M6400, black screens. I need some help!

Hey all,
I have the M6400 u can see at my signature, all drivers/Windows updates/antivirus updates are ok. Recently no matter which game I play I am getting random black screens, meaning the PC shuts down and all activity stops and I have to restart it by the on/off button. I thought it was the graphics card so I used RealTemp in order to see exactly what's happening. The result seems extremely random and is not connected to overheating. I got a black screen at 67°C (when the game just loaded) or at any other temperature or card load. The maximum is 74°C for the temperature and 75% for the card's load.

Having this excluded I am concerned about the HDD. Could it be the HDD and if yes what is it? Is it overheating? or is it simply dying? I am making very regular backups but I would like to solve this problem.

Any ideas????

 

Can you run a Dell Diagnostics CD to check the hardware?

GK

 

Having excluded what? Sudden shutdowns are rarely, if ever, caused by issues with the hard drive (those would usually give you a bluescreen). More likely are, in that order, memory, processor, motherboard, or graphics card. Still lots of options to explore. Try running the diagnostics first. Next step would be to selectively remove memory modules to see if one is bad.

 

I am pretty sure this is an issue with the FX3700m only solution is a new graphics card - I had the exact same problem when I bought my M6400 - Total/instant shut down at no predictable temp/load - I had to return mine to the seller for a repair which required a graphics card replacement in the end- if you have any warranty left I'd suggest you get onto it right now -

One option for troubleshooting that wasn't available to me at the time is to download the nvidia system tool from HERE and try manually reducing the clocks of the card to see if you can get some stability

Good Luck, this really is an amazing laptop when all is well with it - At the moment I have the GPU overclocked with the nvidia system tool above and the QX9300 running at 3.4Ghz using Throttle Stop .......Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!

 

I have run all the diagnostics possible, apart one last memory test (I will do it ASAP) and everything came back normal. (I even run those extremeley long HDD drive tests and I can tell you that with a 640GB drive they... take some time).

The system is still under warranty so I will contact DELL and see what they tell me. BTW this is the 3rd FX3700 my M6400 has. The first was replaced because all the colours were wrong on day 1 (and I mean completely wrong, and impossible to fix in any way). The second was replaced along with the motherboard because of a constant high pitch noise (I never completely understood that one). So if they agree to replace it for a 3rd time, what should I think of FX3700 or M6400? (apart the fact that I did very well to get a really long warranty?)

 

I believe that the BIOS records thermal events. Check that log to see if there is any more info there.

 

Update:
DELL told me it is a software program and I should reinstall Windows...
What do you think?

 

Reinstalling Windows should have been the first thing to try, have you not reinstalled yet? Did you also try looking in the thermal log?

 

I cannot find the thermal log of the BIOS. I have installed Realtemp though and I have seen that in some cases the black screens were happening frm 71 to 74°C, and once at 67°C.
CPU temps were always at mid 60s.
Where can I find the BIOS thermal log.

And by reinstalling, I guess we mean, format and reinstalling. Correct?

 

Look for any event logging in the BIOS... if it's there.

And yes, wipe and clean install the OS and drivers... ideally Win7, not Vista.

GK