Inspiron 1705 with a NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 gs.Took this laptop with me to Iraq over a year ago, like most electronics it died while it was out there. Video card obviously died. Can not boot normally(blue screen before login appears, when video drivers take over), only in safe mode, and the picture has random colors, typically blue or yellow all over.
The other day I'm messing around with it, seeing if I can use my phone as a modem trying to see if I can activate upnphost in safemode, long story short I got windows installer to turn on, no usb though. Lame sauce. Back to the story, I left the laptop sitting on my bed for a few hours, nicely sufficating it so it couldn't ventilate. When I came back it was hot to the touch, but I noticed the screen wasn't all crazy with colors all over. Rebooted it normally and sure enough it starts right up. Worked for about an hour and then went back to not working again. Kept messing around with it and discovered this:
Laptop Overheating = video card worksLaptop Cold = video card does not work
Anyone with an xbox 360 knows the towel trick when you get the red ring of death. I guess this is similar. I'll boot in safe mode, throw a blanket over it, let it run for about 30minutes, check the screen, restart normally and it works. But, I have to keep it warm. Leave a blanket behind where the video vents. As soon as it cools down it slowly deteriorates and eventually will crash.
So why does my video card work warm, but not cold. I'm a cisco guy, not a engineer. This post has all been typed out, on this overheating laptop.
Thanks for the help!
Hardware Accelerations set to none.DXDIAG:------------------System Information------------------Time of this report: 3/23/2010, 16:29:48 Machine name: MIGIT Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.080814-1236) Language: English (Regional Setting: English)System Manufacturer: Dell Inc. System Model: MP061 BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A09 Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU T7200 @ 2.00GHz (2 CPUs) Memory: 2046MB RAM Page File: 734MB used, 5158MB available Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)DX Setup Parameters: Not found DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode DxDiag Previously: Crashed in system information (stage 4) & DirectMusic (stage 2) & DirectShow (stage 1)------------DxDiag Notes------------ DirectX Files Tab: No problems found. Display Tab 1: The file nv4_disp.dll is not digitally signed, which means that it has not been tested by Microsoft's Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL). You may be able to get a WHQL logo'd driver from the hardware manufacturer. Direct3D functionality not available. You should verify that the driver is a final version from the hardware manufacturer. Sound Tab 1: No problems found. Music Tab: No DirectMusic ports were found. Input Tab: No problems found. Network Tab: No problems found.--------------------DirectX Debug Levels--------------------Direct3D: 0/4 (n/a)DirectDraw: 0/4 (retail)DirectInput: 0/5 (n/a)DirectMusic: 0/5 (n/a)DirectPlay: 0/9 (retail)DirectSound: 0/5 (retail)DirectShow: 0/6 (retail)---------------Display Devices--------------- Card name: NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GS Manufacturer: NVIDIA Chip type: GeForce Go 7900 GS DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0298&SUBSYS_019B1028&REV_A1 Display Memory: n/a Current Mode: 1920 x 1200 (32 bit) (60Hz) Monitor: Default Monitor Monitor Max Res: Driver Name: nv4_disp.dll Driver Version: 6.14.0010.8463 (English) DDI Version: unknownDriver Attributes: Final Retail Driver Date/Size: 4/25/2006 12:28:00, 3985408 bytes WHQL Logo'd: No WHQL Date Stamp: None VDD: n/a Mini VDD: nv4_mini.sys Mini VDD Date: 4/25/2006 12:28:00, 3662944 bytesDevice Identifier: {D7B71E3E-41D8-11CF-9752-912100C2CB35} Vendor ID: 0x10DE Device ID: 0x0298 SubSys ID: 0x019B1028 Revision ID: 0x00A1 Revision ID: 0x00A1 Video Accel: Deinterlace Caps: n/a Registry: OK DDraw Status: Not Available D3D Status: Not Available AGP Status: Not AvailableDDraw Test Result: Not run D3D7 Test Result: Not run D3D8 Test Result: Not run D3D9 Test Result: Not run
Update:
I let the laptop run until it overheated and shut down, just like an xbox, and it seems to be fixed. For now atleast. It ran for about 6hrs yesterday, and started up this morning fine with no issues. Before I'd have to keep the temperature of the laptop up to prevent it from crashing, now I don't. To bad I didn't do this a year ago.... Anyone have any explanations?
Thank you.
Well, the only thing I can think of is when you placed the towel around your laptop (causing it to overheat) you purposely put your fans on max. By doing this, you cooled down the processor slightly more (even though the laptop itself gets hotter, the fans on max cool the processor more) and probably displaced dust (or more likely sand in your case). When you wrapped up the laptop for a long time, the fans were probably running at max for so long that it displaced some of the dust/sand that was probably causing ventilation issues with your laptop. I'd say if your laptop is still working now, it probably won't soon... because there still is probably a bunch of dirt in your laptop. You should get someone to open it up for you and clean it out (also a good time to replace/upgrade the thermal paste on your CPU & GPU). However, I'd be surprised if there wasn't any permanent damage already done to your CPU, RAM, GPU & VRAM (but obviously not enough to brick your system yet). No doubt, there's a lot of heat as well in Iraq, so a laptop cooler (monoprice) would be a great addition. Goodluck.
When the laptop initially began having this issue over a year ago, one of the first things I did was open it up to see if the video card was soldered onto the motherboard or not. So I could find a replacement. I expected there to be more dust inside of it then there was, but its been cleaned out and such since then. I guess I should of mentioned that previously. I'm assuming this fix is going to last about a week or so, maybe it'll work for a while who knows. Either way the replacement video cards provided by dell were a down grade to a refurbished ATI card (I don't remember which model anymore) for I believe it was $375 or more. I don't think there are any listed anymore, but I've searched around and found a few. Still not worth $300.
I'm just hoping someone with the experience and knowledge could explain what internally is going on. Never seen a computer or laptop put up such drawing errors I guess you could say, the picture holds its integrity, the colors do not. Sometimes theres a pattern to them aswell. Kind of neat I guess.
This wouldn't have something to do with your laptop monitor, you think? Maybe there are video card & monitor issues... of just one or the other. That's all the knowledge I can provide, sorry.
I suspect the card has some thermal expansion issue (expanding and contracting due to heating and cooling cycles). A connection on the card (say a spot solder) could have come loose due to it, and heating it up moved the loose connection enough to reconnect.
If that is the case, I'd expect it to happen again at any time after the overheating - the connection may habg in there for a few days, but it would only be a matter of time until it looses the connection again...
Pure speculation, I know..... But it seems reasonable....
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