Dead XPS M1210- Please help!

Dear Friends,



My XPS M1210 laptop is dead right now. It happened last friday morning when I am trying to turn on the laptop. After I press the power button, the hard drive sounds spinning, but after a second, it remains silent (Same for the cd-rom). Only the power led is on. All other leds are dead, not even the bluetooth, cap led, number lock led. So I connected my laptop to a external monitor, but nothing is showed. I have inserted a boot disk, but it doesn't work. I also tried to press Fn and power button method, but it still doesn't work as well.



Right now, I am suspecting my hard drive is broken or some virus infected my laptop because a day before my laptop is still working, my laptop got infected with some virus. When I opened my inbox, my laptop suddenly got out of control. The cursor jumped around the screen and there was some bar code surrounded the cursor. But after I restarted my comp and did some virus scan, nothing was found. However, the next day, I turned on my laptop, the screen/images were all messed up. The images were chopped into piece. But in safemode, things are looking perfect. So I shutted it down and planned to reformat the laptop. AFter that, I am not able to turn it on again.



Please help! Any inputs are appreciated! Thank you!



Calvin

 

this is not any virus as the bios screen is not shown. Theres some trouble with your hardware i would say. try booting into diagnostic mode by pressing Fn+power key. if that fails reset you bios by reinserting the CMOS battery. (refer the manual for this) or try this link to download the service manuals
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/xpsM1210/en/index.htm#online_documentation

 

It's not a virus. A screen would still show up with the Dell logo. It's not a harddrive issue either. The BIOS for your computer is stored on a small chip connected to the motherboard. it powers from the CMOS battery. Try reinstalling the CMOS battery (google search it)

 

Well, I tried reinstalling the cmos battery, but the laptop still doesnt work. Should I buy a new cmos battery?

 

your laptop will run with out cmos battery hate say if does not post sound more like mainboard if this laptop under warrenty send it back

 

sometimes your RAM may come loose. please reinsert them too. or try starting up with one RAM module only (incase you have 2) and try starting swapping the RAM modules and slots

 

The issue is a dead graphics card. I have the exact same problem, and have been seeing a lot of recent posts regarding it.

Dell has had problems with nvidia graphics cards in the past few months, and is extending the warranty on laptops with 8xxx series cards. Unfortunately they neglect to recognize the problems with the 7xxx series that our M1210's use. File a complaint with dell. That's what I did. If we make enough noise they might have mercy.

 

I would agree with it being either the motherboard or the video card. You would have to speak with Dell to determine what replacement options there are.

 

Please see the following thread for instructions on how to get your M1210 fixed:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=4611553#post4611553