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

You have to replace the whole motherboard.

 

Awesome guide, very usefull for me... Thanks a lot

 

Don't know if it's of any use, but here is a simple way to "fix" dead nvidia chip. Haven't tried this on mine though.

 

Use a heat gun instead, it is more effective that way since heat guns have a specific temperature settings..fixed my xps that way.

 

just got my M1330 back from a repair shop. they repaired the motherboard without replacing the GPU...all for about $80. starting countdown before this thing breaks down again :-/

 

Mod it while you still have time.

 

Ah.. "a" repair shop? What kind of repair shop (i.e. Dell / an authorized Dell partner / yo, over at Joe's down the block...)?

$80? For that kind of money, they probably removed the HSF, reapplied thermal paste and put the HSF back on... :-/ Did they specify what, exactly they did to it? Blow-drying the GPU connects would already be a step in the right direction...

 

I just modded my xps m1330 today. I used a 25mmx25mmx1.6mm copper shim i ordered on ebay. I used Arctic Cooling MX3.

Here at the results

BEFORE: IDEL

GPU - 56-58degrees
CPU0 - 38 degrees
CPU1 - 39 degrees
THM - 39 degrees

BEFORE - UNDER LOAD

GPU - 77degrees
CPU0 - 41 degrees
CPU1 - 40 degrees
THM - 40 degrees

AFTER MOD: IDEL

GPU - 47-48 degrees
CPU0 - 39 degrees
CPU1 - 40 degrees
THM - 41 degrees


AFTER MOD: UNDER LOAD

GPU - 59degrees
CPU0 - 50 degrees
CPU1 - 52 degrees
THM - 53 degrees


As you can see after modding, the temperatures are a lot cooler, however when under load, the GPU is cooler but for everything else it goes up around 10 degrees.

 

Wow that's perfect. If you keep it under 60C it wont fail.

 

Yes it will. Do not say that.
It will take longer to fail, maybe.
It will fail.

 

Hi kcvsoldier

You can cool down your CPU quite effectively with the RightMark utility! Here is how you can do it:

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

It could be that you decrease the temperature even more.

 

Hep, I know that you 'trashed' your M1330 but you could give us a little bit more hope though !

 

It's a faulty GPU. The hope is that you can extend it's life! No point in giving false hope, saying a problem that is not fixed is now fixed.

 

No it wont, or at least it wouldn't if you had kept it under 60C all it's life. Maybe now it's too late, but it's still good.

*talking about the underfill*
from here:
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1013947/nvidia-should-defective-chips

 

Would anyone in this thread post their type of motherboard revision? n when the GPU fail after the purchased? cause dell said that the replacement motherboard has repair the GPU problem...here some of the motherboad revision

A01 -> G86-630-A2
A04 -> G86-630-A2
A00 -> G86-631-A2

with "631" to be the newest GPU version,
and i hope to post my motherboard revision after i get back my XPS from the store, Thanks

 

This info comes from one of my posts and just to be clear, my point was that the motherboard revision alone is no proof of an updated GPU... . Furthermore, although my last mobo came with a 631 revision GPU, I never suggested this GPU was "the" corrected version (although of course I certainly hope so )

Also keep in mind the only place to get the GPU revision is on the GPU itself.

 

Mine was A01, it failed close to a year after the purchase. I now have 631 installed and I do hope that it'll last longer

 

Hey, I thought I'd share my experience with using this copper mod guide, my alterations, and reviving my faulty GPU.

The 8400M GS in my XPS M1330 starting showing vertical lines about a week ago after having it for 2.5 years, and with the help of this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJlgPbELL0E and this Copper mod guide I was able to get my Laptop functioning once again.

I used the above video as a guide but I did not have a hot air solder station and so I used a 1500W hairdryer instead. I put the hairdryer on the High setting (it only had high and low) and pointed it about 1-2 cm above the GPU for about 5min. During this 5min everything around the GPU got really hot, the back casing of the laptop got so hot I couldn't put my hand on it and I put a damp cloth over near the CMOS battery to try and keep it cool. I had also removed the RAM prior to heating the GPU. I would defintely say its better to heat it for at least 5min as on my first attempt where I only heated it for 2 min and the GPU failed again quickly. I then let the everything cool down for about 20min before reassembling.

I followed this Copper Mod pretty closely except for 2 alterations I used a copper penny and OCZ freeze thermal paste as it outperforms the artic silver stuff. I used this wiki article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_(Canadian_coin) to determine which year penny had the most copper, I used a 1972 penny, and then proceeded to hammer it a bit to try and diminish the engravings as they would only produce air pockets when applied to the GPU. The hammering didn't get rid of most of the engravings but the feel of the penny was much smoother which is what I wanted. I then used a pencil eraser to remove any dirt from the penny and then soaked it in a vinegar and salt solution to further clean it before wiping it down with Isopropyl Alcohol. Next I rubbed some thermal paste onto both faces of the penny using a plastic sheet over my finger to fill in any gaps, then placed a drop of thermal paste onto the GPU, then the penny, then more thermal paste on top of the penny, then followed through with the rest of the Copper mod guide.

Now not only does my Laptop boot and work fine, but my GPU temps went from 65C at idle to 50-55C at idle, I also noticed my fan doesn't even turn on till around 65C, I have the latest A15 BIOS.

 

Great news, congrats to ya

I can't say I'm thrilled over the use of a penny but the numbers speak for themselves! Just keep an eye on those temps from time to time & keep us posted

 

i bought a used m1330 and had it for over 2 years always ran hot no gpu problems... However when my warranty was about to be up i called dell and told them i wanted it replaced... i had the whole mother board replaced wooooo

I just said its a known issue and i wanted it addressed properly.

 

Thanks for your post about the revision code traveller, sorry if i get it wrong =p no offense mate...

@traveller: after you get your 631 GPU revision, did you coppermod your XPS? and do you experience GPU failure again?

Sorry if i had a bad english, i'm Indonesian =) Thanks http://forum.notebookreview.com/images/icons/flags/id.gif

 

Hey there,
yes, I Cu-modded it right in front of the Tech Rep (nice guy, btw )
It's been going strong for 15mths now... *knocks on wood*

 

15 months? wow that's great...this information is useful, maybe i should check GPU revision of my XPS and do coppermod, i will wait until my XPS got back from the store then...nice info traveller, and i hope you could inform us frequently about your XPS, glad to hear your XPS perform well..Thanks

 

How long since the replacement? (amount of time?) , sorry for my bad english, i'm really struggle to wrote in english

 

About 15 months. I'm not a native English speaker also

 

Hi DNV,

I much enjoyed reading your post, especially the hair dryer and penny solution is quite nice! Keep us informed about your M1330.

 

To all:

What's this story about the revision of the GPU? Is there now a Nvidia GPU that finally works well?

Cheers.

 

nVidia never released an official statement on the issue, but since later GPUs were affected by the same issue after the G84 and G86 was no longer produced, it is safe to assume that all G84 and G86 chips are affected.

 

I doubt about revision of the GPU is finally works well, i posting it to know, whether there is any improvement from the revision? can anyone in this thread share their revision of the GPU and share how long their GPU have survive after the replacement? Thanks...

Thanks,..did you coppermod your XPS after the replacement?

 

When it died I was surprised, but by the time I got it back I knew quite a lot about the issue. So just after I've received it from service. I turned it on once to make sure that it works and proceeded with copper mod.

 

I just did the Oven trick on my M1330.
I had previously been using a hot air gun to make the GPU work again, but as soon as id fire up a game, it would die again.

200 degrees c for 10 mins and the thing is like new. I was playing a game for about an hour last night and it didnt fail.

I've done the copper mod and im getting temps (idle/load) at about 45/70 (C)

The extended warranty expired about 4 months ago, so I was rather annoyed when It died.

So yea, perhaps the techs could take a course in cooking electronics.

 

This is just rocking!

Can you tell us how you disassembled the M1330? Which manual have you taken? Thx.

 

Lol, I still can't get over this Shake-n-bake solution But hey, if that's what it takes to salvage $1500+, then all I can say is "Yes we can"

Et voila.

 

great job...

i have a question for anyone in this forum who have tried the coppermod, what thermal paste you used for the mod? and how hot is the temperature of the GPU when idle and full load (after the coppermod)? cause i want to coppermod my XPS, but in Indonesia (especially Yogyakarta) is very hard to find thermal paste, except for Cooler Master products, and i doubt about that products. Thanks

 

i have a question in my mind, and maybe someone in this thread could help me find the answer, the question is, why there is a lot of variant heatsink for XPS M1330, and what the difference between those heatsink? and which heatsink you prefer?

The 1st is like this :


The 2nd is like this :


and The 3rd is like this (the same my XPS have) :


thanks for the help...

 

Which do you think the best? BIOS version A14 or A15? i plan to install the newest nvidia drivers = 195.62

Thanks

 

The second one is for integrated video only as it has only two thermal contact areas.

As for the first and third, it appears that they tried to improve cooling a bit by adding ribs, so the last one should be a tiny bit better cooled as it'll spread some heat with it's ribs, not only via thermal tube.

 

Which type of heatsink do you have? i already do the coppermod on my XPS (heatsink type no. 3), with OCZ Freeze as the thermal paste, in idle the GPU reach 47-55 C, when full load (playing with Sims 3) it reach 62-70 C, i used HWmonitor. How about you Frippi? Thanks for answering.

 

They all suck (imo) and so it makes little difference (apart from what frippi noted). Replacing the thermal "pad" is the best chance one has of getting a better-cooled GPU. Oh and If you look closely at the contact surface of the heatsink (the Al sections), you'll note that it's so rough that talk of "which thermal paste to use" is [almost] pointless.

As for the CPU, heat dissapation can be improved with perhaps better thermal paste quality (& application), thanks to the semi-polished Cu plate embedded in the heatsink assembly.

This image should clearly explain the reasons behind my POV:




EDIT:

I honestly don't know but I do invite you to review the *known* changes...

 

I registered just to share my experience in repairing an XPS m1330, because I think I may have figured something out that is wrong with this notebook's motherboard design *other than for the NVIDIA issue.*

My m1330 doesn't use the NVIDIA GPU, yet it also died after two years of use. Wouldn't power on at all anymore.

I bought a motherboard off of ebay -- same type (not the NVIDIA GPU, but the Intel GPU).

After reassembling everything, the panel lights would come on, but my m1330 still would not activate its screen. Then the lights would go out after several seconds. I was confounded.

Then I figured to try something: I removed the WiFi card.

After doing this, the m1330 started up normally!

But when I put the WiFi card back in, the notebook would not boot up -- only its panel lights would come on and go off after several seconds.

So now that I've taken the WiFi card out, my m1330 runs normally.

So what's going on here? The key could be this, in what sinstoic wrote:

"Dell's technician suspects heat from the wireless card breaking up the circuit and suggests replacing the motherboard for correcting the problem."

My theory: due to a second design flaw, heat from the WiFi card will cause both the motherboard and WiFi card to burn out. Thus, both need to be replaced.

But it may be best NOT to replace the WiFi card at all (and instead use a USB WiFi plug instead). Because if I am right, then eventually the new working motherboard will burn out, too.

Here's more possible evidence I found: on another forum (don't have the link on hand), another person posted:

"On the motherboard, there is a component called a rectifier. This component is fried when it gets a brown spot in the center. It is the larger of the three components that have a 'IR5L' on it, with the model number 'gL62.' It is a Double Diode Rectifier; I cannot find a new one so far."

On my burned out motherboard, I found this rectifier (its a square chip) and it indeed had a brown spot in the middle. The replacement motherboard I got off ebay does not have this brown spot.

And where is this rectifier located on the motherboard? Yep -- it happens to be located within an inch of the WiFi card slot. This may not be a coincidence.

So my theory is this: if you have to replace the motherboard of an m1330, regardless of whether it's the NVIDIA or Intel GPU model, you may want to ditch the WiFi card entirely. The NVIDIA boards are faulty due to overheating by the NVIDIA GPU, but both versions (including the Intel GPU version) appear to be prone to damage by the WiFi card overheating.

(This could explain why after many people who have replaced the motherboard of their m1330, the new motherboard dies after several months of use -- it could be that the WiFi card itself became damaged and is also causing the overheating issue.)

The Dell WiFi card in question that I had is 0NC293. But this could also be a problem with other models, due to a possible design flaw with the way heat is dissipated from any WiFi card connected to the m1330 motherboard.

 

So you don't use your wifi card? interesting, you still used your old mainboard or you use your new mainboard? Thanks

 

Well that's an interesting problem and there's a good chance that you're not the only one, but most of us that have had a GPU failure witnessed odd, usually vertical colored lines or stripes on our screens... .

off topic
Never the less... can you be a little more specific with the chip's location? Is it to the left of the WLAN, or top of the WWAN slot? Here's an image of my "dead" mobo. I have the original (larger) image (see my signature for the link) if it helps... .

(image removed, see my next post for cropped images...)
/off topic

 

What I am saying (theorizing) is that there may be *TWO* overheating issues with the m1330 motherboard -- two, entirely different, separate issues. They're not directly related to one another, but of course people have been getting the two confused with one another. The second issue could explain why, even after you replace the m1330's mobo, it still burns out after some time (even if you have taken measures such as this NVIDIA GPU copper mod).

The first overheating issue affects only the NVIDIA GPU version of the m1330 mobo (the topic of discussion of this thread), and has to do with how the NVIDIA GPU overheats. (We know this same GPU has screwed up notebook mobos in other models and brands.) The vertical lines and messy graphics on the screen display are the obvious signs of this problem.

But there could be a second issue, which has also affected m1330 mobos that use the Intel GPU. There could be a significant design flaw in both versions of the m1330 mobo as it relates to the WiFi (wireless) card slots.

This flaw may cause the mobo to short out due to the WiFi card overheating -- it burns out the mobo and could also damage or burn out the WiFi card itself.

The result is that the m1330 won't power on at all -- and when you plug in the power adapter, the blue light on the brick will go out. (There are lots of posts on other forums describing this problem with Intel GPU m1330 boards that have burned out.)

I felt I needed to post what I have learned, because sinstoic's original post mentioning the WiFi card could be a very telling clue.

As for where this burned out rectifier is located: in your photo, it's the square-shaped, light-gray component to the left of the WLAN slot -- it is marked "IR5L" (upside down). On a mobo that is dead, you will see a light-brownish/discolored circle on the surface of this component, indicating that this part has burned out. (You won't see this burn circle mark on a good, working m1330 mobo -- the entire surface will be a clean, even light gray, and the letters and numbers will be clear to read.)

 

I am using a new motherboard. The old motherboard is completely blown.

I don't have the WiFi card installed -- I pulled it out. Instead, I either connect directly via Ethernet, or I use a USB WiFi key when I need to go wireless. (It's like a flash drive key that you plug into a USB port and which gives you WiFi reception -- you can buy one for less than $20 USD online.)

 

I am using a new motherboard. The old motherboard is completely blown.

I don't have the WiFi card installed -- I pulled it out. Instead, I either connect directly via Ethernet, or I use a USB WiFi key when I need to go wireless. (It's like a flash drive key that you plug into a USB port and which gives you WiFi reception -- you can buy one for less than $20 USD online.)

 

I see... :-/

Ok. Interestingly enough, the oldest mobo has a slightly different chip...

The first one is from a dead GPU, the second one is from dead power rails (hmm...) the third one, well, I'm currently using for the past 15mths

 

I want to inform something about BIOS on DELL XPS M1330, i have upgrade my XPS BIOS from a11 to a14, n everything goes well, the media direct button works fine (the notebook is from off state)...and about an hour ago, i decided to upgrade my XPS to a15 BIOS, and you know what happened? my XPS become much more responsive than before, the media direct button still working (the notebook is from off state) and i experienced an increase in graphics (the picture is more good) but,... my GPU temperature is also increased, in BIOS a14 (idle with coolingfan/coolingpad turn on) my GPU is 45-48 and the processors is 23-38C, and in BIOS a15 (idle with coolingfan/coolingpad turn on) my GPU reached 56-60 and the processors is 36-42C...

Now i want to downgrade to a14 again,

 

Hi all.

The last contributions are very informative, indeed - good work. Well, it is reasonable that the WLAN card might be one problem. It gets indeed quite warm/hot. One has to think about to modify a bit the cover (new, larger holes) so that the cooling by air flow is better.

Did you measure under same conditions? Well, I'm eager to try this out, too. There is somewhat a discussion, that A14 is indeed better than A15.

From my side I must say that I installed recently Ubuntu on my M1330. I have the feeling that the temps are somewhat lower (some degrees). Unfortunately, i have no time to perform some tests. The 'Im Sensors' tool tells me, that the GPU has a temp of 49°C which is at 59°C when Vista runs. I think that the program falsely reads the temps. However, my general impression is that temps are lower. The hottest point under the M1330 is the disk and then the WLAN.

Cheers.

 

Hi everyone,

Just did the coppermod, although I cant quite call it a coppermod, I had some trouble finding a piece of copper in right shape. Eventually I ended up going to a jeweler and buying a piece of silver, they cut it to perfect shape for me, cost me only 5 euro.

On average my GPU is now 10°C cooler than it was pre-mod

So my advise to all those going trough difficulties to find a piece of copper, just go to a jeweler (one where they do repairs) they have sterling silver in all kinds of thicknesses, and they will cut it to whatever size you need, and its cheap!! (and conducts slightly better than copper)

Cheers