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

how can i undervolt a 8800GTX sli ? i've tried putting AS5 on the gpu-s but the temperatures are almost the same ( 78-80). i haven't got experience with nibitor. also,i can't manage to get throttle stop to work,i mean i can't get the dual IDA to work.

 

Update:

I disassembled the laptop, again, removed the Aegis, connected the touchpad and plugged in the mains. Voila, success! it all works again, my daughter's happy which means the wife's happy so life is good Only downside is the keyboard backlight cable flags as not connected when it is, so I must have duffed it. Still I can live with that

 

Hikoo i have tried your steps with fresh install of win7 x64, chipset drivers manually installed, 258.96 nvidia drivers.

Bios - 3.2
TS - x16 1.4125v unlock VID/PID, Clock Mod 100%, Multipler
GPU - Stock

3D Mark 06
SM2.0 - 5683
HDR - 6820
CPU - 2680
Score - 12463?

I don't think TS is working because when i look at log the CPU is dropping to x14 CPU@83c half way through test most likely around the CPU tests
it also happens when at x17. Also my SM2.0(the first two tests) score is nearly 1000 off yours maybe they are CPU intensive. This is really weird as i can't seem to get any higher then 12663.
What Version 3D Mark 06 are you using?

 

Anyone put SSD's into the M1730 and if so what ones....

Currently I've two 320Gb x 2 in RAID0 to give 640Gb. I'm rather happy with this set-up and find the extra space excellent.

Although I'm not going to be upgrading currently (just don't want the headache really), I was wondering what competitive prices on SSD's are at the moment and what's the type to get and from where (I'm living in Ireland).

Thanks.

EDIT: Ouch a quick check of my Program Files and Program Files (x86) folders shows a size of 110Gb's that's kinda prohibitively big for the cost of SSD's. Oh well guess to wait a few more years or a decade or so (?haha) for SSD's to be same price as spinners will have to be the plan.

 

Do you have the lappy "lit up like a Christmas tree" if so try disabling all lights and try again with sound. This was a know issue at the start, if not make sure you have the a10 bios. Cheers.

 

@eleron

Here is my video bios for my 8800m GTX SLI if you want to try with these instead.

 

Most were already off, and when I disabled the touchpad and keyboard there was no change.

 

Take the video card out and bake it in the oven to reflow the solder - worked for me.

Plenty of guides on these forums on how to do it, just search, and an excellent video on YouTube on how to take the machine apart and get the video card out.

 

#

Take the video card out and bake it in the oven to reflow the solder - worked for me.

Plenty of guides on these forums on how to do it, just search, and an excellent video on YouTube on how to take the machine apart and get the video card out.

OR buy a new card on eBay for £600

 

Bearing in mind for £600-$900 u could get a new Beast on eBay Aus

 

i will definitely trying out the baking method.
but the problem is how do you remove the fan from the 8800m gtx sli card?
i have unscrewed the fan, trying to pull it out but it wont work, also the black plastic sheet that sticks on the card, is it possible to take it out as well??!

and also is there any way that i can boot up the machine using the intel intergrated chips?

cheers...

 

Apply a limited amount of force/upwards leverage and they should snap off - I had the same problem getting them off.

I just carefully ripped that black sheet off and threw it away, doesn't seem to have any negative implications.

Have you tried booting in safe mode? I thought this used the integrated chips...

 

Do you have the original vbios also?

Thing is, I've run some tests and such, and the laptop now locks in some occasions, and becomes completely unresponsive, so I think it might actually be the main-board with the issues, not the GPUs... weirdly enough.

I'll send it Monday for testing, cause I managed to backup my essentials, so before doing that I should put the original vbios on it.

 

PROBLEM SOVLED!
BAKED MY 8800M GTX SLI CARD IN OVEN FOR 10 MINS IN 200C
PUT IN BACK INTO MY XPS BOOT INTO WINDOWS 7 NORMALLY, INSTALLED THE LATEST GRAPHICS DRIVER WITHOUT PROBLEM! SLI WORKS!
EVERYTHING IS BACK TO NORMAL NOW!

THANKS EVERYONE FOR LEAVING COMMENTS!

HAPPY DAYS!

 

That should be the original vbios. Not the one where you can overvolt.

 

Hello everyone,

I got this laptop.. M1730 was not being used for sometime.. now I have restored it to Vista, Dells latest drivers 8700m.. with SLI enabled on RAID 0.. and it keeps freezing.. would windows 7 and nvidia drivers + Bios update + vBios update help..

I keep getting bluesceen between game play WOW.. and want to know which way to go now.. I installed WOW from safe mode as I was told it works that way in Vista + WOW.

Any suggestions...

 

Get the latest drivers from nVidia, not those on the Dell Support site, and most definitely not those on the driver CD that came with the machine. That might help if your 8700M video cards haven't already died like so many of them have. If you did not update the bios firmware, you need to do that. Mine used to freeze up all the time and those things fixed it for me.

 

Thank you Mr.Fox, Im doing it right now... will keep you all posted.. thank you for the reply.

 

how can i undervolt the video card? i have 8800M GTX SLI. i've tried OC-ing them at 600/1800 and it worked flawless,so i think @stock frequency i can undervolt them a little.the temp @stock frequency in game is 79-81 degrees with the laptop raised 1cm and i have also cleaned the coolers and put AS5 on the gpu-s.

 

Well you have to use Nibitor to undervolt and flash them again.

 

HI

Been a long time lurker on this site but never a poster before

I have had my M1730 for 2 years that is out of warranty now

Specs are x9000 with 8800m gtx sli 4gb ram

I have had lots of daily use from the laptop trouble free and even updated to windows 7 a year ago without any problems other than bluetooth not working any more, but recently I am having some problems with the machine

Major problem is about a week ago the machine started locking up randomly
The lock ups are even when not gaming , ie just browsing or playing music or videos
I updated graphics drivers but this made the issue even worse
Machine boots up fine in safe mode and also if I uninsatall all graphics drivers

But as soon as i put any nvidia driver on either the latest from nvidia site or the recommended one from the dell site it keeps locking up loads

The problem gets even worse when i try to enable sli and it locks up almost straight away

Im assuming the graphics card is going bad?

seems odd though as any graphics card dieing in any past computer i would get artifacts on the screen as a good indicator

I have a lot of searching around and it seems this is a very unreliable gpu but some people are fixing it by the baking method?



The other less bad problem is the battery light is flashing orange on the laptop itself and the battery is totally empty and wont even light up when pressing the little battery charge button on the battery itself

This seemed to happen very suddenly one day and not die over time

Is this a dead battery or a faulty charger?

thanks

 

Ok, RAID issue update.

You can remove a RAID array, and if properly placed back as it was, works ok

 

Not sure about the battery but I would bake the card

 

The fact that installing any nVidia driver caused a lock-up is probably a good indicator of a failing video module. You provided a good description of the issue and the 8XXX series video modules are notoriously unreliable. Before you bake your cards, I have a few suggestions that you can try first.

Lock-ups can be difficult to diagnose, especially if the problem does not show up in Windows Event Viewer. Look for critical errors in Event Viewer that correspond with the time of the system freeze. There is a slim chance you will find a clue there. (Event Viewer relies on Windows ability to run in order to capture events, but it is still worth investigating.)

Second, run MSCONFIG or Spybot S&D and disable all start-up programs. Use your machine a few days and see if the lock-up problem stops. If it does, re-enable your start-up programs one at a time to identify the culprit through the process of elimination.

The M1730 is very persnickety when it comes to power supply. The battery could be causing some issues. Turn off and unplug the AC adapter. Remove the battery and hold down the power button for 2 minutes. Restart plugged in without the battery and run your machine a day or two without a battery. Does the problem go away? When the time comes to put the battery back in place, while the machine is running and plugged into AC power install the battery. (Do not install the battery while the machine is powered off and unplugged.) It could be a faulty AC adapter and if the battery is not holding a charge, it could be that both need to be replaced. Dell replaced my AC adapter and battery twice under warranty within 2 years.

Does your machine have Lojack for Laptops installed? If so, did your subscription run out along with your warranty? If it is installed, even if it did not expire, uninstall Absolute Notifier using Programs and Features in Control Panel. The Absolute Notifier causes random hard lock-ups on my machine under Windows 7. It did not have that problem under Vista. When this was happening to me, only a hard reset would work and it happened often. (This tray application may be called Lojack Notifier if you have an older version installed.) Since removing Absolute Notifier my machine has not locked up even once. If your Lojack subscription is still valid, removing the Notifier applet will not interfere with Lojack working in the background. In fact, it seems silly to me that the Notifier exists... I mean, who would actually want a thief to be alerted to the fact that Lojack has been installed? You want them to be connected to the internet as often as possible so the machine can "phone home", right?

Try removing one of the RAM SO-DIMM modules. If the machine still freezes, swap them out to see if it still freezes with the other module installed by itself. Also run the memory diagnostic in the Dell Pre-boot System Assessment tool. Faulty memory modules can cause hard lock-ups. Also try both memory slots, as the modules may be good with a failing memory slot causing a problem.

If none of the above suggestions works, try removing and reinstalling all device drivers if you have not already. Bake your video cards only as a last resort. While baking them may temporarily fix an issue, it's not a permanent solution to what is ultimately an engineering failure. The solder will eventually fail again.

If you can identify the approximate date this problem began, uninstall all Windows Updates from that date forward, set Windows Update to work manually. If the problem goes away, install them a few at a time and wait a few days between updates. You may be able to identify an update that is causing the problem. I went through this a few months ago on 2 computers, and all updates reinstalling made my machines behave. If this is a recent (new) problem, you can use System Restore to roll back to a date prior to when the problem began.

Try running System File Checker (run sfc /scannow) as Administrator.

Finally, call Dell and see if they will let you pay to renew your warranty for another 2 years. With an M1730, not having a warranty is an awful lot like play Russian Roulette. It's not a matter or if, but when, something major fails on this machine. The M1730 is the most unreliable computer I have owned in 25 years of being a computer enthusiast. I went through 2 rebuilds, a replacement and 1 rebuild of the second machine and the field technician in my area made 12 service calls to replace failed components in 2 years before Dell replaced my M1730 with a new Alienware M17X R2.

 

thanks for the great reply

I have already totally reformated the hard drive and reinstalled windows 7 from scratch and the machine is fine with all drivers installed bar the nvidia gpu driver

As soon as I install any nvidia driver of any sort it get lock ups within 5 mins of turning the laptop on

I have tried removing one then the other dim sticks and swapping what slot they occupy but the lock ups still happen

Once the machine locks up there is no way to get the machine working again short of holding the power down for 5 seconds to turn off (cntrl alt delete doesnt work)

lojack hasnt been installed for over a year since i upgraded to windows 7

My warranty ran out over a year ago, do you really think they will renew?

Must be a miracle its lasted 2 years without problems?

Just trying the battery tricks now...... will see how that goes

thanks again

 

Guess I've just gotten lucky. I've had my 1730M for 3+ years and have had no problems at all with it.

 

I have my own for almost three years. Laptop does not work well on nVidia drivers in some games in SLI mode . Installing Dell drivers solves the problem. But it's no fun to use the equipment , and wait while the fall. Especially when I'm already out of the warranty.

 

Baking the GPU has fixed it

I tried to extend the warranty today but as i was not the original owner of the laptop dell couldnt do ti untuil i have transferred ownership

They seem to think I can extend the warranty even though it has ran out

/fingers crossed

I have tried the things you listed with regards the battery
It now doesnt flash orange on the battery light but just says its charging all the time but the battery never goes over 0% charged

 

hi there,

my first post here, I am having problems with a very scatty black ops and was just wondering if anyone else is having issues?

I am aware there is a memory leak problem.

Are there any good graphics drivers out there that i can try?

my specs are as follows

Manufacturer: Dell XPS M1730
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T9300 @ 2.50GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.5GHz
Memory: 3262MB RAM
Hard Drive: 306 GB
Video Card: DUAL SLI 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTX
windows vista 32bit

thanks in advance

 

Lol, scatty.

The most recent NVidia drivers should almost always be the best available. I'm personally using the previous release because the current one was causing crashes with flash.

 

A question for all the M1730 experts...


How much better have graphics really got since the M1730 (as in my sig) was released?

We're still on a 256 bit architecture. While desktops have gone far beyond this.

 

GTX280m are a lot better, but then again, I lost track so I don`t know what's the fastest mobile GPU atm...

So, I sent the beast for repairs, they should get back to me next week... until then I have to deal with an Acer Aspire One

 

The GTX 280m is not that much better than the 8800m GTX......280m is 128 shaders and 55nm while the 8800m is 96 shaders and 65nm - EVERYTHING else is identical (except clock speeds of course).

The GTX 480m that is out now is about 2x the power of a 280m

 

And I supose that only the Clevos get the 480m atm, for a hefty 12-14pound laptop, eh?

 

In time you will see it on other laptops. And the M1730 is no lightweight

 

The D series from Clevo are bulkier, seing as I had a Clevo before

 

Then you should know they are worth it

 

Amazed this wasn't posted here - at least I don't see it...

XPS M1730 BIOS A11

Fixes/Enhancements
------------------
1. Added new thermal fan tables for Graphic card.

http://support.dell.com/support/dow...dateid=-1&formatid=-1&source=-1&fileid=417399

Interested in results...

NOTE: Thanks to KracsNZ for posting this in the AW forum We were LOL'ing about the timely update.

---------------------

EDIT:
Added link to post 1 of this thread -
http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...fix-demand-fix-video-card-failing-issues.html

 

Wow i didn't think that would come out!! may just save my 9800gtx sli cards

 

Might need to put a weight on top of your M1730, Dell's new thermal threshold prolly gonna send the thing into orbit... or at least sound like you're at an airport

 

Is it as loud as having an extreme CPU overclocked (fans full)??

 

My fans are constantly cycling at idle with the new A11 BIOS. They also keep the temperatures much lower.

In short, A11 is very loud.

 

So loud that you wouldn't recommend it?

 

A11 is not loud you can just hear fans but they kick in at 50C. 9800 cards idling at 49C. They are noo where near as loud as to when CPU over clocked (extreme CPU). Awesome fix dell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! finally!! guess i won't be getting alienware replacement now lol

 

Damn and I can´t flash to A11 since I don´t have any battery no more

 

Wow, amazing work from dell, FINALLY

So I guess the link in my sig did eventually have a point to it.

Thanks for the heads up, dude, as soon as I get my beast back, I`ll update it.

Well, if it`s any consolation, neither can I , since I don`t have the beast till mid next week at least

 

WOW! Thanks a lot BatBoy! I stopped visiting Dell drivers page for M1730 ages ago, tbh. Never thought they would actually come up with any updates there. But great news. Will install it when I get home. Will post back any noise difference I notice.

 

Yes would be nice to see what difference in temps there will be. I have to find another XPS M1730 user locally and borrow the battery

 

There are mixed opinions on this apparently, but for me it would go from a slow fan speed and then every minute go to the absolute maximum, and all I was doing was internet browsing and using other light programs.

I dropped it only a few hours after flashing the new bios, and it got pretty messed up. The screen is cracked and one hinge broke, so I won't have much to report until that gets fixed. The reason mine is so loud might be because my 8700M GTs idle high (are the 9800 GTs made on a smaller process?), but at least the gaming temperatures are good.

 

Hm....just wondering....is it possible flash BIOS back to rev.10, once you upgraded to rev.11?