Dell XPS M1330 - nVidia GeForce 8400M GS - Copper Mod

I bought my Dell laptop from a company in Korea. When I contact Dell support center in Korea, they told me that the extension does not apply to the company from which I bought my lappy from.

Right now I am kind of stuck; I just wait and hope that the mod will do well and help my lappy survive for a few more years.

 

If it fails you can always try the oven trick:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=437683

 

Thank you for the suggestion.

That may come in handy in the worst case .

Does anyone know how can I get the copper? Right now I am in Korea; I try to find the copper sheet but cannot find one.

 

Just finished my copper mod and my laptop doesn't boot at all now. Have no idea what I did wrong. Any suggestions?

 

False alarm, removed the heat sink once again, put it back and the computer is alive. Room temperature +21C, xUbuntu 9.10 with default services and torrent client (Transmission) in the background - GPU +39C. Before the modification it didn't drop below +43C. It's been just for 15 min on yet, though.

 

Hi all.

I have posted and discussed things some time ago. I still wait with the mod because I still have a guaranty for both XPS M1330 laptops.

This is a question for the users, who use the mod: For how long does your computer already work with the mod? Did you experience any problems? Is your computer also at high load sometimes?

This is interesting not only for me but also for all the others, who haven't yet installed the mod.

Thx for some comments.

 

Mine works for a rear or so already without any issues.

 

Update:
December 21, 2009: My Dell XPS M1330 notebook's LED backlight switches off and replacement screen or cable does not correct the problem although external monitor (via VGA or HDMI port) displays video flawlessly. Dell's technician suspects heat from the wireless card breaking up the circuit and suggests replacing the motherboard for correcting the problem. With this my first Copper Mod has lasted me for 531 days (1 year, 5 months, 1 week and 6 days).

 

That sounds a bit odd to me. I've got doubts on their solution.
Thanks for the update nonetheless.

 

Hi sinstoic.

What are you going to do now? Because you applied this copper mod thing your guarantee got lost I guess. I hope that you can fix this problem somehow.

Cheers,

XPS36.

 

Assuming he did not keep the original pads, you can buy replacement pads for a couple of pounds / dollars on ebay and put the laptop back to how it was quite easily.

 

Hi everyone,

I did the copper mod on my XPS M1330 2.5Ghz using MX-3 and the copper shim from metaloffcuts, it did reduce the temps for normal usage (CPU idle 48-50C, GPU idle 61C) however the problem that caused it to shutdown before is still the same, it's when I try to view/edit HD video or burn a DVD, the temps on the CPU shoot up quickly to 103C and the GPU follows it slowly to 85+ then shutdown.

I tried many tips mentioned here including bending the heatpipe to lay flat against the CPU, but to no avail. I am not sure what the problem is (any ideas?) but after 4 tries to clean and apply paste I give up, will call Dell since I'm still under the extra free year of warranty and try to get it replaced.

Thanks to all who contributed to this very well done mod, it was worth a shot and I might do it again on the replacement board if I get one.

PS: In a random search online I found that there's a class action suit against NVidia for the faulty GPU's (I'm assuming the same ones we have), there are several updates about it on law360.com

 

If T of the GPU is raising up slowly then it is actually not the GPU, which is the largest problem! It is probably the Processor or the other chip. Do you measure the Ts of all chips with CPUID HWMonitor?

 

Hi, yes I'm measuring temps with HWMonitor, everything moves up or down slowly except the CPU which fluctuates wildly, any hard disk activity will send the CPU jumping between 48C and 65C randomly, and if I try to do anything with video then it just keeps going up to 100+ very quickly. It also cools much quicker than the GPU.

I left the bottom cover off and put the laptop on a cooling pad with two fans on, my idle temps dropped to 40C for CPU and 54C for GPU, but again as soon as I tried to edit my HD videos the CPU went nuts. Could it be because my CPU is a Penryn 2.5GHz that this whole cooling system is inadequate for it regardless of GPU? anyone else have this processor who can tell us his results after the mod?

 

Hi marcnotebook.

I have an Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T5550, which runs at 1.83GHz. You seem to have a fast processor then! I'm not an expert but I can't remember to have read something similar. It really seems that it is the CPU. The GPU is only passively heated via the copper beam. This takes time, which explains the slow response.
When I deal with video, the CPU temperatures go also immediately up, but not to 100°C. They reach may be 70°C max. Cooling is also quick when video processing has come to a stop. - Note, that I haven't yet installed the copper mod.

I hope that you are still on guarantee. So then let it crash and ask for a new motherboard.

Cheers.

 

Thanks for your concern. I have an extended warranty (purchased with the notebook) and it is not void as I am reversing the Copper Mod before handing it over to the technician. Neither Dell nor their technician will ever come to know of the mod unless I tell them.

Here is what has happened so far:

My notebook's LED backlight switches off although external monitor (via VGA or HDMI port) displays video flawlessly.

I connect my notebook to an external monitor and run the general diagnostics test by pressing Fn + Power keys. I get the error PSA 1000-0326, PSA+ 2000-0326, LCD inverter error, unable to turn lamp ON/OFF. There are no other errors.

Then I run LCD built-in self test by pressing Fn +D keys. A solid color screen is shown and 5 different colors are displayed on the notebook screen with proper backlight.

These two tests have ruled out problems with the GPU and the display screen. The problem now could be either in the display cable (connecting the motherboard to the display) or with the motherboard itself.

Dell sends a technician with a display cable and a display screen. The technician disconnects the existing display cable from the motherboard (without disassembling the existing display screen) and connects the sent display cable and display screen to the motherboard. There is no change in the problem. The technician suspects that either the sent parts are defective or the problem could be with the motherboard.

Later in the day, the technician checks the same display cable and display screen with another notebook and finds them to be in good condition. The technician now suspects heat from the wireless card breaking up the circuit and suggests replacing the motherboard for correcting the problem.

I am currently waiting for the motherboard replacement.

Note:

I wonder if the Copper Mod saved the GPU and the poor ventilation (of the notebook) killed a part of the motherboard?

 

Thanks a lot, I appreciate your feedback, it's very helpful to know that you're not topping 70C max on video even without copper mod! I'm not sure what's going on but I will go for a replacement and let you all know what happens.

 

Dudes,

I did the copper mod a few months ago and everything was going great. I was getting an idle temp of 55 (after undervolt and underclock of GPU), web browsing temps of 57-61 and a max video watching temp of 63. Today, I don't know what's gone wrong, but my temps are much greater than they have been

If I wasn't doing anything heavy the GPU temp would hover at about 57 - now it's rising steadily and has just hit 70 before i forced fans to high speed on i8kfan. watching a dvd today, the temps hit 72 - thats the kind of thing I used to get before the copper mod!

Can anybody help?

Cheers,

Jonny

PS> I'm using RivaTuner to underclock and RMClock to undervolt

 

Take it apart and check to see if there is dust or something.

Maybe re-apply the thermal paste?

 

Hi sinstoic.

So, you think that due to the copper mod heat is transfered to other parts of the mother board heating up parts like the WLAN card? Well, I'm not an expert in motherboard layouts. However, I can't believe that this is the case. As far as I know, the WLAN card is relatively far away from the chips (at the bottom of the mother board), and I suppose that the mother board is a bad conductor - almost no heat transfer. Because you installed the copper heat sink, the heat is mainly transfered to the copper beam and then to the ventilator.

Keep us informed about the reason of this particular failure of the laptop. this is somewhat important to know ... .

Cheers.

 

Hi all.

Having read some contributions in many forums, I have the strong feeling that there is some other mechanism, which might be important: Some people anneal the whole mother board in an oven or only the chips with an 'hair dryer'. Could it be that also in our case, the pins of the chips get disconnected from the mother board by time, which then get reconnected upon annealing the chip and melting the solder? What do you think?

Cheers.

 

Hi Jonny.

Did you check the contact between the GPU and the copper beam? What about the thermal compound, is it still intact? Is the whole assemble (chip -copper mod - copper beam) well fixed? Is the ventilator still well-working? Are there any other problems with thermal contacts?

It would be nice that you tell us by time, which kind of values you use in RivaTuner and RMClock to underclock and undervolt, respectively, your chips.

Cheers.

 

Update: Temperatures of CPU and GPU during video processing

I measured the temperatures during a conversion of 6 videos from one format to another one. I used the program 'Any Video Converter'. As expected, its the CPU, which is doing the whole work. The GPU is passively heated (slow response).

During conversion
=============
CPU: 63°C = constant
GPU: 73°C = constant

5 minutes after closing 'Any Video Converter'
=================================
CPU: 44°C
GPU: 65°C (I use an external screen, this is why T is higher by 7°C)

Cheers.

 

I just revived the 8400m by baking it in an oven for 10 minutes!

I didn't want to believe it but it is true - the oven can save your laptop. Now the m1330 is running just dandy. I also did the cooling modification from this post to diminish the risk that the problem will surface again.

So, the Dell was doing the vertical lines like most of us have seen. It wouldn't even display the bios boot screen properly. The laptop was my sister's actually, and in the 1 year she owned it, Dell had to change the motherboard twice and the problem came back again. She got fed up with it and bought a Sony.

I took the laptop, removed the motherboard. Mind you that it's not easy - it takes time and there's a ton of small parts to disconnect. There are some good guides on how to get to the motherboard, but preparing it for the oven requires additional steps - remove all the plastic covers (sheets) on the board itself and all rubber materials, remove the board from the frame itself and I also removed the CPU. Then I baked in a pre-heated kitchen oven for 10mins at 385deg F, making sure to suspend the board by aluminium foil balls (read other guides on how to bake your board). I let it cool slowly for more than an hour. You should open your windows when you do that, because the smell is not that great and possibly a bit toxic (?).

After reassembling all the pieces, I just could not believe that the laptop was booting flawlessly. As soon as it was up, I shut it down again to do the cooling mod. I actually tried to follow most of the instructions in this post, but I replaced a couple of items. I used Zippo lighter fluid to clean the thermal past. I got the copper sheet by buying a RAM cooling kit and cut a piece of the copper off the kit (RAM cooling kit is useless as your RAM doesn't need it). I also made my copper sheet bigger so that it can help dissipate heat too. Just make sure you it holds well and doesn't touch anything else. You should make sure you know what you are doing and that you apply the silver artic properly.

Now after all this work, I have to say it was worth it as the laptop is working great. Left it on for days and played 3D games on it for hours. The GPU gets up to a maximum of 80 degs C on load, and usually idles between 50 to 65 deg C. One laptop saved from the trash, and it's a good laptop overall now that the heating problem is resolved.

I still wouldn't buy a Dell in the future as something as basic as the cooling system has been severely overlooked, and the motherboard replacement does not resolve the root cause.

Anyway, if you have no other options and you feel comfortable doing this, go and bake your board.

Cheers and happy new year 2010.

 

Hi Elus1ve,

congratulations! Are you sure that it is 385°C and not 385° Fahrenheit? Which manual did you use for disassembling the main board?

Cheers.

 

Great article but I'm afraid it's already too late for me. The chip has been irreparably damaged. I understand the GPU Board is soldered onto the motherboard. The idiot dell rep who replaced my motherboard insured me he had added heat sink compound when he installed it. He did, only not to the GPU. Dell (of course) refuses to acknowledge that there ever was a problem. I'm seriously considering filing a class action suit. I've had literally hundreds of m1330 owners complain about this problem. One thing I did that prolonged the life of the chip was to buy a cooling dock for my office. In retrospect it probably was a bad idea since the 2nd chip lasted way past my warranty.

 

Use the above mentioned oven trick.
And by the way Dell does not ever use thermal paste on the GPU, only on the CPU. The GPU gets a thermal conductive pad.

 

You are right, it's 385 Fahrenheit! Not Celsius. 385deg C would be way too much and everything would start melting and burning.

I've used this guide to disassemble the m1330. It gets you to the motherboard, but there are still a few steps to take to completely remove the motherboard off.
http://ahwee.com/how-to-disassemble-laptop-dell-xps-m1330

I'm happy to report the laptop is still working great.

 

Hello!
this is my first post here so bear with me...

I have recently applied the copper mod to my m1330 and had great results and readings of my new GPU temp at a Max of 74 degrees Celsius while stressing, (while it got up to 97degrees prior :x ) until last night... right where the heat sink meats the exterior of the case next to where my intake fan is, the plastic warped and melted slightly and my laptop will not boot. I have taken a peek inside and no visible damage to the silicone chips or surrounding parts are apparent. I am still covered under extended warranty although the original thermal pad for the GPU is long gone. Reading this guide it says the mod is easily reversible and I believe it is. Although I do require the thermal pad before Dell would even think about lending a hand. Does anyone know where I can purchase the same blue thermal pad, to restore my m1330 to its original state and take advantage of my warranty?

 

Ebay is probably your bes bet.

 

Yes eBay, I've seen a few thermal pads on there before

 

The heating of some Wirless Cards has nothing to do with the GPU heating up or the Copper Mod spreading or transferring heat elsewhere.

In my case, either the wireless card in my notebook is faulty or the interface connecting the same is faulty. I don't know which one it could be.

December 28, 2009: The motherboard was replaced by Dell's technician today and I have redone the Copper Mod. The wirless card still heats up but not as much as it used to do earlier, so I suspect the interface connecting the motherboard could be faulty.

 

Mod done...thanks for the excellent guide. My XPS1330 hasn't shown any problems and was running mid 50's temperature at idle / basic use (I don't game on it)...this has dropped to mid 40's with the copper piece from metalcutoffs (UK) and Arctic Silver 5 (which has yet to cure).

Now to do my father's m1330 too - which has started showing signs of graphic card death (rainbow pixellations, hard lockups etc.), and runs in the late 50's.

Thanks to all you who have come up with this solution!!

 

If it's already showing these signs, then the mod will not help. You need to call Dell and get it replaced immediately, hopefully it's still under warranty.

 

Nope - bought it second hand - then he left it under a hot duvet in the sun (don't ask)....so no warranty...and yes, I've seen that this is the sign of impending doom, but in the absence of an insurance claim, all I've got left is a) a replacement m/b; b) a junked laptop or; c) a copper mod and see if it'll limp a few more miles, since the problems seem to occur when the temp hits about 60C


Cool - literally - my GPU is at 39C this morning. Go the AS5.

 

You forgot baking the laptop.
If the system were mine, I'd bake the motherboard to reflow the GPU, then I'd copper mod the system.

Guide(ish) here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=437683
More info available via google.

 

Someone I know was going to throw theirs away, it was totally gone and wouldn't even power up. For less than $300 US, I replaced the motherboard with the integrated Intel, replaced the heatsink (the integrated uses a different heatsink) upgraded the CPU and memory and now I have a perfectly fine second M1330.

 

OK guys, so i messed up and i need to get a thermal pad for my northbridge (while doing the copper mod i accidentally thought the northbridge was the nvidia chip so i took off the pad and it tore down),

Can anyone provide me the ebay link for this pad?? I have searched under "thermal pad" but get way too many answers and i don't know which to choose.

 

You mean the copper heat sink? I got it from user 'metaloffcuts' on ebay. If you need the blue pads, I think you will find something on ebay. Probably you have to buy all inclusive, fan + copper beam + blue pads.

Search for 'DELL XPS M1330' on ebay.

Good luck.

 

Something like this:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Thermal-Pads-...Computing_LaptopAccess_RL?hash=item518fea99ba

Just search for thermal pad and there is loads on there.

 

I have my XPS in DELL service centre since 8th January 2010 because of VGA faulty, n they (DELL) going to replace my mainboard for about a month (cause in Indonesia we need to deliver the notebook to jakarta for warranty claim)..and i plan to coppermod my new mainboard after they re-send the notebook to me..what i want to ask is, is there any one of you which had done the coppermod, have the VGA faulty again? Thanks,

 

Hi aRyza.

I recently had the same question. I don't know anymore where but I have read one post on notebookreview, where the person had again this GPU failure, even with the copper mod.
Many people claim that even with the copper mod, the system will crash. What you basically do with the copper mod is just increasing the time, where the GPU works.

Cheers.

 

As XPS36 said, this mod does not fix the faulty GPU issue, it only lowers the operating temperature of the GPU (which happens to also delay GPU failure).

As clearly stated in the first post of this topic and my original guide, this mod is to lower GPU temperature to prevent stuttering in games. It has other benefits but it is not a fix for the GPU.

 

Thanks for the info XPS36 and Hep! i really appreciate it,..i have another question and i hope it's not bother you,..how long since you have your notebook been coppermod?

 

I got out of the sinking ship that is the M1330 over a year ago.
To me, I update my tech regularly anyway. This was just another reason to get rid of the system, while it was still working.

 

[Update]
Graphics on dad's m1330 have now pretty much bit the dust...totally psychadelic colurs on boot to a graphical desktop now (but still runs fine in the shell).

So I baked the motherboard tonight for about 9 minutes at 200C (or so my oven said). No change unfortunately. I MAY give it one more bake - but it's probably going to have to become an insurance claim (since the warranty's long expired).

 

Hi sultanoswing,

how did you disassemble the motherboard? Is it easy? Keep us informed for the 2nd bakeout, thanks.

By the way, I have written a report of how one can cool down the M1330. Have a look here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=453580

Cheers.

 

[UPDATE 2]

Well, the second bake also didn't work. The second time I set the oven for 220C on the dial, and cooked the M/B for around 10 minutes. It should have been hot enough, and long enough, as evidenced by one of the labels going slightly brown (as was mentioned on another thread), and also a piece of tin foil I used was a bit sticky to some solder on the bottom of the board - indicating (to my way of thinking) that the solder had softened some.

Off to the insurance people!!

 

Can the nVidia GPU being replaced with another GPU? and how much it will cost? because i think stick with the 8400M GS will be end of the road...

 

Hi All,

Just a quick Tip for all of you who are having the problem with the failed GPU in your Dell XPS 1330.

Since this is a Nvidia issue; I heard from a Dell service tech who was kind enough to give me a little inside scoop that even though your "dell warranty" has expired; you may not be out of luck. nVidia provides 5yr warranty on their chips; so if you call dell and push them on the issue stating for a fact the issue is isolated with the failed nVidia chip which is clearly warranted by the manufacture they are legally bound to fix the warranted part which in this case means replacing your motherboard at "their" cost NOT yours!

If they refuse; just be sure to get the Support Reps name and Rep number; also ask for their Supervisors Name and Number and the name and number of the contact in their Legal department so you can have your attorney can contact them in regards to the consumers bill of rights.

99% of the time they will give in and tell you a certified service tech will be out to fix your computer within 3-5 business days.


I hope this helps you guys out..

I didn't know this until I ended up purchasing a "new" Dell Studio XPS M1335; however I should have known. I purchased mine with the higher resolution chip; but guess what they shipped me with? The default standard.

To make matters worse; they tell me they'll have to send out a replacement motherboard.... I mean really; this is a "BRAND NEW" computer; why replace the motherboard when you simply sent me the wrong laptop. Just send me a replacement computer and I'll send this one back.

Well needless to say I waited; sure enough the tech comes out; takes about 2hrs for him to pull everything apart and put it back together... Holding breath the computer boots; after seeing it in bits and pieces.

Ran the General tests and the replacement motherboard (cmos) battery failed; so he had to pull it off the original board which worked; then we booted the system. Opened the display properties expecting to see the name/model number of the proper video card that I was expecting and guess what... Yep - you guessed it... They freaking send the same motherboard I had in the system before; so this whole time was a total absolute WASTE!!!

Needless to say; I'm sending this POS back - because now they want to send yet another motherboard out to replace this one; I mean really this was a BRAND Spanking new laptop and now it's scratched up cuz the tech wasn't as careful as he should have been and its just not right. You spend your hard earned money on something brand new and then you have to go through all of this headache for THEIR mistake; not mine but theirs!


So Monday morning I'm going to try and get my sales rep on the phone and send this damn system back. And going out and picking up one at the local store; maybe Costco has some good deals. )


Thanks for hearing me rant and I do hope for those of you who have the older XPS can get your board replaced at no cost to you... I on the other hand have already paid for an extended warranty so at least I'll get my old laptop fixed as a spare.