XPS M1730 New purchase

Hi all,

I'm sorry if these questions have already been asked in here. For the life of me I can't find a search option to see if I can find any info on them here!

Anyways, I've recently purchased a XPS1730. Mine is the 2.4, 4 gig RAM, 8700M SLI build.

My main question is how should I go about formatting it and installing a fresh copy of XP? I've read that you need to create a new XP install disc to handle installing to SATA drives? Is there a guide anywhere for installing XP on this model of Laptop? Also, is it a good idea to do so? I really don't like vista, but is installing XP going to hurt my experience with the laptop in anyway (IE: performance going down, features I won't be able to access in XP, etc) ?

Also I am not sure how to tell if SLI is working correctly. I installed the Crysis demo and tried it with SLI turned on in the Nvidia control panel. It did some weird **** like not positioning my mouse cursor correctly in menus, and eventually just crapped out with an error. I have since installed drivers for the 8700M card from Nvidia's site, which seems to have solved that problem. The game just doesn't seem to run that fast or allow me to bump up the settings that much (playing on all medium settings @ 1280x1204) even with SLI enabled. Should I be using drivers from Nvidia's site for this laptop... or should I be getting them from Dell's site?

Another question is concerning the physX card. I can see a menu option for this in the control panel, and I have run the diagnostic test in there which came back fine. The demos that are in that section never load tho. I get some error and they crap out. Is there a newer driver that I should be installing for this?

Well that's it for now. If anyone can point me to answers to these questions I would appreciate it. Again sorry if they have been covered, but I can't find an option to search the forums!

 

looks like instead of a laptop you got a craptop

Btw, I have the saem laptop

 

I suggest sticking with Vista - I have been running Vista 32-bit without issue.

Download the following drivers:

Geforce 175.32 from NVIDIA

PhysX 8.06.12 from NVIDIA

On 8/12 NVIDIA is supposed to update either the Geforce release or the PhysX driver - or both... so be sure to check back and update...

The NVIDIA Control Panel (right click on desktop and select from context menu) will confirm if SLI is enabled. You can also use GPU-Z (download from: HERE).

Also, remember that Crysis taxes all machines - even the m1730.

 

"looks like instead of a laptop you got a craptop

Btw, I have the saem laptop "

Huh... so this isn't a good laptop? Are there issues with it?

 

Thanks for the answers. I will look into installing those drivers.

Just for curiousities sake, does anyone have a guide to installing XP on this machine? I will stick with Vista if I have to, but I'd really rather get XP on it.

 

YES IT IS, it`s an extraordinary piece of machinery
Congrats on the purchase.

 

Haha ok.. I guess I just didn't get that guys humour.

 

OK, as I play with things some more I end up with more questions.

1) I ran a 3DMark06 test on the system (just the one that you can do with the free version) and it came back with ~ 8100 as the 3DMark. This was with SLI enabled. I then disabled SLI and ran it again, and it returned ~ 5100 as a score. I would say that this confirms that SLI is working on my system. Are these scores that one would expect to get from this laptop?

2) Fans. I see that this beast has a lot of fans! Is it OK to work with this laptop in ones lap? Will there be a danger of blocking the two fans on the bottom of the laptop? It doesn't really say not to have it on your lap in the manual. I can't imagine I'd have it there very long as it's a large and heavy unit, but I just want to know if it's safe to do so. Or should I always have it on a hard, flat surface?

3) For games that use the PhysX card.. is there a special patch that is generally needed? Or will games that can take advantage of it just do so w/o anything needing to be turned on or installed (above and beyond the PhysX card drivers of course)?

Thanks again for all the help... I'm slowly getting used to the new toy!

 

zomg mind haxprz

 

Well again Jellybeans, I don't really get the point of your replies!

Anyone able to help me out with my latest questions?

 

1) I ran a 3DMark06 test on the system (just the one that you can do with the free version) and it came back with ~ 8100 as the 3DMark. This was with SLI enabled. I then disabled SLI and ran it again, and it returned ~ 5100 as a score. I would say that this confirms that SLI is working on my system. Are these scores that one would expect to get from this laptop?

I can't recall what the loaner scored when I tested it (it had the 8700 SLI config). 3DMark06 is very CPU intensive. Try freeing up some of the bloat processes that run under a factory setup (i.e. Webcam manager, System Support app, etc.). Also, make sure you are using that 175.32 driver. You can also try this, disable the PhysX via Device Manager (Disable Device) and then run 3DMark06 again. Some people have reported an increase in 3DMarks (I believe this was prior to the A09 BIOS & Current NVIDIA PhysX driver. I remember seeing a difference before as well, however now that I have the A09 BIOS it doesnt seem to change my score.


2) Fans. I see that this beast has a lot of fans! Is it OK to work with this laptop in ones lap? Will there be a danger of blocking the two fans on the bottom of the laptop? It doesn't really say not to have it on your lap in the manual. I can't imagine I'd have it there very long as it's a large and heavy unit, but I just want to know if it's safe to do so. Or should I always have it on a hard, flat surface?

You can use it on your lap, however its best to have it on a hard surface. You dont want to obstruct airflow and the thing gets quite warm... lol. Might also look into a stand for it - Logitech has a few that will elevate the lappie and provide quite a bit of airflow (by raising it off the desk). I use the Alto Cordless.


3) For games that use the PhysX card.. is there a special patch that is generally needed? Or will games that can take advantage of it just do so w/o anything needing to be turned on or installed (above and beyond the PhysX card drivers of course)?

As long as you have installed the NVIDIA official PhysX driver or the NVIDIA beta PhysX driver, any game that can utilize PhysX will do so automatically. I expect the list of PhysX enabled games to expand now that NVIDIA has added support for PhysX directly to the GPU in addition to a dedicated PhysX card. So now, all those peeps without a PhysX card will be able to utilize PhysX with just their GPU.

Hope this helps...

 

Those scores are accurate for your setup, on mine with the X9000 overclocked to 3.2Ghz and the 8800GTX sli at stock speed I get around 13642 so for yours those scores are very good.

 

Thanks! Yes your reply was very helpful. I have installed that 175.32 driver, as well as the updated physX one. That was what I got my 3DMark scores under.

I will try disabling some of the unneeded processes to see if that boosts it. Is there a way to do an OS restore w/o having all the Dell crap installed by default?

I've also been reading about folks overclocking their GPUs in this model. Is that something that is relatively safe to do? I would imagine heat becomes more of an issue at that point. Not sure that the gains outweigh the possible negatives when doing that tho.

 

Can't speak to OCing the GPU. I haven't tried as it would produce nothing in terms of performace for TeamFortress 2.

Doing an OS Restore isn't going to clean out any Dell bloatware. It's just going to reinstall everything the way it was from the factory.

IMHO the key pieces to keep are: Quickset and your Dell Webcam software. You can set your Dell Webcam Manager to still run at startup but remove its task tray icon. The Dell Support app serves no real purpose if you are one who usually monitors Dell for updates to their drivers. I use this link:

Dell Drivers Released in the last 7 days

 

Also another question re: power management settings. I am currently running it in high performance mode, as I have it plugged in most of the time anyways. Is is OK to do so? Or should I just switch to that when it's time to play system intensive games / apps?

 

Yeah, that's fine. You can fine tune the High Performance Setting by changing simple things - for example, change your LCD to turn off after 10 mins.

 

Thanks again BatBoy. Your informed replied have really helped me out with my new system.

I was doing some poking around and decided to install HW Monitor to check out system temps. What I was shown is rather actually rather concerned. My GPU temps are currently at 70 degrees C. That's after just rebooting and I haven't played any games at all on the laptop yet today.

Do these temps seem normal for this system?

Hardware monitor
-----------------------------------------------------

ACPI hardware monitor

Temperature sensor 0 47°C (115°F) [0xC7D] (THM_)

Dump hardware monitor



Hardware monitor
-----------------------------------------------------

Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo T8300 hardware monitor

Temperature sensor 0 39°C (102°F) [0x42] (core #0)
Temperature sensor 1 46°C (114°F) [0x3B] (core #1)

Dump hardware monitor



Hardware monitor
-----------------------------------------------------

GeForce 8700M GT hardware monitor

Temperature sensor 0 70°C (157°F) [0x46] (GPU Core)

Dump hardware monitor



Hardware monitor
-----------------------------------------------------

GeForce 8700M GT hardware monitor

Temperature sensor 0 70°C (157°F) [0x46] (GPU Core)

Dump hardware monitor



Hardware monitor
-----------------------------------------------------

SAMSUNG HM251JJ hardware monitor

Temperature sensor 0 33°C (91°F) [0x21] (HDD)

Dump hardware monitor

 

Congrats on purchase!
I just returned my 1730 T8300 8700 because of a "known Dell issue".

After replacing the motherboard, 8700gpu and battery, Banctec could not solve the problem. They suspected it was a "design defect" in the 1730. That's when xps Tech Support admitted to the "known Dell issue" affecting some 1730s, and agreed to a 1730 replacement.

The "known Dell issue"...
When I played DVDs on battery power, the screen would flicker. Playing DVDs on AC power supply was fine. My guess was the 8700 NVIDIA card was throttling down when on battery power.

Other 1730 owners have reported the same issue.
http://www.dellcommunity.com/suppor...oard.id=Tech_Talk_XPS&message.id=18734#M18734

Be sure your 1730 does not have this problem, before going to trouble of replacing VHP32 with XP.

BTW_I converted to XP Pro SP2 in 2 hours. If you are interested, I can walk you through process.

 

Does your replacment work better, as I have the same issue with my notebook they have already done a replacement but I have the same problem with the new one.

 

Ok, that is very good to know. I will certainly be trying to play a DVD on battery power very soon to see if I have the same problem.

I would be interested in knowing how you setup XP on the laptop as well!

 

I haven't received my replacement 1730 yet.
But your news is not encouraging.

What is tech support going to do for you?
Replace your 1730 again?

Is the issue really limited to "a few" 1730s
as Dell Tech Support claims?

My Banctec tech told me their local office *alone*
has already seen several 1730 with this issue.
All without a fix!

Let's hear from other 1730 owners!!

 

dante: your temps are fine. You can leave HWMonitor running in the background and then check it after a frag session. If your GPU temps are going over a max of 75c - then I might be a bit concerned.

My system (when I first power it up) will hit 70-75c before the GPU fans kick in. They will lower to about 70c and then shut off. Then @ 75c they kick on. It will repeat this process and then about 10 mins or so of just basic web surfing the fans will stay on until the GPU is back down to 50-55c. At that point it varies.

So, I wouldn't worry too much.

----------

As for this 'known issue' - its either with the 8700 or just a random thing. I just tested this and was able to play a DVD @ full screen with no problems while on battery power.

If you areaffected by this, try using the latest driver from NVIDIA that supports the 8700/8800m (without the need for a modded .inf file ) - currently 175.32. CLICK HERE.

My guess to the DVD playback/stutter issue is the Dell driver is having issues with PowerMizer and not properly upping the clockspeed. When on battery power, the GPU will downclock - perhaps when a DVD is launched, its not kicking the clockspeed back up and that is what is causing the stutter.

Just a guess mind you...

 

What do we know so far?
1. It is not a BIOS issue. The issue is present whether it is A08 or A09.
I have also confirmed this.
2. The issue does not affect all 1730s.
3. It is not a driver issue. Issue present whether using Dell's 1 yr old driver or 175.32.
4. Replacing the motherboard, 8700gpu and battery does not solve issue.
I have confirmed this.
5. XPS tech support admits to knowing about the problem. I was present when Banctec tech was on the cell phone with xps tech support discussing the issue_after Banctec tech replaced the motherboard, gpu and battery. Still no fix.

Another possibility comes to mind: Is the issue limited to 1730s running XP Pro SP2? That is, have any 1730 owners had this issue running VISTA?

 

Great information in this thread. I should be getting my M1730 next week. I hope all is well with it.

 

Check out this thread I just posted. If any of you who are having this issue and are feeling up to it, grab the 177.83 driver directly from NVIDIA and give this a try. The 177.83 driver isnt showing up on their download page, but you can grab it here.

You can also grab it from laptopvideo2go and use their modded .inf file. Download both files and drag & drop the modded .inf into the NVIDIA directory that their installer creates.

Perhaps this new driver will correct the issue - might be worth giving it a shot...

 

What issue is that?
I want to test it, sorry I haven`t followed much this "known issue" ...

 

The issue is not with XP pro as I had XP pro on my system, I then installed vista ultimate and I have the same issue. I also had the battery, the mainboard, the lcd and the video card replaced and still had the issue so then sent me a replacment and it still does the same thing, I also tried different media players that didn't help. The only way I can get it to work on battery was to set the resolution down which is what Dell told me to do to get the dvd to play without flickering, which is not a solution when other people can play a dvd on battery without any issues.

 

Has anyone seen this with the 8800? I'm going to hazzard a guess here and say this is a problem only seen with the 8700 config... if that is the case, then perhaps you can use that to argue for an 8800 upgrade

 

Mine is coming with 8700 SLI. I'll follow these instructions and see if I have a problem.

 

With my replacement the dvd stutters when playing on battery power when I plug it back in it plays fine, so I get the screen flickering and the dvd stuttering so I guess it will be another call to Dell to see what they are willing to do to fix this problem as it is doing the same thing.

 

So does this problem happen right away when playing a DVD on battery?

I just tried and mine seems fine. I watched the first 5 mins of a DVD on battery and there was no screen issues. Do you have to wait X number of mins before you see the issue appearing? Or does it just happen as soon as you play a DVD?

 

Yes it starts pretty well right away, when I plug it in it works fine

 

OK, well it seems mine is good then. Hope that Dell works things out for you with a laptop that works 100%.

Another question re: the XPS 1730. I take it that the display is a 16:10 widescreen aspect ratio? I ask because I'd like to know what resolutions other then 1900x1200 I can choose in various games so things don't end up looking distorted.

I've found that 1280x720 and 1680x1050 both seem to work well. Are these lower resolutions I should be choosing if the game can't be played well (Crysis!) at 1900?

Also speaker wise, am I to be plugging them into one of the headphone jacks on the left side? They're just regular desktop speakers, not fancy 5.1 or anything like that.

 

As I reported earlier, tech support offered me a "like replacement". They would not upgrade it to 8800 gpu.

My only other option was to return it for a refund.

Hope you have better luck.

First it was the "overheating problem" recently reported for NVIDIA graphics cards. Now this issue.

 

Can anyone offer answers to my questions re: resolutions?

Also, is there a search for this form anywhere?

 

16:10 is the aspect ratio, and some games are not optimised for it.
As long as the image quality satisfies you, you can play at whatever resolution you deem apropriate.

 

jabbok, did you ever get a satisfactory solution from Dell?

Can you now play DVDs at 1920x1200 **in full screen mode** on battery without the pic "flickering"?

By "flickering" I mean I see a 5"x12" rectangle crawling up pic when playing video at full screen...when on battery. No flickering when AC powered.

A DVD plays fine at 1920x1200 in a **quarter screen window** on battery. But go full screen, and you get this flickering.

Also if I pause the DVD, the full screen pic does not flicker. It begins to flicker when I go from pause to play.
-----------------------------------
I just received my replacement 1730. It was new, not a refurb.
But... same old problem you and I are reporting. What a bummer.

I agree with you. We should not have to watch full screen video at lower resolutions to avoid a flickering.

I discussed this DVD video flickering__this time, with a new replacement 1730__ with tech support again. When pressed, and **off the record**, the tech suspected the video flickering may be caused by a "throttling down" of the 8700 video card. That perhaps the "throttling down" (if it is this) is due to a drop in voltage__when on battery power? This is NOT Dell's official position, he stressed. He said he would get back to me.

Added: No flicker on DVD video at 1920x1200, full screen **on battery**when played at 16 bit color! Flicker only at 32 bit color.

 

I dont have the time to re-read the other pages, but - you have confirmed you aren't in battery saver mode right? If so, try setting it to High Performance and see if that fixes the battery playback issue.

Do you have quickset installed? If so, have you tried uninstalling quickset and then see if the problem persists?

I really think this is an issue with the 8700 card. I hope I am wrong, but I just cant seem to reproduce it.

Can you take a pic of the flickering/rectangle displayed when playing a DVD on battery power?

 

I think this too......cause i don't remember having any of these issues

 

Hi BatBoy,
Quickset is installed, and I am using the "Max Performance (Quickset)" power scheme.

The XP install was from an "image" of a Dell Factory install on an identically configured 1730 (which, incidentally, did not have the video "flickering" issue).

Recall, this video "flickering" issue has been reported on some factory-installed Vista and XP systems too.

->What freeware/demo do you recommend for screenshot?

Considering the "flickering" only appears in 32 bit mode (and not in 16 bit mode) doesn't this suggest the 8700 card cannot refresh all those pixels quick enough, when on battery?

 

update: deleted.

 

Since you aren't using Vista, use SnagIt to snap a screenie...

http://www.techsmith.com/screen-capture.asp?CMP=KgoogleShome

 

When I try to capture the 5"x12" rectangle scrolling up the fullscreen DVD pic, I get a **black screen** using SnagIt. The help screen says you cannot use Win MediaPlayer, or any other player using accelerated hardware.

I am using PowerDVD 5, without hardware acceleration.
Yet I still get a black screen during capture.

When I capture the image within PowerDVD 5, the image captured does not show the 5"x12" rectangle scrolling up the pic. The PowerDVD capture is fine!

Apparently the PowerDVD software cannot "see" the flickering image that I (as well as the Banctec tech) see.

Any other capture suggestions?

To sum up,
The flickering occurs during DVD playback
-- at 1920x1200 native resolution (on 1650x1050 resolution too)
-- only in 32 bit color
-- only on battery.
No playback problems (on battery) when I switch to 16 bit color.
No playback problems (on AC power) when in 32 bit color.

 

xps Tech Support has decided to replace the motherboard and 8700 video card, as of today.

After verifing the new 1730 replacement system shipped with current BIOS (A09), they concluded the "flickering" was NOT a driver issue. They completely removed the NVIDIA Driver (using DriverSweeper 1.5.5), and reinstalled R167604 (the current XP driver, version 6.14.11.5661). That did not resolve the "flickering" issue.

The tech also verified the power scheme (when on battery) was set for "maximum performance (QuickSet)".

Since the DVD video plays correctly in 16 bit color (but not in 32 bit color) they concluded the video card is apparently "overwhelmed" with video info when in 32 bit color mode. They reason this could be caused if the video card voltage is low, when on battery. Hence their decision to replace the motherboard and video card.

I applaud them for their efforts, but I do not believe replacing the motherboard and video card will resolve the "flickering" issue.

Recall, Banctec tech replaced the motherboard and video card in my original 1730, and that did not solve the problem. That led to Dell's decision to replace my "flickering" refurb 1730 with a brand new 1730. And now the brand new 1730 has the same "flickering" issue!

As a side note....
The Banctec tech also saw the "flickering" when he was at my home today, replacing the LCD screen. He replaced the Samsung screen (SEC 5443) with the "fabled" LG screen (LPL0032).

We are going in circles, attempting to resolve the "flickering" issue.

I asked xps tech support if they would authorize an 8800SLI replacement as the next step__if replacing the motherboard and video card does not resolve the flickering issue. "Not at this time" was their response.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what to do next?

 

Glad to see im not the only one.

I have a M1730 (Vista Home) with the same flicker issue, i.e. DVD's will flicker/stutter when the laptop is not running on mains. This is also true for games.... appauling performance on batttery power.

I called dell, they replaced the motherboard with a refurbed board. Unfortunatly the symtoms persisted. So the mother board was replaced again, this time with a new one. Ive not been home to ceck but the engineer assures me that everthing is working correctly and that DVDs / games work fine without mains power.

Only thing to deduce from this was that it was a motherboard issue.

... the real screwy thing with this is that the faulty motherboard will go back to base be tested ....pass quality checks and endup in another 1730..... which is what seems to have happened with mine first time around.

oh forgot to mention that.... i am recieving a new battery because the leds wont light up on the power gauge and ive had the right speaker cluster replaced because it was dead.....

..... hows that for getting a pc from the bad batch....

 

Update.....

I got home.... and the DVD stutter is still there....

... they now think its the battery.

I get a new battery tmrw.

If this dont work im send the **** thing back and buy a Nintendo and Hp laptop... and the money saved on strippers and ho's

 

lol?..... -_-

 

.. i got lied to (Ref my last post) ... i still have the same problem. am also in agreement with previous poster that the issue lies with the graphics card...

any way i talked to dell and expressed my concerns, they are replacing the unit for another.

this is a pain in the arse.

 

So the only time this would be an issue is if you watch DVD movies on battery power?

I always have AC hooked up so this would be a non issue.

 

Jet.. thats correct

I dont run it on battery very often, but thats not the point.

Its faulty and i dont know what else maybe wrong.

.... point to note. Id never run a 3DMark before lastnight. The results were odd - the 3d mark application (Vantage) pointed out that the result did not reflect the true capabilities of the card and was unable to state a reason, also mentioned that i should deactive some sort of flush setting.

im a bit annoyed at having to re-install all my applications and servers again.