Dell XPS M1730 Owner's Lounge, Take 2

that 1 out of 10 drivers that worked is probably due to the sli profile not being configured properly.. i was pleased with no distortions with some drivers till i realised that there were no sli profiles for that game or it wasnt configured properly. since our global sli settings are usually at nvidia recommended, sometimes it only uses 1 card. when u put the global to all afr1/2 or sfr u should see that problem all the time. it did for me at least.

i also realised some games just refuse to be recognised as 3d games or have a sli profile even after i added them manually. Xblades is one example. no sli profile from nvidia and after manually being added, it still doesnt want to use sli(sli indicators not working). hence i have no distortion on that game because its only using one card

a swap with the same set of gfx cards would never solve the problem. but maybe a swap to a 9 series one.. take a look at this thread

http://en.community.dell.com/forums/t/19281281.aspx

hes got his 9800gts replaced to 9800mgtxes and he says the problem is solved.. im not sure if its becos of the sli profile being screwed or if its really solved.

 

I'll level with you there Kade - I was probably wrong on how accurate a representation the userbase here is to what kind of problems Dell customers face with the XPS alone. It's probably the perfect ratio - (LET'S SAY FOR AN EXAMPLE) for every ten computers bought 3 are satisifed, and 7 need repairs within three months' time. If that were the case in the forum, it's probably the same proportions to non-NBR XPS owners.

And I wasn't psycho-analyzing, just merely reading the post for rhetoric, and as someone who frequents probably a dozen forums and is active on most of them for one year plus, I encounter many times a scenario where a poster makes a blunt/toothless post to a newbie and scares them off --> counterintuitive to keeping the forum having a healthy population. If that was not your intent, I apologize, I just wanted to do a little damage control.


As to the person who posted on the last page about DVI/separate monitor issues and Half-Life, I'm way too lazy to scroll back and read too much into it. What I wanted to say however is that make sure the issue is in fact part of the separate monitor issue and not SLI. When I first installed a 18x.xx driver for my 8800's (had been using 175.32 forceware nVidia drivers for a year), I encountered flickering on my deathcam in DoD: Source - this also uses the HL2 engine. SLi was enabled. I needed to download nHancer to fix the solution and run in the background. They did something to the drivers to make SLI simply act weird in HL2 engine games. One map in the game was unusually bright (everything graphically was fine, and the FPS was normal, but the terrain and characters were two or three shades lighter), and getting hit by grenades and the subsequent shellshock created visual tearing and the deathcam had flickering/tearing. I thought it was AA or antisotropic filtering (I'm sure I misspelled that), but changing those settings OUT of game didn't do anything. nHancer fixed it for me. SLI needs to have nHancer running to not encounter these minor but definitely bothersome glitches in HL2 engine games for me.

So, turn SLI off and see if you still get these weird glitches.

 

Mate, as I already stated, you seem cool in my books.

I don't think the ratio's entirely accurate, maybe it was a while back, but it's been shifting as of late, in my opinion. Neither do I absolutely accept that this forum represents a small branch of the owners. In my opinion, the laptop's too much of a niche machine, very specifically bought by people who'll get on the web in order to get the most out of their hardware, and this forum's one of the first that pops up for such queries. Anyway, we digress. Regardless of this forum representing experience of majority or insignificant minority, it still exposes some serious problems with the hardware, problems that I think will most likely effect the entire userbase, contingent on condition and set up of machine.

I think out of the current hardware, which doesn't seem to be fairing too well in my opinion, a maximum overclocked x9000 could keep these GPUs in optimal health and result in a laptop that won't go bust Bring on the full-blast fans, I say!

I still prefer the M1730 in many ways. I like the gaming panel, and I like the design, and even the GPUs are plenty strong to run anything - just dig out Magnus' configs for the more complicated pc-exclusive games, and one is set. I just hate the gloss.

. . .and maybe it isn't. I was just showing how one could use such information to support their own conclusions. For the record, I wouldn't be surprsied if this was true.

But you get what I mean. To me, at least, it seems like some real issues have been exposed on this forum, and important issues that could help all the userbase, and also enlighten them on the shortcomings of the machine.

Maybe I used psychoanalysis too loosely. But no, I wasn't trying to scare the guy off, I really did want to hear of his reasons behind holding--what appeared to be--a strong view. He's cool.


To RubyBoy,
Dude, I can't receive the refund until both machines are returned. It's policy - refund cannot be processed until original machine is collected.

 

Anyone else got a hot DVD drive?

I'm back to gaming some non-Steam games that require DVD authentication and I'm noticing my BR (r only) DVD is getting very very hot. From feel (I'm a chef) the disc feels 70c when it's ejected. Even when it is just sitting there it's pretty warm.

Everytime I do search I get a 1000 pages of Hot sale adds even with - sale there is still just crap after crap.

So is there a temp or checking program for these drives and what's acceptable.

 

then ur kinda screwed if dell screws up and collects your machine and not give u a refund quickly. ull end up having no laptop and having to call them for a refund haha..

i just agreed to the extra 1.2k for the qx9300 and sli 280s for the m17x. the 1.2k isnt due to depreciation and they have explained to me how they calculated it.

they said my model was comparable to the m17x with a t9550 and sli 260s, which i agree since mine isnt exactly the most maxed out 1730. so the extra 1.2k is for the processor and gfx upgrades which are relatively ok since the processor upgrade from the basic t9550 to a qx9300 is already 1355 dollars sgd
and i get the win 7 upgrade coupon too

this time i hope they get things right and not replace me the wrong system or else...


@ slammin

yea my dvd rw is ALWAYS very hot. any cd i put in for about a minute comes out as though its been through an oven or something. i think its the heat from the gpus going over to the drive since they are quite near to each other.

 

what nhancer settings do you have? ive tried it and it screws up all my configurations. i still get the tearing and flickers and i cant disable the sli from nhancer.. and i realised it also messes up ur sli profiles so when u uninstall the program youll have to reinstall the drivers to get back the default profiles

 

@ Kade

If you're really stressed just get them to email that they are providing a refund upon receipt. That's what I did and it all went smoothly.

@Ruby

Hot too hey, I've decided to leave it open when not in use. It's too uncomfortable my palm rest, I don't remember it getting this hot b4 : (

Any DVD drive temp montioring programs anyone?

 

mine has always been this hot from the start.. lol does the dvd drive even have a temp sensor in the first place

 

I'm guessing not eh! It's not something I've ever really thought about b4.

 

Well thanks for the replies guys but none of your suggestions has helped. In fact now it is WORSE than before.

This is obviously a flaw in the product that nobody has been able to solve.

I am finished with my M1730 and Dell in general.

This is probably my 20th dell since about 2000 (not exaggerating) and I think I am finally finished with them. Their products have changed to the point where they offer nothing that I want. You can get expensive machines with very little choice between only 2 mediocre GPU's, but you can get it with pink flowers or lavender stripes on it !!! It seems like a bunch of stupid women and mush-mouth H1B's are in charge of product development over at Dell these days. This, combined with what an emberassing and collosal piece of junk the M1730 is, has taken me to the end of my road with Dell.

I encourage all of you to get the hell away from Dell. I have been one of Dell's biggest cheerleaders over the last 8 years or so, but I have finally turned.

I would contact dell support but they WILL NOT know the answer. Also, it appears that many people have this problem, and swapping out the video board does not seem to help.

Unless anyone has any clue about this flickering problem I will be putting this heap of fail up on ebay as soon as I have time to re-install windows, take some photos, and package it up.

 

I know most of the M1730 crowd is on the 190 series now but just a heads-up if anyone is interested:

Version: 186.81 WHQL
Release Date: 2009.08.27

64-bit Vista/Win7: http://www.nvidia.com/object/notebook_winvista_win7_x64_186.81_whql.html

32-bit Vista/Win7: http://www.nvidia.com/object/notebook_winvista_win7_186.81_whql.html

64-bit XP: http://www.nvidia.com/object/notebook_winxp64_186.81_whql.html

32-bit XP: http://www.nvidia.com/object/notebook_winxp_186.81_whql.html

 

Probably a stupid question TheExpert but do you only have these issue's in game's that use the source engine?? Because I have seen a similar occurance once on my internal panel when playing L4D and then spoke to a friend who is running a desktop with a 9800GX2 and he has also seen the occurance once or twice on his 25" 1920x1200 monitor. Just interested if you have it right across the board, because we have only noticed it in source based game's.
Cheers.

 

Thank You BatBoy, but I do not have the Ageia PhysX card installed.

Thank you GadgetBoi:

Installed..rebooted and still the same problem.


Any other ideas?
thank you

 

Cheers for those driver's Batboy, Iam gonna give them a try later. When I uninstall the old drivers and install these do I then also need to reinstall the latest physx driver? Or will this have it included?

 

Check your PhysX version after install - this driver comes with the 9.09.0428 version of PhysX. It may or may not overwrite your existing install of PhysX. If it does, just install the current version OVER your existing version. Do not uninstall first.

 

Cool, I will give it a try now.

 

Might be an idea to post your spec's.

Looking at your attachments my Device Manger has only one difference I have an item;
Windows SideShow which +expands to be
- Logitech Gamepanel (mono)
-Logitech Gamepanel (QVGA)

I reckon it's a bit too far fetched as it's so obvious but on the off chance is your LCD working?

 

everything seems to be working.
I just happened to look at the device manager.
lcd display is working as well.

My specs: 2.4ghz, 8gb ram, 256 ssd, bluetooth, 9800 sli

 

@Zsports:

Go into your Device Manager. Right Click on the Unknown device and choose properties. Go to the Details tab. Select HardwareIDs from the pull down menu. Copy the second line and post it here.

 

BatBoy:

here is the info:
PCI\VEN_1180&DEV_0592&SUBSYS_01F71028

 

just curious, when dell comes to collect my system, what exactly do i have to return? do i have to pack everything nicely back into the box and return everything including manuals cds the headsets etc

or are they just interested in the system and the adapter

 

I just sent my system and adaptor, kept the all the software and peripherals.

 

Well I just ran 3DMark06 with the new drivers and I got 13980, nice. But I have just looked in my device manager and again I might be being stupid but I don't see an Ageia Phsyx adapter, where should I see it??

 

From the device manager expand IDE ATA/ATAPI controller. I am still banking on the memory card reader 0592 is a direct reference to the version RICOH controller. See if you have 3 different readers listed.

Also, here is some driver info:
Name: Ricoh Memory Stick Host Controller
Device ID: PCI\VEN_1180&DEV_0592&SUBSYS_01F71028&REV_12\4&39AC0CEA&0&0BF0
Driver: C:\Windows\system32\snymsico.dll, 1.00.0000.9120 (English)

 

Yep - agree with Gadget. He is correct on the SD Controller.

Uninstall your RICOH driver. Reboot into Safe Mode. Run CCleaner's registry module. Reboot normally. Install new driver.

 

I've had this problem on 9800GT SLI. I typically connect my machine to a dell 24" monitor.

Of course I've had tons of problems with the xps m1730, I've had mulitple replacements in terms of hardware and machines.

I wish I had time to respond to all the various comments that have been posted.

 

Dude, I already have an e-mail from their 'Customer Service Manager' and she declared that I can use the e-mail as a confirmation, and refer to it whenever I want.

Unfortunately, it's this stupidly poor level of communication between their departments that really grinds me good! ?!

I trust I'll get the money back, but I also know that they'll screw up loads along the way.

 

Uh-oh... I wonder if Kade is gonna go for the M980NU

 

Comanche SLi, teh bang for teh buck for teh win.

Side-topic:
I am looking forward to the new Metal Gear: Rising, as it'll be coming out on the PC. I wonder if it'll do some of the nifty things that MGS4 did with the graphics and post-process effects.

 

I think I just realised my replacement M1730 doesn't have an Ageia PhysX unit! Ohh well if it took me this long to notice I obviously wasn't missing it that much. Those new drivers are nice, all seem's to be running good.

 

Ruby - nHancer has its own profiles already designed for CS, DOD, and Half Life. I don't know if it's Half-Life 2, though... let the program autorun those profiles. You have to double click the program icon in the task bar everytime you start up and wait for the loading bar. Then just game away. This solved my problem with the visual tearing and death cam glitches. I swear you're having the same problems I did.

 

Heh.

I just used the new drivers, and on m y broken machine, I've broken the 12k barrier on stock settings and with loads of spam. Lawl.

Edit:
I am still amazed by Slammin's score. He got well over 12k with the older drivers, using the same CPU and at non-OC settings. Amazing.

 

Man all of these problems a lot of you are having , makes me feel bad saying again that I must be one of the early purchasers who are luck and have had zero problems to date and my beast is almost 2 years old already, I still have just over 2 years left in my anything happen total care warranty.

 

Is there someone with a dead or deffective power adapter?

 

I had one where it could no longer be identified by the laptop, so even though it was still outputting the correct power the laptop would display a power supply error and put my laptop into low power settings. That was annoying. Dell had me a new one by the next day though so wasn't too bad.

 

Yes, it is the sd controller.
2 ricoh controllers are listed where you said.

Thank you again BatBoy and GadgetBoi!!!

 

What BIOS are you guys using? A10 or A09? I've had A10 on my desktop since it first came out but hesitated to install it at first because my temps were fine. DIdn't someone say a long time ago A10 screwed up the fans or something? I'm hesitant to fix something that isn't broke, but I don't wanna' delete A10 from my desktop before asking.

 

Just ran the new 186.81 drivers and at stock I got a score of 12,288 when I stock my X9000 to 2.8GHz, highest temperature of 69*C...

Ran it at 3.4GHz and I got 14,382, highest temperature of 58*C

No problems with games I played. Overall, a good driver. Couldn't find the powermizer settings in the registry so I added "PerfLevelSrc" and set the values to 2222 to completely disable powermizer to make the cards run at stock speeds. I have performance issues when the cards become unclocked when in 3D Max, Sketchup or AutoCAD.

 

I had A10 running on the 1730 since it was pushed out by Dell and encountered no issues at all.

 

Yeah, I propped the back of my M1730 as well. I'm always on keyboard all the time, so I thought maybe a little bit of inclination is good for that angled effect. It gives a nice airflow at the back of the system too, since the fans are located at the rear ends of the machine.

Just took some pictures today, thought I wanted to share something...




I find by placing rubbing soles at the back it makes it alot more easier to lift the machine since the height has been raised enough for your hands to get through it.







My entire flicker is here if you want to look at higher resolutions.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/_stefano_/

 

yes, i know it sounds and looks the same but nhancer dint fix the problem and im experiencing the problem on every single game as long as sli is enabled. from warcraft3 to crysis to mirror's edge to left 4 dead

 

Are you entirely sure???

Where is your 1730 right now?

Were any any of your issues present b4 A10?


PS. Is it just me or is NBR again becoming the slowest page on the whole net?

 

I went from A09 to A10 when it was first released and I had no issues with it at all to this day. Batboy had his dead M1730 recently replaced with the Alienware M17x, but he did have A10 running for quite a while too when he did have the M1730.

 

My 1730 came with A10 loaded on it - back when Dell's site was offering A06 or A09. 6 months later, they finally updated it to A10.

That said, no issues other than video cards overheating, mobo /AC adapter issue, and mobo/ram issue. So I'm sure A10 works just like any other bios (ugh)

btw, when we were replacing the mobo, I found a piece of plastic that had clearly been melted several times. Maybe that was the culprit - preventing contact somewhere? Who knows!

 

@ Slammin: a couple days ago, NBR wouldn't even load for me. It appears to go in cycles when NBR won't load or will take forever to load my subscriptions links out of email.

 

Thanks for your response Jesse. The thing is though that you have an advantage over us pleb's without the extreme cpu's. Bataboy had the 9300.

Frankly I don't think A09 to A10 is entirely relevent but it did cross my mind because it is in the last 4 months that most 1730's are dying?

What we need is A11 with lower threshhold temps for the 9500 and 9300 users.

FAN CONTROL HERE PLEASE!!

 

Sloooooooooooooow - esp on login it sometimes times out. Mebbe the most popular pages are getting too long again.

@LordZath

Hmmm I had a pice of clear plastic lodged on the mobo near the dvd drive. It was clear and appeared to be tape. Not melted though.

 

yea ive noticed when they were replacing my mobo that there was some sort of plastic on the mobo near the card reader area.. mine looked as though it has melted badly and was almost burnt.. some parts of it looked yellowish and some parts look as though it was burnt =o

now that slammin says its a tape, im wondering why the hell does dell put tape on the mobo when its obvious heat will cause the plastic tape to melt

 

This is getting weird. My piece was about 2*3cm one corner rounded off. i thought it was an accidental stowaway.

Wish I'd kept it now. BUT I don't think it made any issues for me

 

The big difference is that with the X9000 I run my laptop OC'ed to 3.4ghz that keeps the fans running at full speed and I also run my Cryo LX fans at 12v all the time and both combined keep my temps below 70c. For example it has been around 100 Farenheit here in Los Angeles today and I was playing on the laptop when it was still around 93 farenheit this afternnon in my home office and the cpu and both gpu's never went above 72c during 2 hours of playing COD WAW.