Dell E1705 motherboard or video card heat issue?

Recently my e1705 had an error of M1004 wich is the error code for it getting to hot. I turned it off and let cool for a couple hours. I tried to power it on but the power light flashes and it makes a noise then nothing. I disasembled the lap top made sure everything was clean. Pulled the heat sink on the video card and then the video card from the motherboard. Cleaned everything. Reasembled the pc without putting the front and back cover on. It booted and ran all the diagnostics and everything passed. It worked a few days then I put all the covers on and it worked about a day until I got the
M1004 error again. Once again it will not start just beeps and shows power lights for a sec. Ive check all the fans and they are working properly. I've noticed that their is a new release of bios. Do you think I should dissasemble and try to get it to boot so I can apply new bios? Or do any have any ideas if it is the video card or motherboard? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

Hey there,

I did some searching, and found a few people with similair overheating issues with the e1705. I've got a few questions, I'm sure it will also help others solve your problem.

1. I assume when you removed the heatsinks, you applied new thermal compound?

2. What bios version are you running?

3. What operating system are you currently using?

4. Were you ever seeing any graphics artifacts before the computer shutdown? Or, just in general?

A quote from another forum user by the name of "Loreto"

"Hello All,
This comes from someone who had 2 graphic cards replaced on an E1705 but my 3rd one is running strong.. I believe the earlier cards failed because the E1705 has a design flaw when it comes to venting out heat and the fans dont kick in until the temps are too high..
There is an app called I8fangui use it and set the bios to run the GPU fan at low speeds at idling and fast speeds after 55C..I have been doing this on my 3rd new replacement GeForce 7800 Go and i guess thats keeping it going until date.."

Read the entire thread here

What I underlined/bolded would make sense with how it seemed to work fine for a few days with the case partially disassembled. I would recommend installing the fan control tool and experimenting with that.


Good luck!

 

Thanks for the program. I haven't much time to mess with it lately. I have been battling power outages left from the ice storm that came threw at the telephone company i work for. The only way I can get it to start is to pull the graphics card and reseat it. I know my bios setting are out of date. What gets me is I've had a hard drive and graphics card replaced on it a couple years back on the dell warranty. But this card has not had any artifacting or any gliches besides heat. Thanks for the articles and help! Hopefully this weekend i can tear this down and load the bios and that program.

 

I am afraid your Graphics card is done for, this was what happened to me last year, i overheated my graphics card, and it refused to boot, power light comes on and it switches off...

later i came to know that i fried my graphics card