HELP! XPS M1730 doesnt start up, broken graphics card?

Hey

I got a XPS M1730 with nVidia 8800M GTX SLI.
When i wanted to start it yesterday it stopped just after initializing the LCD panel. I did not install or remove any software/hardware before it happened.
i tried the Vista repair function but without success.
the computer starts in safe mode and in "normal mode" if i uninstalled the graphics driver before.
i checked my HDD and even reset it to factory settings but still same problem. as soon as i load the proper graphics driver it freezer resp wont start up again.
PLS HELP!

 

sounds like the gpu/graphic card has broken

 

great!
where can i buy a replacement? im particular interested in the 9800m gtx.
and what about the 8700m gtx is there a hugh performance difference between the 8700 and the dual 8800m gtx?

thanks

 

What about warrenty islander? Parts these days are quite hard to aquire.

 

warrenty expired 2 month ago

 

There is no such card as "8700M GTX". The cards that the M1730 consist are the single 8700M GT, 8700M GT SLI, 8800M GTX SLI, 9800M GT SLI and 9800M GTX SLI.
And yes, between the 8700M GT SLI vs 8800M GTX SLI, there is a vast performance between the two of them.

Have you ran an onboard diagnostics to test to confirm the card is the problem? How long have you had this machine?

To have the 9800M GTX SLI is rare. I'd suggest an 8800M GTX/9800M GT SLI cards is enough.

If I were you I would give Dell a call and ask for a replacement card.

EDIT: Oh, your warranty expired. I see. In that case you'll have to purchase an 8800M GTX SLI card from ebay. Dell will charge expensive for a new card. I remembered they once quoted me SGD2500 ~ USD1700 bucks for it.

But be sure to run the onboard diagnostics first.

 

i have a 8700m gt sli card for sale on ebay and also i have a 9800m gt sli card which is very rare. $250 for the 8700 and $975 for the 9800m gt.

 

how do i run an onboard diagnostic, as i cant use any of the nvidia software? (no driver installed)

 

press f10 while booting up.

 

F10 while booting brings up the "edit boot options" menu.
i ran all sorts of diagnostics but i couldnt find the diagnostics for the 8800.
any idea?

 

f12 then...

 

Dont get the 8700 card. My system (XPS M1730) came with the dual 8700 sli... Bad card.. very weak and you wont be able to play the games the right way. I purchased the 8800 for around 1,000 from dell and it started giving me problems 8 months into the warranty. Dell is replacing the entire laptop for an alienware M17x..

 

I believe is F12 and the last option is the diagnostic. You can also find it in the included drivers CD that came with the notebook... I ran that test on my XPX and found nothing wrong with my computer but there is something very wrong with my 8800 GTX card.. It wont take any nVidia drivers and SLI is not an option. I get the BSOD the second I enable sli. I can only use my laptop with vista drivers for the card... Is not a problem with the OS or drivers. It is just a bad card.. You can probably try baking the card. I did that for a video card for my other laptop E1705. I almost bought a new one for arounf 300, but after doing the oven thing,, it worked... Just make sure that you remove everything from the card, like plastic, stickers etc.... Is not under warranty so you have nothing to lose.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVWDru1bub8

 

sure sounds like a burned video card...
do you have another one (could be 8700/8800/9800, doesn't matter) to replace and eliminate the mobo ?

 

FWIW I have heard of people reporting the problem and being offered extended warranty.

But to keep my behind covered I would call Dell and tell them that I have only just found out that my warranty has expired and I would like to extend it. Then in 1 month I would report the dead card.

I would justify this morally becaus ethe cards shouldn't be dying Dell should look after it.

 

Anyone here selling their broken xps 1730s?

 

Just Bake your Video Card I did an it worked fine for the M1730. I baked my 8800 GTX after the 8 month fail thing happened.









And then it worked again, we're on day 2 at Full Usage, No Problems.

 

Hankaaron, one of the ex-M1730 lounge members, continued to bake his cards. Problem is that the 'fix' didn't last more than a week each time, so he was already down to his 12th bake by the time Dell gave him an M17x as a replacement.

 

That's what a call a "well done" card

 

Before you go ahead and spend all this money on a replacement card from either Dell or Ebay, may I ask if getting a replacement system is an option. The reason I say this is because the expensive replacement cards that you will be getting will most likely fail relatively soon, so it may not be the best solution. This is a fairly well published problem with this generation of Nvidia cards.

If I was in this position, I would use whatever money I was gonna spend on the replacement part plus money for sell the parts of the M1730 to have enough money to perhaps buy a refurbed M17x.

 

Also, have you tried to disable SLi to see if the computer would work properly in Windows?

 

Running since Monday, no problems so far, I mean I haven't been gaming a whole lot because of my work load. But I'm looking to purchase a refurbished base model m17x and go from there. I might just start collecting videocards of M1730's on ebay. For some reason I really like this machine, even it is flawwed. It's the Last XPS, but i like the look and feel of it, and the Display. It serves my purposes well.

 

darkloki is your machine still flawed and your warranty? I see you want to trade i have a qosmio x505 with a core i7 do you have a blu ray drive? I would private message you but you don't have enough posts.

 

Nah I'm going to keep my machine, I found videocards for cheap well a decent price. So I'm happy with it, and I'm uber pro using this machine now as I know the ins and outs of it.

 

Ok oh well. Thanks for responding.

 

Yea I also have a blu ray on my Machine, for what I'm doing my machine can handle it so far, I was discouraged at first when it was struggling to play Battlefield Bad Company 2 Beta, but I think all laptops are struggling to play it. And I also hardly think that, this title alone should discourage me to move over to a new laptop, .