So...I really screwed up my XPS M1730...

Hi everyone, I'm new to the board--I've got a real stinker of a problem. Hopefully someone could help me out.

I've had my XPS M1730 for over a year or so with no problems at all. However, the other day a problem occurred that other people have apparently had:

Relatively soon after a Windows Update (Vista), my screen blacked out and the resolution changed from 1920x1200 to something like 800x600. After restarting the notebook, everything seemed to be back to normal, except my graphics card (GeForce 8800M GTX x 2) wasn't working, and upon looking in the device manager, it said the device wasn't working (code 43).

So, I tried uninstalling drivers/reinstalling drivers, etc. and nothing seemed to work. And now something I've done has made the main VGA drivers or whatever not work, and all I see is a big black screen on startup (but the mouse icon is on the screen and can move around).

Any help would be really, really appreciated. Thanks

 

Try this:

1. Uninstall the NVIDIA Display Driver via the Programs & Features Control Panel.
2. Reboot the system and let it install the default windows driver. Once this is done reboot.
3. Install the display driver of your choice (Official NVIDIA Release, Dell Driver posted @ support.dell.com's M1730 page, etc.).
4. Reboot.

Do you still have the same issue? If so, have you tried connecting an external display via the video out? If not, try it. If still no picture, call XPS Support if under warranty. Your card is failing and needs to be replaced.

 

reinstall windows

 

Thats what i would do, i would also check to try and find out which windows update has caused you problems.

Have you done a system restore to a date prior to you having issues ?

 

gpu is fried... gone through this 7 times now...

 

I wouldn't say gpu. I had the same thing happen on a desktop of mine (EXACT SAME THING!) heres the good news and bad news :

Bad news first. never could get to safe mode on mine to uninstall anything so i don't know what update caused it.

Good news. I reloaded windows and everything was fine. So if you can't get to safe mode to remove the recent updates Like me, then reload windows. GPU should not be fried.

 

All right, so first I reinstalled Vista and updated it to SP2 and all that. Then I followed BatBoy's instructions; everything seemed to be going just fine, but after all that, the drivers just don't seem to be doing the trick. After installing/uninstalling both the current Nvidia driver (186.81) and the latest Dell driver (186.24), I'm still having the same problem. The 8800Ms are still code 43 in the device manager, and I also have a code 28 for a PCI device (which I'm assuming are the 8800Ms).

The system is still under warranty (I actually just extended it a few days before this). Anything else I should try before contacting Dell? If I do have to contact them, what should I ask for?

 

Well, here's an update:

I contacted Dell and after an hour and a half of the tech trying to install drivers that I already tried, he finally went ahead and put in a service request. The good news is that they're out of the 8800Ms, so he ordered 9800Ms as a replacement.

 

That's strange because im in the 3rd week of waiting for them to replace my 8800m`s they said they were out of 8800`s and 9800`s hope your right though.

 

I certainly hope so; I actually just got a call confirming that the part was ordered for next-day delivery. Maybe you should give them a call to update your service request. Let's see how this goes...

 

did you get your new card matey?

 

Okay, now I just got a call saying the part was backordered and would be shipped on 10/5. Now that's just annoying. I don't want it to get to 10/5 and get another call saying they don't have the part or something...

 

This happened to me, too. I had XP as a dual-boot, though, and when I started up in XP, hwmonitor found ONE graphics card. In Vista, hwmonitor found zero graphics cards because the drivers weren't loading. I think Vista doesn't load BOTH drivers for the cards even if ONE card is still fully functional. So try XP and see if it loads one or both of the cards. That's really the only way to know if it's hardware or software related.

That said, you should try to escalate your service request since it puts you out of the machine for so long. A month of waiting is bs - especially if you have next-business-day warranty!