Do you agree with my diagnosis?

I have read these forums some and read the dell blog posts about the defective nvidia GPU issues.

(DELL XPS m1530, 8600mgt)
My new problem does not fall under the possible symptoms described, but I have a sneaking suspicion that the GPU has started to fail.

My symptoms started a few days ago for no good reason:
When doing anything graphically intense, such as watching streaming Hulu video, or playing a game, after a period of time the laptop just SHUTS OFF, basically instantly. That period of time ranges from 5 minutes to 15 minutes. One time I saw it flip up an error message that I did not recognize right before it shutdown, but it was only visible for like a quarter-second so I didn't read it.

It never used to do this!

I have not seen any of the lines or other mangled gpu artifacts.

What can/should I do to diagnose the problem? Thanks for your wisdom!

My best guess so far is that the GPU has started to fail and that once the GPU gets too hot, something goes wrong and it causes the laptop to instantly power-down...

I can't imagine this being caused by a software issue...

Thoughts?

 

It's most likely a software issue; what you just described happens with all computers at some stage

Run virus scans. Also backing up you important files then re-installing windows should fix any system related issues.

 

I don't think it's a software problem at all. Run HWmonitor ( http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php) and check your temps right before the crash. To achieve this, stress the GPU a bit while watching temps.

Does this happen if you're hooked up to an external monitor?

Does the laptop shut off completely, or reboot on its own?

What happens if you hit F8 on startup and select "disable automatic restart on system failure"?

Does the screen seem any less dim than it was when it was new (sorry, this last one is kind of ambiguous and hard to tell).

 

Stab in the dark..
Could that be virtual memory problem?

 

Try this. Remove the battery and run totally on power. If that does not resolve the issue run a bios update. What program were you using for the movie?

 

Thanks for the tips, all.

The failures occur with Hulu streaming video, Netflix streaming video, and video games. Hulu + Netflix use higher-quality streams, so I thought that extra decoding would stress the gpu more and hence raise the temperature. I don't have conclusive evidence yet if standard youtube videos cause the problem.

As for what happens: the laptop just powers off, and does not auto-restart.

I will try the HWMonitor, and I will try without the battery, and I will try with an external monitor.

The brightness and performance of the lcd screen seems fine.

I doubt it's a software issue; I have re-installed the video drivers and directx and still get the problems. If it comes down to it I am not above re-installing vista from the restore dvd.

Thanks again, I will update when I run more tests.