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

On last GPU replacement, the field tech either broke the keyboard, or the mobo so the keyboard didn't light up.

Another tech came by today to replace those, and broke the palmrest in the process, and didn't let me know about it. Right after he left, I see noticeable gash between the bottom housing and the palmrest, and the LCD lid doesnt close like it used to, there is alot more loose feel to it where it used to be really solid build.

I caught up to the tech and asked him to come back and fix it, and he came back, and says something inside the palmrest broke. I asked him to call Dell and order the part, and he called.

The Dell rep on the phone wanted to talk to me and told me I'm getting a replacement system. I didn't argue about it. Just hope it's a decent system.

 

congrats man!
you're most probably joining the m17x-r2 alienware club
From looking at your specs i am guessing i7-720/820 cpu
Dual ATI 5870 @ crossfire + rgbled screen

you won't be disappointed

 

I can only hope lol.

 

wow, you know ive seen this replacement stuff for pages and weeks now, but its only hit me now how ridiculous it is.

I mean, what if MY m1730 with the 8700gt failed? its already not in great shape.

What if i had somehow bought it with a t5750 and single 8700gt? Would I get an m17x R2 with gts 250m and i3?? LOL

 

Getting forced sleeps. About 8 in the last week. 3 today.

Anyone else got this problem?

Its random timing, forces the laptop to sleep and restores perfectly. Strange. I'm in warranty so might shoot Dell an email just so it gets logged early.

There's no other issues with the laptop.

72oo

 

Hey all question
What are the most common faults to watch for? with details
ie. GPU faults - Symptom

Thanks

 

Sorry Posted Twice please Delete

 

Over heat, artifact, underperforming?

 

It sounds more like a software issue to me. May be a virus or some other malicious software? Or two pieces of software conflict with each other? Try running some anti-virus checks. I'd also recommend to run a check for warms using Ad-Aware Free, and check for trojans using Emsisoft Anti-Malware.

GPUs faults are the most common with M1730. However, as far as I know it is mostly 8800s cards that fail. 8700 are fairly reliable. ACHlLLES already mentioned what to look for if regarding to GPU failure. I also see that you've overclocked your X7900 to 3.6Ghz. I'd watch out for that as well. X7900 runs hotter than X9000. Symptoms for CPU failure would be the same as for GPUs plus BSODs.

EDIT: Also, since you have your HDDs configured in RAID0, chance of the failure is twice as large as it is with a single HDD. So, regular back-ups are recommended.

 

Thanks for your reply but i made a mistake my x7900 is running at 3.4ghz but i have no probs with max temp is arround 65c when gaming and no BSOD. I'm also pushing the 8700gt sli to its limits. no prob so far lol still hoping for a m17x

 

@ACHILLES, wth!!! that kindergarden tech needs to be black listed, no way in hell coming near me beast.. what happens if they give m17x an somthing minor goes wrong an send same dude... lol ya be getting another rig

@DanXbix, thanks for comment ....nice 1st score ya put up , on 1.4625v ..is possible to lower to about 1.3625v an run again, very interested if undervolted boosts 3dm06 cpu score @ 3.4 clk mod ticked ....lol mods at
Hwbot may take away your hard earned gold medal because 3dmk Settings covered an details window not showing..

 

dam!!!!! i will have to do it again lol i will try what you have suggested but when i lower voltage to much i get bsod.

Update Just upped another benchy 10863 http://hwbot.org/community/submission/1038682_danxbix_3dmark_2006_2x_geforce_8700m_gt_10863_marks

 

cool as.......cpu score much better on 1.45v, break 11k when got time run No-sli, all ya need is beat 7254 an another gold medal

 

I know buddy. I wasn't even mad when the last tech broke, and put my M1730 into a shady build.

 

Hi all fellow XPS'ers, can see there has been quite a record on service with the XPS m1730 :S

The last couple of months I am starting to experience problems myself, the laptop gets very hot, fans run all the time and game performance is pretty crap.

I have a setup with the X9000 extreme CPU, 2X 8800 GTX SLI, raid disks, 4 GB RAM..
OS has been reinstalled.
Laptop is a couple years old (got in then 8800 GTX SLI was new in this model)

Suspect a fan might be broken, it seems like all the fan noise comes from the upper left corner of the laptop.

Anyone had the same issue and what (replacement etc.) did solve it?

Cheers~

 

CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting - dl and check temperatures. Maybe Ur GPU is too hot and needs to be cleaned.

 

upper left corner is the GPU fans, you might want to look at your CPU temps as well..

 

My XPS's battery has 42% wear level and it only lasts an hour without heavy usage.
So guys, what kind of wear level your beasts have?

 

My battery first died after less than year. Replaced it and used it less than 3 times, it`s stored for future needs. I use the laptop as a DR so I rarely need the battery.
I`m guessing on average they last 1.5 years till they drop dead.

 

Well, I need the battery as a backup if the power source cuts off.
And secondly it keeps the beats steady on the desk as it has that "leg" in the corner.
And now after I used it one more time I have 47% of wear level. Great.
BTW, it's 16 months old.

 

Same for me. TBH I think that's a fair time.

 

16 months is quite the time, 47% ain`t that bad.
Mine was at 7% in 11 months, had it replaced for free.

Battery warranty is only 1 year, go figure

 

lol my battery show 0% wear and lasts about 1min if that. I think i need a new one or hopefully its not the motherboard.

 

Hmm on the phone with xps support.

Guess you cant get an alienware if only your lcd, speaker led and keyboard backlight are failing

they told me to do this weird thing... start up while holding the "D" key. anyone ever done that?

it did something pretty freaking weird to the screen... it started all white, and then different colors faded in from the top and bottom.
but it wasnt a gradual fade, looked kinda like the vista screensaver, and the pixels looked really strange...

i just think its pretty cool that there are little hidden programs like that in the bios or whatever.

oh and for the record their dead pixel policy is NOT above 8. i'm getting a new LCD and keyboard and speaker assembly.
I was wondering what i should expect from the service dispatch... will they let me keep the broken parts? are they nice to you if your laptop is half taken apart? lol

 

Are they sending you a tech? I think your tech will take the defective parts and either ship 'em to Dell or liquidate them unless you make a special arrangement /w Del to keep the broken parts(as if that makes sense, lol).

 

There is a button with which you can test the battery, like a led thing, if I recall correctly.

Other than that, if the battery show a high wear level, it`s on its last breaths, for sure.

Ebay has tons of batteries...

 

It doesn't deserve a new battery. That battery even new acts like an UPS for this thing.

 

Dell sent me an M17x R1/ q9000, 260 SLI, WXGA(wth), 4gb ram, 500gb HD. Win7 HP.

The refurb doesn't even power on w/o power plugged in.

I called and they are going to issue another replacement. I don't understand why they didn't follow up on specs.

I like to say only problem I have is the screen and the O/S (my m1730 came w/ ultimate), but another issue is my 3007 wfp screen. I've read only ATI's support it's native resolution (after I find an adapter for dual dvi to hdmi).

 

Hi guys. Can you give me an advice? I've got a 8700gt graphics cards in my M1730 - so I decided to upgrade. Bought a 9800GTX graphics card on Ebay for almost 1000 USD. Today they have arrived but when I put them in the computer has failed to start. I didn't apply any pressure installing them and didnt touch them in anywhere by the circuits - I was also grounded while doing the install.
I took it apart again and put the old graphic cards back and they are working fine. Thinking that I might have not pressed them hard enough into the slots or something I repeated the procedure 5 times for the old and the new cards. Yet everytime I put the old ones they worked fine and new ones didnt. I have a very old M1730 back from 2008 (the replacement of the one I bought in 2007). Can it be some kind of compatibility issue or simply a faulty card?
Who do I call? The seller or Dell?
Also one of my ram slots seems to have failed sometime ago ( not the sticks themselves though - both are fine). Is that a good reason to ask Dell to replace my mobo? I think I've got an extended warranty for at least another year.

 

Oh and thanks in advance

 

Call the seller. Do not call Dell. They will give "weird" (some tech idiots will say that your GPU is soldered to your motherboard) and other answers, and will say that you've voided warranty by upgrading the GPUs.

Try updating to BIOS A10. It is said in the fix list to recognize the 9800 GPUs. If all else fails call the seller.

I've upgraded a guy's 3 year old M1730 with a miserable single 8700M GT, updated the BIOS to A10 and installed dual 9800s and it worked successfully. Therefore I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work for yours. Try updating your BIOS first.

 

Hi. Thanks so much for your help, SomeFormOfhuman. I've updated the BIOS. Re-installed the 9800s but still no joy. The screen is just black - not a single flash. Must be faulty cards after all.

 

If you have warranty get your motherboard replaced now! you will want 4gb of memory anyway also check with the seller the card were fully checked before being sent out.

 

Anyone know what possible video card swaps I can do with my M1730?
It came with the 8800m SLI card, but 1 has died, I'm out of warranty.

I checked ebay but people want $600+ for these things. What other options do I have to replace?

 

8700M GT SLI, 8800M GTX SLI, 9800M GT SLI and 9800M GTX SLI. They're expensive, alright... Unless you downgrade to an 8700M GT SLI. Costs around $200.

Too bad Dell uses a proprietary PCB for these cards instead of the standard MXM format.

 

That has happened to me before take the card out of the machine and pull off the rubber membrane that covers the card. Next remove the plastic shield around the DVI port. Remove the heat sink / fan assemblies. clean off all the old existing thermal compound.

Preheat your oven to 390F.. Place the card supported onto a small bouncy ball sized ball of foil balls 4 total, 1 each corner of the card onto a thin baking sheet. Bake card after it reaches 390 for 10 Minutes . Let the card cool off for a half of an hour with the oven door open do not try to move the card out of the oven for at least 30 minutes.

Reapply thermal compound and resemble video card, reinstall and enjoy!

I swear on christ as my savior this actually works.. I was so skeptic... I have since resurrected 1 8800GTX 3 xbox 360's and one x800XTPE .

 

Anyone know if our Ageia chips still do anything?

 

cebalrai remove it from your machine and throw it in the bin. it's useless nowadays

I am going to buy another m1730 to get the 8800gtx graphics out of it. its funny as on aus ebay m1730 with 8800gtx cards they selling for under $1000au and i can then resell it with my 8700gt cards (or may have to keep for warranty). I will get 8800 cards alot cheaper then $700au plus

 

Yes they are sending tech. Actually the person on the phone cleared it up (i guess) "it is at your dispatches own prerogative"

Are you serious? I have honestly never even heard of a 17" WXGA screen.

 

has anyone had problems with their DVD-ROM on m1730? I'm having problems with reading most DVDs and unable to write DVDs at all. The only ones that work are old movies and some software DVDs. It also wouldn't read any modern games DVDs (the big ones). It's as if it can read Single layered DVDs but not double layered ones. I'm not sure whether the problem has started after I've upgraded to Win7, because I definitely couldn't write DVDs before I've upgraded - and I almost never used DVD-Rom on this computer. In device manager it shows up as HL-DT-ST DVD+ -RW GSA-T21N ATA Device.

 

Sounds more like a hardware issue to me. Try cleaning the lens in the optical drive. If it doesn't help, I'm afraid you will need to get a new optical drive.

On another note, one of my GPUs has failed . I'm getting a BSOD at stratup referring to nvlddmkm.sys file when SLI is enabled. When SLI is disabled it works just fine. Laptop is still on warranty though, so I'll be contacting Dell as soon as I get back home. Won't be coming back home for another month tho .

 

One of my GPUs has failed also. Called Dell and they are sending me a new card, a 9800 GTX. My 1730 will be two years old at the end of this month.

 

Is your 1730 still under warranty or are you buying these parts?

 

Two more years on my warranty.

 

Did Dell give you any bs before they agreed to change your GPU? Just want to know if I need to get ready to spend hours on the phone with them.

 

It's not the same part, but when my power supply went bad after two weeks, the tech support call was surprisingly easy and brief.

 

It did take Dell an hour or so to diagnose the card through Dell Connect. But after that they said the card was bad and that they would send a new one.
I did have the original hard drive with the Dell install of Vista in when Dell did the diagnostics so they would not say it was Windows 7.
All and all it was easy working with Dell though.

 

Thanks for your answers.

 

Glad I could help.

 

I got almost one year ago my M1730 replaced for another M1730, but I could maintain my old battery and charger, because dell allowed me to do it (in adittion to the new ones).
I have one of my batteries and AC adapter broken, and my new computer is under warranty (less than one year old).

I am not sure if the battery and AC adapter broken are the new or the old ones.
Does dell identify each battery and charger to one computer or how can I Know if my batterie or charger are under warranty??

Thanks!!