XPS M1330 faulty GPU options?? Cost? Please help!

I have the XPS m1330 with the nVidia 8400 GPU. Got it back in September of 2007 with just one year warranty. I just started getting the rainbow colored vertical lines on the screen today, did research, and found out it is due to faulty GPU design. Called up Dell, and they said even my one year extended warranty due to this common GPU error was over in September of 2008. They also said I am out of luck, unless I want to go through their out of warranty repair department.

I didn't use the laptop on regular basis till just 8 months ago when my old one finally gave out of me after 6 years. So m1330 has been only used for 8 months, and now I am stuck with bunch of verticals lines, and no hope.

Has anyone tried the out of warranty repair department for this problem? How much should it cost to, I am assuming, replace the motherboard?

And also, does replacing the motherboard really fix the GPU/vertical lines on screen problem?

Any other options I have with that? Should I put it in a freezer and try it? (just kidding about that one, just frustrated with this).

Umang

 

Well, if by fixing, you mean with another Nvidia motherboard, then the answer would be no. It might buy you another year or two, but eventually it'll just fail again. I resorted to buying a service for $250.00 on Ebay, which included return shipping, for an installation of the Intel version motherboard rather than the one with the Nvidia one and so far I couldn't be happier. I wasn't doing anything GPU extreme with the old one, so from my perspective I can't tell a whole lot of difference in speed between the Nvidia and the Intel motherboards. It does run cooler, I can tell you that. So, as far as options, you can install the Nvidia motherboard again and role the dice or you could either install the Intel motherboard yourself or get an outside service to do it.

 

Callanish, thank you so much for your reply! Yeah, by fixing it, I am thinking to just get it replaced with another nVidia GPU through Dell's out-of-warranty repair dept. Even if I can get another year out of it, it would be great. Graphics is pretty important to me, as I do lots of modeling (i.e. CATIA and SolidWorks). If even by replacing with a newer motherboard w/ the same nVidia GPU will get me an year, I am saving up (~ $2,500) to buy a decent multitouch convertible with i5/i7 CPU (i.e. Fujitsu T900, HP TM2t, or something similar).

I just need it to start working and last me even 7-8 months till I am done with school, and wanting to make sure it just won't give out on me in like a month or so, and also wanting to know what the cost would be going through out-of-warranty dept, if anyone as done that.

Thank you once again for your reply!

 

I also do a fair bit of video editing using Sony Vegas and Premiere, and so far 8400 has met my needs. I don't know if Intel X4500HD would meet those needs or not. Can't find any good comparison reports between the two.

 

Free fix:
width='480' height="295"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/NJlgPbELL0E&hl=en_US&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/NJlgPbELL0E&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width='480' height="295" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>

 

So I called Dell's out-of-warranty repair department, and they quoted me $580 plus tax to fix the motherboard. Not only that, but I will have to ship it, and it will take them 15-20 business days to fix it and ship it back to me.

Almost $600!?! Kidding me?!

 

Did you review the video from above?

 

Yeah, I did! But I don't know what tool he is using! I can open it up and everything, only if someone could tell me what that is. Looks like an air blower?

 

Hot air soldering iron. You can click the video and see the author's explanation.

 

You can use a heat gun, or try the "oven trick" (google it).

Works best in an oven for some strange reason, or so they say.

If you use a heatgun, don't bring it too close to the chip, you might burn it (I did this to one of mine).

300C is about as hot as you would want with a heatgun. It's different when using an oven. There are many guides on the net, be sure to read some to get a good idea of how it's done.

Here is the best guide I have seen:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=385973

Also I'd say it's better to give it not enough heat then to over do it.

Other people just put their notebook on their bed, block the vents and leave it on for a while, probably use furmark to make the GPU really heat up.


I think the oven is most succesful.

Anyway, just make sure your board is lead-free.

 

sowatup. The company I went with to do the replacement is here.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Dell-XPS-M1330-...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4a9c4d47ca

They aren't exclusive to just Nvidia from Intel. You can get them to replace your motherboard with another Nvidia version. I just chose the Intel version because I didn't really have a huge need for the Nvidia GPU. $250 is a better bet than that joke of a number Dell is quoting you. Logos4 is my Ebay name, just so you know that I'm not promoting the company or anything and you can see that I was an actual customer.

 

Thank you so much for your guys' reply! So I just purchased a cooling pad, and placed it under the laptop. And it did turn on! Although I getting artifacts on the screen every now and then.

So I am going to try the oven/hairdryer trick and hopefully that helps.

I also machined a copper plate per one of the guides on here, got artic cooling MX-2, and going to get rid of the thermal pad originally on the GPU, and use the copper plate after giving it a heat treatment (considering I don't fry it!).

If all these fails, and I still keep on getting very beautiful artifacts/rainbow lines, then I am going to send it to the eBay repair location Callanish mentioned.

I just need 6-7 more months out of this if the copper plate mod works!
If it doesn't and I end up sending to the repair location mentioned on the eBay site, I am hoping to get another year out of it at least!

By that time, I am hoping there are decent 13.3in multi-touch convertibles out with either Core i5/i7 and ATI/nVidia GPU! Upcoming Fujitsu T900 is close, but lacks the GPU! And HP TM2t had the GPU, but lacks the processor!

Thanks all once again!
I will keep you all updated.