Weird problem with the m1730

Hey guys, this is my first post.
I am desperate here, please help me out.
A while back i've bought a 1730 off ebay.
Two weeks ago i turned it off for the night, and in the morning when i turned it on, the screen became all scrambled and weird. Blue lines everywhere, and i could barely see the text of the bios displayed.
Naturally i assumed it's the video card, i've got 8800 gtx, and my lappy is not insured, so i BOUGHT A NEW ONE OFF EBAY.
And now it arrived, i put it in, and guess what...
Same blue scrambled screen... guess that means it's not the video card.
What's the next suspect ? The display inverter ? The display itself ? The motherboard ?
I suspect the motherboard but it could be anything right ?

Any thoughts ?

Please advice ?
How can I narrow the problem?
I've already spent almsot 800 bucks on a new v.card and now it turns out it's not it...
Please .....Help!!!

 

Can you use your digital camera to take the picture or video so that we can help you?

 

here it is :

 

Hmm... I'm going out on a limb here, but the possibility of the same problem happening on two GPUs is very remote, and as far as I know, nobody's experienced a problem like this on their M1730. I'd try reseating the display cable first... if that doesn't solve the problem try booting up with an external monitor attached and see if it does it there.

If it looks normal on the LCD, that could point to a screwy LCD component. If it's still garbled you're looking at a motherboard replacement. Expensive, but not nearly as expensive as the new GPU you just bought.

If that's the case, you can sell your spare GPU to more than recoup the costs of the motherboard.

 

I have discovered that there is a lcd diagnostics u can run if u power on the machine with the 'D' pressed. The lcd showed the correct colors on the test so I guess its the mobo.. I just can't imagine how can a mobo cause such an issue..

 

in fact, pressing and hold the FN key while powering up should run diagnostics. try that and see what errors.

 

Did you try re-seating the LCD cable as LegendaryKA8 suggested?

See attached picture for LCD cable location.

You can access it by removing the hinge cover - see:
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/xpsm1730/en/sm/hingecvr.htm#wp1179905

 

yes, i did try to reseat the cable, in fact i've done it couple of times since i swapped my video cards to test them both. it does not help.

will run dell diagnostics and report back.
problem is - it's very hard to see what;s on the screen ...

 

do me a big favor and pm me with result.
press and hold down the fn key and power button at the same time. then pay attention to the numbers lock, caps lock and scroll lock. tell me which ones flash and which ones stay on. then i can tell you what is bad. im guessing maybe the motherboard.

 

Just in case, if you need a motherboard, contact me. I got a brand new sealed motherboard in my desk. I can give you that in a real cheap price coz I dont need it.

Also, I would suggest you to check it in a external monitor and see if you see correct display. I have never seen such a problem. If you want then perhaps I can call dell and ask your problem as mine. Just shoot me a pm.

 

@ljnram82606, was trying to find how to pm here and didn't
As to which lights are blinkings : first the three of them blink together, then each one seperately, and then only the middle one (caps lock i think) keeps blinking..
What does it mean ?

@spradhan01 - dude, thanks a lot for the offer to call dell for me, i might just use it (if i find how the hell i pm here )

BTW - the diagnostic finished without errors (well i could report that i didn't see the lines correctly during the diag, but then it just says user reported that he didn't see the lines correctly error)

 

Ummm.. I tried to send you a pm but there is no any options for that in your account as well as I can't even send a message. It says,"Sorry! That user has specified that they do not wish to receive emails. If you still wish to send an email to this user, please contact the administrator and they may be able to help."

 

I think what's happening is that if I remember correctly, you can't send out PMs to people unless you have a few posts under your belt. John, I'd just throw out your email address in a post, and once Spradhan gets it just edit your post out to remove it. Not the most secure way to get a line of communication up and running, but it is better than nothing.

 

just checked the V near "receive messages from forum members" or something of the sorts.. maybe now ?

 

I will send you an email and in reply attach high res pictures of the pictures which you posted above. Maybe, 2-3 pic will help Dell to understand problem.

 

john your to new to send pms. sorry. can you do the test again for me because those blinking that way dont make since. hold down fn and power button and dont release and tell me what leds light up and blink at the same time. like if the caps lock blinks and the other two leds stay lite. know what i mean?

 

@ljnram82606, i've uploaded a video here, think it's the best way to describe the blinking lights
Sorry for the quality...


@spradhan01 the email is my user at gmail.. thanks!

 

hey john its the lcd inverter board. that needs replaceing. minds well get a new lcd and inverter showuld come with it.

 

Hey ljnram82606, tell me, how certain are you it's the lcd inverter ?
It's weird because if it's the inverter why can't i switch to an external monitor ?

 

John, I know you aren't covered by warranty, but why don't you give XPS Support a call and let them know you need some assistance pinning this down in order to purchase the part from Dell (the purchase part isn't true of course). Just tell them you have the error code (light blink pattern) and you would like them to confirm.

Just a thought. Dropping cash on a replacement LCD is another investment - make sure you are getting the right part. Incidentally, the inverter can be ordered seperate from the LCD.

 

why cant you use a external monitor? what happens when you use it? does it do the same? also i noticed in your video that you didnt hold down the fn and power and hold it for at least 10 seconds. try that for me and tell me againw hat lights up. from what i saw that looked to be the inverter board but if it happens on a external monitor then its something else.

 

Bat Boy he dont have the led post codes. that is wrong in his youtube vid. he needs to do it again and hold it down and not release it.

 

Well then by all means, post your codes sir.

 

the screen just stays black, nothing happens...


thanks batboy. i'll give that a try....

I will post a new video in a couple of minutes holding FN+POWER the whole 10 seconds.

 

I think its your best bet. Dell wants to sell you parts, they should be more than willing to help pin it down.

 

im saying john dont have the right post led codes. the fn and power button test he is doing is wrong. hes not doing it correct.

 

pressing Fn+Power for 20 seconds video

During the diagnostics run there were some color bar displayed, and since it's all messed up when i was asked if the bars were displayed i said no, after a while this sequence started happening

 

the info i just got for a flashing caps lock led means bad memory. try to reseat the memory and try it one at a time and turn ont he computer. if any is bad try known working memory. if none is working and you know the memory is good then you need a new motherboard.

 

i saw that all the leds were flashing. thats means you need a new systemboard. motherboard

 

I checked the memory already.. it's not it...

Damn, a motherboard..
Ok, guess i will start shopping for one..
This is the weirdest problem i've ever encountered, the machine boots into windows with screen all scrambled, and yet -the mobo is at fault.

Thanks for the diagnostics !

 

Have a squiz here.

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dsn/en/document?c=us&dl=false&l=en&s=gen&docid=DBECF64CFEDA449398CB9E859D4944A5&doclang=en&cs=#1

 

John have you tried to reinstall the OS. if it boots into windows then its not the motherboard. its got to be the lcd inverter or something else.

 

@Slammin - thanks!

 

Hey there
It can't be the OS since the problems are right from the start - during the POST too
so it can't be OS...
I am thinking that it can't be the mobo too, but when i connect to external monitor there's no image, so this kind of rules out the lcd too.. right ?

I guess i am going to have to buy the mobo, try it, and if it's not the mobo, it's the lcd... right ? what else is there ?

 

man you already bought a video card now a motherboard. i hope that fixes it. i have never seen a problem like that before. i was hoping the led post codes would help. what video card did you end up buying? are you gonna sell it?

 

i bought the 8800m gtx, xm888...
I am going to sell it, but first i want to make sure it's the mobo.

 

ya i dont htink its the video card if both are doing cards are doing it. how muchf or the 8800?

 

Did you press the Fn-F8 key to activate the external monitor?

The monitor may still be black for part of the boot process even after that so wait a while, try again etc...

 

i did, i even waited for windows to boot, heard the windows welcome sounds, then pressed fn+f8.... the lcd stayed black

 

i don't think so either, so i guess i am going to sell it, for 760 + shipping.. that's taking off 40 bucks off what i payed for it...

 

holy crap you paid $800 for the video card. you could of bought a stripped out dell xps m1730 for that and then put all your stuff into that from your broken xps m1730. i cant believe those video cards are that much for a 8800m. man ill stick with my 9800's.

 

yeah, that baby is freakkin expensive...
and afaik there's just a slight difference between 9800m gtx and 8800m gtx...
they are practically the same...
so make sure you treat your cards good
don't let them overheat

 

SLi cards aren't cheap, especially high-end ones.

And the real-world performance difference between the 8800m GTX and the 9800m GTX is almost down to 2-3 FPS in shader-intensive games where the systems struggle to keep the games running smoothly. And due to heat levels and throttling, the 8800m has more overhead for overclocking. All in all, you get the same performance.

 

ohhhh....
i am here with some news....
BatBoy, you were right all along.
it's the lcd cable!!!
I've decided to give it another try today, and when i started pulling it to the sides, i saw that the picture improves.. finally i found a equilibrium point where the image was fine... now, somehow i managed to close everything and the image is fine.. but it's very gentle, if i touch it a little it's becoming messed up again.

So my question is, where do i buy this cable ? or is it all the inverter that needs replacing ?

I can't seem to find it for sale anywhere... i don't want to buy the whole lcd for that... I can see where the problem is now - it's in the part that connects to the video card... the connector is screwed up.

Does anybody know of someone who sells it ? somewhere ?
Please point me in the right direction.
Thanks!

P.S God damn, that's a hell of a problem i had here...


Thanks to everybody that tried to help! This forum is awesome!!!

 

Glad you were able to pin it down. Usually I won't post unless I have a good idea of what I'm talking about

As for the cable, yes you can purchase it on its own without the LCD. You'll need Dell Part# MN465.

http://www.google.com/products?hl=en&q=Dell+MN465

 

thanks BatBoy, ordered the part..
50bucks is a small price to pay after i've already spent 800 on a spare 8800m gtx.


damn.