M1330 nvidia driver issues

Everything worked fine until a couple of days ago when my screen started pixelating and displaying noise-type graphics involuntarily. After, the computer would reboot on its own, which would result to a "startup recovery" screen which would lead to a constant process of boot down/up, down, up.

I went into safe mode successfully and uninstalled my Nvidia graphics. Now I don't have any problems. I tried Dell's driver & several drivers from laptopvideo2go, all of which produce this problem.

Could it be a fried GPU?

 

This could very well be your GPU, did you OC? (don't want to make a judgement call on OCíng, just want to make sure that i don't frie mine eventually)

 

The system internals (motherboard) can detect temperature fluctuations and shut itself off (rather abruptly) to cool down, therefore protecting hardware from irreparable damage. From the sounds of it, your GPU is largely responsible for pushing the system over the edge heat-wise and has perhaps itself suffered because of that.

Have you overclocked anything or been inside your laptop to make any upgrades yourself? Have you checked any internal temp. readings using the various tools available?

 

Try calling Dell and see if you can get a few of the components checked out/replaced (or run the diagnostic utility yourself from the boot menu).

You should still have a warranty... right?

 

If he/she has OC'ed in the extreme or upgraded parts themselves, such warranties could be void. Hence my questioning.

 

When my machine comes out of hibernation I now often see coloured blocks across the top 1/4 or so of the screen (when the screen is meant to be black).

Also I had a couple of crashes - one lately when the machine seemed to have gone into hibernation - and then it suddenly crashed and rebooted.

 

these aren't colored blocks, the entire screen goes into a hypnotic trance. I do not have a camera with me here at college to take decent enough pictures.

And no, I have not OC'ed my graphics card.

 

My original 1330 died because of GPU or motherboard. I'm inclined to believe it's gpu, tho, since when I start the computer, it starts displaying colored lines, from left to right, and does nothing else. Before it got to this state, my comp also displayed the symptoms OP describes, rebooting, graphical artifacts in windows, then those artifacts started to appear during the boot and even when I went into bios... So my suggestion - make a backup of everything you need off the 1330, call XPS support, try troubleshooting and hope your system won't disintegrate in front of your eyes, like it did in my case. Oh, and I didn't OC anything either, regular office apps/dvd viewing, I didn't even play any games on it.

 

Sounds like GPU memory is stuffed to me.

My old inspiron 8600 is now retired becasue one of the ram chips went. In windows I had a kind of chckerboard pattern of normal screen and artifacted bits and it would blue screen sometimes and reboot :s. So sounds like a similar sort of problem.

 

I was on the phone for a couple hours last night with XPS Support. They GoToAssist connected onto my pc and tried messing with the drivers, going into safe mode, reinstalling drivers, updating, rolling back, and it worked. This morning I turned on my laptop and the same thing happened, Bios, Microsoft Loading, Black screen, reboot, Bios...etc etc.

But right now it works fine, it seems to go on and off which is VERY annoying. It never works when I'm in class, but when I get back home it works fine...

I will speak to XPS support again. Maybe I can reformat and try again.

 

Months later and the machine seems to have failed due to a graphics problem - won't boot. Guess those were the first symptoms.

 

I had the same problem. Suddenly laptop will stop responding and will display horizontal colours of the rainbow, restart and Bios screen also does not show up, only horizontal colours of the rainbow.

Once in a while i was starting up fine and vista had reported "hardware problem with Graphics card or GPU driver problem"

I called XPS dell support and they sent in a dispatch for motherboard replacement as the GPU comes soldered onto the motherboard.

after that no issue till now, but once Visa gave a message saying Graphics card driver stopped responding but has recovered.

I am just worried, I have the latest drivers for the GPU

Any idea whats the issue as many have found the same problem
I have not done any over clocking or anything, nor do i play games just normal IE, word etc.

 

I am pretty sure the graphics chip is not soldered to the motherboard on my machine - I think it is the chip in a socket at the RHS when you invert the laptop (front side still to you) under the heat pipe (nearer to the fan than the other two chips under the heatpipe. A more likely reason for replacing the motherboard with this problem is that the problem could be the chip or the motherboard and swapping both reduces the chance of having to make a second visit.
[Edit - I was probably wrong when I wrote the above. It is probably the cpu which is socketed]

Another possible cause might be the cable to the screen, especially where it goes through the hinge. I tried to exclude this by testing with a second monitor on the VGA port (using the FN-Fn key combination to try and change screens) but I didn't get any signal. However, the machine might still go through the motions of booting in that case. Perhaps HDMI is the default though.

I have emailed Dell support now and hope they can fix it in the next couple of days.

 

I also posted on this issue in the lounge at:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=2788649&postcount=2953

and I see we have another victim posting at:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=2836182&postcount=1

 

And gimmespeed seems to be another victim: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=2835866&postcount=7

 

I've had an intermittent GPU problem (see my recent posts for details). It will become permanent at the most inconvenient time. Dell will replace the whole motherboard (mine was replaced while I was traveling in India). No real need to back up data for this reason since there is probably nothing wrong with your HD. Of course data should always be backed up in any case.

The way Dell had me test whether it could be the screen, cable etc is to power off and then hit Fn-power. This starts some low-level tests that are independent of the BIOS and GPU. There are various beeps and blinking lights, but then my screen showed solid colors (green, blue, red. yellow...) for a while. The support person said that this meant the screen and the connecting cable were working fine, so the problem was in the GPU.

 

Thanks for the tip - I tried Fn-Power and it obviously went through a different sequence than a standard boot (more flashing of the blue LEDs, no beeps) but the screen ended up the same vertical multi-coloured lines. At that time the Caps lock LED is flashing and the Bluetooth LED is on.
(I am kind of hoping it is the motherboard and not the screen as I might end up with a newer revision motherboard if that is changed - and I am happy with the Toshiba screen so if that is changed there is a possibility I would be less satisfied (if it were CMO or if it had any dead pixels).
Anyway - I should know in a day or two.

 

Hi guys,

have the same problem. I'm getting these multicolored vertical lines while booting. sometimes when I reset and reboot the machine I get a corrupted bios screen which would indicate Vista independent HW fault...

I'm running a dual boot with Linux. And interestingly the linux installation works fine. Which contradicts the previous observations. (Haven't run it for a longer period though...)

Vista in Safe mode runs with no problems. Vista in normal mode with uninstalled nVidia drivers runs with no problems. After I install the Dell nVidia drivers the issue comes back which would indicate a driver problem.

So now I really don't know what could be the problem. Sooner or later I will have to call the Dell Support and let them deal with this.

 

It looks to me like the fan has died on mine and that's causing overheating of the whole machine... Can anyone confirm a dead fan?

 

In my case the fan had started making some additional noise - I think intermittently rubbing on it's housing - but I don't think the problem with the graphics was directly related. e.g. the machine still had the graphics problem when booting from cold, and I don't think a transient over-heat had burnt out the graphics because the graphics problem was intermittent at first.

Anyway - Dell should be here tomorrow with a new motherboard - hopefully that will fix it.

 

Hey Nalada,

can you please let us know if it was a faulty motherboard in your case? I'm still playing with the DELL Diagnostics Utility.... it's reporting that everything is ok BUT I can't now boot to either of my systems. I'm getting these vertical lines changing color during the boot process independently of the OS.

It would be helpful if the technician would tell you what caused that error and also if it's very common. I have just problems with my unit.

- Uneven base
- Uneven keyboard
- A crack on the lid
- Whining CPU
- And now this, which makes the system unusable.

My first Dell Laptop.... :-(

 

Hi guys,

I took a quick shot of my screen after I start the machine.

The first image is a bit shaky but you should get an idea. Do you have something similar or is this something completely different?






Thanks

 

I had some similar screens - I will post some examples shortly.

Tech came earlier today and replaced motherboard and heatpipe/fan unit.
I can't say the cause and I don't suppose the tech could either. I am sure to keep costs down they swap those units out rather than fiddle around trying to trace the fault to GPU chip etc. (As the fault was intermittent a change in GPU might have happened to work and then the fault could have re-occurred as soon as the tech left).

Timewise - it took them a couple of days to get the motherboard. It took one hour to do the replacement - and the job was done efficiently and well. Tech even set the clock (though he didn't notice the timezone was wrong!). All I had to do was re-establish the Admin/System passwords in BIOS (haven't yet flashed BIOS back to latest version).

As for the part I got - I was hoping for a newer revision of motherboard (not that I know what the differences are). However the new BIOS is A02 so I suspect it is not the latest revision motherboard. That is good in one way because it indicates Dell probably don't think those early motherboards are all doomed to fail in the same way - it wouldn't make much sense financially to risk having to make a second visit.

 

Sorry for the quality of these photos - especially the cameraphoneshake... but they show some of the symptoms I saw on my screen. The main symptom by far was the vertical multicoloured lines 20 sec after trying to power on.

 

- I had slightly uneven base but only noticed because of postings here and have since forgotten about it.
- My keyboard was fine but the top left hinge cover was a bit loose and the black plastic strip bulged at top left. When trying to solve this graphics problem I lifted it to inspect cables underneath (graphics cable runs through hinge joint). Didn't find a problem there but once I had massaged the cable slightly hoping to fix or worsen the graphics problem (it didn't do either) I found the black plastic strip went back flush after re-assembly... and then the left hinge cover was held in place better.
- No crack in my lid - thank God!
- At night I heard cpu whine (or perhaps Southbridge). Didn't completely disappear with change to latest BIOS but I am putting up with it.
- Fan started to rattle intermittently - they fixed along with the graphics problem. So now my machine is fine from my point of view.

My biggest beef is that Vista doesn't handle software installation for multiple users as well as I hoped. I wish it always gave an option to install for selected or all users. Instead I have a lot of apps installed for my family that I really only want installed for Admin (me). My employer has an app I installed to test for just me (it gave me the choice) and since then (even though I uninstalled, installed for all users, uninstalled again) Installshield pops up for all other users at boot trying to find the .msi package to 'repair' the software installation.

Minor beefs - fingerprint reader sometimes gets 'disconnected' (maybe will be better with the new motherboard fingers crossed!), My MSI Bluetooth is a bit erratic/laggy with the machine (works better with my XP Pro D610 which is using Toshiba BT stack).

This is my third Dell after two corporate ones (neither perfect but they stood up to a lot of heavy use when I think other machines would have broken).

 

Ok!

Got my base, keyboard, lid cover and motherboard with the GPU replaced.

But of course something had to go wrong ... the technician hated his job and was very unmotivated. I couldn't be at home so I couldn't check what he did. BUT I have ended up with either no webcam or webcam not connected.

Another thing is that I can't boot my notebook when on Power. I'm getting an error 0411 Microphone board not connected -> no sound. So I have to boot on battery so the on board audio gets detected.... weird.

So I guess I will need another visit.

 

Report back to Dell ASAP...Done

 

Count me in as having this same issue. I also waited over 60 days to get this laptop in the first place. Thanks a lot Dell...

In my previous attempt at owning a laptop I had an alienware m5550 that hit 94C (and didn't even manage to work properly at that). I just don't have the luck.

 

Nothing to do with luck..
You buy something you expect it to work without being damage from new.
Send the unit back if not done so already and make sure that you get a brand new unit thats what you paid for in the beginning..

 

i've just had the same problem..

removed the drivers in safe mdoe and theres no problems.. apart from not having any nice graphics to look at.

i'm running ubuntu 7.10 as well and that produces the same problems.

so is it the GPU? god i hope not.. i'll have to move back to my dell l400 as backup.. its slooowwww...

 

Count me in as well.

Died after overheating a few times.

 

this is strange as i havent had any problems with my M1330 at all but i've only owned it for about a month or so
how long have you had your units for and when did all this start happening?
was it during gaming or something?
just a little scared here now

 

I had mine for 4 months. Was fine until I started gaming on the notebook. It does run fairly hot. Perhaps the cooling system is not sufficient.

In my case its a heat realated problem. It will boot and run windows fine until it gets hot, then the video corrupts, and hangs. On subsequent bootups you get the lines....

On the day it died, ambient temperature was a scorching 34degrees. I could only imagine how hot the CPU and GPU was running. Mind you, I have the 9 cell, so its already getting better cooling then if with a 6 cell.

 

which notebook driver would you guys reccomend for my m1330? I'm sorry i can't really help with your issue but I"m wondering if I should update my drivers as well. i've yet to install a game on the laptop

 

UPDATE :

dell tech came in with a replacement motherboard.

Did a decent job of putting the thing back together...took a while (2 hours) but with a job this delicate, its not going to be a rush job.

All is well now, but we'll see how long this GPU will last......

 

What BIOS is your m1330 when this happened?

 

sorry to bring up an old thread, but the problem DEFINITELY had to do with a faulty mobo/gpu. After countless hours on the phone with Dell I was given a replacement around last November. I am STILL waiting for them to transfer my warranty from my old laptop to this replacement.

 

I think I've got the same problem as well.

I'm getting a line of artifacts down the middle of my screen as we speak, and I think if it goes on for longer, I'm going to have an epileptic fit.

 

i just ordered my m1330........
i know there is problems with this m1330... but this is most money value i can get....
i also read that with mobo a04 and bios 09 this problems shouldnt happens
when you buy ur m1330 and what is the mobo?

 

Hi guys. I've got an m1330 and after updating to the latest dell drivers, I started experiencing these, I would guess, over heating issues. Now I'm at full blown vertical lines running up and down the screen. Luckly, still under warranty. They're coming on Monday, but as of right now the computer is dead. I've heard reports that the new nvidia drivers cause a 10-15 degree increase in temperature!!!!! So my guess is that it over heated it, and after a few system freezeups and more over heating it's finally dead.

Any ideas if these are indeed the cause? In that case, dell and/or nvidia should be held responsible. Can anyone confirm?

Thanks!

Dell T7500, 2GB, 8400M, 160GB 7200rpm
Vista SP1/Ubuntu 8.04

Nvidia drivers are like 7.34 or something like that, I'll look up the exact version and get back here with the details.

Up until now, never had any problems playing games etc. I'm thinking it's a combination of the new nvidia drivers and maybe even sp1.

cheers!

 

I also have a line of artifacts down the middle of my screen, like a band of vertical lines flickering constantly. It also happens in the bios start up now. Only difference is, I haven't got the nvidia card but the intell one (have the M1330 for about a year now, one of the first batches, so gotta hurry and check my warranty).

Updated the intell driver and started to get a black screen (as in not working, nada) upon windows startup. Safe mode does work though (typing this in safe mode). If anybody by this time has more details about the problem or solution, I'll be very interested.

 

Hi guys!

I think the problem is between vista and nvidia.
My M1330 does the same, after install some vista updates.
if you have some news, share.

I check other foruns, and I think they had good results installing the latest nvidia drivers..

 

I am getting the nvlddmkm error sometimes and other times I am forced to reboot after the screen turns blank and the BT/WiFi/9Lock buttons stay lit blue. I am not getting the artifact, vertical lines issues yet. According to this post at the hardwarelabs (which I cant provide a link to because I havent posted 15 times on here...thanks notebookreview ), it is most likely to continue and cause and lead to a mobo +GPU replacement.

I have talked to dell support and they have upgraded all my drivers, bios, and checked for vista integrity errors.

My question is should I just demand they replace the motherboard + GPU now to not deal with the problems in the future (I already spoke with dell and they said they would be happy to do that). I am using the nvidia 7.15.11.7644 driver, which I believe the dell tech said was the most updated, I am currently downloading the 02. Dell nVidia GeForce 8400M GS 176.44 A10 - 52.70MB. (Video Driver). Recommended. from the cooling post and will be installing it now, but I believe this is the same driver. I also dont know how to check which revision of the motherboard I have (arent the earlier ones more likely to have this issue?)

I have also heard about maybe using a tweaked driver or trying the cooling mod, but I don't want to void the warranty (which I unfortunately have until December 2011). Whats the best thing for me to do?

 

they should have sent out a tech to replace your mobo/heatsink. it was quick and painless for my replacements - i went thru dell chat and the person quickly new the problems. get a new tech support to help you. don't do the copper mod if you still have warranty - you paid good $$ for it.

 

Thanks for the advice, I setup a tech to come this Tuesday. Ill keep you guys updated. My only worry now is that they are going to give me a refurbished mobo, right?

And what about the 8 months that it has been running hot? The underside shows heat wear on the black and white info describing model number, serial number, etc. Do you think it has damaged any other parts in there possibly (memory, hard drive...) as a result from it running hot for the last 8 months?

 

Same problem with me . Bought it on april 2008. Till now dell support has get me upgrade the BIOS to A14 but it still didn't solve the problem.

I have disabled the NVIDIA device on my device manager so it helped me to run system atleast but it made my system slow specially when I run videos

 

http://en.community.dell.com/blogs/...ment-to-all-affected-customers-worldwide.aspx

I also had similar issues with my GPU. After some research, I realized it was a known issue with Nvidia Cards. Dell has provided an 12-month extended warranty enhancement to issue specifically relating to the GPU in the affected models, including the M1330. Contacting Dell Support right now, and it seems that they are honoring it.