this to be another driver issue.  I told them that I wasn't going to spend another 2 days of diagnosis on a problem that I already know the solution to.  Two hours on the phone later, they agreed to have me send in the laptop to the depot (once again, refusing to send someone to come and replace the video card).  The day after I got confirmation that the depot received I got a an automated message on my machine saying that my repair was delayed until March.  I quickly called tech support to find out what was going on with my laptop.  I was told that the video cards from Nvidia were "no good" and that replacements from the company won't show up until March, that's why it was delayed.  I told them that this was completely unacceptable because I use my laptop for work and school.  The tech guy (after talking to his supervisor) said that he would call the depot to take out the bad video card, send me my laptop with no video card, and have someone come to my house to install an inferior card just so that I can have my laptop working.  He also said that when the replacement cards show up in March, he will have someone come to my house again to install the right card.  After a week of waiting for my card-less laptop, I called tech support again.  This time, they told me that my laptop has been approved for a system exchange and will be ready in 15 business days.  I told them that this was once again unacceptable since I need the laptop to work from home.  The supervisor eventually put an "expedited" flag on the order.  I received my laptop 2 weeks later but it's not an Inspiron e1705 with XP, I got a Studio 1735 with Vista.  The laptop came with an ATI Radeon 3650 HD.  Tech support refused to install XP on the laptop stating that these new laptops were built with Vista in mind.  Luckily, the programs I use for work also work on Vista machines.  The spare battery I bought with the e1705 is just a useless brick now since I can't use it with the Studio.

I wish they would've told me what I was getting before they sent me the machine (they refused to tell me what it is).  There were some upgrades I would've gladly paid for (like more RAM) before the machine got built.  So after a month without a laptop and after countless hours spent talking to Dell Tech Support, I will say that this will be my last Dell machine.  I am extremely disappointed with their customer service and paying over $700/year just to talk to a techie in No. America is just ridiculous.  As far as these Nvidia cards, Dell should just recall and replace all laptops that had these cards installed.  It would be the responsible thing to do.

I wish I had found this site before I went through multitude of hours of Dell "support." I have an XPS M1330, with the NVIDIA GeForce 8400M, and I had the same screen problems as others (vertical colored lines, green and black squares and a variety of other designs).

I contacted Dell Support, and after many hours on the phone,  finally reformatting the computer, I was told it an on site technician would install a new NVIDIA. He told me to send the computer to the Dell Depot in Texas in a FedEx box he would have sent to me. One month later I still do not have my computer and I am now told my computer has been dropped and it is the motherboard and various other parts that are the problem. Repairs are over $500, not covered by my extended warranty.

I have been the sole user of this one year old computer, and I have never dropped it.  Does anyone have any suggestions on possible avenues to retrieving my computer without paying $500?

I have lost confidence in Dell Support. After at least 8 computers purchased over the years, the one time I need the support, it wasn't there.

My XPS gen 2 laptop also has a faulty NVIDIA 6800 Go grahics card - its out of warranty and I was quoted £350 for onsite repair!!  Not very happy !!!

I own a Vostro 1500.  I've been using an external monitor for several months.  I've had color problems on and off.   Then it started going black intermittently.  Now it doesn't work at all.  I've gone to Dell's support pages, which are no support at all.  I've tried to call Dell, but since it just went out of warranty, I can't even talk to anyone without cha-ching.  I own three Dells at home and just purchased three more for my business.  I finally stumbled across this link as a result of an Ask search.  I think I made a serious judgment error in buying Dell when they won't even come clean about these chip issues.  It took twenty minutes on hold with India to even get an invoice copy.  I can't talk to them about my older hardware issues.  I have to go through a maze to even find someone knowledgable.  How do I get my external monitor connection fixed???  Is Dell going to survive with sub-par service and equipment issues they won't acknowledge???

I own a Precision M90 notebook and my Nvidia Quadro 2500 GPU failed on 12/29/2008. I have "next business day" warranty and I called Dell Italy technical support the same day it happened, but as today (01/15/2009) they didn't yet substitute my graphic card, saying they have problems resupplying new GPUs from Nvidia. When I bought my M90 I came from a bad support experience and I preferred Dell over other vendors exactly because they had "next business day" support: now you can imagine how upset I am after 15 days waiting and with no certain date for problem solution. I have two questions:

1) How long should I wait for for my notebook to be repaired? Can I hope to have it fixed within January?

2) Why Precision M90 is not eligible for the "limited warranty enhancement"? It has the same kind of Nvidia GPU as the others, with exactly the same kind of problems but I don't see it in the table.

hello all;

i have a xps m1330 and i have tryied every trick in the book to fix its video card problem

1- intalled latets driver for (Geforce 8400)

2- intalled all bios version A9 - A10 - A11 - A12.

3- formated the pc many times...

i guess the only solution is change the mainboard/ video card or get another pc ... i m really depressed about this! i guess we just need to put the laptop in ice to prevent over heating lol

hope we find any solution ....

I have had my XPS 1330 for just over a year and the keyboard had issues only 2 months after I received it, and now my motherboard/GeForce has failed for the second time.  I had read a rumour (I believe on the Dell forum) that Dell was going to extend warranties but can't find any additional information and assume they have not made such an announcement. 

This second failure occured about 7 months after the first, so I have little confidence that replacing the motherboard is going to prevent a third failure unless the cooling problem on the Nvidia chip has been fixed. 

I love the XPS, but can't afford to have such an unreliable system!

this blog is a perfect place to discuss, share and communicate user problems and experts advise and the updates. thats what i write in my blog that a company should blog coz if you blog you exist.

I appreciate dell for this blog.

Muhammad Yaqoob

I have a XPS M1710 with a Nvidia Go 7900GS that has just fried giving me a set of orange, verticle lines (about 30) at boot up that change to blue once the OS has loaded.

The graphics card (Nvidia Go 7900 GS) fried while playing Stalker 2, initially giving me a BSOD and a "NV4_disp" system error. I uninstalled the driver and reinstalled it to have it continually throw this error at me and the lines on the screen.

I can only load up my notebook via "safe mode" with the VGA drivers installed as when i boot to normal mode the system either freezes or BSOD's.

After booting to safe mode i can then uninstall the VGA driver and boot to normal mode.

Dell have said that they can replace the Nvidia card for £300 with a refurbished card and will only offer 90 days guarentee with no guarenteethat this issue will not occure, even though according to Dell my system the Dell XPS M1710 is not effected by the Nvidia VGA/Graphics card faliure.

I have always used a Zalman NC1000 Notebook Cooler on my system so maybe this has just delayed the inevitable, regardless my XPS machine is not unusable and Dell responded at the cost of the three year old replacement card by saying;

Dominic @ Customer Relations UK (9-5 mon - fri. Tel Number Edited Out)

"The XPS is an expensive machine and replacement parts are expensive for it"

Dear Todd Smart,

I just ordered a XPS M1530 with 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT

on 10/26/2008. I thought the XPS system were the top of Dells laptop

line and liked the pricing and design of system, after ordering

i looked up reviews on the net and found this forum and others

on net in reference Nvidia moble GPU failure.  That scared me

please tell me that at this point in time Nvidia and Dell have fixed

the problem.

today I got my xps 1330 with nvidia 8400 repaired, mobo exchange... of course.

result is terribe!! not only that 1 usb is not working and one can not change boot sequence in bios any more, but fan is running at maximum nearly all the time - sounds as if a plane would take off, and even worst - nvidia is terrible slow in that state. even need to wait for the graphics while typing this tiny text.

absolutely inacceptable!!

although I really liked Dell and ordered around 10 laptops only this year for my customers - that's it for me.

I am getting rid of that xps and wont come back to Dell, sry guys, but there is no way to go for that any longer.

It's October, for heaven's sake! Where is the updated information, Lionel Menchaca?

Frying eggs in Seattle,
David

I purchase my E1705 (9400) June 2007 (warranty expired 5 months ago!) with 7900GS and the display went dead on me as well. I got suckered into paying the $49 and so far their help hasn't fixed my problems. For many response I have read so, the symptoms are probably a dead graphics card. 

If Dell will replace mine, I will get the extended warranty. Dell needs to address this problem since many have indicated issues with this card. I have a six year old laptop that still works.

Ivan said:

This post is going to save loads of laptop owners some serious headaches! Thanks for sorting us out!

Some weeks ago, I read on a forum a posting about an enhancement of the cooling capacity of the GPU and processor for the XPS 1330, by modifying the cooling system.  This seemed to reduce the temperature of the GPU / processor and generally.  Now that I need to do this enhancement, I can't find the posting.

Can anyone give me the link to the posting?

So yesterday it was my turn. Several artifacts appeared on my screen and the computer rebooted. Same thing has happened five times today. The motherboard is getting fried and after reading this at least I know what's the problem. I will call Dell tomorrow for the fifth time in a year. I will probably try another manufacturer next time and I will stop recommending Dell to others if they won't stop selling malfunctional hardware.

M1210 owner since January 2007, out of warranty now.

After 18 months of unintensive use my laptop's display does not start because of the NVIDIA faulty GPU. 

I submitted a very angry comment, but I got a message from a moderator that it had to be changed due to some unappropriate words. Thanks. Instead, I decided to rewrite it and give DELL another chance:

I experienced great customer service during my warranty period, and NO customer service after it expired. I had a power supply failure, audio unintegrity, and NVIDIA failure. Same computer.

You have to prove everybody that you keep on your name and compensate everyone including me (out of warranty) for the deffective products that you sold. It is NVIDIA's fault for the GPU, but yo have to share the consequences.

Do whatever AUDI (with their TT) and many others did.

Don't do what Mercedes did, destroying their reputation with deffective electrical systems (2000-2005) and insulting customer service. Guess what I had, and I will never want to have again.

DELL: Make us buy from you again. Because some of us buy for friends, and family, and maybe for office...

You know ho to contact us!

i have a vostro 1310 with a nvidia 8400M GS and idle has a 64 degrees and playin over 95 so what can i do???????? i have a A12 bios update, call dell to ask for a change of the card????

Hi all,

I purshased my xps 1530 january 2008, didn't have any problems yet  except one video driver was failed but the problem was wron ram which i upgred, at the moment still working with no problem, at normal use the gpu running at aroun 60 degrees so should i upgrade bios? how to check temperatures during game? are any way to change video chip? like to ati one? i'm not so gud in pc's. paid 2000eur for this one and like it so much :)

Dell XPS M1530 Crimson Red  
Intel Core 2 Extreme Q9000  
Windows XP Professional SP3
15.4 inch WXGA+ True Life
4GB DDR2 SDRAM
320GB 7200rpm SATA
Blu Ray 2X Slim Slot-Load Drive
NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 8600M GT 256MB
Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card
Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal

Update:  Installed temperature monitor.  GPU is running at 89 degrees Celsius during gameplay.  !!!!  Dug a little further to get normal temp ranges and found out that running at that temp will fry the GPU and/or motherboard after consistent use.  Is Dell aware of this problem with the NVIDIA gpu?  And if so, what is their response or compensatory action?  Will update as soon as I get my call-back from Dell.

We just recently purchased a Dell XPS M1530 (Sept 2008) with the primary purpose of the system to play World of Warcraft.  Ever since we received the laptop it has been one problem after another.  The first problem was a defective install of McAfee.  The laptop came with corrupted .dll files that would not allow install/re-install of the application.  McAfee techs could not even fix it.  I had to purchase Norton 360 to get that problem fixed.  Then WoW keeps blackscreening and shutting down in the middle of game play.  Dell Tech Support suggested re-installing Vista (which we did) and all of the applications.  Found out the hard way that they did not ship the recovery disk with the laptop.  Good times.  Had to spend 6 hours on the line with techs to re-install everything.  After doing all that, the game still shuts down.  I'ver ran every debug, fix-it, and suggested course of action that I could find and it does not work.  I reviewed all of the error log entries and they do not point to WoW but the last tech I talked to insisted that it was the WoW application and would need a day to confirm it.  After hitting forums on the Blizzard site, there was a suggestion of a heat sink problem and then I found this site that suggests a possible problem with the NVIDIA chipset.  Anyone else having these problems?? 

I’ve had numerous video problems  since I purchased my M1330 5 moths ago and it ultimately ended this week with a fried motherboard. While I appreciate the promptness of the service call I can’t understand why Dell refuses to extend the warranty beyond the 1 year period knowing the extent of this problem.

I know of 2 other individuals who’s warranties have been extended by Dell at no cost over the same problem and yet I was not as fortunate even after talking with more than 5 separate tech and customer support personnel.

What has to occur in order for this to happen? Do I need to call irate 10 more times? It makes no sense that after spending thousands of dollars in a laptop a loyal customer needs to go thru this time consuming process for what should be an automatic consideration. The volume of these instances and the fact that this is a well known issue with this and other manufacturers shouldn’t surprise tech support ; they all acted as if this was the first known case hence no warranty extension!

I would appreciate any insight anyone may provide to get the warranty extended. I know this is going to be a problem in the future and it’s only right that Dell recognizes and does everything they can for customers who trusted the manufacturer for a quality product, which clearly it is not at this time.

I have the 9400 and the same problems happened to me. I have the nvidia geforce go 7900gs installed from the factory.  If you boot up in safe mode to an external display you can get into the system diagnostics. Start up the computer with the external display connected, while booting press F8 tapping, then press the FN key and F8 this switches to the ext. monitor. I called dell yesterday and asked very nicely if they could mail me the ati x1400 card as a good will replacement for my defective nvidia card. Well, it arrived this morning and the computer never worked or looked as good. The fans hardly run when doing normal computing. Battery life has more than doubled. And the DW is freeking happy!. Thanks dell for great customer support.

Hi all,

I have bought DELL 1525 on Sep 18th presently i can feel some burn smell from the laptop. Could anyone help me out.

is it affected with NVIDIA GPA Chip?

Thanks for your immediate cooperation.

I purchased my m1210 laptop in January 2007, and the GPU has died too...

I have an e1705 with a GeForce Go 7800 GS which just died on my a few weeks ago. I think I bought it May '06. First the video started corrupting so I rebooted. Then the Dell splash screen was corrupted so I decided to shut the laptop down and wait for a cooldown period. After that I get no video but I know its booting up. Nothing off the external DVI port either. Its unfortunate that I can't find a replacement on Dell's site for a laptop that is only 2 years old. I'm reluctant to pay $300+ for a used one off ebay that will probably fail. It seems like many others with the 7x00 series are having similar issues and I would even be happy if Dell met us half way since many of our laptops are out of warranty. I've since bought an HP desktop (Yay Woot!) but I really miss my laptop. Its like losing a pet. Kinda.

Is this a temporay fix for this known issue?

I sure hope so because I am not satisfied with this "fix". I see it as only a delay in the death of my m1330.

My rights as a consumer state that the repair should be permenate the first time the product is sent in for repair or repaired by manufacture. I have had my motherboard replaced twice so far because of this GPU issue.....

Can you (DELL) please give me the phone number to ring to arrange for my VOSTRO 1510 to be fixed or replaced due to this problem? I rang the general 1800 support number and they did not know what I was talking about??

Ok, what about the Vostro 1700 ?? I'm having a 8600 gt m and i mean it still works, but i don't want breaking it when it's out if the warranty. it should have (almost) the excact same specifications as the vostro 1710.... so i'm really worried :-/

because the table doesn't say anything about the 1700...

help? please :-)

my vostro 1500 had the nvidia 8600gt and i upgrade the bios to the last revision (a06) and a few days ago the motherboard just died. the funny thing is the warranty expired 09-29-08!!!!!

the machine doesn´t work at all. i called dell, chat whit dell, mail whit dell and they said that the warranty expired so i have to buy the motherboard.

if the company recognize that the problem of overheathing is cause of GPU and cause multiple failure (have to plug in an external video, that happend to me before the mother die) why i have to be the responsable of the cost of reparation?

i need a responsable solution

Apple do not recall affected notebooks. Apple repair affected notebooks in case of failure for free withhin two years after purchasing, nevertheless if notebook has warranty!!!

That link only showed Apple is doing what Dell and HP are doing. No recall was mentioned. It said that if it broke within 2 years of purchase, thy'd fix it. Factor in one year standard warranty and one year extension for GPU, that is exactly what Dell is doing....

Dell actually goes beyond that for those that have purchased an extended warranty. Dell's extenson adds one year to whatever warranty a user has - up to five years. Apple is cutting it off at two years....

Dell could do better here, but false posts don't help add to the discussion.

I purchased 5 XPS M1530 for our business all but one has failed, time is money and faulty notebooks are of no use to a business.

I am left with no option other then to never consider or purchase another NVIDIA/Dell product ever again.

Funny how Apple can recall their faulty machines, NVIDIA/DELL you will loose many customers over this fiasco if you do not do the right thing soon.

Hi,

I had got my motherboard replaced a month back and now i have started having issues again.

I have raised an email based support with dell but there has been no response yet.The last time when i got my mother board replaced it was after adding Mr. Michel Dell's email id in my mailing list.

I wonder if i need to do that again and for how long will Dell continue giving such defective GPU's.

so has this situation been resolved, are dell or nvidia replacing the faulty chips?

i relaly wanted to buy an XPS M1330, but have decided not too unless all this mess has been resolved.

I am calling in to get my second board replacement, just had it fixed last week, is Dell or anyone taking any serious steps to resolve this yet? I do not want to have my board replaced every two weeks.

I heard that Apple just found the same problem in their Mac notebooks.  And guess what?  They're recalling them!!!!  Can we expect to be treated with the same respect?

Apple has just released that it too is having issues with its 8600GT chipsets.  The difference is that they are recalling the units.  You can read the details here.

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2377 

So, Dell, this is telling me that I should buy a Mac Book next time.  If you want to keep customers loyal to your brand, you have to stand by your product.  Apple knows this.  Its too bad that you don't.

Well, i have to say that i also had the fatal problem witht the Nvidia GPU , and after calling DELL support, i got a technician in 48 hours who repaired my XPS 1330 in no time changing all of the motherboard, because the GPU is integrated to it. So got the new motherboard and it was already updated with the A12 Bios.  Personally i got very worried at fisrt but the treatment has been excellent. I have to say that i am very happy of having bught the m1330 instead of the Sony Vaio SZ , which i was also looking at.

By the way i have a desktop which is Dell and at work i also bought 3 DELL Desktops, and i am very satisfied. I have also recomended DELL to friends and family and it is a satisfaction to hear them after a long time, and appreciating that i introduced them to DELL.

I just want to be fair with DELL because this is the first problem i encounter with one of their products and it has been solved at lightning speed. I am very happy, i cant say more.

By the way i have a TOSHIBA portge 3440 and its still working like the first day. Thats also a real piece of fine tech. 8 years going, i hope the XPS lasts that long!!

Just got a new XPS 1330. After 3 hours of operation it suddenly switched off and never came back to life. I am not sure this has something to do with the GPU but now that I know that Dell manufactures and ships Laptops with parts that are prone to failure I will send the computer back and cancel the purchase (in Germany this is possible for two weeks after you get something that you bought online).

Good afternoon.

I have a XPS M1330 nVIDIA 8400 GS, I think.. I say I think because after the last Windows update, where an update for the nVIDIA 8400 were recommended, I no longer see anything. With nothing I mean that when I start my pc, I only see a white screen with a black vertical line and slowly, some others lines apperar as well... and that's it, no matter for how long I wait. I started having problems last week, when it stoppet working while I was watching a video, and it just got worse and worse to the point I couldn't even connect to Internet without the fear of it  freezing with all the consecuencies...

any ideas of what to do???? If I just could start the pc I would be able to DO something...

Thanks and best regards

Fernando

looking at the name and popularity i bought dell but it was a bad decision if they knew that the nvidia 8400m gs series were faulty they shouldn't have ship the product otherwise they should have delayed the shipped first testing all the faulty hardware i am very disappoint because i bought my xps m1330 in america and i live here in nepal now how am i suppose to replace my faulty hardware even if i have a warranty

more pics.

Two questions:

- Has nVidia solved the issue?

- If I order now do I get a working laptop?

KR

Eric

I have a M1330 with intel x3100 gpu. do they have problems too or just 8400gs? should i upgrade my bios too?

I just started having this problem... I was playing Warcraft 3 which I play fairly infrequently and all of a suddent stuff started messing up. I restarted my computer and all of a sudden, I had 6 screens tiled in my little 14 inch lcd and the color was horrible as well as lines running throughout... My computer was a month out of warrantee and you can't even call Dell and talk to tech support without a warrantee (by entering your service tag the computer knows your warrantee), so I had to find a loophole by calling billing and having them forward me to small business which forwarded me to Vostro support who helped me out. I waited on hold for well over an hour with support, but I explained the situation and that I knew I was out of warrantee, but it was known by Dell that the nVidia was faulty and they sent em a box and replaced my motherboard for free and extended my warrantee for me. Dell makes great computers, and there are always going to be a few bad apples with any company, but I believe that it is money well spent when you buy a Dell. They didn't have to do anything out of warrantee, faulty hardware or not, but they were happy to help me. Theres my 2 cents.

My Dell XPS M170 has burn 2 video cards within the last 2 years.

I have bougth my laptop back in FEB 2006, and on APRIL 2007 my nVidia 6800 Ultra got burn, due to thermal paste got dry. After that, I bought a nVidia 7800GTX in MAY 2007, and by JUNE 2008 the 'new' video card also got burn. I was supervising the video card temperature all the time and it never was over 60 celsius degrees (140 farenheit). Nevertheless the thermal paste got dry again.

I bought my 17" dell xps gen 2  10/24/05, in Nov 06 the screen went blank. It was 2 weeks out of warranty & dell refused to repair
it for free. So I paid $420 for another nvidia geforce 6800 card & $70 install to local authorized repairman to install it. That card just went out last night. Wondering if anyone else had this problem,  I have spent alot of time today searching & reading
the internet, dell support etc. I see that there is a serious problem with the nvidia cards.
I see dell has posted that they will be replacing cards in computers that are experienceing problems. Is my laptop included?

Thanks,
Jim Carr

Mine died 3 days ago...

I get this error code from diagnosis: 4E53:0119

Symptom is lines on the screen...

If I install nvidia drivers, i get BSOD memory parity... think 256 of my 512mb vram is gone...

It still works when no nvidia driver installed... But with refresh rate of 1hz lol... Well... seems my VRAM burned or something... im out of warranty, so... i need to buy a new vid card :(

sorry for my previous post. many errors.

correction :

i have a vostro 1400 and the GPU temperature is at 70-80 C and it never go below that and i have contacted the dell chat and they told me to change update my BIOS from A03 to A09 and i did but the result is still the same,  and if i watch video or play games it will rise to 90-110 c.

so do i need to request a motherboard change?

Dell Precision M90, Quadro FX 2500M (chip like 7900 GT).

The first card died in August 2008 affter ca 2 years of using. The second card died one month later. :) The symptoms are:

Mark i am so not happy with that post of yours... my lat d630 died 2 days ago.....does this mean if i am on the GOLD warranty plan i have to wait for a motherboard???? Dell you better fix this problem as there will be a huge number of people jumping to other brands int the future!!!

my GPU is T 76 C AND IS THAT NORMAL? I JUST ASKED THE DELL CHAT AND THEY TOLD ME TO INSTALL THE NEW BIOS AND THE TEMPERATURE IS AT 75- 18 C AT NORMAL USAGE. IS THAT NORMAL? OR I SHOULD ASK A MOTHERBOARD REPLACEMENT?

SRRY FOR THE CAPITAL LETTERS FORGOT TO TUNR OFF AFTER WRITING .

We purchased an XPS M1330 2 months ago, primarily as we will be travelling OS and wanted a lightweight reliable laptop to take with us (i have to laugh..) So far it has only been turned on 3 times - and i have already seen random video characters on Vista logon screen once BEFORE it even warmed up!

It is the third Dell laptop we have bought. My Inspiron 8600 is now 5 years old and still going strong, I would expect to get 3-6 years out of ANY laptop, any less is a complete waste of money. 

We paid a premium price for this laptop ($2k). The 1330 was purchased because it met our criteria; Light weight, Good performance, LONG BATTERY LIFE, LOW NOISE LEVELS, GOOD VENDOR SUPPORT, DECENT BUILD QUALITY and AN EXPECTED LIFETIME LONGER THAN THE WARRANTY PERIOD.

From what i have read it appears that this defect will result in striking out the majority of that list, flashing the BIOS is NOT a step i would want to take, reducing battery life and increasing noise levels to delay the inevitable failure is pointless. If the reviews i studied before buying this machine were with flashed BIOS (and the resultant noise/battery issues) i would not have touched it. If there is a silicon level problem with this design then i would like a full refund - or credit to purchase a SALEABLE PRODUCT. 

I would like to know why DELL expect the customer to wear the inadequacies of this product. If there is a known defect in the GPU and/or a deficiency in their thermal design well do a recall and fix it!

An extended warranty is a nice gesture - its nowhere near good enough in these circumstances.   

I would like DELL to tell me exactly what they will do with my laptop if i send it back with a GPU issue. I do not want to see another NV 8400 timebomb in my machine, is there an ATI crossgrade solution? 

Yes, 9400 / e1705 with 7900 GS is also affected.

I am about to return my third card. The first two cooked their own memory. The third card, which I have just tested, idles at 83 celcius (!) and rises to 94 or so before hard crashing as soon as the GPU is loaded.

Absolute rubbish from Nvidia... but I didn't buy from them, I bought from Dell (and paid for extended warranty) 

It would be hard to measure how much money has actually been lost here. On my first servicing they replaced the MOBO, LCD, and the card. On the second servicing I was dealing with a dimwit on the phone who told me my operating system would also have to be reinstalled. Of course I refused; they did put in a new card but it's the worst one yet - broken from day one with the high temps mentioned above.

Where is the quality control?  Nvidia may well be bankrupted by this, and Dell/others are losing customers for life.

Since the original purchase I have purchased 2 other PCs, avoiding both Dell and Nvidia. AMAZING losses for these companies due to a faulty part that's only worth $150 or so.

I've been noticing that occassional white line, and I've noticed that Word was acting strange in not refreshing the screen.  I wasn't aware of this problem until I googled it...

Yesterday my 1 year old D630 died. The screen went 'plaid' with colors and locked up.  Sometimes it would just freeze and turn off.  After it cooled off, it would work.   Dell says the motherboard is on back order 'indefinetely'....great! 

i have a 1420 laptop with a nVidia 8400 GS graphics card. like many poeple, i experienced seeing lines when im watching a movie just two weeks ago. i thought it was just fine, however, it wasn't. whenever i switch on my laptop, it won't startup anymore. i tried reformatting it, but to no avail. it will just work for two days and back to the startup problem. just recently, i installed the bios A09 and updated all my drivers. when i reached to the point of installing the updated nVidia driver, i realized it caused the startup problem. now, i havent installed the nvidia driver and it made my laptop work, though limited.

Does anyone know if Dell will still make replacements for these cards for free?

I am in Sydney and own a XPS 1330 for last 9 months.I spend some 2100$ to get the laptop.I use my laptop for surfing, watching some movies and some office work.

This is the 2nd time I am facing the graphic card problem. The 1st problem was resolved after 1 months of reporting to Dell Support and some 20-25 phone calls by replacing the graphic card. Now after 5 months of replacement the same problem is back to hunt me down.

The system hangs, then the screen blacks out and some time the system reboots on its own or hangs for ever and you get all those grains or lines on the screen.

Can any one will be able to help me out in that.I will call Dell today regarding the problem and try to get their version of the story.

My question is why the problem is happening, what will be its permanent solution (other then buying a new non Dell model). Why dell is not able to provide a permannet solution for the same.

I'm in Australia - have an XPS M1330 just under 12months old.

Called the 1300 number for XPS tech support. All I did was describe the video fault and immediately the support guy said a tech would be booked to replace the mainboard - for the faulty display chip.

I then pressed him further to outline what was wrong and how the new part would fix it. Without divulging the knowledge I had about this forum, he said new parts were available with corrected nvidia chips on them.

Suprised but skeptical, I then told him I new about the problems and had read the forum. I said that Dell usually sends re-furb parts so how can I be sure I'm getting a new one that won't fail in 12months time. All he could say was to repeat it is a new board with new nvidia display chip. (More than that, and the english understanding became a barrier - had to ask him to slow down 3 times!)

So in 1-2 days time I'll know if the machine is running again. Here's hoping it is "fixed for good" 

I too have an XPS M1210 with the same video problems. Tried to do the driver update from the Dell site but it did no good. Blue screens of death, totally black screen, letters all mixed up, ect. The only way i can get my laptop to boot up is to disable the graphics card altogether!!

I wish dell would include all my computers in one subscription for tech support.

I encountered the exact issue listed in the bullet points with an XPS M1210.  The video card was the "256 MB NVidia GeForce Go 7400 TurboCache" -- a long fancy name for a junky video card.  I purchased this notebook mid-March of last year, and it has been used VERY lightly.  Now I'm trying to figure out how to just have a conversation with a technician to tell them that the video card is defective.  My warranty ended this past March.  I'm hoping I will get a replacement given the poor customer experience.  Is that just wishful thinking on my part?

Dell need to have their agreement changed they should go with ATI cards they are better and more reliable.!

Im getting my xps m1330 nvidia card replaced for the second time round now but im also taking a new motherboard. why not make use of the 3 year warranty and get parts replaced for free.

One of our D630s burnt up. Dell is going to replace the motherboard when they become available in a month or two. My executive is not real happy going without his laptop for a couple months. A post above says not to blame Dell Support for NVidia's chip problem. Thank god I am not the tech who chose this laptop for my executive. I need my job!

Yeah, I had/am having problems with a 7900 GS in an e1705.  I'm pretty convinced that those cards were poorly manufactured too. 

Purchased in August '06, first card burned out in 15 months, just to make sure my one-year warranty was good and expired.  Found a replacement on eBay for $150-ish.  That one lasted 8 months.  Found ANOTHER eBay replacement for $200.  That one lasted 2 weeks.  The seller replaced it and that one lasted less than 1 week.  He was kind enough to offer to refund the money, but now I'm in the market for a new laptop.  Integrated graphics here I come, I suppose....  At least now I have a decent desktop so my laptop doesn't need to be all beefed out.

So, here I am in Iraq with my XPS M1330.  I already know what you are all thinking regarding the heat. Actually, my laptop has been in my room where the temperature has not exceeded 70 degrees. I also use a laptop cooling base with dual fans. My GPU burned up after only 4 months. I contacted Dell to see if they would upgrade or even downgrade the motherboard at my cost and they refused and through the 21 day return policy at me. Because I am an IT tech, they are going to ship the new or actually refurbished motherboard to me and allow me to fix it myself saving me the $200.00 I would need to pay for shipping round trip. Unfortunately, as stated several times above, they are not providing any permanent solution to this hardware issue. I have always used Dell systems because of their excellent customer service; however, I am rather disappointed. At this point I will consider alternative manufacturers for my future purchases. Also, it appears that Dell is still selling the same defective boards with new systems… very disappointing.

I just purchased my XPS M1530 (typing this note from it).  This thread started on 7/25.  Did Dell still sell me a bad NVidia chip on 8/25?  

Has the root issue been resolved?  If not, why?  When?  I want to send this laptop back while it's in its 21-day return period and re-order later when the weak NVidia GPU die/packaging material issue is corrected. Otherwise this is my third, and likely my last Dell.

Sure the A09 BIOS flash will help, but will only help to cause a post-warranty failure.  Though I'm a staunch Dell advocate, I can't support this band-aid quasi-fix. 

My advice to Dell: though it's not your fault, take care of your customers and we will continue to come back to you.  Potential customers are also watching how you handle this.

Just packaged my Dell XPS 1330 to be sent back due to fried nvidia chip. I'm simply amazed how many people have experienced this same problem, I know that all computers can have issues and Dells are no exception. But its not so much the problem as how its being handled. Personally I'm left without a valuable moble office untill my xps is repaired. This is a major public relations issue for Dell also. I would think that Dell should at least offer a gift certificate to those people who have to go through this unfortunate experience. I for one will not consider buying another Dell product based on how they are handeling this issue.

Hi, WATCH OUT the A09 BIOS update for the XPS M1530 casues AC ADAPTER  recognition problems on the motherboard. I have a new XPS (July 2008) and around the time I upgraded to the new BIOS my motherboard started having 'AC Adapter cannot be recognized' problems. They replaced the motherboard with a new one whihc had the older A08 BIOS on it  and sure enough as soon as I updated to BIOS A09 - problem came back- unfortunately you cannot downgrade the BIOS so they are shipping another motherboard for me !! This will be my third mother-board in about 2 months of use !!! Looks like Dell needs to install new good nVidia chips !!

Just both an XPS M1330 just a few months ago for my daughter to use in college, then after a few months of using it, we  already having those video problem, so tried to contact dell support but nothing happens, e-mailed them but still no response from them until my daughter went to school without  a computer.

I purchased a inspiron 1525 in July 2008.  Before purchasing the computer I called several times asking advise on which computer to buy because I wanted to use Pinnacle studio software.  I was assured by the sales person that the inspiron 1525 was what I needed, so I purchased the inspiron 1525.  After recieving the inspiron 1525 I installed Pinnacle studio 11 which I also purchased from DELL.  I started having trouble with the computer stalling and it says it has incountered a problem and the system was shutting down. Then later my system completely shut down and it took 3 days and 3 different techs. to get it running again. Also my hard drive was completely erased.  I was assured my problem was corrected, but they didn't know what caused it.  This went on for a couple of weeks, being strung out long enough for the 21 days to expire, being assured each time that the problem was corrected.  Now it seems that the graphic card in the inspiron 1525 is the "only" graphic card that is not compatible with pinnacle studio.  IMAGINE THAT !!!!!!!!!!  GUESS WHAT.   THERE'S NOTHING THAT THEY CAN DO BECAUSE IT IS OVER 21 DAYS.  WHAT A JOKE.!!!!!

NOT ONLY THAT, BUT GET THIS.  This is related to the SALES DEPARTMENT AGAIN.  I also purchased Pinnacle studio software from dell also asking about the software being compatible with the inspiron 1525, and was assured it would work fine.  GUESS WHAT!! AGAIN ,  I was told a lie.  They will tell you anything to sell you a product and you're stuck with it.  I called the sales department and told them that the tech. team finally figured out the problem was with the graphic chip and I asked if I could exchange the software for a product the would run on my computer.  GUESS WHAT.  because the seal had be broken the product could not be returned.  IMAGINE THAT !! Tell me how you are going to open it without breaking the seal and besides that how was I to know it was not going to run it, when I had been assured by sales that inspiron 1525 would run pinnacle studio and that pinnacle studio software would run on inspiron.  Anyway, it comes to this, I was sold two products by dell experts that are not compatible and I was strung past the 21 days and (buy the way I also purchased the extended support warranty for 5yrs, which is of no value) and now I have a computer that will not do what I purchased it for.  HA! If this is not a joke.  I am really disappointed in Dell, I never thought this company did such bad business.

Hi,

My friend purchased XPS M1330 which has No video issue.

He purchased the system in UK and moved to India 2-3 weeks back. The system is within warranty period.

Can India tech support help the customer to fix the issue? If yes what is the number?

thanks

Sashi

I have to go with those who say never to buy from Dell online. I bought a XPS1330 because it was supposed to be the "best" of Dell's business computers and 8 months later the video card died. One person in the above comments said it wasn't Dell's fault that it died, but what is their fault is how they handled it.

As I type this I am on hold with the 8th person. I have been transfered to a different department each time. Still no help, just "no's". I have been on hold this time for 22 minutes. I have been on the phone circus with Dell for 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Issue: Video card went out (seems to be a reoccuring theme according to this blog) and I have the warranty where they come out to repair the computer. They put the work order in and I was notified 2 days later that all the video cards are at the vendor in the Gulf coast where they are in lock down after Hurricane Ike (7 days ago). They told me they have no idea when they will be able to repair the computer. I asked if they could send a loaner out until this one could be fixed, they said they don't do that. I told them that my only choice was to buy another computer and do a data dump to that computer or shut my business indefinely until they could service their computer. Because of this, I asked to return the computer and was told that since it is past 21 days I couldn't return it.

Pretty much my business is closed now while I wait for Dell to perform the service I paid for. When this will be, who knows. I'm not going to do this obviously, I'll buy another computer. But you can bet your sweet hard drive it won't be a Dell.

I have (had) an XPS M1210 notebook which shipped with the GeForce Go 7400 graphics card. When I run the internal diagnostics it reports 'incompatible video controller' which is odd cause I've reinstalled all the factory software and drivers many times. Still can't get the display to work (yes, have reseated the video cable too) and will only boot in safe mode using an external monitor. The kicker is I only had a 12 month warranty which expired last November. Based on everything I've read online I'm resigned to the fact that I have $2k paperweight sitting on my desk. If Dell needs to learn anything its that bad news travels a lot faster than good news and based on what I've read here this it the tip of the iceberg. Like many others I'm not investing any more time or money in this issue and making a firm resolution to never buy Dell again.

I have a 7900gs on an inspiron 9400, bought september 2006, is getting memory parity errors, weird coloured dots on bios boot screen and random dots that stretch into lines when scrolling.

Can someone please organise a group for 7900gs/9400 series or laptops from 2006 so we can lay it into dell. I'm in the Uk and haven't called dell yet. I'm not going to be very pleasant when I do.

So guess what, I was working for about an hour on my M1530 and shut it down using the normal windows shut down. A few minutes later I tried to restart and go a blue screen and had to restart in safe mode. Still do not know what is causing it as Dell has not responded to my email from last week. As a side item my nephew was in the market for a new laptop and I could not convince him to get a Dell (wonder why) so he bought an HP and guess what he got the Navidia gforce 8600, thinks he got a bargain.

I've got a few Dell computers:

Inspiron 7000 (ATI GPU works perfectly, despite it's age, bought 1999)

Inspiron 8200 (ATI GPU an exchange from a faulty 8100, which died after a year of purchase. No heat problem, but the fan is NOISY)

Inspiron 9200 (ATI GPU constantly running fan, constantly on 65-70C but stable) - I wished there was a replacement for that faulty processor or whatever, the battery life has been 1hr only from the very beginning. But since it's been my mom's laptop, I didn't know about it.

XPS M1330 (NVIDIA GPU bought in March 2008, constantly running fan, quite hot, but performing very well. 3.5hrs battery life on full brightness working or playing is OK)

I would buy a DELL computer again... I think. Let's see how this works out, I'm glad I have 4 years warranty. But for sure I'll stop recommending Dell laptops to all my friends. I don't want to be responsible for someone buying a few dozen laptops for his company and then finding out about Dell's GPU issues.

My XPS 1530 is also starting to have issues after i updated the BIOS 09, it freezed yesterday and went blackout, but the syatem recovered saying that it recovered from an error by the graphic card.

I do not know if my problem comes in the list.  Please let me know if i have to give my Laptop to service.

Inspiron 9400 purchased June 2006 ... same as a few others above, I get the dreaded NTI: Parity Check error - which I personally think is down to heat in the system. When I run the Dell diagnostics (after hitting F12 at startup) it tells me there are errors writing and reading video memory, so I know I need a new graphics card, now I have to find a replacement. I don't think this is a new problem in Dell systems, or with Nvidia cards.

I am writting to Dell about the inclusion of the XPS 1710. Will those similarly affected do the same.

In the UK the address is

Dell House
The Boulevard
Cain Road
Bracknell
Berkshire
RG12 1LF

this is the 2nd time I've had to replace my xps m1330 main board because the gpu is failing within 3 months. I don't find it acceptable to continually replace the main board. As customers, what are we supposed to do when our warrenty expires? I feel they should give us main boards that use a gpu that won't fail due to heat flutuations. The bios fix to activate the fans more often will only delay the inevitable. Either they fix the source or give everyone with the defective gpus extended warrenties. I wouldn't mind if Dell would guarentee they would replace the main board for an additional 6 months each time they fail, because I expect it to fail again.

A day or so after my last post, which I hoped would be my last post, Ibacked up my latest photos and then tried to shut down the computer the screen went black but the fan kep running and the backlight was still on. I let it run for a while thinking it needed to cool off but after a while I removed the ac cord and the battery to shut it down. When I restarted the computer I go the "safe mode" option screen. I restarted with no aparent problems. Later that day I was doing some research on the internet and the computer hung up. I had to use task manager to shut the computer down and got the safe mode option screen again on restart. This am after a few hours work I got a blue screen on shut down. I am waiting for Dell customer support to get back to me. Do not know if these problems are Navidia related. 

I'm still waiting to hear an answer on the question that has been asked by many other users:  Is the XPS 1730 affected?  We have the same chipset, the same nVidia graphics card; so why won't someone answer the question?  I've got an XPS 1730 with dual-processor nVidia GeForce 8700s.  Why would the 1730 not be listed with the other systems affected?

Yeah, I had a 7900GS die on me about 2 months ago in my e1705/Inspiron 9400. It was about a year after the warranty expired (2 years after initial purchase), so Dell wanted to charge me the same $49 just to talk to a tech guy who would run me through a bunch of stupid procedures and only tell me what I knew already. And even if I did pay that initial "diagnostic" charge, I'm willing to bet they'd want to charge me some ridiculous amount of money to replace it with a refurbished product.

Luckily, I found a working 7900GS on eBay for about $200, but I was really hesitant to even buy it in the first place. It was cheaper than buying a new PC, but at the same time, I'm throwing a faulty product in a nice laptop to extend its life by who knows how long. I'm using i8kfangui to control GPU temps better than the Dell BIOS, but I shouldn't have to do that in the first place.

I know a lot of you have had the same issue with the 7900GS, but has anybody saught retribution and had some success? I'm convinced that we should see some of the $200 million in damages they're supposedly providing to customers.

Bad 1st experience ,unfortunately :( . With XPS 1330M wich costs me lot and lot now it is rubbish ! nothing ! But what to do ? regret ?! I dont have a time to regret I need time to buy cheap powerfull laptop either than expensive Dell poor laptops .

I have an inspirion 9400 (E1705)  bought May 2007 that had the Nvidia 7900GS card fail on the 29 Aug 2008 (15 months after purchase and 3 months after the warranty expired).  Could only get the black screen - no video at all.  Contacted Dell support who gave me the cost of the ATI (A$185) and Nvidia (A$320) graphic cards.  Plus they also gave me the option of extending my warranty by 1 or 2 years.  I took the 2 year extension option and they replaced the graphics card with a refurbished card.

It appears from the postings that the GPU on the 7900GS card also has a problem - not lasting 2 years in the inspirion laptop.

My M1530 is slightly more than 2 months old. I had some issues at first, which I felt were Navidia related and was told by the tech rep that Dell would take care of the problem. Since then I have downloaded the BIOS update and the updated Navidia driver from Dell's website and have had no further problems. I really like the computer and am making more frequent backups of my work. I am considering an extended warranty (I have only one year with the purchase) and did not extend initially because of my past experiences with Dell. I have too much invested in this machine at this point in time to agonize further.

I just chatted with Dell support. can i trust that?

Mohd_157xxx 

if it is true, then we don't have to worry. if not, what to do?

I have a M1710 with a 7900GS inside which has also failed like so many others. Why is the list of models so restricted?

XPS M1330 8400 bought it june 2007, got the wrong one finally got the right computer mid september 2007.

The motherboard has been changed twice latest feb 08.

This wensday it started again, lines on the screen moving from right to left (although pretty nice pattern),sometimes the screen frooze. Dell will replace the motherboard for the 3rd time now. I had 10 days left on my Next business day warranty. I will get a 2 year additonal which they will charge ca 100 us$ for.

Better to be safe than having an ab fab red Dell paperweight on my rosewood desk. I guess it is going to happen again.

Today my Dell Inspiron 1720 failed again after the video card was replaced. They replaced it  with a NVIDIA 128 GS. When I sent  in for repair I asked them to down grade the Card to an X3100 Intel Graphics and they didn’t do that.

So have this problem again with a Black screen. I decided to repair it myself and replaced the card with a different one. This by far is the worst experience of any kind of product I had ever purchased .I for one refuse to fight with the techs from India because they don’t believe the video card is the problem.

I decided to purchase a Toshiba that doesn’t have a NVIDIA card in it. I can’t afford the down time.

I hope NVIDIA go bankrupt because they don’t deserve to make Video cards, and Dell service is a joke.

P.S. I just bought this laptop in June 09/2008

Jerry

My M1330 also broke down about 10 days ago. Dell doesn't have a direct rep where I am, so I'll have to pay for the labor if I want to have the broken part fixed outside the US.

It took me a week before Dell agreed to allow me to have the *X3100* installed by the local partner instead of another junk nVidia. I had to insist that I don't want another nVidia in my machine after what I've read, and I'd rather have a slower machine that works than a (literally) hotter machine that melts in my lap.

They also agreed, finally, that the 'downgrade' to the X3100 would not void my warranty. At the same time, they refused to extend my warranty for another year although this is something Dell has already announced.

In the meantime, I've been without my M1330 for almost two weeks now, currently waiting for the local guys to install the X3100.

The local service company said they know about the problem and it is widespread.

Dell should definitely recall all effected machines and offer an X3100 replacement instead of giving customers the runaround individually. Other companies know the right thing: Sony just recalled a whole line for some battery problems.

In the long term, a recall would be cheaper and the right thing to do for Dell than the damage to the brand that is occurring now. But the way nVidia is handling their end is ever worse. I'll never buy anything with nVidia in it, I know that.

R Miller, thanks for the info.  Had my D630 motherboard replaced today the part code on the old vs new motherboard is different: old: G86-620-A2, new: G86-621-A2.  No idea what that means, just thought I would post it.

I have seen a few people ask if they would still get a defective GPU if they were to purchase today. I believe the answer is yes.

http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/08/29/151227&from=rss

NVIDIA apparently has a supply of GPUs with this issue, and they are selling them. NVIDIA is in no hurry to let customers know which products have been fixed.

Even if they were to fix the issue today, Dell use refurbished replacements components. So any problems that require replacement of the mother board could put the user at risk of receiving a bad GPU.

From my perspective this appears to be a metal fatigue issue. Like bending a paper clip in the same place several times will cause the paper clip to break. The temperature fluctuations cause the die/packaging material to expand, contract and break. This would mean even after the warranty has expired, this problem would occur as fan performance degraded over time.

I don't like the idea that a laptop could be a big paper weight after the warranty is expired.

Who said direct2dell.com site is not run by DELL ?

Check the whois record. it shows:

Registrant:
        Dell Inc.
        Dell Inc.
        One Dell Way MS 8033
         Round Rock TX 78682
        US
        dnsadmin@dell.com +1.5127283500 Fax: +1.5122833369

    Domain Name: direct2dell.com

        Registrar Name: Markmonitor.com
        Registrar Whois: whois.markmonitor.com
        Registrar Homepage: http://www.markmonitor.com

    Administrative Contact:
        Dell Domain Administrative Contact
        Dell Inc.
        One Dell Way MS 8033
         Round Rock TX 78682
        US
        dnsadmin@dell.com +1.5127283500 Fax: +1.5122833369
    Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
        Wade Sullivan
        Dell Inc.
        One Dell Way
         Round Rock TX 78682
        US
        dnstech@dell.com +1.5127283500 Fax: +1.5122833369

    Created on..............: 2006-07-17.
    Expires on..............: 2009-07-17.
    Record last updated on..: 2008-06-15.

    Domain servers in listed order:

    ns1.us.dell.com
    ns4.us.dell.com
    ns5.us.dell.com
    ns2.us.dell.com
    ns3.us.dell.com

There's an A06 bios update for vostro 1500, is it useful for this problem o causes more than it solves? i'm not sure if upgrade.

I have a Dell Inspiron E1705 with the nVidia card that's about 6 months past its one year warranty.  Just today I started getting more-or-less vertical rows of green square dots on the screen.  These display across the blue Dell logo at startup, so they're not driver issues.   I'm also running the A09 bios update for my E1705 and I believe my laptop has had heat issues for quite some time.  I am typing this to you now from safe mode because that's all it will do now.

Hey, iv purchased a dell xps m1530 recently, is this problem still there in the new laptops they send out? Or am I safe to assume they would have resolved the issue once they found out back in july, and now this wont be the case?

Hey guys,

I'm pretty disturbed to hear this stuff; I just ordered an XPS M1330 from the cheapo Dell outlet store yesterday, then found this thread after someone pointed out the problem I had failed to research before buying.

Hopefully I can call Dell and try to cancel the order on Monday, since it seems their policy of dealing with this (repeatedly replacing the broken defective part with a working but identically defective part until the warranty runs out).

The service is just lousy, Dell should extend warrentiesy

Here is some news you all might not like to well, I know I didn't take it well myself but nothing suprises me any more.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Newsentry.153+M5279bbe155f.0.html

After doing bios update to my 1420, I cannot project display onto my TV screen using Dell's S-video cable. Dell replaced my old with a new cable but problem still not resolve. All I can narrow is the bios update. Anyone having this issue? Dell Tech u listening?

Dell xps m1530. Exacly 5 minutes of silence. (power saver mode, plugged in) then this stupid fan starts to spin so loud.. Dell do something with this stupid whispear in my ears!!!

Lionel,

I'm wondering how many annoyed/angry customers it will take before dell does a recall or a real hardware fix. I ordered a Dell XPS M1330 last week and it is supposed to arrive in another week or two. You'd better bet that before my 21 days are up I'm going to return this system if I have any issues. The moral thing for Dell to do (which would also help keep customers like me coming back for years to come) is to replace the video card with an upgraded one that works, not the same defective model so we can count the days till it fries again. I don't understand how Dell can sustain paying for techs to go out and fix every computer with defective Nvidia GPUs... isn't it cheaper at some point to actually fix it with the upgraded card?

I'm having problems with my M1530, shuts down after getting extremely hot during gameplay, random artifacts, display randomly changing resolution. I called Tech Support and they basically told me nothing. SInce I brought up that I had already downloaded the bios update they said all that can be done is send the system to the repair center and replace the defective video card with....wait....can you guess it....the same video card. It's my understanding that this is a manufacturing error so replacing a defective model with another defective model does nothing but buy Dell time for my warranty to expire and me to be out of luck. This is the 2nd and last Dell system I will ever buy if they don't fix my problem for real instead of just placing a band-aid on it.

pw168 : mine died last night, I talked with dell, and since I'm out of warranty I figured I'd buy the replacement card and pop it in myself...the price? $384 dollars.  I too am not going to be buying dell for a while, as I was weary of this issue, and there was no update for my machine.  Time to build my own machine again

Well then,

I'm relieved I'm not the only one dealing with these issues. What bugs me the most is that I phoned Dell support for my country and e-mailed this page to the technician in order to underline the gravity of the situation. I've explained to him that my XPS m1530 has suffered lately from overheating, even reaching 89°C, which really got me worried.

He simply told me that this website wasn't even official and that he talked to his boss, who said there were no such issues. Even after I sent him Nvidia official report... He said kept on saying my information couldn't be trusted. Then he simply told me to download the bios update, which I had already done... But really, it didn't change anything.

Well now, today I've experienced black screen. It's so bad, I can't do anything about it (restarded it, downloaded the GPU update from Dell's website). I've e-mailed the guy. So far, no answer...

I'm glad I purchased a 4 year warranty, but am really starting to doubt Dell products and their support team.

i called dell support today about my e1705 with 7900gs.  it's about 11 month past warranty expiration.  i've been getting memory parity error blue screens for the past 6 months.  tech wanted to charge me $49.  when i asked about the nvidia limited warranty extension, he replied that my model is not in this list.  the only supported models sport the 8400 series of graphics cards.

i continued that i just wanted to know the price of a replacement 7900 gpu to see if it was worth ordering a new one (the go 7900gs does not show up on the dell spare parts web search).  but he kept giving me the run around saying that he couldn't do that if i didn't go through the diagnostic which would cost me $49.  i kept arguing with him and he said "well, it's somewhere between $150 and $250.  i have other important things to do sir, good bye."

at least it still boots in safe mode.....

This weekend my E1705 displayed all of the symptoms above, and finally went to a black screen, I wonder if many others are beginning to have the same issue with this, maybe the card in the 1705 is also defective? I needed to be able to get back to work quickly again and had to quickly find another laptop, I will not be buying laptops from Dell again.

Tom

Yo , Joedude I talking to  the clerk at Staples Store and he said he said Dell does not like to own up to their warranties and you basically have to fight with them. He said he doesn't recommend Dell to his customers at all. Now does this surprize me at all . Dell needs to Shore up its services or people will not buy their products. If I did this in my buisness I would be out of buisness.

Jerry

I installed the A09 on my dell 1420 with the Nvidia 8400m and NOW it crashes all the time, never happened before.  This is nuts, the fix caused the problem?  Never any problems before!

I downloaded and installed that August 18th or June whatever driver for Navidia from the Dell website a few days ago and my m1530 seems to be running fine for now( I had previously upgraded my bios). so far so good except the computer still feels warm. I have a Latiude c640 which is almost 6 years old and which has never had a major problem and the few minor problems I have had through the years were handled efficiently and at no cost to me. I hope Deill will repsond in a like manner with this new machine as I have bought and had friends, family and clients buy Dell and would not like to see anything upset those good experiences. That said I would like to see Dell come to a fair and acceptable rresolution to this problem as quickly as possible. It is not reassuring to know that this machine could die any minute, i don't care who fixes it or how much I cant afford to replace lost data or thoughts.....

Ed

To madmomof2 , my Nividia8400 128 Go was replaced with a Nivida 8400 GS model . I sent a note to them asking to down grade to a intel X3100 if there was something wrong with the video card. My original card did not work properly but I had to take the battery out hold the power button for 15 seconds then insert the battery again and then press the power button and it would power up with no black screen.

Now are you saying the 8400GS is defective as the 8400GO models.

I was in my local  STaples store and also on the Future shop web sites and it appears all brands of lap tops that had the 8400GO models now have the 8400GS models. The Lap tops in the Staples store had a few display models running 24/7. I asked the clerk there if he had seen any problems. He said no , but I assume a display model running 24/7 would have been fried by now. Now I am not defending the 8400GS models but I beleive what has happen to you of course.

I was trying to advoid the Nivida products , when my lap top was sent into service by leaving a note to down grade but they didn't do that . What a bunch of smucks (can't read) or what? So are you saying the 8400GO are the same 8400GS models? Right now I am experience no problems with my 8400GS.

Jerry

This is quite unfortunate that so many laptops have had this video card issue, I've recently purchased a 1720 at an incredible deal. $1625 + tax and shipping. The machine has a T8300 CPU, Intel 4965AGN wi-fi, dual 320 gb hard drives, 4gb RAM, and the Nvidia 8600M. Sounds like the perfect system right? Not so much.

Shortly after receiving this laptop. The screen began cutting out and I would notice color variations on the screen. I upgraded to the current driver. Then I began having BSOD's up the wazoo. Dell techs remoted into my machine via the Citrix client on their site on two seperate occaisions.

After both incindents the problem occurs again. (primarily the BSOD). I questioned the second tech about problems in the event viewer and the response was to delete all my errors instead of addressing them. This was quite upsetting. At one point a tech told me to return the laptop through customer service, to which I was denied b/c my laptop is over 21 day return by a few days.

I had to practically beg for them to replace the video card. The tech refused to send me any documentation (e-mail) about what was to be done. A tech is supposedly coming out Monday or Tuesday to replace this card, but I have no e-mail stating when, nor did the tech give me an appointment.

All this over a video card? I remember when I had a Dimension 8300 that just worked. I thought Dell was much better than the competition due to their presence in the corporate market. This is a major let down. It would be nice if they could at least put the 1720 on the known affected machines list. I doubt this will happen as this is a bread and butter machine.

hi i just read some of the comments but i didn't see any probem with dell latitude D620 and i want someone to help me and guide me how to fix it ... my problem is that my battery is not working and i don't know why when i unplug my llap top he just turn off and when i look at my battery is just saying that is UNKNOW what to do can someone help me to fix it :S .

To Jerry:  Dell came and replaced the motherboards and nvidia chip and I think the ram.  I then downloaded the BIOs 12 "fix".  Here's the problem, Dell fixed it by replacing the "bad" parts with new "bad" parts.  The nvidia 8400GS was replaced but the replacement is not with corrected new designs of the 8400GS.  My understanding is that corrected 8400GS have not been produced or distributed.  In other words, Dell replaced the defective chip with a similarly defective chip and they are hoping that the new BIOS patch will prevent another meltdown.  Yours and my fixed laptops are really not fixed at all.  They work now but it is highly likely that the problem will occur again.

Because of the liklihood of another video meltdown, I am not going to send my kid off to college with his 8 week old xps1330.  He'll take my macbook to college and I'll keep his xps1330 for home use.

Just wanted to let you know that I'm very glad I bought a laptop from Dell and not a sony or other brand with the same "weak die/packaging material set" since the technical support from dell is great and I'm sure with other brands it will take more time to get a running laptop again.

I just hope there will be a more concreet solution to resolve this problem then just delaying the inevitable.

I really can't afford to spend much time waiting for repairs while I'm having exams and go to work ;)

So nvidia ...  gogogo ...  fix your error so Dell (and other suppliers ofc)can produce their motherboards fully operational.

Now... I hope my xps m1330 will last atleast a few months before I have to call the technical support again.

tnx for your (great) service untill now Dell

To madmomof2 If your computer is under warranty get it fixed. Look at my other posts. I have an child going to college in 2 years. Am I going to buy another Dell, no way. Thats what we do as consumers. Talking to a Dell tech in another country is unacceptable. I am going to buy local from now on, at least I can to talk to a real person .

Learned a big  lesson here, Jerry

In addition to the defective new xps1330, we own a Vostro 1400.  The Vostro is less than a year old and I've noticed that upon startup, we've been getting "display driver has failed but has recovered."  I didn't think much of it until I noticed that this model is ALSO ON THE LIST OF DEFECTIVE MACHINES.  Great, now we own 2 crap machines.  What can we do as consumers about this? 

Son's xps1330 fried because of the nvidia problem.  The machine lasted 8 weeks.  Dell came within 24 hrs. to replace motherboard, ram, nvidia, and whatever else.  Tech said that the new motherboard had up to date BIOS but didn't (had A08).  When he left, I downloaded the BIOSA12.   How am I supposed to have confidence in the fix if Dell just took out the defective stuff and replaced it with the same but new defective part? Kid is leaving for college in a couple of days. I can't send him with this computer because if it fries like it did before, the timeframe will be about 8 weeks from now--right around midterms.  I'm sending him with my new Black Mac (doesn't have the nvidia).  I'll keep the stupid defective waste of $2,000 XPS1330 home so when it fries again, it won't effect my kid.  Even though Dell "fixed" it by replacing the cooked parts with new defective parts, I would like to get my money back.  $2,000 for a laptop that fries in 8 weeks in unacceptable.  I've liked Dell in the past but I've lost my confidence.  Anyone know if they are considering a recall or credit towards a replacement without the defective nvidia?     

I had the problem with my XPS M1330. Contacted the technical support and got the motherboard replaced in 4 days.I have two DELL desktops.I will go for DELL again. Why? Because of its execellent support.

Raj

hi,

What about Vostro 1500? I need solution to My Vostro 1500

thanks.

I had (3) motherboards replaced on my Latitude D830 and one LCD within 4 months due to an overheating problem. Dell replaced my D830 with a brand new D630. I'll never own anything but a Dell becasue of the excellent service. They stood behind my first Inspiron when after 4 years it died and because of my service contract they sent me an E1705 - with LOTS of extras.

Just a couple of additional points -- those "new" motherboards that you're getting in replacement are either "used" (returned or repaired or defective in some other subtle way or possibly new but because they are repackaged by Dell cannot be labelled as new...).  You will never really know what kind of parts Dell is putting into your nearly brand new machine -- why? because no PC manufacturer is required to put in new parts.  Wonderful, huh?  This probably accounts for at least some of the repeated hardware failures -- how can you possibly fix a hardware problem unless you have true quality control of replacement hardware -- meaning only new/fresh parts? 

Hey Hok

About the issues on your machine, I had exactly the same on my work latitude D610, after IT called Dell support, they replaced twice the LCD and once the entire motherboard.

I sugest you to call support, this is a faulty motherboard component, nothing to do with this GPU issue.

And please !!! any official comments about the inspiron 1520 with 8600 gt  "fix"

Well fellas , here's a update on my saga. I just recieved  my Dell 1720 Inspirion 3 hours ago from service.  Played a movie ,surfed around etc. They replaced my Nividia 8400 128 GO with a Nividia 8400 128 GS. Get that GS. I assume that is a different model number and I hope different card. I do not get a black screen when I power up. I powered down waited 30 minutes and bam no black screen . Did that two more times and it seems the problem is fixed. Now wait , I've only had the puter back 3 hours. So ,,,, well wait and see.

Happier in Canada, Jerry

All this is  good but what about the Inspiron 8500 that has lines and will not update from windows for NVIDIA AND DO NOT TAKE FROM DELL EATHER. WILL SHOUT DOWN WHEN DOWNLOADED FROM DELL

Is it possibly to downgrade  dell m1530 geforce 8600 gpu to intel graphics accelerator ? Any news from dell?

.

I just downloaded a (Dell calls it new) NVIDIA driver for my XPS M1530    Nvidia 8600M GT.

But it's a joke.  

The DELL support site says this is a new driver , dated 18 Aug 2008. !

But when you download and isntall it, the driver date says 16 June 2008.  I think Dell's loosing it.  They've got in trouble with NVIDIA and neither one can fix it.

there go my hopes.. down the drain!

.

I have a Dell Inspirion 1705/9400 with Nvidia 7900 GTX, this update came too late........... damn I will never buy Dell laptop again!!!!!!!!!!

Im  confusing now,im waiting support from Dell technical service but they are no reply today, i really need laptop everyday

To  dhughes, My Dell inspiron 1720 only has 8 hours on it . It never worked from Day one. Black screen upon power up. It is in the service depot since Wensday August 13th. I asked them to down grade to a intel X3100 , I'll lose the initial $100.00 I paid to up grade the Card to a Nividia8400 128 . I tried to down load new drivers but that didn't work either. Bios update, didn't work either , dianostics 2 times didn't worked either. Its the friggen card, those techs finnally get when you get mad at them! I'll update  later when  they fix my puter.

Signed very sad in Canada

Jerry

I just got off from a DELL chat with a tech.. he installed a new driver and assured me all was fixed (I'm very skeptical)... so, I told him I'll believe it if it doesn't tweek out on me again.  He made no mention of the Nvidia problem.. strange?

I'd love it if updating the driver fixed it.. but, am not very hopeful after what I've been through in the past 3 systems with Nvidia cards.

dhughes

Simeon -

Yes, I've seen the "update". However, if you read it, there is no updated information on that blog post. It is simply a new post with the same stuff.

The fact is, there has still been no Official communication from Dell that directly addresses the faulty chips.

i have a Dell Vostro 1400 with Nvidia 8400GS graphic card,this update came too late for me.my latop couldn't reply at all now,even i can't boot into bios,all screen is black and can't see anything,my laptop's warranty ran out.What can i do now,pay money for wrong thing what DELL and NVIDIA made?? Dell and your customer services is Joke??? I've alway chose Dell as my first choice before,but now,i will buy a new one,and im sure thats not Dell.

What about Vostro 1500? I need solution to My Vostro 1500

I posted here about a bad Nvidia card in my Dell 9300 laptop, when I first saw the blog about the Nvidia problems.  Had been going on for a long time, so warranty was expired.. no help.

In the meantime, I purchased a DELL 1720 with the 256 Nvidia card...why? because the 1720 isn't on the list of problem laptops.

Guess you can figure where I'm heading... received the laptop, started it up right off...just to make sure it worked.  All seemed fine.  Then, since I purchased it from a prior owner (only one month old, supposed to have never been booted up) he sent me a link to change ownership.  He also said to make it easier, to do it from THAT laptop.  So, I booted it up and got what looks like a plaid design/reds/purples/blues mostly, with a black background!!!!!!???? 

So, looks like Dell should ADD the 1720 to the list, and now I've got my second Dell paperweight! Ugh.. thanks a bunch~

dhughes

So, once again

I have a Dell Latitude D630, then i found that  GPU very hot (Nvidia 135M - Always 70 C in the normal condition -  Surfing WEB only). I still update the above bios (A12), but it an not improve the situation.

Please help me, did you have the same situation with D630 lap top?

S.o I was in the process of writing a post indicating that I had heard from Lionel and that he helped reassure me and that I got a call from another Dell Tech rep who advised they were working on the problem and that hopefully mi issue was a one off issue but if not they would handle it not to worry...while typing this post my screen went white and the computer hung. Was able to close ie and lost the original post.

Ed

R400 or R500, M series same company. They have good offers, many competitors they start to take advantage in front of the wall of silence named''DELL''

I ordered a M1330 and then read about the problems, shipped it right back thank you very much!!

I guess one solution would be to get one without a video card, kind of crippled though.

I have been searching for brands other than Dell that have different video cards than nvidia and it is a little hard to google.

does anybody have any suggestions for a 13" laptop that use video cards other than the Nvidia? I really like the 1330 but it appears that they won't be replacing the video card anytime soon and the suggested fixes are clearly a joke.

thanks!

We're still wating for answers on both the status of the Vostro 1500 and relief for owners of effected machines.  :(

Like many others, I have already posted on this blog regards this issue. As I spoke of my concerns then, I was afraid we see fewer and fewer responses from affected end users which only encourages the "powers that be" in the Dell corporate infrastructure to maintain a closed mouth on a true help for those of us who can least afford this.

It's very obvious if the issue was limited in scope that Dell would say so. I understand their trepidation for as many as are affected, they could ill afford to alienate such a large portion of their target purchasers.

I find it also obvious Dell has no intention to make a move similar to what HP did by offering extended warranties to affected customers. I inquired about additonal warranty coverage and was quoted $174 US per year of additional coverage - Hardly free or even reduced.

The approximately $2400 (with taxexes) I spent on my M1530 in June (which represents a full month of my fixed income) was accepted by Dell in bad faith. They knew they were selling me and thousands of others a defective product. My 21 day window for a return was exceeded by the time I was aware of the situation.

While I may have been taken, I am not bashful. I will do whatever I must to insure that Dell is held accountable. Not for making a bad GPU (as that is Nvidia's liability) but for selling a known defective product - One they continue to sell as I type this. To be blunt, that isn't just bad business, that is fraudulent.

Yes, I have rights Dell and I don't want more than I paid for but I do expect a reasonable response to make good on your actions. Your relative silence to this point has been deafening and for the few die hards like myself that will pursue any lawful means at resolution, the ball is in your court. Do the right thing.

Further to my pervious post i did have a problem the other day. I had several apps open and when i tried to close MS Money the screen started blinking and putting up blank windows and closing them. Wehn i tried to close my apps nothing happened. Fineally i used device manager to shut the system down. I lost a lot of history from my Ms Money file (thank god it made a back up before the fiasco) and lost parts of a word document i was working on. Do not know if my bill payments went through until they clean the banks. I went on line with Dell Tech who did not have a clue.....so far since then the laptop is working well

Ed

Hahahahaha, HOW HILARIOUS! I've been keeping tabs on this problem for a couple of days now. Just 2 days ago I ordered a new external disk, WHICH I recieved it approx 1 hour ago. I turn on my XPS M1330 so I could format the huge disk (It's Mac preformatted) and backup all my pictures. I was SO looking foreward to have all my pictures safe on a raid setup.

WHAT HAPPENS?

Well, the screen goes all funny, like it's 256 color, it then locks up and freeze within a couple of second. I try and reboot, same thing happens again. Third time, the screen doesn't even turn on.

Joy to the world....lalalala.....DAG NA BIT

Hi there!

I own a Vostro 1500 and I have no video. How can I resolve the problem? I tried to use another screen without any success! Help!

Regards.

Haha, want more ? They cant even keep current how they get more in future. Bussiness is chain related, if one does not satisfy it hundreds will get informed and more and more people will know it. Looks like they are not going to do something.

Incredible, having 2 M1530s (w/8600GTs) and 1310 (w/8400gs), I will no longer buy anymore Dells... Unbelievable, horrible phone support is one thing, but not doing something about this is another. I also have an Asus w/ 8600GT, but at least Asus HAS 2 year warranty to start with...

Dell, you want more customers? Or even keep your current? DO SOMETHING!

So sad that I bought M1330,

thanks for Dell who doing nothing about heat issue and this is my first and last time deal with Dell. This not only me, I bet all M1330/M1530 owners with G84/G86 will agree with me definitely. For those who make their mind to buy a new M1330/M1530, please do think twice before  make your deal.

Keep changing your motherboard is not a good idea, each service will cost you 2 hours approximately and you will waste your time to talk with their customer service.

If you have gotten 3 years complete cover it is ok since it can cover your cost of replacing the motherboard but for those who gotten only a year of complete cover it is a sad story.

DELL, good job! You will lost your valuable customer in future, not only Dell laptop owner but your valuable reputation. Revenue can gained easily but not reputation. Sell off your XPS and avoid buying any high-end laptop from Dell.

Codey: haven't you seen this update?

http://direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2008/08/08/latest-on-the-nvidia-gpu-issue-for-dell-laptop-customers.aspx

 Note: if you are already experiencing video-related issues like the bullet points above, updating the BIOS will not correct them.

my second motherboard of inspiron 1420 has proven it. same problems faced even i updated the A09 bios.

For those that didn't find this update from Dell, there is a continuation of this Blog over here:

http://direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2008/08/08/latest-on-the-nvidia-gpu-issue-for-dell-laptop-customers.aspx

(started August 8, 2008)

I totally agree, I recieved my M1530 mid july only to find all this out. I've been keeping up with all of it so if something does happen im VERY well informed and can make a logical request and see through any trickery they might pull to make me think my system was not affected. I still hate thinking now that im starting college, that my laptop, (which will be my primary source of communication and life, second to my Cell), can burn out at any time. Hopefully not the night before a test when i need to study or write a term paper.....

We'll see!!!

So here we are and still no updates. C'mon Dell, this is unacceptable. There really needs to be some official communication on what is being done for us customers that are affected by this problem.

It is quite telling that HP was waaaay ahead of Dell on declaring that they were extending the warranty on all affected models. And here we are two weeks after a Blog post with no such communication from Dell.

That alone is enough reason to write off Dell PC's and Laptops for any of my future purchases!!

The new drivers from nVidia feature downclocking of mobile gpu's. In other words, if you install the drivers, you laptop will be not quite as fast (the real difference is different per gpu model), but it will heat up slightly less.

So isn't there an online petition website were we can set that sort of thing up?

Any news on this from Dell? We should petition them to make a proper statement and tell all their tech support that this issue should be covered for at least 5 years.

I know if my M1330 dies as a result of this I will end up e-mailing Mr Dell himself to make sure the motherboard is replaced free of charge.

Would mean a lot to XPS owners especially for Dell to properly acknowledge this to buyers worldwide and extend the warranty for all affected.

It's not a very nice feeling using your notebook but thinking in the back of your mind it could totally fry and there's nothing you can really do about it.

I have a XPS M1710 that's not in list of system provided in this article but I check this issue nonetheless and found that Nvidia has released (on august 5th) a new driver for these systems :

• Alienware Area-51 m9750 (GeForce 8700M SLI)
• Alienware Area-51 m9750 (GeForce Go 7950GTX SLI)
• Dell XPS M1730 (GeForce 8800M GTX SLI)
• Dell XPS M1730 (GeForce 8800M GTS SLI)
• Dell XPS M1730 (GeForce 8700M GT SLI)
• Dell XPS M1710 (GeForce Go 7900 GTX)
• Dell XPS M1710 (GeForce Go 7950 GTX)
• Dell XPS M1710 (GeForce Go 7900 GS)

This update however does not appear on Dell website for drivers.  Since I'm no IT technician, I don't know if it will help but usually a new driver is more good news then bad.

Nvidia driver #175.32 : http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_notebook_175.32_whql.html

Hope this helps a few.

I am sure Dell will not sell the laptop without Genuine Microsoft OS. Have a few friends working at Dell and they confirmed the same.

Emm you said your budget was 60k… then you can get the same config as mine. There is a new discount available, they are offering a few RAM upgrade from 1GB to 2GB.
Also you can talk to the sales guy for more discounts…

I am waiting on my Dell XPS M1530 to come in and now I here about this problem with the Nvidia chips!! This will be the first lap top I buy, if I decided not to cancel the order because of this problem.

If Dell is selling products with bad chips they should fix them and not wait for Nvidia to strike a deal with them!!!!!!! 

Just having the fan run more often is not the proper fix for this problem, replacing the defective chip is the proper fix.

my XPS m1330 just died about 2 days after showing the first symptoms on the display (checkerboard patterns and lines. afterwards only white lines and no boot). took dell 7 days to perform the onsite repair, even tho they promise 24h. the lappy is only 6 months old now. so, if i'm unlucky, this will happen a second time, right after the warranty runs out, or what? the field engineer strongly recommended i should buy an addionioal 2 years of warranty (sure..). the new motherboard came with an A08 BIOS installed. not quite sure what this means.. either it's an old board and they forgot to upgrade the BIOS (likely), or it's a newer one which doesn't have the same problem anymore (?). in any case, GPU temperature fluctuates arount the same in vista as before (70-80°C). let's see what happens... if it fals again, and dell is not willing to repair, even outside warranty, it's certainly the last time i bought anything from them. i expect dell to repair all systems that fail because of this issue for free within 3 yeard after purchase, even if the customer has no extended warranty.

More bad news on newer GPUs ...

Nvidia G92s and G94 reportedly failing

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/08/12/nvidia-g92s-g94-reportedly

Ah, Dell is like any other company waiting for the legal department to sort this out win Nvidia. Dell can't say "yes, we will fix this" before they get the goahead from legal. If they do, they get stuck with a bill that wasn't theirs to begin with and if they try and get money from Nvidia afterwards, it's going to be a rough fight. Once they sort the legals out with Nvidia, THEN they can sort this out once and for all.

But no matter, people will start to look for ATI branded laptops very soon if Nvidia doesnt fix this right now.

My M1330 has started acting up and getting a lot hotter. In Norway, we at least have a 5 year warranty no matter what Dell or Nvidia says...

To summarize:

NVidia screwed up.  Big time.  Bad chip packaging, no quality control.

ALL G84/G86/G92/G94 chips are bad.  Maybe more.

NVidia "strategy" is cover up, can't admit because it would bankrupt them out of business.

However, NVidia hasn't been honest with its "partners" in the sales channel, like Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc.  Left them unaware.  Not good idea.

Now these companies have been placed between rock and hard spot; customers are experiencing failures, visions of MILLIONS of failed systems out there, and supplier (NVidia) refusing to take any liability.

So until everyone figures out how to deal with this situation, the sales "partners" are scrambling, trying to firefight this situation.  Not an enviable position.

Problem is, it is only a matter of time before the governments in the form of consumer protection agencies get involved.  Quicker if these defective systems were supplied to government agencies.  Then the feathers will start flying for sure.

Bottom line:  If you don't need the performance, if you're only doing 2D or typical business applications, stick with Intel or AMD.  If you need performance 3D, go with AMD.  Avoid NVidia as if they had the bubonic plague.

My work lappy is a Dell Inspiron D505 with Intel graphics accelerator, Yeah, not sexy, but gets the job done and has enough oomph to play DVDs for those stuck-in-the-hotel field trips.

Anyone else have a fried geoforce M 7900 GTX in a XPS M 1710?    Any ideas on how to get up and running as there are no spares!   Spent $4500 on a rocket ship with a blown O ring!

For the V1500 owners: I've got an answer from Dell where they said:

"Please be assured that your system is not affected by the faulty Nvida graphics cards."

@Gary, the problem is only with the G84 and G86 so far I know, your chip isn't based on this chips, I believe.

I received a categorical assurance from a Dell technician today that my Vostro1700 is NOT affected, as it's a problem with specific motherboard/graphics card combinations. I hope he's right, because this conflicts with some other comments that ALL 8400/8600 cards are defective, and the 1700 has a 8600M GT. He also advised that Dell were contacting users, but there's no comment to this effect here.

My XPS M1710 with a Geforce 7950gtx 512Mb failed at 2 weeks out of warranty. Dell would do nothing except charge my £250 to replace then had the cheek to ask for the old card back. they said there was nothing wrong with the cards and I was unlucky, no known video faults in the past.

and advised at the end of the day computers are made of electronic components that occationally fail.!!!!!!!!!

they would not honor the fault because of the warranty expiring even when I advised of all the press regarding the cards. they never responded to umpteen complaint emails either

Tell Everyboldy you know about your Dell experiance! In addition to the know issues with the Nvidia 8600M GT (DDR2) video cards. Check Out the dell website specs where they claim that the card is capable of 24fps. Unfortunately that is not possible with the DDR2 version of the card closer to 12.4fps. I am sure that somehow the lawers can justifiy their claims. I FEEL LIKE DELL INTENTIONALLY  Decieved US.  I see no attempt to clearly state the performance specs of the Video card I recieved. I for one work for a large educational institution where we have 100+ DELL Computers. Sometimes tiny pebbles can create ripples in unexpected places. Dell. I hope that will restore my faith in the as a leader in quality and customer service.

I have just bought a Vostro 1510 and i agree with many comments above.  turning up fans to combat a known hardware fault is NOT a solution.

Dell need to apply a hardware fix, whatever the cost.

I have an m1530 that is just over 1 month old and have been relatively satisfied with the performance so far, until reading this page. How do i know if the manufacture is recent enough so i do not have to be concerned with the card.

BTW cannot get  fingerprint reader to read my print. Dell tech says my fingers may be too thick????

Ed

I was going to order a vostro 2510 but after reading all of these honest posts about the faulty nvidea card...I am going to hold off.  I don't want a warranty of any length even if it was for 10 years.  By then I would have purchased 3 more updated newer lap tops...probably not Dell though.  Hmm now I wonder about the possibilty of Dell saying they are only using the new nvidea cards which are more robust but if I order a laptop will I get the newer version or one of the old ones they have sitting in the warehouse, but with a great "free" warranty?  This is very upsetting as i was really looking forward to another dell product. 

Dell and Nvidia they gonna find a solution for customer needs.

By the way I have a Sony camera DSC F717, who had a damaged sensor, after 3 year of normal use.And the problem was common for more then 20 types of Sony ,Canon, Panasonic. They replaced my sensor, without any fee.

Looks like geforce 7900GS IS touched by the problem... My Inspiron 9400 with this gpu is now unusable, screen is corrupted starting at the BIOS screen starting yesterday evening....

Cool, high-end laptop, less than 2 years old is now good for the junk... 

I love hardware bug that triggers when warranty just expired...

XPS 1530 laptop with new Bios update. By doing nothing except for WiFI and antivirus on (and no automatic scans or checks going on in the background), the fan kicks up to HIGH blast @:

starts: 1 min 25 sec mark

Ends: 2 min 2 sec mark

Starts: 4.15 mark

Ends: 6.11 mark

[...]

And this does not factor in the annoying, constant small fan that RUNS all the time! Yes I can hear that. The fan may not be CONSTANTLY on for XPS 1530, but it is on for more than it should!

Recently, I am thankful that Dell has acknowledge this problem, but the solution for both the short term and long term are horrendous. It is the lack of real action that my value on Dell and its products are dwindling each day as I constantly hear my computer trying to cool itself down for DOING NOTHING!!!

It pains me to say this, but an XPS from Dell (one of the best I heard on consumer sites), may have to be the sole reason why this XPS is my last Dell computer ever.

The remedy to this debacle is simple, better response time and actions that reassure the customer (ex. HP already has done this). I don't expect any form of voodoo magic to get this fix since it is Nvidia solely at fault for the faulty part and a new hardware change tooks long time of testing, but I do expect Dell to have a better short term solution than it currently has (or lack of)...

Thank you for your time, and hopefully, I can be happy about my XPS purchase sometime soon...Seems to be a fantasy at this point... A depressing fantasy...

-KP

I doubt Dell even believes/cares about people that say "I will never go to Dell again", because of their record revenue on Notebooks (from Q2 financial results). They don't realise how much this is annoying people, how much it is destroying their already shakey reputation.

The fact is though this won't hurt them as much in the short term as it will in the long term, thousands of loyal customers that would be constantly purchasing products are not only going to avoid Dell when their next big computer purchase arrives sometime in the future but they will be looking at other brands, boosting the profits of rivals. I for one have done just that and gone to Asus, i'm sure many others will follow suit (with Toshiba, HP, Acer, etc).

Just watch for Q4 financial results when these lost sales kick in, it'll be quite a treat.

I have a m1550 and i think my 8600m is starting to die.  I get lots of fps lag spikes in games now.

Same thing happened to my brother's latitude 620D. They asked me to go to Malaysia for replacement. Whoa! Never will I buy a Dell product.

@Gonzalo, thanks.

Powermizer has three settings, low, medium, high performance.

When PM is on (default) and you're on AC alimentation with a demanding 3D app running, PM is set on high performance (--> high temps). When you stop the 3D app, typically your card goes to medium performance (--> lower temps).

Opening and closing 3D apps really kills your GPU. With defective materials, judging from what NVidia said, this is a given.

I'd like to set medium/low instead of high/medium, reverting back only if I play a really demanding 3D game, but I can't (without modded drivers or clocking third-party tools or hardcore registry modding).

I can't, not only because the options aren't there in the Nvidia control panel (this is also one the peculiar Vista wonders), but because they aren't there in the registry too! And why? Because the latest (and only) Dell supported drivers for 8400 and 8600 don't even write the relevant registry entries. I found only the entry to activate or shut off Powermizer.

Powermizer has its uses, I don't want to shut it off or it would be like driving a car at low speed but with the engine at its maximum.

This setup in combo with a defective card (and without a free extended warranty yeah) really worries me in the long run.

I have Vista 32, but for the PCs with 8400 and 8600 it must be a very common OS, so many have this same setup, without even knowing probably.

The Wiz

This fan issue is killing me.  To those who wish to not be FORCED to have their fans running 24/7, google I8KFanGUI.   This program can allow you to monitor temperatures as well as set up manual fan control (e.g., fan on slow at GPU=50C until GPU=47, fan on high at GPU=55 until GPU=50 then slow).

I imagine that dell wouldn't like this, as their reason behind the forced fan is likely that it will prolong the machine failure to a time after your warranty is up.  Whereas running the fan as was pre-bios update probably results in an increased amount of failures and therfore decreased dell profit.

Too many people are assuming the statement from nvidia's SEC notification that "All newly manufactured products and all products currently shipping in volume have a different and more robust material set." translates as currently shipping models Dell has acknowledged as having GPUs affected by this issue ARE no longer AFFECTED as they contain a 'fixed' GPU. 

People, Dell has not in any form stated all new notebooks are free of this GPU issue.  In fact, I think it's fairly clear that when Mr. Menchaca states "New systems are being shipped with the updated BIOS revisions." means they are still shipping units with this GPU issue.  Do you actually think that nvidia is still producing these GPUs?  Or is it more plausible that Dell has a vast inventory of these GPUs and they are being used since it is in fact inventory on hand?

From nvidia's original statement that  "All newly manufactured products and all products currently shipping in volume have a different and more robust material set." means the current line of GPUs is free of this issue.

Think about it.

I'm having major issues with the Nvidia NVS120m on my Latitude D820

Is this related?  Seems that whenever I'm using any 3D graphics program (from WoW to Google Earth to ArcView), the frame rate drops to 2FPS for a few minutes, then goes back to normal, only to happen again and again...

VERY ANNOYING...  I've tried the A09 BIOS for the D820, didn't fix anything.  I've tried other suggestions, and have redone my drivers, and even OS numerous times.  Doesn't work on anything from XP to Vista 64bit to Ubuntu.

We have 8 of these laptops at work, and 5 of them are used for 3D apps.  This is happening on 3 of those machines....

Somebody needs to come up with a fix for the d820 models.

Second post,

Now that I've received my Vostro 1510, I ran a hardware monitor while playing a 3-d game.  It was 94 degrees C/201 degrees F.  Since the laptop was purchased from a reseller they will not return it.  I've had it less than 7 days.  I'm highly dissatisfied with Dell on this issue.  I've priced out a Lenovo with an ATI card and as soon as I can get this issue resolved I'm buying it.  This is my last Dell comptuer, they've lost me as a customer. 

Steven

@Lance, there is a statement from Nvidia: http://www.nvidia.com/object/io_1215037160521.html , but they don't say exactly what is going on and if the problem is solved with a new revision of the chip. They are giving no exact information, but they are saying there is something wrong.

It's been a while since this was posted here on Driect2Dell now. And we have yet to see more update to the issue as promised. Why? HP has extended their warranty. Dell should really hurry up and calm us customers down by some solution of yours. I am not going to buy extended warranty for the hardware manufacture problem. It's not users' fault, so why on earth would we like to pay for that to cover your backside?

@Jason

Since nVidia hasn't announced what exactly the problem is, there's no one knows. I doubt nVidia will do that any time soon if ever. Unless Dell has their own solution to this problem like extended warranty or replace motherboard upon request, you'd better off getting something else. No one knows exactly what causes this GPU problem, so no way to avoid/prevent that to happen as users. Don't buy a potentially defect product that will die sooner than others at least for now. It's easy to return and get your money back. Well... that's just me. What to do is your choice.

Extend the Warranty!!!

Wiz said

"I think Nvidia and Dell owe us these ones.

Each time I think of the dreaded "temperature fluctuations" and look how fast Powermizer acts on the clock of my card (and shuts off some of its circuits) and how fast everything goes back at full power when needed, I'm feeling very bad.

That's at least + -7 °C on my GPU, and fastly (some seconds). Turning PM off doesn't sound a clever idea either, or I would be sitting at the high temps all the time."

that sound interesting. someone has any idea of how to reduce tempertures fluctuations??

I was seriously considering this laptop until i read this page. Don't think I'll bother now!

http://www.hotukdeals.com/visit/?m=15&q=212159

I wrote a batch file to run Orthos and RTHDRIBL for 10 minutes, kill them, wait three minutes, and then do it all over again.  I let this run all night.  I figure if it can go a month doing this, than my card must be ok. 

Going nuts!!!

I just ordered an XPS1530 with the 8600M GT on August 1st. Still sitting in production, although I have no idea how long that typically takes. Unfortunately I tripped upon this issues with the GPU after ordering it. I've contacted Dell 7 times in the last 3 days, just looking for some reassurance that the laptop I am getting will have a GPU that is not from the batch of potentially defective parts. If they couldn't assure me of that, I wanted them to add on an extended warranty at no charge to me, as this is now a fairly public issue that they shouldn't simply ignore. Not one person that I spoke to, all of which were in India, had any idea of what I was talking about. Just got the standard speach about how Dell uses the best possible components. The last guy I spoke to said that this particular card doesn't run hot at all. It seems impossible to speak to anyone that has the knowledge of the issue, or the authority to make any concessions. One guy did eventually offer me an extended warranty, that I would have to pay $100.00 for, which while not being too bad of a price, I just don't feel I should have to do that. I didn't choose an extended warranty because previous Dell's have been rock solid for me. Buy an extended warranty because of a known manufacturing defect that the company is not coming completely clean on IMO, doesn't seem fair. I'm considering cancelling the order. With it still sitting in Production though, I guess I'm hopeful that a delay represents some sort of corrective action being taken at their end. Would be nice if they would just provide some clarity.

Can we get updated drivers for 8400 and 8600 opening up the options to downclock the cards and/or manipulate the settings of Powermizer?

I think Nvidia and Dell owe us these ones.

Each time I think of the dreaded "temperature fluctuations" and look how fast Powermizer acts on the clock of my card (and shuts off some of its circuits) and how fast everything goes back at full power when needed, I'm feeling very bad.

That's at least + -7 °C on my GPU, and fastly (some seconds). Turning PM off doesn't sound a clever idea either, or I would be sitting at the high temps all the time.

Why this is not addressed? I want the clock and Powermizer options open, I want Dell technicians supporting their customers by suggesting the proper settings for these options, once they're open.

Every PC comes with default settings that we cannot modify (without third-party means), and how many PCs are failing in combinations with the faulty materials of the cards? So many, eh?

But here we are, with just a forced fan mapping trough a BIOS update.

I hope Dell phones calling Nvidia are hot too, at least.

The Wiz

DELL WE NEED A SOLUTION!

this is not a solution

I'm also calling for a replacement.

I also updated the Bios to A12 as a safeguard against the Nvida problem, but a few days after I installed it...my laptop was running sooo hot, and then I start getting startup issues and vertical coloured lines...mostly when I went into windows from suspend or when restarting :-(

I am getting a replacement motherboard on Monday - wish me luck!

I've spoken with Dell repeatedly and on the phone, they're happy to concede that they'll fix the notebook even out of warranty. What troubles me is that they will not put this in writing. They even went to great lengths to look up a phone number for me rather than simply hitting "reply" to an email -- even against my direct request. IThis doesn't seem right -- I think I'm right to insist that any agreement be in writing.

I think all of us here deserve a quality response from dell.

Lot of future purchase decisions would be based on how dell responds to this issue.

Well, I got a Vostro 1710 with 8600 gs and this sunday I was in my home and I decided to play Gears of Wars. I bought this computer 2 weeks ago (more or less). Unfortunately, in a few minutes my laptop was on fire and the game just freezes after a few minutes playing. 

I will call to Dell and asking for a new one...

BTW, this is for ALL manufacturers, not only Dell, and for any who keep posting that this problem was caused by Nvidia not Brand X laptop maker. If Dell used the MXM GPU interface, developed in part by NVidia no less, this would be a LOT less of a problem. Since Dell, HP and most other have to have their own proprietary GPU interface, you can't simply replace a defective card or even upgrade one. You have to get the replacement card directly from Dell or whoever with their own proprietary packaging. This is only going to slow down the resolution of this problem since every brand will have to have their own packaging for the GPU, resulting in die tool changes and increased cost to NVidia and XX laptop makers. Shame, shame, shame

It's amazing. Look at when this whole discussion here started and what date is today? Complete silence from Dell apart from "get that BIOS update, install it". This will really turn out to be the last Dell I buy.

My XPS m1330 has been running a little hot since the beginning of summer (I don't have A/C in house).

I finally decided to upgrade to the A12 BIOS two weeks ago and now my GPU is fried ! The update definitely made things worse.

As a consequence, my hard drive has been running (between 47-49°C) hot as well, I'm sure every component will fail one after the other slowly.

I'm calling for a replacement.

I'm in the market for a laptop for my daughter and college. I'm glad I found out about the nVidia 8400/8600 problems before I bought. Its looking like Dell has no intention of doing more than a BIOS band-aid fix that by their own admittance isnt a true fix. Shame on you Dell!

I'm still waiting for an answer Dell.

Dell needs to fix this problem. They need to fix the hardware and not tweak the bios that really has not effect. I have had the worste Dell experience ever!

http://istunner.com/?page=071708

Here is some information on flashing the system bios for Ubuntu users. The link are located on the Ubuntu Forums website. I have also included some Google search links on the same topic if needed.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=318789

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=how+to+flash+the+bios+on+and+Ubuntu+Laptop&btnG=Google+Search

Hi, four days ago, I had one of my Inspiron 1420 with 8400M GS die on me. It started showing symptoms multiples lines, pixelation, garbled screen, and failure to boot up or even post. I've tried plugging the notebook to an external monitor and the monitor displayed the same symptoms. So now I have one dead paperweight and another Inspiron 1420 that is a ticking timebomb.

Currently the dead Inspiron has 89 days left in its warranty and the ticking timebomb has 179 days left. I am debating whether I should use the warranty and downgrade the 8400M motherboard to an Intel GMA X3100..... or wait it out until Nvidia or Dell makes a statement on how they will properly handle this situation. I hope they switch over to an ATI chip and use that as our replacements.... The 9300M GS seems to be only rebranded 8400M and may still carry the same defect....

I've had great experience with Dell. My first laptop was an Inspiron 6000 with ATI Mobility X300 and it has last me 3 years and going with no servicing whatsoever. As a matter of fact, I am using it to type this right now. The laptop's durability and reliability was what made me pursue two Inspiron 1420 for the family. Dell, please don't let this be the last two laptop I purchase from you guys.

I've been watching this thread for the last week or so waiting on a TRUE fix from from Dell.  I have an Inspiron 1420 with the defective 8400M.  This BIOS band-aid is insulting as I spent good money on my laptop.  I have no warranty anymore so this defective part is of great concern to me.  Dell has made no statement about how those of us no longer under warranty will be treated if this defective GPU fails.  I certainly didn't pay for a defective GPU.  Nor has Dell made a statement about laptops currently being sold and whether or not they also contain the defective GPU.

I have two friends right now who are in the market for new laptops.  They have come to me asking to help them build a laptop that will suit their needs.  I am certainly not recommending any Dell laptop using an 8x00 based GPU which means they most likely will not be getting Dell's unless Dell releases some statement soon to reassure consumers. 

This is absolutely ludicrous that Dell has not made an official statement on this yet.  My GPU could fail the next time I use my laptop for all I know.  I shouldn't be scared to turn on my laptop and I certainly shouldn't have to point friends to other retailers because those retailers have stopped using known defective hardware. 

I think, Dell will change the faulty Mainboards with 84/86 Chips to the 9300 GS when they have these in their selection. The 9300 GS is very equal to 8400 GS from perfomance and heatradiation and i think in costs too...

Think they will not change every board, only these with faulty Chips (with graphic errors)