Is my XPS M1330 dead for good?

Hi people!

Last night I was installing Sims 3 on my laptop (XPS M1330) for my girlfriend. Upon loading the game my laptop simply shut down in an instant (you know, like pulling out the battery with no power cord connected). Since then I have not been able to power it up again - nothing happens when pressing the power-button. In respons I pulled out the battery and left it without over the night, but this morning it's still stone dead. Furthermore, I have noticed that when I connect my power cord to the laptop, the blue LED-lamp on the "power-cord-box-thing" (seriously, what is it called in English?) goes out immediately.

Is my beloved XPS M1330 dead for good?

Thanks!
/Glud

 

no, it's not dead for good. most probably, it's a faulty motherboard.
So just to make sure, when you connect the charger (which is lit blue before connection) to the laptop the light immediately goes off on it ?

 

Thanks for replying, mfractal!
Yes, you got me right. When the charger is connected to the wall outlet, but not the laptop, it (the charger) lits blue as it should. But when I connect it to my laptop the blue light goes off - immediatly.

 

99% that what you need is a motherboard replacement.
either contact dell if it's under warranty or just buy a mobo off ebay and replace it yourself. it's not very hard to do.
if you go the DIY way, you should download the service manual from support.dell.com for your model and just follow the step by step there.

 

Okay, since it isn't under warranty anymore, I'll go for the DIY way. Shouldn't be that hard

But what could have caused my mobo to pop it's clogs out of a sudden?
It have been stable for all 2½ years now, the only "broken" thing is my battery which only gives me half an hour power when fully charged.
I fear that my new mobo will die, too, because of some other component.

Thanks for all you help

 

hmm... there is always that danger.. but the scenario you've described points to a mobo issue since the power circuit is on the mobo and it's what is causing the problem.
if you would tell me that it does work from a battery i'd say it's the charger, but since it doesn't respond to a battery nor does it respond to the charger, the only logical conclusion that i see is that it's the mobo.

 

What GPU do you have on the XPS?? If you have one of the 8400/8600m Nvidia GPUs, it's probably fried. Even if you're out of warranty, Dell should still fix it, if that in fact is the case. See the thread going on about the Nvidia lawsuit.

 

@mfractal
Sure, you're right At least a new mobo is cheaper than a brand new laptop. Thank you very much for all your help, once again.

@seeker_moc
Actually it HAS a 8400M GPU, so what you are saying is that Dell because of this will fix it anyway?
I read somewhere that the M1330 suffered from overheating issus (GPU?). I have never experienced this myself, but could this be the cause of my laptops sudden death?
Last question: Is this "free fix" worldwide? I live in Denmark (Europe).

 

Nvidia GPU Lawsuit only covers USA

 

You could try to take out the motherboard and stick it in the microwave for a few minutes. Search here for tutorials, some folks repaired their notebook in that way.

 

lol, microwave... lol

OVEN you tart... OVEN.

 

True, but the 1-year extended warranty for Nvidia GPUs should be world wide.

 

That nvidia lawsuit is worth looking into..
LOLOL microwave haha!!!!

 

Hello people,my del xps M1330,i dont know what happens,it is given screen with the following inscription:-HARDWARE MALFUNCTION,NMI PARITY CHECK/MEMORY, THESYSTEM IS HALTED, nothing appears on the screen,but when connected to an external monitor, you see the above error message.
what should be done.

 

meek,

Do you have the 8400gs? Check your device manager
Are you still under warranty? Check dell.com w/ your service tag
Are you located in the USA? Check the nvidia settlement thread

 

a 8400M GPU, so what you are saying is that Dell because of this will fix it anyway?


Yes,for this GPU(8400M gs),Dell has one more year warranty.

besides,I've change my motherboard twice in the last 2 years.

My notebook is xps M1330 ,too.


I think Dell's quality is not so good..

 

I see the other thread is closed and was wondering what people are getting these days as a replacement. I still have 2 years left on my extended warranty but at this rate I don't it will last that long.

 

I don't know about Dell's quality in general, but that particular problem wasn't Dell's fault, it was nVidia's. Other manufacturers using those nVidia GPUs had the same problems.

 

Got a XPS 14 from dell as a replacement.

Got a MBA13 as real replacement.

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

I recently had my Geforce 8400M GS video card fail on my M1330. I called Dell and after a lengthy discussion they agreed to repair it even though the warranty expired in 2008. There was evidently some kind of legal action against Dell because of an inherent problem with this card.

They installed a new motherboard, at their expense, and returned it to me in less than a week. The laptop failed after one day and exhibited the same symptoms you describe. I called Dell again and they agreed to repair the laptop again at their expense. They sent another FEDEX shipping box and I again returned the unit. I received the unit with another motherboard three days ago and it has worked properly ever since.

I don't know if this will help with your problem but if I were you, I would contact and demand, in a nice way, that they repair your unit free. Good luck.

 

The legal action was against Nvidia, since they supplied faulty hardware.

 

where is this nvidia threat that you are talking about?
my 1530 started failing last week.

 

The "official" Nvidia settlement ended this past late March. Dell DID extend all models affected by the Nvidia chips 1 year after your normal warranty expired.

 

Dell has been pretty good at replacing dead 8400GS boards - mine died post-warranty (with a copper mod on it). Dell sent out a tech who didn't bat an eye at the mod and replaced everything back to factory defaults. I haven't bothered with re-modding and it's been running fine since.