**OFFICIAL** Dell XPS M1730 Owner's Lounge, *Part 4*

Yo,
Your best bet would be an x9000 and a 9800m gtx Sli.

 

Indeed, that would be my config

 

Does anybody know where I can find a Dell adapter from a third party that won't give me the "Unknown AC Adapter" issue? I would buy one straight from Dell, but I'm worried I'll just get the same issue after a few months.

 

As far as I know you need to use Dell's adapters. At least I haven't heard of any third party adapters working with M1730.

 

Dual NVIDIA 8700 SLi on m1730 having a random kernel panic. The screen flickers a few times and then a longer pause and recovers itself. My Win764bit OS info bubble confirms that the card has recovered from a kernel panic. Where is this coming from? Could it be the video card is not seated complete?

 

If you still have warranty that is covered.

 

Death of the video card possibly. Try updating drivers first.

 

I agree... I remember those symptoms and they're not good. The 8700 SLi modules typically lasted 4 to 6 months for me and that was one of the signs they were going TU.

 

Hi everyone,

2 years ago I bought this laptop from a friend with specs T9500, 4GB DDR2, 500GB and GTX 8800M SLI.

2 months ago suddenly the laptop shutdown itself and when restarting it display only blank screen even though the laptop keyboard and light are still on.

I noticed when touching the video card surface it was really hot so I decided to wait another hour.

After another hour, I power on the laptop and it went in to windows and I was able to play 2-3 hours and then suddenly it the screen freeze and just completely blank.

It happened repeatedly until I give up a month ago. So I took out the hard drive and format it for external hdd.

Couple days ago, I tried to boot it up again and trying to install XP. Everything went smooth from when I power on the laptop until in the middle of installing XP, the laptop screen just completely blank and restart it self.

I noticed the surface of video card was quiet hot when it happened.

I’m about to bake my 8800M Gtx video card, but I really want to make sure if this would help.

I’m concern that people who usually bake video card only when there was problem with the fonts and flickering.

My video card seems like still able to boot and the display quality are still good.

Could it be my motherboard? Memory? Or graphic card?

Thanks for everyone who participate in advance.

Kind Regards
Owenz

EDIT: I've been running with 1 video card though by disabling one of them in device manager when this happen 2 months ago.

 

Did you ever clean the fans and heatsink inside?
Maybe this will solve your problem, cause the graphics card seems to be hot.

 

you mean the GPU fans and heatsink? i did use vacuum to get the dust out before but still didnt work.

 

The 8XXXM video cards in your M1730 have known defects. Baking the cards may help eek a little more time out of them, and reassembling them with new thermal paste afterward may also prove beneficial. I recommend IC Diamond 24 for thermal paste.

If you can, extend the warranty on this system. You're going to need it for replacement parts or a replacement system.

 

Thanks for the reply Mr Fox, since it is out of warranty already, I think I will try the baking method. Would you by any chance have Youtube links that can show how this baking method works?

I only read from few forums saying that after taking off the fans, we need to put alumunium foils on between the GPU and the tray so they dont attach together.

Thanks again in advance

 

Baking Bread from scratch -- How To - YouTube

 

Lol... thx for the link but this is not what I'm looking for

 

Hey buddy, I know this is a gigantic thread and I have not been following the XPS M1730 lately. I vaguely remember some posts in a previous Owner's Lounge thread that had photos and instructions. I will do some searching and see what I can find for you.

Unless your budget will not allow it, I would still encourage you to consider the idea of reinstating and extending your warranty. Dell sometimes makes an exception for customers whose warranty has expired. It would not hurt to ask about it. Between video cards, motherboards and AC adapters frequently dying on this particular model, you are most likely going to use the warranty. The parts for this bad boy are anything but inexpensive.

Edit: here is one link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRNc_tkupd0 and you will find more of them on the same page after you view this one. Good luck to you!

 

Thanks Mr Fox, I already tried to contact Dell and my service tag was not registered and unknown. It is weird I know, so they cannot offer me extension.

Thanks heaps for the link, I will try this on the weekend and hopefully my laptop will resurrect again.

 

Ok, I did the baking yesterday, applied new thermal paste on both surface.

IT WORKS!

I'm already installed win 7 and have no problems when playing games.

HOwever, when I update the graphic cards, it only recognize 1. Device manager showing only 1 piece. Not SLI.

Is there a trick where you can get them both work again?

Thanks for the help, greatly appreciated

 

I don't know what happened, I restarted my system, not intentionally I checked Nvidia setting and the SLI setting is appear on the option. SO i went to the dvice manager and BOOM, 2 graphic cards there.

I'm now running with SLI enable and have been testing running games and programs for 3-5 hours straight with no problem.

Thank you all for all your helps! greatly appreciated

 

That's wonderful. I am so glad that it worked for you. I hope that it continues to work for a while. In most cases it is only a temporary repair.

 

has any of you had issues with wifi? there are network that my wifi won't catch.
Even now, standing next to the router, it won't see it, but it catches other signals.
Cheched both antennas, they're connected. Are there wifi spots that cannot be seen by this particular wifi?

 

Check tha the router is configured to broadcast it's SSID.

[J]

 

It is, it works on other laptops. It's a Dlink n series. Thats the only idea I can think of that could be an issue.

 

Try running the Intel Driver Update Utility (needs java), then install the latest drivers for the wifi card: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/

Or try installing the Dell Quickset software, which from memory has some wifi options: Drivers & Downloads


[J]

 

Updated the driver a few times.
Still nothing.

Also, while in Quickset, I made the wifi catcher look for abg networks, 2.4 and 5 Ghz. Still nothing.

Even my stupid Motorola Milestone can see it and connect to it

 

Hello. Long time without reading this thread, part 4! amazing!

I have a M1730 with X9000 and 9800M Sli.
I remember there was a software to overclock X9000 (instead of using BIOS), can you remind to me which software should I download?

Moreover should I try to undervolt the processor with any other software to control voltaje when I overclock? Which software?

Thank you very much.

 

I have not had any issues so far on my M1730 with the wifi, and I am using the D-Link DGL-4500 Gaming router. I am using the laptop right now and I have a strong signal.

 

As for the overclocking in windows, it's throttlestop you need, 3.8Ghz is usually quite easy to reach using this program

 

Although you should first OC in BIOS to make the fans run full blast. They help a great deal.

As for the wifi, I just don't know. Checked all the connections, I see most hotspots, except for this particular one. My Aspire One, an Acer Extensa 4220 and my Motorola Milestone can connect to it easily.
Not an immensely big deal, cause I only get here once in a while, but would love the opportunity for networking with the beast, and not with a tiny laptop...

 

Thank you very much.

Do you change the voltage of the processor? What is the normal Value?

I planned to put the processor at 3,2 for everyday working/playing, and with the minimun posible voltage.

I do not want to get fans at full speed, because sometimes I am working with word, or surfing the web and I suppose there is no need to heard that noise, because processor is being used at 5%... That is the thing I do not like about fan beauviour, why fans do never reach full speed if you do not overclock, and however if you overclock the are at full speed even with processor cold and being used at 5%

 

I was advised by members of this thread on how best to overclock this cpu and have also played with it a bit myself. I always have it set to 3.0GHz for everyday use (through the bios) as this keeps the fans at the normal speeds. However when gaming, if I require more cpu power, the best way to reach 3.8GHz is to set he CPU to the max overclock in the bios (3.4GHz) and then use throttlestop to up the multiplier and get 3.8GHz, I never changed the voltage as the voltage the bios set to get 3.4ghz was always sufficient for it to be stable. You can't really have it set to 3.8ghz for everyday usage as you do really need the fans on full blast to keep it cool at those speeds. 3.2Ghz as you say may be achieveable if you set the current speed to 3.0GHz in the bios first and then up it with throttlestop to 3.2 (as 3.2 in bios = loud fans), but I'm unsure what the voltage would be for this (and my xps isnt with me at the minute lol).

I personally never chanegd the voltage manually as like I said, the 3.4ghz voltage was sufficient, I never tried getting 3.2 in windows, but it does usually vary on each cpu. And yeah I know what you mean about the full on 100% fan speeds after an overclock, very annoying but on the upside, if you only use it for gaming, its actually great at keeping all the temps down, epecially on the gpu's (as for some reason when you overclock the cpu, they go on 100% too)

 

I personally have 2 Throttle Stop profiles, game and performance ( 2 and 1).
Profile 1 is set for everyday usage, and the CPU is at 2.5 Ghz, and at full blast, it never goes above 45-50C worst case.
When I game, I just switch to the 2nd profile, 3.6 Ghz, and return to the first profile afterwards.

At 2.5 Ghz I have it at 1.15V, although it can be at 1.10V without a problem, and at 3.6 I have it at 1.3875V.

 

still working until now after baked my gpu

 

What external notebook cooler would you recommend for my M1730?

 

Sent my laptop to depot for repairs. I am in utter dismay and shock.

They downgraded my 9800SLI with 8700 graphics cards.

Additionally when I received the machine back Dell neglected to follow the basic packaging instructions which were still in the box.

1. Power supply left completely unsecured in box

2. Laptop only partially covered in plastic and not in styrofoam sleeve also in bottom of box

3. Laptop not completely secured in styrofoam block

4. Cardboard meant to secure power supply on bottom of box

 

8700!!! thats appawling, I guess you already have but you gotta complain about that! If they can't replace the 9800's then they need to supply a new system not do a HUGE downgrade. I've actually heard of dell doing this to others before, replacing 9800s/8800s with the 8700, its shocking as I believe one 9800 is better than both the 8700s put together.

 

Hi guys anyone here has extra dell xps backpack for sale? I apologize if i ask here i was wondering maybe easier for me to find one.

 

Had similar issues, but I went there and demanded that they uphold the 'identical or better config' policy.
They did, went from 8800M GTXs to 9800M GTXs

 

Bloody M1730. Wish I had never purchased it. Has caused me so much stress.

The graphics card have gone AGAIN, 3x in 2 months and the power adapter is gone. (only works when power cable is in at a certain very hard to reach angle).

Dell just keep replacing the graphics card and tell me to jump off the bridge in regards the motherboard issue.

Very stressful.

 

might be worth arguing that it's about time they gave you a replacement system (I'm presuming you still have warranty) as you shouldnt have to put up with it breaking so often.

 

Yeah, told Dell after my GPUs failed for the 3rd time in 2 months that if that happens again I will demand a system replacement. Well, they sent me a brand new 9800M GTX as a replacement instead of the crappy refurbished 8800M GTX I was getting before. And that card is still working like a charm almost a year since.

Btw, has anyone run Deus Ex HR on the M1730? I wonder how does it handle it? From what I hear that game does not run well on a <quad core CPUs.

 

Unfortunately I have no warranty.

 

might be possible to re new it depending on when it ended, otherwise you're in the same situation I was in, I already bought a replacement gpu for mine once and now that started to fail again (the connection for the lcd on it, not the actual gpu this time) so this time I just decided to go for a new system, will sell my xps soon to help get some of the money back, they still seem to be quite popular on ebay even as faulty as people are prepared to fix them. or you could always try that oven fix on the actual gpu, although thats only a temporary fix and wont help your other issues.

 

Dear Lord, this drama is still ongoing? Man, you really need to get this escalated beyond Dell's hands and onto the desk of some legal eagle willing to have a go at them for such conduct.

 

Alright so my list of GPU failures

1. Stock video card, 8700M (fan stopped working, occasional crashes... lasted from manufacture date in '07 until '10 so not bad lifespan (considering these cards die so often))

2. 8800M GTX SLI (which I bought out of pocket in a pinch because I use this overseas and didn't have time to go through normal warranty channels... not covered under warranty... this lasted a long time though)

3. First replacement (shipped to my home in NY past fall, then shipped to me overseas at grad school by my family)... lasted a few months. Screen wouldn't turn on sometimes, I would have to repeatedly reboot it until one day it just wouldn't come back on no matter what. So I went back to my first video card... I jerry rigged a working fan from the replacement onto the original, prayed like crazy, and it worked and booted into Windows. Crashed occasionally (rebooted). This lasted me the 2 weeks I needed until my yearly trip home this past first week of August.

The motherboard was also replaced at this time (because the screen not turning on was weird as hell so I figured why not and Dell sent one, might as well put it in).

4. Second replacement... tech came to my home a few days after I arrived back Stateside with a replacement 8700M. He installed it quickly, also replaced my screen (had the whites->yellows problem for years but I always used this with an external monitor whether at home or for use with projecting presentations at school/work). This was around this past August 7th or so. Worked great until today... it booted into Windows, I'd log in, then the display would repeatedly reset until it blue screened (116 error code, driver crash). Dell tech remote connected in Safe Mode, updated BIOS (I had upgraded to an X9000 shortly after I bought it so it ran with fans at 100% always since '08 and all this happened in spite of that), reverted to original '08 Nvidia drivers recommended on Dell's site... and then after some problems (this time it seems the second video card is failing which is why it's booting up at all) finally got into their Dell Support Center app to run some tests. Card failed every test, started artifacting heavily, crashed and rebooted.

Now there's artifacting always present on the screen, you can barely click anything.

He puts me on phone with the man to talk to for escalations and they refused to budge on my request for a system exchange/replacement. They literally ignored every sentence I said to them and just said they'll send a tech with another video card.

My flight back to school is on the 15th (I'll probably push it back a few days). I will be gone for a year. I'm a 4th year med student and my sister is a first year resident. I don't game on it anymore and she uses this for presentations at her hospital (one of the busiest in the region in one of the worst trouble spots in Asia). Obviously a laptop is required, a desktop won't cut it. All the other laptops we have are horribly slow (this thing with an X9000 and 4GB ran like a dream when it ran at all). To relay parts from our location there to Dell here will cost us, literally, hundreds of dollars in shipping and a LOT of downtime.

I told the Dell rep to begin with when I first got back in August that I have 5-6 weeks to go back with a fixed and STABLE machine that will last me at least another year (until I come back next summer). I told them I knew about the Nvidia recall/class action regarding these video cards. They sidestepped all mention of this. She assured, ASSURED ME, that the card was actually "new" from the manufacturer but because it was "open box" it was branded "refurbished" but that the card was NOT "used". Bull. Only a used card would fail after 4 weeks in such spectacular fashion.

I'm not entirely surprised. They need what, 3 failures of replacements before they even begin to discuss system exchange? So I'll have to wait for this next card they send to fail on me (and fail it will) when I'm overseas in a few months then I can wait a few weeks and spend hundreds on shipping (if they even agree to replace the damn thing otherwise it'll still be about a hundred to relay just the video card to me over there).

Thanks, Dell.

I have 92 days left on my warranty. I figure they want to push this past that date so I'm either out of warranty or buy an extension. I do plan on buying an extension the first chance I get.

Any tips on demanding a system replacement? They literally just ignore me and sidestep the question and say they'll send a tech with another card. If they do this again after one more failure I'm going to go ballistic.

I hope someone at Dell is reading this. If this sort of treatment continues you can bet that I'm going to spam the little white lie of the rep who assured me they were sending me a new video card replacement on every internet forum I can.

 

Dell replaced my XPS M1730 with the laptop in my sig. I had to go through a lot to get them to budge though.

(Note: all of the events outlined took place over the course of 1 week, it was not all in one phone call. Total time spent on phone is ~12 hours. Prepare to invest some time)

As for advice, do not take no for an answer. They will try to get you to do a system repair, and explain that this option will NOT work for you (In my case, dell had attempted to have the system repaired twice in the previous week. I kept stating that I was out of vacation days and could not take any more time off for another failed system repair). After a bit, they will "generously" offer to ship the system to the repair depot. You also need to explain that this is not an option for you (I kept stating that I had purchased next business day at home care, and would not settle with being without a system for 2 weeks).

After a few minutes of this, I asked to be directed to the management. The manager will probably be pretty irritated, but try to be polite as possible. DO NOT threaten to throw your piece of crap computer in the garbage or toss it out the window. The manager will not like this and probably hang up on you (trust me, i know). Be polite, but stern. Also stress urgency about getting the situation resolved (I kept saying that because of my failing computer, I was losing out on productivity, leading to lost profits at my work place, which was partially true).

They WILL eventually offer you a system replacement... don't breathe a sigh of relief just yet. More than likely the replacement offered will be an XPS17. If this is ok with you, then great, you succeeded . The XPS17 they offered me was very highly specced, and I almost budged, but I knew what I wanted. (They offered me an XPS 17 3d with a top I7 processor 250gb ssd, 12gb ram, blu-ray, and the GT555 3gb card)

I denied the replacement, and then had to explain why it was not comparable with my current system; it was lacking dual video cards. I also kept stating that the XPS 17 was not a gaming system, and when I purchased the XPS M1730, it was classified as a gaming system.

Eventually Mr. Manager started offering me a $1000 refund. While tempting to just take the money and run, I also turned this down. I was frustrated, and explained this to the Manager. I was not just making frivolous claims at this point, I was backing up all of my statements with facts and links; the system I was being offered was not even close to the gaming capabilities of my XPS m1730, and $1000 is only a small fraction of my investment into this machine (use notebookcheck.com as a reference for all videocard questions)

The manager finally stated that he would monitor the depot and see what he could do.

About 24 hours later, I received a phone call outlining the specs for my new Alienware M17x.

Hope this helps, and let me know if you have any questions

More advice (I will update this as stuff pops into my head):
Never openly state that you want an Alienware. The Dell reps on several occasions stated that "We cannot give you an Alienware as a system exchange." I was always able to backfire with "I never said I want an Alienware as a system replacement, I just want a system that is equal or better than my current system." I even told Dell that I was fine with receiving another XPS M1730 to "replace this lemon". I knew the chances of them actually have an equal M1730 in the depot were pretty much zero, so I was safe with stating this.

Just want to stress again about being polite to the Dell staff. I'm fairly certain my account was flagged. Almost every time a Dell support agent pulled up my account information, our lines would either get mysteriously "disconnected", or the friendly support agent would suddenly start spitting fire. I'm sure if I was more friendly, I could have gotten everything figured out in a fraction of the time. (Just want to note: I am not a person who puts down other people, but naturally have a way of verbally speaking that makes me seem like a jerk)

 

Thanks for all that!

How many video card failures did you have before they replaced the system? And what's the average amount of failures you suppose?

And yeah, I got disconnected when I talked to the lady who lied to me after the card failed a month later. She told me she was putting me on hold so she could go contact a manager about a system exchange then *click*.

 

Your best bet is to deal with the managers directly. It was always the low support agents that hung up on me. The managers are willing to repeat the same thing for an hour straight ("no we can't replace your system"), but they at least will stay on the line (I did have 1 manager hang up on me, but he called me back about 5 minutes later stating the line was disconnected).

I had 3 total service calls regarding the video cards, but two of those were right in a row. That's what kind of sent me over the edge. What are the chances of getting 2 bad sets of video cards back to back; apparently pretty good.

My service call records:
01/24/2011: Bad video cards, replaced and worked fine.
08/03/2011: Bad video cards, replacements were dead on arrival
08/05/2011: Bad video cards, replaced motherboard, heat sync, video cards, and fans. Video cards were overheating and causing computer to shut down

I was told that 3 service calls for the same issue in one month would qualify you for an automatic replacement, but the Escalation Agent I chatted with said this was not true. The escalation agent said there was no real policy regarding system replacements, that it was done on a case by case basis.

The real key is getting through to the escalation team at Dell. I received a brief phone call from the Escalation Team, and the man stated that he understood how many issues I have been having and would do his best to get this resolved.

Also, one thing I wish I would have did and I highly recommend doing, take down the name of every agent you speak with. Also, write yourself notes and keep track of every conversation you have with Dell agents. I was always trying to do "he said/she said" but I never had the time, dates, or names of the individuals I was trying to quote. Make the agents liable for what they tell you!

Anyways, I found this while digging through my service call records. I think it will give you a pretty good idea of the process. Keep us updated!

8/23/2011 5:22:28 PM Agent initiated phone contact. N/A
8/17/2011 10:06:23 AM Agent initiated phone contact. N/A
8/16/2011 12:57:14 PM Agent initiated phone contact. N/A
8/15/2011 2:21:52 PM Follow up scheduled. N/A
8/15/2011 2:18:55 PM Agent initiated phone contact. N/A
8/15/2011 11:26:24 AM This support request is being reviewed by the Dell Escalation Team. N/A
8/15/2011 11:20:41 AM Customer initiated chat session. N/A
8/12/2011 3:17:19 PM Agent initiated phone contact. N/A
8/11/2011 3:04:03 PM This support request is being reviewed by the Dell Escalation Team. N/A
8/11/2011 2:38:21 PM Customer initiated chat session. N/A
8/11/2011 1:43:28 PM Agent initiated phone contact. N/A
8/10/2011 8:26:38 PM This support request is being reviewed by the Dell Escalation Team. N/A
8/10/2011 8:23:26 PM Customer initiated phone contact. N/A
8/10/2011 6:15:35 PM Customer initiated phone contact. N/A
8/10/2011 4:56:45 PM N/A N/A
8/9/2011 9:06:30 PM Follow up scheduled. N/A
8/9/2011 8:51:26 PM Customer initiated chat session. N/A
8/9/2011 9:49:36 AM Follow up scheduled. N/A
8/9/2011 9:46:05 AM Customer initiated chat session. N/A
8/8/2011 7:13:23 PM This support request is being reviewed by the Dell Escalation Team. N/A
8/8/2011 9:29:08 AM ***Comments*** **FIRST REPLACE THE GRAPHIC CARD.. REPLACE MOBO IF REQUIRED** Service Tag : XXXXXX B... N/A
8/8/2011 9:17:34 AM N/A N/A
8/5/2011 5:45:46 PM Customer initiated chat session.


The part I bolded above was when I was finally offered the Alienware M17x R2 as a system replacement. The calls following that were basically updating me on the progress of the Alienware, and whether or not I was happy with the resolution.

 

Dell has agreed to replace my failing 8700 sli video a year after I first called them about it. They wouldn't fix it becaue they said it originally had a single GPU card but now it has a dual GPU, so it must not be part of the warranty. I still have 500+ days warranty on the system. I don't know about a single GPU video card, it should be the original one as far as I know. I called them because the SD card reader quit working, the tech asked me if I played games and I said I couldn't because the video card fails. He said he could see something in his records of the build that I did have the dual GPU and that he would replace it, all this without asking them about it again really, I had given up on getting it fixed.

Anyway, they want to replace the video and motherboard. My question is that I have upgraded the CPU from T8100 2.1ghz to T9500 2.6ghz. When the tech comes out, will he only have the motherboard and swap the cpu for me, or will the new board have a T8100 on it like the original, and he will want the old board with the T9500 back. I don't want to give up my faster CPU. Any suggestions on how this will play out? I thought maybe I'd refuse the new motherboard if needed to keep my CPU.

 

Well my 1730 died again today, 3 months outside of warranty. It just turns on with the power led. No beeps, no display, no nothing.

I called Dell, they've agreed to depot service my unit since I had almost every component replaced (pretty much same failure) about 2 weeks before my warranty was up. The tech was pretty understanding.

They're sending me a box, hopefully they can fix it right this time. I'm not really in the market to buy a new machine right now...