Dell XPS M1710 - dead pixels

halliwelldj · 3 Apr 2009 at 23:35

My laptop a Dell XPS M1710 has tons of dead pixels, I noticed this a bit ago but never thought anything of it and now there are so many its pretty ridiculous.
Here are some screenshots and pictures from a camera I took of the dead pixels using the DBP program. I also took a screenshot of the temps of the laptop as it seems hot just feeling it.
Also I just reformatted the laptop haven’t got any drivers on it if you’re wondering why the screen is so small on the screenshot of the temps

Quite afew pictures of the screen in the slideshow:
http://s592.photobucket.com/albums/tt3/halliwelldj/XPS M1710 pixels/?albumview=slideshow

Basically I just wanted to know what I should expect to happen from Dell for when I ring them on Monday and what I should really say is it because it's overheating? Or should I just say there are dead pixels on the screen and I need it replacing? It’s in warranty still it has around 110 days left on it.

thedinks · 4 Apr 2009 at 12:35

Hi

Does it lock up when it overheats and brings a "contact dell" and a error code message? I had the same problem with mine, and they came out and replaced the graphics card. Pretty prompt too

Not sure about your pixel problem though.

jim.

beermonster · 4 Apr 2009 at 13:10

Looks more like corrupt graphics chip rather than dead pixels but hard to gauge from those photos, is it the same on external output

thedinks · 4 Apr 2009 at 15:29

I agree with beer your chips fried.

reflux · 4 Apr 2009 at 15:32

If it's in warranty, they'll take it and diagnose the fault, then send you out a repaired unit or a new one.

Looks to me like the GPU is fried. Does it run games?

Having had this with my old XPS M170, I would never buy a 'gaming' laptop again. They're big, hot, unreliable and a waste of cash.

halliwelldj · 5 Apr 2009 at 02:44

thedinks said:
Hi

Does it lock up when it overheats and brings a "contact dell" and a error code message? I had the same problem with mine, and they came out and replaced the graphics card. Pretty prompt too

Not sure about your pixel problem though.

jim.

Hey, nope it doesn’t seem to lock up, it just gets really hot and for a laptop that is made for a gaming which this clearly couldn’t be used for seems like it really shouldn’t get anywhere near the heat it does.

beermonster said:
Looks more like corrupt graphics chip rather than dead pixels but hard to gauge from those photos, is it the same on external output

I’ll have to try it on my monitor, I never thought of it just figured it was dead pixels on the screen. I’ll give it ago tomorrow.

reflux said:
If it's in warranty, they'll take it and diagnose the fault, then send you out a repaired unit or a new one.

Looks to me like the GPU is fried. Does it run games?

Having had this with my old XPS M170, I would never buy a 'gaming' laptop again. They're big, hot, unreliable and a waste of cash.

Yeah it’s still in warranty got around 110 days left on it I think, I hope I just get a new one tbh saves the hassle of anything going wrong with an old laptop or maybe just bring up new problems with a new laptop lol. Yeah it runs games it seems fine, again just gets really hot and the pixels as of late just seem to be dead all over the screen. I just reformatted it and haven’t put anything on it I noticed it while reformatting it, it was so bad the writing of the reformat screen was all mixed up, some letters gone out of words.
I didn’t buy this laptop for games really I just wanted the laptop, I’ve never used it for gaming I’ve always used my desktop and that as something to just go on like any other laptop.

GeezerButler · 5 Apr 2009 at 09:22

I'm a Dell service engineer (don't laugh - someone's got to do it).

Do you have a collect and return warranty or is it on-site? If it's on-site someone will come out next business day. If it's collect and return it will probably be away for about 5 to 7 days. Either way they will probably replace the video card - it's the most common failure on these laptops. It may well be a video memory problem caused by heat build-up - these graphics cards usually have two heatsinks which when we open the unit are usually completely clogged with dust.

Do be aware that there are sometimes delays with video card replacements on these machines due to poor availability of spare cards.

It's probably worth running the diagnostics on the machine and see if it passes a video memory diagnostic.

halliwelldj · 5 Apr 2009 at 14:06

GeezerButler said:
I'm a Dell service engineer (don't laugh - someone's got to do it).

Do you have a collect and return warranty or is it on-site? If it's on-site someone will come out next business day. If it's collect and return it will probably be away for about 5 to 7 days. Either way they will probably replace the video card - it's the most common failure on these laptops. It may well be a video memory problem caused by heat build-up - these graphics cards usually have two heatsinks which when we open the unit are usually completely clogged with dust.

Do be aware that there are sometimes delays with video card replacements on these machines due to poor availability of spare cards.

It's probably worth running the diagnostics on the machine and see if it passes a video memory diagnostic.

Hey, it's actually really good getting someone who works for dell saying what they will do. I have the on-site warranty I think cause on the description of the warranty on the dell website it just says Next business day. I'll try the video memory diagnostic as well, thanks.

halliwelldj · 5 Apr 2009 at 15:51

Just ran the diagnostics it looks like its the video memory causing all of the errors:

Error code 5300:0119.
Msg: Detected a failure while writing and reading video memory. Video mode: 4h (320x200x4). Address B8004h, expected to read FFFFFFFFh, but read FFFFFEFFh instead.

Error code 5300:0119
Msg: Detected a failure while writing and reading video memory. Video mode: 6h (640x200x2). Address B8020h, expected to read FFFFFFFFh, but read DFFFFFFFh instead.

Error code 5300:0119
Msg: Detected a failure while writing and reading video memory. Video mode: Dh (320x200x16) Address A45D0h, expected to read 0h, but read 4000000h instead.

Error code 5300:0119
Msg: Detected a failure while writing and reading video memory. Video mode: Eh (640x200x16) Address A45D0h, expected to read 0h, but read 4000000h instead.

Repeat the same error for all of the video memory tests.

Emlyn_Dewar · 5 Apr 2009 at 16:58

It's a classic error for the 9400's/1710's with the high end Nvidia cards, had an FX2500 kill itself with the same symptoms.

halliwelldj · 5 Apr 2009 at 19:02

Emlyn_Dewar said:
It's a classic error for the 9400's/1710's with the high end Nvidia cards, had an FX2500 kill itself with the same symptoms.

Sigh, at least I know what the problem is now, I'll be phoning Dell tomorrow tell them to come fix it or give me a new laptop

Emlyn_Dewar · 5 Apr 2009 at 19:07

It's a half hour fix for swapping the cards out, price is a bit extreme for replacements though. Good thing yours is in warranty.

All the cards I've had in mine (7800go, FX2500 and 7900GTX) have had disgraceful thermal paste applications as standard. Far too much on and a poor quality, always recommended to clean and re-apply.

halliwelldj · 5 Apr 2009 at 20:04

Emlyn_Dewar said:
It's a half hour fix for swapping the cards out, price is a bit extreme for replacements though. Good thing yours is in warranty.
All the cards I've had in mine (7800go, FX2500 and 7900GTX) have had disgraceful thermal paste applications as standard. Far too much on and a poor quality, always recommended to clean and re-apply.

Yeah i'm guessing they are gonna have to order it or whatever once they have been here to see what the problem is. Don't really know what the 'thermal paste applications' are?

GeezerButler · 6 Apr 2009 at 18:59

If it's failing a video ram diagnostic that should be pretty conclusive. Once you have done the troubleshooting on the phone they will despatch the call for the next business day - the parts are ordered and shipped overnight to your local engineer.

warren_1979 · 6 Apr 2009 at 20:59

Is it easy to clean the graphics card heatsinks for dell laptops? I'm picking up a 2nd hand dell vostro 1500 with a 8600m graphics chip. Would it be worth having a look at the sinks and cleaning them? Is it easy to do?

halliwelldj · 6 Apr 2009 at 22:30

GeezerButler said:
If it's failing a video ram diagnostic that should be pretty conclusive. Once you have done the troubleshooting on the phone they will despatch the call for the next business day - the parts are ordered and shipped overnight to your local engineer.

I phoned them today, they are replacing the graphics card tomorrow and also replacing all of the fans as I said it is overheating as well. Only took 40minutes of talking to someone in India!

halliwelldj · 7 Apr 2009 at 22:55

Seems like it’s all fixed after the dell tech guy replaced the graphics card, replaced the fans and cleaned all the cooling, hopefully doesn’t fry this card as well!

Emlyn_Dewar · 9 Apr 2009 at 08:56

As much as you shouldn't have to, it's worth opening up the laptop every few months to clean inbetween the fan and the heatpipe cooler. Layer of dust'll often build up there and drive the temperatures high.

GeezerButler · 9 Apr 2009 at 23:08

Glad you got it fixed. It's not easy to clean the dust out without opening the machine up. You could try using a compressed air can through the fan vents. It won't really clean it but might stop the dust building up into a wad and blocking the airflow through the heatsink.

OspreyO · 10 Apr 2009 at 04:00

Monitor the temps from now on. The cooling in those isn't enough.