Death of a gaming laptop XPS M1710

This problem suddenly appeared after a crash on my Laptop (after playing Bf2142)

I restarted laptop (M1710) and when Windows XP is loading there are green vertical lines on the screen. Even more worringly the screen after the windows logo (login screen) is completely white but with some black sortof distortion.

This looks to me like my graphics card is going **** up? (7900GTX Go)

I get the same problem if i switch to integrated graphics (from setup)

So..

I launch the laptop in safe mode and i can get into the desktop no probs (albeit at a reduced resolution) with no screen corruption at all. It looks fine.

I tried rolling back to previous graphics drivers (didnt help)

Next step is: i get in touch with DELL support (so that'll be fun!)

Note before this sometimes my laptop would crash out of Bf2142 (restart comp) and when the system loads up again my resolution would be my "game resolution" not my desktop resolution.

Any ideas? Do you reckon irq conflicts could cause this? (ie increased instability of system)

or is it my graphics card in its last days of life?

thanks folks

edit: oh yeah i got an error code when i did the system diagnostics

Error Code 2300:0124 Expected 64h but found 0h


so after speaking with dell tech support (out of warranty support) problem is diagnosed as a failed graphics card (video memory on it probably fried)


bought the lappy in 2006...so 2 or 3 years intensive gaming which basically kills it...is convincing me not to get another gaming laptop... certainly not a dell one anyway. (just the way there is not much airflow in the design...its common problem for overheating dell laptops )

thats what killed it imo - poor airflow, poor temp control, overheating, increases instability. So eventually something has got to give.

ok ive been quoted by dell

£376 total inc vat for

replacement graphics card 7900GTX

replacement fan asssembly

replacement keyboard


price includes labour.

Decent enuff deal?

I should add im still able to get on the internet (safe mode with networking)
No graphics corruption or anything atm.

What should i do? Why buy another graphics card if its just going to fail again?

 

yeah, the gpu is fried

3 years is an incredible run. the 9 series cards do get hot, and in a laptop it will cause failure and in the case of the 170 and 1710 there is a problem with cooling, but it isn't really dells fault. it happens to all high performance gaming laptops, it wouldn't have mattered what brand with the 7900/7950 gtx, they just smoke. and all video cards as well as everything else will eventually die, so thinking it is silly to replace the gpu if it will eventually fail all depends on how valuable your laptop is. the 1710 is worth 1000-1300 in good condition, if you were to start over with a desktop, you might get something close to the performance (probably better) to a functioning 1710, and you can sell off the parts and maybe make out well. up to you.

the gtx cards are quite expensive but if you want to downgrade a bit the 7900gs is a really good card, just get the dual pipe model, almost the same performance for much less cash. replacing it yourself is pretty straight forward, if you are semi mechanically inclined.

the 1730 seems to have taken care of the cooling problem, but it is much larger, so i wouldn't actually call it much of a laptop, more like a portable. if you just need a gaming rig, a desktop is always the best choice and the cheapest, but if you are like me, portability is paramount

good luck, and btw, i went through 6 7950 gtx in the same time period so you did very well, but i was gaming 10+ hours a day for a huge amount of time

 

yeah thanks. I think i'll buy a replacement card but my next system will be back to a proper desktop rather than a laptop.

Ive been looking around for either

7900GS
7900GTX
7950GTX
FX2500

laptop graphics cards. If you see any anywhere for sale let me know!

Some of the prices ive seen are like £400 for a replacement card when i can almost get an entire replacement laptop or desktop system for that hrmm :/

 

I had the same issue with my M170. The gfx card corrupted less than a year out of warranty. I ended up buying another lower spec'd card off ebay because I coudn't justify the price of a 7800gtx. well that card died within a few months with the same problem, even with light usage and AS5 thermal compund. I suspect that maybe the motherboard is to blame? perhaps not regulating the voltage correctly? this is all speculation, but why would a card die so fast under light use. my m170 is now a brick. perhaps ill try to part out the screen, cpu and hdd on ebay.