Dell XPS m1210 video dying.

I have a Dell XPS m1210 with the nVidia go7400 video card. It’s approximately a year and half old and I use it for writing, web surfing and viewing videos streamed wirelessly from my home server. It’s been a faithful workhouse since I bought it until recently when the video started to artifice. It looks like a checkerboard pattern and it doesn’t happen all the time. I used it yesterday for two hours and it ran fine until it started showing this pattern. Then the screen will go blank and when it comes back I get a message that the video driver stopped and was restarted. It will do this once or twice and then lock up so I have to power it off with the button. When I restart it sometimes it will work for another few hours or sometimes it does the same thing.
The fan is working because I can hear it and I’ve vacuumed out the vents. I know it’s not a Windows Vista problem because on several occasions it’s shown me a corrupted Dell boot up screen and I have Windows 7 on a spare drive and it does the same thing. I tried to deal with Dell service and gave up. All they want me to do is reinstall Vista and I know it’s not the problem. It’s out of warranty and if I wanted to spend my money talking to somebody in India that doesn’t know anything I’d get a pen pal.
I’ve flashed the bios to the most recent version and reinstalled the diagnostic software but to no avail.I’ve come to the conclusion the motherboard is failing and unfortunately this model isn’t included in the list of laptops that Dell is having to fix because of faulty nVidia video cards. They won’t even talk to me and so far there’s no class action suit. So I’ve ordered a replacement motherboard. It also has the nVidia 7400 go video option and I’m sure it’s just as faulty as the one on my current unit but I absolutely love this laptop. I bought an MSI to fill in while I’m waiting and I hate it like the plague so I’m anxious to get this one working again and more importantly to try and keep it working as long as possible. To that end what can I do to extend the lifespan of this obviously flawed video subsystem as much as possible? Is this heat related? I always keep the laptop vent clear and like I said the original fan seems to be working OK. Laptop cooler maybe? Any ideas?
I tried the laptop again and it won’t boot into Vista. It locks up halfway through. I took a couple of photos of the new vertical lines that are showing up on the boot screens. It will boot into safe mode however. The checkerboard pattern is unfortunately nowhere to be seen.

 

If the system is locking up its definitely the graphics card which is going bad
If you did not experience lockups I would have mentioned that the problem is related to a loose ribbon cable on the back of your LCD screen. But since you are having lockups the problem is graphics related.
I have seen similar graphics problems before and that is not artifacting. One of the memory cards is leaking (ie, not sealed or loose) allowing EM waves from another electronic part to screw with your gpu.
If you have the motherboard out and you want to spend an hour or two, i suggest grabbing a voltmeter, and using the ohm mode to check for connectivity between the memory and the motherboard, and so forth.
You can probably pinpoint the target, and a easy fix is some hot glue over the memory chips.

To increase the lifespan of your graphics card/motherboard keeping the system running cool is a must. To do this you can buy a laptop cooler, but their is a better way. The XPS1210 is an older machine, so chances are i8kfangui works on your system. I8KFANGUI is software which controls the fans in most dell laptops. If the software installs on your system you can control the fan speed, so when you go gaming you can force the fans to full speed and/or you can create custom profiles so that your fan turns on at certain temperatures.

Good luck, i hope your new motherboard comes soon.

K-TRON

 

I have the same issue with my xps1210. Did you manage to resolve it?

 

Same here. I tried to replace the thermal pads with a thicker copper plate and get rid of the dust collected around the fan. It worked for some time but then it started overheating again.
Anybody knows where can i get a new radiator for this laptop?

 

By radiator I believe you mean heatsink, and you can't really replace them since they're pretty custom to the laptop. And if you did replace it, you'd only be delaying the inevitable since the hardware is dying and better cooling will only prolong the life. You're better replacing the GPU (if possible, but I suspect not), so you'd need to replace the MB with one from the exact same laptop (so it will physically fit into your laptop).

 

I have read that there are several (2?) versions of this heatsink and that one of them has some additional copper elements which help to dissipate heat more efficiently. The gpu is glued and possibly soldered to the motherboard so I wont even try to remove it.
It is failing only because of inadequate cooling so if i replace the heatsink everything should be fine. I need this laptop only for about 3 months more so I think this is the best option right now.

 

Same issue here as well. Although it has now progressed to wavy lines and distorted colors. I think I will just replace the mobo w/the GU059.

 

i have the same problem,, u have the problem yet??? with vista sudenly the screen turn black, an then a blue screen that says that nvidia driver is not working and then it restart. At the begining i thought it was a driver or vista problem,, but then i installed windows 7,, and also installed the driver. but it happend again,,, after this i installed linux,, but it happend again,,, and now i know its hardaware, its the nvidia. I cleaned all the dust inside,, i thought it was a heat problem,, but it is not. there are blue vertical lines when i turn on the laptop. but then when the OS is loading it crashes,,, bios diagnostic says its a 0334 problem but i have no garantie... have anyone solve it???,,

sorry for my english.
xps m1210
nvidia go7400
intel 2.00 4m t7200
i bought it 18 months ago

pictures on windows live user: valdivaldi
David Valdivieso

 

My M1210 just completed two years and I have just started facing this issue. Any solution, kindly post online. Should I have my MB replaced with built in Intel Graphics instead of NVidia 7400?

 

i'm also having the same problem with my 2-year old m1210. vertical lines. a mouse pointer in windows with 8 vertical bars. then it eventually hangs. what could be the problem? is it the drivers, can it be solved by updating it to the latest nvdia drivers? or is it just the heat?

 

I'm on my second motherboard due to video failing....I opted for the 4 year warranty! The problem I have now, I don't trust my laptop any longer. As much as I paid for this thing...noway this should be happening!! One question for everyone...is everyone with video problems running the 7400go? To the OP...your video ram is failing that's what happened to my first one. It has nothing to do with the video drivers...your screen isn't even booted into the windows yet...thats mostdef a hardware problem, new motherboard is the only fix.

 

I've had this problem twice on an inpsiron 9400 with a 7900gs go, it's definitely the video card and the only solution I found was to replace the card (9400 video cards aren't soldered to the motherboard)

 

I had this problem. Replaced my RAM. I don't have this problem anymore.