D630 Video Problems

I bought this (used) about a year ago and everything worked fine up until about two weeks ago. At that time I was reading some pages on the Internet and the screen began to flicker then turned black with some vertical green lines. I shut down the computer and then restarted it. Everything worked fine for about an hour and then the process repeated itself. For the last two weeks I have had on and off problems with the laptop working correctly for a while and then crashing.

I tried reinstalling the video driver for the nVidia Quadro NVS 135M from the Dell website and it seemed to work for about 4 to 6 hours and then the D630 crashed again. Next, I tried reinstalling Windows XP Pro and once I had gotten all the updates, I installed the video driver from the Dell website. Everything seemed to be fine so I started reinstalling all the various software programs that were previously installed. With only one or two more programs to install the screen began flickering once again and so I shut the laptop down.

Last night I reinstalled Windows XP Pro again but without reinstalling the video driver, any Windows updates, or anything else and left everything running. This morning the screen appears normal.

My technical skills are very minimal and I have run out of things to try. Now I am wondering if it is possible (or even a good idea) to run the computer without reinstalling the driver for the video card. Is this going to lead to other problems or is it going to frustrate me because the computer will simply run very slowly without a driver for the video card installed? I would really appreciate any help with this. Thank you.

 

this is par for the course, your video card is starting to die. We have a fleet of D630's here at work and this is common unfortunately as the video GPU over heats and eventually fails.

 

Thanks for your reply. What do you think I should do? It's my understanding that the video card is built into the motherboard. Because of that I guess that if the video card dies I have to replace both the video card and the motherboard. Is that correct or is there something else I can do? I'm looking for the least expensive way out of this fix that I'm in.

 

you're correct, you have to replace the entire motherboard. I'm guessing by your post that you do not have any remaining warranty on the machine? I would give your reinstall a chance (after installing the right drivers) to make sure it wasn't a driver or other error, but if the artifacts come back after loading the drivers for the video card (enabling it's full usage), you will have to replace the motherboard.

 

Do you know if it's possible to use the D630 without installing the driver for the nVidia Quadro NVS 135M? I just don't have the money for a new motherboard as well as the cost to get it installed. (I'm in my second year of college and spent all the money I have on room, board, books and tuition.)

 

sure, but it's probably just delaying the inevitable.

 

Sorry for my ignorance, but does this affect the X3100 integrated graphics also?

 

not that I know of, but we only have a few D630s with the integrated graphics cards

 

You are right Dillio187. I just reinstalled Windows XP Pro (without installing any drivers) and now the D630 will sometimes boot up correctly, sometimes not.

Can you compare the life expectancy of the nVidia with the Intel X3100? It looks like I'm going to have to pay between $150 and $200 for a new board and installation. I'd like whatever I get to last as long as possible.

 

I have very little experience with the D630's with the integrated GPU, so I'm not sure. I haven't heard of any issues with them like I have the Nvidia GPU's