Is my xps1340's video card failing???

I feel that my 9400M G card is about to die, heres why:

When I upgraded to win7 I noticed a more blurry playback on same videos, and my card would always get stuck in a certain part of the video playing a sound "grrr wwaaa'' like microter, and then regain itself and very soon do the same again, and there isnt anything bad with the video because it would do it in different parts all the time.. Same even on dvd playback too...

So I tried all options, all drivers that are out, all codecs, then I came to conclusion that its win7 and the drivers arent perfectly made for it yet, So then I installed back Vista to resolve this issue once and for all.. Only today I find that the issue is back again... I cant watch any music video without it chopping the audio for like 2 seconds and playing a broken disk sound and freezing for those 2 seconds then playing again and about in another 30 seconds doing the same again.


So can some one tell me is this NVIDIA 9400M G that is gona die soon?
The video quality of dvd's is perfect other formats gotten a lil worse! but the audio making a horrible broken records disk and video freezing for 2 secons happens in all videos even dvd's, youtube, avi, mp4, mpg, etc....


I noticed one thing also.. When watching youtube videos and when switching to youtube HD... most of the times I get thick vertical lines on the video for about a seconds and then they go away... it only happens while I switch to hd mode in youtube.


Is it possible that when doing a clean install of vista. the old win7 files didnt really get deleted since vista win7 lack the long full format option before the install? or is it just video card failing on me?

 

I have been reading these forums for a few days and from what I know you aren't alone. I don't think its your video card thats the issue. Its the drivers for Win7 64bit for the 9400. If you can try partioning your drive and install Vista on it, see if the problem still exists.

If Vista has the same issue then it might be your GPU, but atleast you can confirm that it isn't the Win7 Drivers.

 

As I said I reinstalled vista back, and it giving me problems on vista now... btw the vista and win7 drivers are the same drivers! but before installing win7 i was still using that driver and I didnt have any issues, it started happening like the second day of me running windows7 and through out 2 weeks, now I installed vista, it was fine yesterday, I turn it on this morning and the problem is here again.... Could it be the fact that doing a clean install doesnt fully format the hard drive?

 

Clean install should format the hard drive and I'm pretty positive that would get rid of any remnants.

What temperature does it get it when running these movies, the graphic card? Try GPU-Z to see if it can pick up on a sensor.

 

the temps are fine mid 50's C..... I just found out what the problem is... Believe it or not it was CyberLink Power DVD DX application.... Earlier when I was complaining to dell about bad win7 playback and audio/video studdering, they suggested as last option to send me the power dvd player that was preinstalled on my system.. they said it has some codecs that might help.

So when I finally received it I already reinstalled Vista and didnt have any issues but a lil blurry playback in some formats... but I took a look at he cd and it said on it for xp, vista and windows 7. when installing it I noticed that it said DX at the end of the title and icon looks different from the one that came stock....


So I just uninstalled it like 2-3 hours ago, and played hundreds of videos to make sure it works fine ... and the audio/video studdering went away!

Im guessing this DX version somehow impacts performance. Im gona look into it, and see what DX stands for....



Also this got me thinking maybe theres a similar reason that I had windows 7 studdering, maybe theres a problem that comes preinstalled with win7 that causes this... or it just might be a new windows 7 direct x thats causing this issue..... either way I didnt install 3rd party software when was on win7.


Thanx to everyone who tried to help!

 

ok ok... Now the problem is back.... Wow!!! i dont know what to do? im starting to think its hardware related

 

Huh, huh, huh. But the problem went away with the new Power DVD installation? As a last ditch attempt, maybe try reinstalling it again. If it is truly hardware related, it should STILL stutter on the new installation.

~Ibrahim~

 

No I still have the problem , I can sometimes watch one short youtube video if I get lucky, the video lagg problem is something that dell tech couldnt figure out, he checked everything power settings drivers, system preferences, cpu loads and ram usage.

They are sending me new motherboard since it has the 9400M G on it...

I have few theories:
- A.) Could it be a motherboard itself having some microscoping cracks that cause this?

- B.) Is it anyway possible that its HDD thats dying or locking up??

Because I have video studders in dvd films, all kinds of format videos, and even streaming stuff like youtube videos that get effected by this...

IS there anyway its HDD related or motherboard or the Nvidia chipset/ graphic card itself?


I mean I just dont think is software driver related since I installed win7 twice with clean install = same thing

then I though its windows 7

so I went back to Vista using the same drivers I did before with which I never had a problem.... But now I have that problem so Im guessing it has to be hardware related right?

 

Right. If it happens between OS installations, it's almost definitely hardware.

A) I mean, that's certainly a possibility, but not too likely: as in I don't know how a motherboard would get microscopic cracks. I mean, a crack could be bad, I'm sure, but it sounds like a crack would be making larger problems than this.

B) That's also possible. There are some tools you can run to check the hard drive health, SeaTools comes to mind.

 

I just use my 9400 for video playback, and mine is crystal clear in Windows 7. I took a couple screen caps, but they're huge and running them through any compression would defeat the purpose of showing how clear the playback is. Windows 7 and Vista both play the same way on mine, and I do a LOT of video conversion and playback on all my systems. It's possible you have cold solder points or a particularly weak alloy combination and your GPU is failing. Still under warranty? I'd just call it in and be done with it.

 

Yea thats what I think too,, something with soldering on the gpu probably, the dell is sending a tech to replace the motherboard.. from company QualServ or something like that, they are local technicians who work on behalf of dell.... my problem is that I did a copper mod 3 months ago, and my laptop is only 5 months so I still have 7 months under warranty. I known I kinda voided it,, so I went out and bought white paste to put instead of a copper shim, do you think it will do the job in fooling the tech for a stock "thermal pad" ??? LOL im kinda screwed copper modding worked very well for me temps were always low.. and now all the sudden I need a mobo changed.... any tips how to trick the technician? or will he likely not give a crap since he's not a dell guy just works kind of for them...

 

Hopefully it's something hardware related, but surely it is since you've tried about all you can on fixing a software issue. If it is it could easily be in the GPU or Motherboard. I don't see how the HD could affect it as there really is no reason for you hard drive to even be touched when watching videos.

 

I hope hope its hardware related, so they can just swap the mobo and get rid of the problem, I hope the tech doesnt care that I have thermal paste and not the original thermal pad that it came with

 

Alright so the technician changed the motherboad, and its the same thing still... video studders... So guys this is really driving me crazy, can it possibly be something else???

I noticed one thing which is rerally strange. if my the power adapter is pugged in from the moment i turn on my xps 1340, then video playback doesnt studder.. but if i unplug it and plug it in right away, its gona give me problems again, it might be not right away but in a few minutes for sure.... this happens as well while running only on battery..... but as soon as i restart with power adapter plugged in = No video problems.

So what can it be? Because I checked all my power settings very carefully, and even reset them to defaults to make sure,, still same problem...

Could it be either the power adapter or battery thats giving me issues?

My power adapter is 65w, it matches my settings since I have the 9400m card only.

If anyone has any suggestions please try to help :/

 

Maybe the battery is going bad. What's the battery health in the BIOS?

Turn off EIST and SpeedStep (one or the other; same thing) in the BIOS while you're there, see if that helps.

 

what is eist and speedstep exactly.. i still find it strange that the harddrive light flashes for those 2 seconds when the video studders... im thinking one or a combo of 3 items that is causing it,,, hdd since the icon lights up specifictly at video studder,,, battery, or ac adapter because once in a while it will give me that message " the adapter you are using will slow down your system" and maybe through adapter my battery gotten worse somehow...

My only problem would be convincing dell to change those 3 things, since they already replaced 2 motherboads, 1 hdd, 1 fan... and now possibly 3 more itmes.

Again Thank You for your advice.

 

No offense, but you can Google what those are. Basically, they reduce the speed of your processor for power consumption reasons.

That's true...maybe ask them for another adapter?

~Ibrahim~

 

Im not offended at all... But wouldnt power saving mode eliminate that? Since on power saving mode running on batter, the processor is running at lowest settings, and nvidia 9400m is running on battery saving technology... so that would eliminate the power needed.... Im just waiting for dell to give me a check up call, and Im gona ask them to do more test, ask them to replace the battery and power adapter.


So Im guessing you dont think its HDD related right??? Do you have any ideas why the HDD light turns on for the duration of video studder??

Thanks again for all of your help

 

Well, I was thinking that because the processor is running slow at certain points, it might be causing the slow-down.

I mean..it's possible. It could be a page-file issue, where the computer runs out of memory so it has to access the hard drive (which is ridiculously slower than memory) and thus it stutters. It's a common problem in gaming, but usually not in videos. But it could be here: try shutting down all unnecessary programs and see how it runs.

No problem.

~Ibrahim~

 

100% not the memory because the system had a clean install of vista recently and has no bloatware or any extra applications in msconfig I always disable the webcam and all useless junk,,, I only leave windows, windows defender nvidia display driver, wifi and thats all... my ram is being used only 28% and cpu usage is around 5-10%..... Im just thinking of calling them to tell them that the HDD died so they wouldnt ask for any testing,, and just send me a new one... so I can replace it and see if stops.

I wil reply tomorrow, since they did not call today, Ill wait until the same technician calls back tomorrow and... I will let you know if he has any ideas.

 

Got it. Hmmm....it could be going bad. Did you ever run SeaTools on it?

Good luck,

~Ibrahim~