Nvidia 8400M + 8600M could be all faulty!

I have contacted Dell to get them to explain why my laptop now shuts down instantly with no warning during a game of WoW or any other case where it stresses the system. The heat isn't an issue as I understand it is summer after all.

I too have downloaded the latest M1530 BIOS and it has done pretty much nothing other than making my laptop loud 100% of the time. Hopefully they will be able to pinpoint the problem and sort it out because I don't want to just 'hope and pray', and THEN have to send it back AFTER my warranty is finished...
 
Well, first reply I got from Dell Support was to run the 'fn+Power' startup diagnostics. The first time, it instantly shutdown when testing the memory, but the second time, it ran fine.

Then the next reply I was told I should buy a can of compressed air because while it's very likely my M1530 is shutting down due to excessive heat (CPU is like 85C and GPU 95C when I run World of Warcraft), I may also have dust blocking the ventilation ducts which isn't helping. That I will do.

But they also asked me to try running the diagnostics while removing the AC adaptor, battery or each memory stick one at a time to see if it may be a hardware fault.

However, if all of these tests indicate my system is fine, I'm still not going to stop! Next thing is I'll probably download some intensive program to really stress my graphics. Maybe something like 3DMark? I'm not going to let them fob me off with some 'oh, it's Summer, get used to it' reply, when a few months later when my warranty runs out, it IS the graphics chip after all!

What I would like to know now is at what stage can I tell that my 8600M GT is finally faulty and can therefore be sent back and be replaced? When my laptop fails to switch on anymore? Artifacts or fuzzy lines on the screen even? (Although that could be attributed to dust blocking the air circulation but it can't be that bad can it)
 
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Oh man great just great I just bought a vostro 1500 laptop :( will it still be faulty :( it contains the 8400GS chip why did I buy it :(
 
just flashed the bios of my m1530. wishes that ik8fangui manages to break into the new bios eventually....
not sure what this will help achieve though, as I've been running my lappy almost all the time with the akasa notebook coolers and associated fans.

edit: also, there seems to be a new nvidia driver for the m1530, A02 revision. download is R194005 from dell.
 
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sharingan_sasuk said:
Then the next reply I was told I should buy a can of compressed air because while it's very likely my M1530 is shutting down due to excessive heat (CPU is like 85C and GPU 95C when I run World of Warcraft), I may also have dust blocking the ventilation ducts which isn't helping. That I will do.
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CPU @ 85? wtf? :| That's far more of an issue than the temps the GPU is running at! (Which aren't good but they always do run hot)
It could be a combination of dust blocking the ducts and the RIDICULOUS thermal paste applications that Dell seem so poor at.
I don't imagine you'll be wanting to reseat the coolers yourself but it's what I'd do in this situation.

Nvidia's mobile chips may all be faulty but it may not be the reason for your woes.
 
Didnt think anything of this but my girlfriends recently bought M1530 shuts down randomly. Not even playing games sometimes it just shuts down or when you open it from sleep the screen wont turn on until you take the battery out and leave it for a while.

WIll be on the phone to try and sort out replacement and see if it happens again suppose :/
 
sibeer said:
Radeon Mobility anyone ;)
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not really, my last lappy, a compaq presarrio x1000, had a radeon card in there. A whole bunch of them suffered after two years with what became known as the YTG problem, where you had to hold down the YTG keys really hard to get it to boot.

Me thinks that lappys and discrete graphics cards were never really a match made in heaven. As mentioned previously, I've managed (touch wood) not to have these problems in both the Compaq and my current dell M1530 by having a laptop cooler running under them 90% of the time (I even have two- one at work and one at home. lol).

On a side note, I believe that the mobile C2D chips are rated at really high temps, anything less than 100 and you're ok. The GPU however....
its really funny that when the dell came out everyone was o/c their graphics cards... i'm still running at stock, and seriously thinking of underclocking....
 
Did the YTG keys have anything to do with the graphics card in the laptop?

Discreet graphics in laptops are great, I've never had any problems with the ATI offerings, I have suffered with Nvidia's shoddy manufacturing though, trashed Quadro FX2500M... :(

Given that I've never had a CoreDuo/Core2 go over 64 degrees in a laptop I certainly would not be happy at anything like 85... That's graphics cards territory, I'd wager that many of the problems are to do with that.
 
If you look at the size of cases and coolers that most of us use to keep our Desktop GPU's in check is it really any wonder that laptop ones sometimes struggle.
 
eh. too bad the x1000 forums died, as then I could dig it out for you. rummaging through the inside of my brain, i think the card warped; another solution was to inset a small wedge under keyboard.
 
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