M1210 Motherboard Replacement

[*Note: To all who saw my very first post, I want to say that I was sufficiently humbled and now just want some help. I know a lot of people here really know what is going on, and I'm ready to listen.]

I need to replace the motherboard in my M1210, because it got fried by overheating. Because the person I sent it to decided to change the price for the repair AFTER I ordered the replacement motherboard, I told him to just send me the parts, and I will replace it myself. How hard is this going to be?

When I was trying to figure out what was wrong with the computer initially, I took it apart until I was at the point where I could remove the heatsink, but never got beyond that point. I figure it can't be too much more work from there.

Also: Since I have dropped another $300 on the replacement motherboard (and learned the hard way about buying extended warranties), I would not like to have to keep replacing motherboards on this thing. I love the machine, except for the part where it broke within a year. The repairman I sent this to said that due to the compact size of the machine, it will keep overheating, and he expects it to not last another year. Is that realistic in your opinion? I just can't tell what steps I should take at this point. Will I be okay after this single motherboard replacement, or will I need to procure some more equipment to keep it cooler?

Thanks in advance.

 

I use an m1210 for work that I've had for just over a year now. I've had ZERO problems with it. Yes it does get a little warm, but not to the point where I'm afraid it will cause damage.

Pulling the motherboard from the actual chassis is the last thing you'll have to do. If you got down to where you were going to pull the heat-sink, you're pretty much ready to pull the motherboard (assuming you've got all the other components disconnected and unscrewed).

 

I will do that for $59. Let me know if you are interested.

 

Replacing the motherboard shouldn’t be that difficult if you carefully follow the instructions. Since I have not done it myself on a M1210､ I cant say anything more.

I have a M1210, as Khris said, it runs a little warm, but not to the point of overheating. It has been almost a year now, so far no heat problems or any other issues with it (M1210 is definitly one of best 12" notebooks out there).That repairman doesnt know what he is talking about, no company will make a notebook to die in one year (especially not an expensive and "supposedly " a high quality premium brand like XPS). Most likely your previous one had a faulty motherboard, an improperly installed heat sink or too much dust built up preventing ventilation.

When you take it apart, clean it well and make sure you install the heat sink properly using new thermal compound.

 

I actually pulled apart my m1210 this past week to clean out the fan and heat pipe. It took me a good 30-45 minutes to pull it all apart (although I was going slow and being careful). To replace the motherboard, you literally have to pull every single piece off....I was a little surprised.

It was not hard, just a little tedious to do it right, and carefully.

 

If you follow the instruction here, and read ahead, pulling the motherboard is not that tough.

http://support2.jp.dell.com/docs/systems/xpsM1210/en/SM/index.htm

Mind telling us how much is the cost for the motherboard?

 

Do you guys know where I could get a replacement chassis? I need a new top and bottom piece since mine started cracking cause it was dropped on one corner.

 

I need my motherboard replaced as well. How can I contact you?
Thanks
[email protected]

 

gzilla's repairman is absolutely correct. I am on my THIRD m1210 motherboard in 15 months. The first one the CPU fried (Dell replaced the mobo AND the CPU) and the second one the GPU fried (3 months out of warranty grrr). According to I8k Fan GUI the system idles at 79-85 degrees Celsius. When gaming, the CPU (C2D t7200) and GPU (nVidia 7400 Go) both get to 99C before scaling the CPU speed back to 999MHz which is unplayable. The t7200 chip has a maximum operating temperature of 100C. To combat this I took an old 80mm case fan and a Tupperware from the dollar store and cut a hole for the fan and a hole the size of the exhaust port and bent some paper clips to hold it on. Now I can game without the CPU scaling back and the idle temp is around 65C.

Also, the battery suddenly died after 14 months of use. It wont even finish booting before shutting off.

I love this laptop and on paper it's the best 12" traditional lappy out there but I keep coming across forums where owners complain that theirs died in about 14 months, and it's usually the ones with the nVidia in them.

 

Hey, YOU are 100% right! My GPU fried! Atleast I think... What happens is when I try to boot there is a blank screen (no backlight). The power LED comes on and the cd drive spins, but nothing else happens. When I try to connect to a monitor it doesn't work as well... I tried taking out the motherboard battery and the other batteries, but it still won't boot. Do you think my GPU is really fried? Any suggestions on what to do? Seems like going with the Nvidia option was a bad choice.

 

my M1210/7400 is about 20 months old;
GUI at 58C/peaking at 73C while web browsing.

i started using dual displays with an external1920x1200 monitor+the 1280x800 native LCD.

After 1 week of heavy use, the 1280x800 started to randomly display in what looks like terribly dithered ~8bit color; even though it's set to 32bit; when it's not in this fugly 8bit; it displays 32bit with a ton of horizontal line crawl... downright fugly again. the 1920x1200 external looks fine; but randomly blacks out every ~20 min for a few seconds...

1. has anyone seen this problem?
2. do you think the GeForce 7400 is fried?
3. if so, do you have to replace the entire motherboard?

thanks beforehand!

-x

 

If the video card is the problem, then yes, you'll need to replace the entire motherboard (as is the case with most laptops).

 

Hi

what are the good places to buy motherboards especially a Toshiba Satellite A30.

Thanks

 

Perhaps you should be asking in the TOSHIBA forum, not the DELL forum!

 

I am having the same problem with the display on my m1210. I also have a geforce go 7400. If you have found a solution to the problem I would be interested to find out what fixed it.

 

My wife's m1210 won't boot the OS anymore. Dark screen. When booting from CD, the message "press any key ..." shows lots of "spelling errors". Diagnostic shows video memory errors - single bit errors hence the spelling errors.

Now I stumble upon this tread and see lots of people with overheated fried G7400 video cards. Nice laptop but it sure didn't last long - like a bit less than $800 a year? Think I'm done with laptops or at least done with Dell.

Thinking back, this laptop really did run hot.

wrt poster on 3rd motherboard replacement, you must be an optimist (or under warranty)