Dell in-home service and the Copper Mod...

I'm about to go pickup my dell today (it came a week early!). I wish I would've read as much as I have now about the Nvida chips, before I bought it. I'm pretty sure I still would've purchased it, but maybe would've tried to get a different card. Anyways, I think I got a pretty good deal because they gave me 3-years of in-home service, low jack, and 3-years of lost or stolen coverage. My question is, would it be worth doing the copper mod and risk (I know it's reversible but you're still risking that chance that they'll figure it out) throwing out those warranties for 3 years? Or should I just keep it and have them come out and fix it whenever it dies?

Second question about the in-home service. How exactly does that work? I know it means you don't have to ship it, but I'd assume they need to take it for a while. So for how long would you be without your baby, er I mean, laptop? Thanks

Oliver

 

If you have three years waranty why risk it? If it fries early (a year or two) they are obliged under the contract that both you and Dell have signed regarding warranty. Dont void it they fix it.

I recommend you just let your warranty work.

 

Dell ships the part to the technician, the technician is is then dispatched to your residence or business (your choice) to do the repair in your presence. The tech works for a company who is contracted by Dell to perform repairs. They aren't actual employees of Dell.

Oh and I'll 2nd X2P... why bother - if it fails, Dell is going to replace it... dont sweat it (no pun intended) lol.

 

im still on the fence on whether to do the copper mod or use dell replacement when the mobo fries....

convenience vs loss of warranty....

 

What ifm because you didn't do the copper modm your laptop dies just outside the warranty period, whereas if you had done it, it would have lasted another 5 years?

Personally, ever since BIOS A11 (I haven't tried A12), my laptop is much cooler, even when I come back after a few hours. Before, the palm rest used to be somewhere between toasty and burning, so I am a little more confident now that the thermals are taken care of without the copper mod.

 

I'm not confident at all of the thermals being taken care of by the bios "band-aid" they came out with. It's a hardware issue which can't be truly resolved by software(without sacrificing something i.e. more noise, less battery life, etc.)

I didn't know the in-home service was like that. More like, "in-your-face" service huh? Well, if it's like that, and I don't have to ship my laptop and wait a few days or weeks to get it back, then I think I'm going to stick with the warranty deal. Especially with the 3 year accidental coverage I have. In 2.9 years, who knows what can happen?

 

There's no evidence that the upgraded bios won't prevent chips from dying since the poor thermal solution remains as does the probable defective nvidia cards seemingly can't handle thermal stress. The fact that even non-gamers--people just doing surfing, word processing and the like have dead MB's suggests to me that the GPU is at risk for burnout even if your temps never break 80C.

I have done the copper mod and I did so 3 weeks into my 3 year on site, complete care warranty. I simply do NOT see how Dell and their technicians would be able to tell you did the mod. The thermal pad is unscathed and sitting in my drawer. It can simple be swapped back on. Can anyone that's also done the mod think of how Dell might be able to spot that you've tinkered with it? The thermal paste on the CPU being a slightly different shade of grey? Come on. I know that "there's always a chance" and "you never know" but using that logic I might as well not walk outside today because I could be struck by lightening---'cause you just never know....

I personally don't want my motherboard to die. I've seen enough Dell techs in action and read enough stories on the web that I'd like to avoid that at all costs. Moreover, I just don't want my computer to be out of service for even a day. Lastly, I am fearfull that the heat generated by the unmodded GPU (90+ degrees under stress) could damage/shorten the life of other parts that aren't on the motherboard. I don't like the idea of "my computer is going to die in the next 6 months....or maybe 2 months...or maybe a year..." I could be in the middle of a presentation, a paper for work, downloading Barely Legal 134, and it just dies. Lost money, productivity, embarrassment, smut.

Screw that. My computer is running 32/52 as I sit hear typing this. If I run a torture test on both CPU/GPU (at the same time--this is critical) I won't break 60/72. That's a 30 degree drop on my GPU temp. I like knowing that my computer isn't dying a slow, hot death anymore. But to be fair, maybe my computer will die as well. Maybe the GPU can't handle 65 either--maybe its THAT F'd up.

 

Do the copper mod when your warranty runs out.

 

Well Bigdaddy has a good point. What if I wait too long and the heat messes something else up on my laptop? I know I shouldn't be thinking about what if's so much but I'm not sure if I want my laptop to have a slow "heat death" for 3 years until I do the copper mod. I'll keep my eye on the temps and if it get's pretty bad, like over 80C then I think I might do the mod and just be very careful. I don't do much gaming so if it does get that hot, there's a serious problem. Thanks for all your input!

 

I should add--not that my soapbox speech wasn't long enough--that the copper mod also allows me to play games. I'm not a gamer, but I wanted to try FEAR and CoD and it kept downclocking and ruining the game. Now, not only can I play at full speed, but I can overclock to 585/785 and still run under 82 degrees (not recommended). But, the others have a good point as well, you could always screw something up with the mod and have yoruself a bigger headache.

 

Yes, it is worth doing the Copper Mod despite the risks involved. You definitely do not want the engineer to mess with your notebook. Why? Read my System Board replacement story.

The problem is not with how you use the Notebook but with the Thermal Cooling Assembly of the Notebook itself therefore regardless of how you use, the problem is imminent. Copper Mod is the only solution until Dell comes up with a modified Thermal Cooling Assembly.

 

You could also try undervolting. My full load GPU temp dropped by 9deg Celsius to 74 degrees after undervolting the CPU.

 

Those temps mean you're full load GPU was only 83. Are people using correct program to monitor their temps (not I8kfangui--its about 12 degrees low)? Are they stressing their GPU with something like Furbar AND stressing their CPU at the same time with something like Orthos? If that's the case and before undervolting you were at 83, that's really pretty good for the M1330 from what I've seen. Mine, which is fairly new, using furbar and GPU-z for temps would easily hit 100 on bios A10.

 

I read the guys above horror story getting a A04 Mobo and a rude tech guy. Well, I cant shut out about BancTec, Dave is my man and I love em. They always ALWAYS show up two days after I get Dell to send me the parts. They know by now that Im a babysitter and are free to come over at anytime during the week, they always call 20 minutes before they'll be there. One time noone was home and I knew I could trust Dave to replace my motherboard while I wasnt even there.

Asking him about the mods, he confirmed "off the records here" that the cooling his dreadful in the M1530 and told me what I needed to do to fix it, althought he couldnt do it himself because he doesnt want to loose his sweet gig fixing laptops. But he accidently "forgot" 4-5 syringes of high end cooling paste and showed me terrible blue sponge that needed to go.

My temps are WAY better now, about a 8-15c drop in both idle and max temps.

When my motherboard was replaced, it was A08 3/12/08 I believe. When I got my CME LED Screen replaced Dell originally sent me a crap Samsung regular screen and Dave called to let me know he knew the screen was wrong and showed up two days later with the correct one.

 

BigDaddy, Sorry no I havent yet stressed the GPU. I stressed the CPU with only Orthos. And the drop in full Orthos load GPU temp was considerable. I shall try the Furbar. Where can I download it?
Also I am using HWmon which is pretty accurate I suppose.

 

Unfortunately the only fix to the M1330 heat issue is a new heatsink. Since Dell isn't sending that to you, copper mod is what you need to do.

You don't buy a 5 speed car and then run it at 3rd or 4th speed because you can have a better control. Similarly you don't undervolt your notebook's video and processor.

Using an external notebook cooler for M1330 is like buying a hatchback car for its small size and then attaching a trailer to carry more stuff!