Dell XPS M1730 Owner's Lounge, *Part 3*

It's ok guys, ill start by going over the thread and pming ppl. Let's see how it goes.

 

look at THIS not sure if all drivers up to date but good giude, i use the vista 64 on that site as guide. use dells instructions just for checking order only.

 

redteam, see link in my sig (windows 7 link) use that order, but use drivers for vista found on the dell website

 

Diamond! Cheers Psyloid.

 

Excellent guys thanks!
I would be happy to join myself I keep it cool OCed but would love better control even if the GPU fans ran constant medium and full at Load would be perfect for this machine..

 

Thanks Hikkoo.

 

ok guys, I've just received my x9000 CPU, wish me luck

 

well, good luck then

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/6328630-post26.html

 

Ok Im getting confused about which GPU setup I have on this M1730 that I just received from the outlet. It shows that I have the 9800GTX SLI (J951N0 but Im getting different video memory values then what you have. Mine are listed as:

Total available Graphics Memory: 1791 MB
Dedicated Video Memory: 1024 MB
System video Memory: 0
Shared System Memory: 767 MB

This is with SLI enabled or disabled...............the values dont change.

Im not sure how to do a screenshot.

So is this right?

 

how much did you pay if you dont mind me asking?
good luck on that overclock. i had no luck with an x7900 for 180, actually it didnt work at all

you can always try this:

 

Yep thats right, video memory never gets combined with SLI, so 1024MB is exactly right

 

@jet757f

dedicated video memory, Psyloid is right .
others Could be to do with different OS an ram specs to mine. Taking guess ya have 32 bit operating system? Mines 64 Vista since out-of-box.
Do ya have Cpu-Z > open "Memory" tab an "SPD" slot1 an slot 2 .Heres mine

to compare > open GPU-Z. Me Bios Version Gpu-z = 62.92.7B.00.00 for both Gpu's .

or go into Bios > Keep pressing F2 when see loading bar at beginning of boot up > go to "Device info" Mine says "Video BIOS Version = 098.146.123.000....." mine never updated gpu bios to fix yella tint issue, so if ya have this update to gpu's maybe different.

to do screenshot (for vista but not sure for Win7?) click on start > All Programs > Accessories > open Snipping Tool > click on arrow next to "New"" to expand options an choose Rectangle Snip so to minimize KB size > click on "New" an then select part of screen ya like to take.


EDIT: niffcreature lol thats an amazinnn find like to try if mod works one day.
doing very last on me mod list because just incase kill me beast
maybe its the PLL is the limiting factor in our beasts not the chipset

thanks heaps SomeFormOfhuman for tip off , finally broke 16K for 3dmark06.....yea!! for the Beasts!

 

Yeah that's very interesting Hikkoo, but I've no plans for OC'ing my GTXes soon though... Don't really play alot of games now... Anyway I just hope someone - like unclewebb - makes a software that allows the unlocking of the FSB. Doesn't sound right simple, but who knows the future.

Anyway I have to make an announcement, not sure how many of you know but I managed to used Unclewebb's ThrottleStop v2.53 and unlocked the 18x multiplier and managed to reach 3.6GHz stable on my M1730.

I've also done that to my 1720 and it worked like a charm too. I can push further to 3.8GHz, that's nearly a 1GHz overclock, but I don't want to push the voltages up to 1.4+ volts. 75*C max is a nice temperature. Especially the hot humid conditions in Singapore.

Anyway I'm savin' up for a new i7 laptop soon!

 

Awesome

 

I wish I had ThrottleStop when I was trying to play Deus Ex 2 on my M1730 last year under Win7 x64 RC1. I think the CPU throttling was making the game do stupid things.

Looks like the newest version of ThrottleStop may be linked here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/acer/489140-how-unlock-core-2-extreme-multiplier-windows.html

 

Hi people,
I'm new to this forum, so forgive me if I do something wrong; tried to find "post a new thread", but could only find the "reply" option

I have an XPS M1730 and has just started showing a most probable fatal error that will cost me time and money. The ERROR I get is Hard Drive 1, Usage: Array member, Status: Error occurred, Device Port: 2, Device Port Location: Internal, Current Serial ATA Transfer Mode: Generation 2
Model: ST9200420ASG, S/N: 5SH09F7W, Firmware 3.ADD, Native Command Queuing Support: Yes, Hard Drive Write Cache Enabled: Yes, Size: 186,3 GB,
Number of volumes: 1
Volume Member 1: ARRAY, Parent Array: Array_0000

The laptop remains as I received it from Dell with 4GB RAM ASO, but my only actual problem is the Seagate HD that most probably will have bad sectors.
Being a RAID 0 Stripping, with strip size 128 Kb and total size 372,6 GB configuration, is there anything I can do to "repair" or "cover the bad sectors? Any program that can help me achieve that without losing all my data? (partial loss would be bearable, but don't know if that is at all possible. Could purchase a new HD from Dell, but then I wouldn't know how to go about it....
I have a 2 TB external drive and I could dump anything in there, but not sure how to proceed. My other HD is a Hitachi.

Any help will be most welcome

Best Regards,
Spanish Flyer

 

the least good way:
*from within windows, open the intel matrix storage console manager, open Array_0000, open volumes, right click volume_0, there choose 'verify and repair volume data', bad clusters will be reallocated
(but mind, if blocks start failing, more will follow soon)

the this might work way:
*remove the faulty drive (seagate) from the beast, buy a new hard drive, connect both drives into a desktop machine and clone the broken HDD onto the new HDD using some sort of backup software in RAW mode(acronis, paragon,..), afterwards, mount new drive in M1730 and repair array in raid bios, then pray it will boot (it might not, theoretically it should work though)

*the safe way:
copy all vital data to an external HDD, replace broken HDD in M1730, make new array, reinstall computer, copy data from external HDD to M1730 (if u use stripe raid your chances of data loss are doubled, so always make backups of files on external hdd)

*the recommended way:
first backup data on external drive, replace broken drive, make raid mirror instead of stripe (you will have better read speed then single drive, but not as good as in stripe, but stripe is overrated for conventional disks anyway) then reinstall and copy data on m1730, if one drive fails now, you can just replace it and rebuild array and you will never loose a single byte of data !!! hard drives are so cheap now, just buy two 500GB drives and use raid mirror

 

The whole fan debate is what makes me miss my old Sager once in a while.

When I complained about the fan noise, they didn`t take long to create a firmware to give us control over the fans up to a threshold, or full speed if needed.

Man, is there no programmer around to take a look at the thing ?

 

Thanks for the info. Yes I verified the video memory in BIOS. I just wanted to make sure it was the SLI cards. Im not sure about which Video BIOS Im supposed to have but here is my GPU:

 

Hi,
I bought it for 549$ original SLAQJ. When it arrived I couldn't resist and touched it . After that I realized I had forgotten to discharge myself from static so I might have f..ed it up already :/// but we'll see (Fortunately it has 1 year warranty)
I'm waiting for Anti Static grounding mat kit now....

 

Which software would you recommend for doing backups?

 

I see you still have your 1730. I went back reading old 1730 threads and was surprised that zfactor sold his 1730 after all the different display panels he was trying. I just bought another one from the Outlet so getting into it again.

 

you could either copy files manually to an external drive, or you can use microsoft's synctoy (which is free) to make backup jobs

 

Both Vista and w7 have a built in facility to do back-ups. They're complete, and you can't access individual files inside the backups. But you can restore the complete image incase of a massive hardware failure (I've read, not needed to do this again myself).

If you want to get access to an individual file, I recommend Drive Image XML.


Both of those are freewares.

 

think ya have Dells 9800mgtx gpu Bios update installed = 62.92.7E.00.0A / 62.92.7E.00.0B > to correct yellow tint issue.
well havent seen this issue on mine yet, so probably never going to install gpu Bios update.

 

I never had the issue as well, but i did do the update hoping it would improve performance, well it didn't :s

 

Never had the yellow tint issue with my 9800M GTXes as well.

Anyway... Meanwhile, under Stefan's laboratory, a fellow X9000 is clocked to an unholy 3.8GHz:

Click to Enlarge


Now if only liquid nitrogen is capable of being built in...

 

runs pretty hot !!!!

 

wow, i really forgot about the whole grounding thing. maybe i should stop taking apart laptops while on the couch or carpet... LOL

 

Why is your 9800M GTX running so cool? Mine is usually in the 60s or70s.

 

Because during this test the video cards weren't doing anything and the fans were full on due to CPU stress testing.

 

In case anyone is wondering but not following my other thread, I got my M1730 back today and it has an SEC5443 panel instead of the crappy LG ones

 

Hey, so i created a thread that will centralize the bios fix issue that have been discussed here. feel free to add your ideas there.

 

I'll try to get my screen replaced for a non-LG panel.
Overclock my X9000 by unlocking the multiplier.
I'm in to get a new BIOS or whatever to get a better fancontroller. The Studio and Inspiron models are also having fancontroller problems.

You see, a lot of interesting projects to go with, but right now I'm studying for my exams. I'll be happy when I can jump back on my hobbies.

 

When my 8800M does nothing (and CPU too), it has 69-75° so it's much hotter. Crappy standard fan speed?

 

Yes it does, but think about this;

There are so many other notebooks out there tend to be running at those temperatures even at normal use or gaming, which is really terrible. Those notebooks have horrible cooling solutions and crappy heatsink designs for their CPUs. The fact that the M1730 managed to handle a processor overclocked nearly 1GHz beyond its limits without crashes and shutdowns is remarkable.

Yes, the GPUs aren't in full load at all. But even if they were in load, or gaming they generally run in their 60s maxed. It rarely reaches the 70s; keeping in mind that the fans were on full blast constantly while the X9000 reaches 3.4GHz in the BIOS.

 

Dear Psyloid,
Can't thank you enough for your help, because I have managed to at least and for the time being to "remove" the error on my faulty HDD. I have ordered a new drive, and till I get it what I did is follow the first option you mentioned.
My "Intel matrix storage console manager" however, does not have the "verify and repair" option for some reason..... I could only "reset" the array system and the error just dissapeared! Now when I start the computer I no longer get the ERROR display on the drive in bright red writting or have a reminder on my windows bottom right corner, showing a tiny set of cyliders, one in green and the other in red and constant warning windows telling me to immediatly backup all my data. (Oh, and of course some blue screens at times, when the HDD read the defective areas or sectors).
But as we say in Spain, "when you can hear the river, water must be flowing through its bed".. What that means in this case is that I am a firm believer the Seagate HDD is not healthy and must be replaced.

I also read your great page about how to install Windows / on an XPS M1730 and I see it can be achieved regardless of what Dell states, so that has given me an option I was looking forward to when I install the new second drive. My only question is if it is worthwhile all the trouble you go through, finding all the correct drivers and so on; what do you get using the new OS? To tell you the truth, I still hear many users, including big companies and corporations, that XP is far better and more stable than Vista and that W7 is even worse when it comes to drivers and compatibilities.... would really appreciate your opinion.

Thanks again and keep in touch.
Spanish Flyer

 

Hi, please no thanks, I think you don't have the verify and repair option because you don't have raid mirror. I also think that you just removed the warning, but that the drive is still faulty... so, better replace it as soon as possible

About windows 7, its as stable as XP, almost as fast and it has many new features (enhanced security, directx 10 and 11, new taskbar, just to name a few) imo; its a worthwile upgrade

EDIT: since you found my page, finding the drivers for the M1730 for windows 7 won't be a problem and if you are serious about gaming on your computer, use windows 7 (XP is what, like 8 years old, its ancient...), besides, i've had no problems with 7 at all, not even on my desktop which has some exotic hardware in and around it, every piece of hardware these days has a windows 7 driver, even old hardware, you would be very unlucky if you have some piece of hardware that doesn't work with windows 7 (and if you do, its probably old and up to replacement anyway), also windows 7 accepts vista drivers with no problem ...

good luck

 

Has anyone managed to get newer/modded SigmaTel/IDT sound drivers to work under Vista 32-bit on the M1730? Laptopvideo2go.com hosts some partially-modded ones, but I haven't had much luck trying to get the latest version to work.

 

Has anyone flashed their 8800m GTX SLI to the 9800m GT SLI bios?

 

Hello, guys!

Seems that my M1730 died today. :'(

When I'm browsing in Opera the image suddenly disappeared (there was only grey screen). After reboot there was nothing, only black screen, no DELL logo. When I'm wait for a while and tried to strat it on again there appeared blue DELL logo but there was a lot of artifacts. So I switched it of...

My GPU has died - I'm right?

 

it's probably your GPU that failed, contact dell support for a replacement.

 

Yea, It`s here to stay. Daily usage, still going strong *knock on wood*

My questions is, you can only OC the extreme CPUs? I though the X ones only went upto 3.4, now I see 3.8?
How?
And better yet, how can I get my cpu to some 3.0 Ghz

 

Look at this thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/acer/489140-how-unlock-core-2-extreme-multiplier-windows.html#post6320167

unclewebb pm'd me a few weeks ago to test my X9000 to get the multiplier unlocked. I still did not have time till now. I'll jump on it next coming week.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/windows-os-software/477704-how-enable-intel-dynamic-acceleration-ida-both-cores-core-2-duo.html#post6170629
My Latitude D830 is even running @ 2.8GHz now.

 

Thanks for posting this, I never would have found it otherwise.

Unclewebb talks about disabling the SpeedStep or EIST option in the BIOS. Has anyone attempted this on their M1730's? I am at work right now and do not have access to my laptop to check if it's available until later tonight.
*fingers crossed*

 

Thanks for the link, ernstig01
Tried it on my M1730. Was able to unlock the multiplier. Checked out x18 and x19 (which did work btw). Unfortunately, my X7900 is pushed to its limits as it is at the the x17 (3.4Ghz) multiplier, which I am able to do in the BIOS. So, I just kept getting BSOD all the time.

 

Ok so I am returing to the forums after owning mine about a year blissfully and unaware of GPU problems until about 2 -3 months ago when I fried my dual 8800GTX 512s in SLI and found out that my warranty is expired
so I sent it away to a professional repairer who got them going again (using a proper IR reflow oven not a corgi gas home oven). Great a small fee and working again only lasted about 4 weeks before one started with the old error 43 issue in device manager. Off it went again under warranty of the repair and came back fixed only to fail again within 2 weeks (not even with heavy usage and with me constantly monitoring the temp fluctuate 64 to 78 degrees) have just sent it off to get repaired but i think the time delay will mean that this is the last repair under warranty.

Sorry about the preamble but my question is I have just come across a 2gig 9800 gtx card for a reasonable price (about 3 times that of the cost of repairing again) should I risk throwing good money after bad and buy a 9800 (part number K650M) or should I cut my losses and put the money towards buying an inferior computer as I will never again be able to afford anything with the specc of my XPS ?

I love my XPS but fear that I will buy the new GPU only to have that fail and feel that my hoop has been further stretched by this money pit of a computer.

Any advice about this new card would be greatly appreciated before I shoot this money up the wall and condemn myself to weeks of overtime for a very prettty expensive brick!

 

Wow, if this works, I might just have a faster CPU after all this time

 

Yeah, the world is laying at your feet...