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706847
Video blacks out occasionally for a few seconds
I just got the Studio XPS 9000 with Windows 7. The video card is a 1024MB nVidea GeForce GT220. Every now and then the screen goes black for 2-3 seconds and then comes back. I also get an error message that says:
Display Driver NVIDEA Windows Kernel Ver 186.27 has stopped responding and has recovered successfully.
It may be my imagination but it seems to happen most frequently when I'm on the internet and a second window opens and I grab an edge and try to resize it.
Anyone else seeing this?? I'm looking for solutions. I wanted to leave Dell support an email message but it had a note that email support was for hardware problems only and for software issues I should use their chargeable software support phone line. I don't think I should pay for support for a machine right out of the box.
MikeLisi
4 Posts
0
January 26th, 2010 13:00
I just got off the phone with tech support regarding the video black outs. They are aware of the problem and Nvidia is aware of the problem. The Dell tech said that they are having success with installing the latest driver fron Nvidia's website (8.17.11.9621). I told them that others have tried this without success. He said to try it for a day or 2 and see what happens. If it still does not work, Dell will replace the video card with a GT240. I'll let you know what happens.
Michial
39 Posts
0
January 26th, 2010 13:00
Yeah the update kept mine from blacking out and freezing the whole computer to just freezing the page and not blacking it out. I coudl escape out of the full screen and close the window. SO I complained and a tech will be at my house in one hour to take away my gt 220 and put in a gts 240, a significantly better card with twice the shaders and twice the bandwidth. Much faster and they work great. Cant wait to try it out later.
Michial
39 Posts
0
January 26th, 2010 17:00
So here is the updated saga of Dell and their craziness. The tech came out with the GTS 240 to replace the GT220. Guess what?...It didnt work at all. They then tried to tell my wife they would not send out another but would send another computer with the inferior problem ridden GT220. I got on the phone and took charge, by the grace of God that is.. I said for all the garbage Ive been through to send a tech on site to fix this, that my computer was going nowhere. I also said I would not accept the GT220 or the GTS240 but wanted, for all the troubles, a GTX260. He said no several times and talked to his supervisor and said no again. I then told him he would lose my 1000 sale and I would return it all if he didnt and I would tell all my friends not to buy dell. Then he said he would make an exception and overnight a GTX260 and a new motherboard and have a tech install it onsight. I am stoked to have the good card. I asked the man on the phone if I could speak to his supervisor and give him some props. I put in a good word for the man and he gave me an email to send more props. I told him if he took care of me I would, and I will. What a crazy story. Amazing though how he said he coudlnt do it until I threatened to return the 1000 plus system, then he said ok. Iam thankful to the Lord for this and hope you all have success in your battles with dell.
lupoo
58 Posts
0
January 27th, 2010 03:00
Dear friends
XPS desktop 435MT with NVidia GT220
De last thing I could do was replacing the latest Dell Oem driver by the latest NVidia driver form the NVidia site (Jan.10) The computer black out occasionally 36 times since I got this system. Mostly Live kernel events. Just a few seconds before it recovered. I re-installed Windows 7, upgraded the bios to the latest version, tried the newest Dell Oem driver but nothing could prevent the computer from blacking out. 2 Days ago I installed the latest GT220 driver from the NVidia site. After one day of hope, again a black out but this time the whole system froze. Really a black screen, lost all my work and had to restart the system. Just enlarged a window.
I have always said don’t complain and try everything what is possible to solve a problem but I am convinced now that the only thing Dell can do is provide real service. Replace this disaster product (GT220) by a working one with a working driver.
I called the techs. It is understandable that they don’t admit that the GT220 is a disaster but stay persistent.
Michial
39 Posts
0
January 28th, 2010 06:00
The tech came out and installed the 260 GTX. It works great. No video issues anymore. Dell even sent me the OS discs, driver disc and application and software discs without asking. Sweet.
MikeLisi
4 Posts
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January 28th, 2010 07:00
Since the new driver and new BIOS was installed I have not had any issues with the video card. I have only used the computer for a few hours since the update. You mentioned that you were having screen freeze. What are you doing when this screen freeze occurs and what exactly happens?
ladlse
12 Posts
0
January 28th, 2010 09:00
Ten days ago I reported being able to replicate the momentary video blackout and recovery by grabbing a pane edge and attempting to resize. Then I updated the driver from Nvidia site to 196.21. I also updated the bios to A14. For ten days now - many hours - I have not had any video problems. Lucky, coincidence, lack of stressing programs/games, or some complex interaction among components and software - who knows? FWIW, the computer never had the screen freeze or lockups mentioned elsewhere in this thread, only the momentary blackout/recovery problem.
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE
Equipment: Dell Studio XPS 435T/9000, 8G Ram, i7 CPU 920@2.67, Nvidia GeForce GT220/1024MB, Integrated Audio 7.1 channel, Dell S2209W Monitor with DVI connection, Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit, bios A14.
kylarice
16 Posts
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January 28th, 2010 10:00
I thought the GT260 requires a bigger power supply than what comes with the XPS 8000. Did you upgrade your power supply?
Michial
39 Posts
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January 28th, 2010 11:00
The technician who came out to install the gtx 260 said they are fine-that Dell both understates their psu's ability and tweeks the card for compatibility and stability with the system. Good enough for me.
bobbyklump
19 Posts
0
January 31st, 2010 03:00
Why is everyone trying to get a new card installed?
You just paid for a new working xps 8000 / xps 9000
If the machine is faulty – RETURN IT!!
Get your money back
Don’t waste you time trying to fix it!
You paid for a machine top work.
Telephone dell and say ‘I don’t want thus machine. Xps 8000 is rubbish. I want my money’
SIMPLE
desmet
36 Posts
0
February 2nd, 2010 13:00
I have followed the exact procedure as described by ladlse above and since then there have been no more blackouts and restarts of the driver.
The procedure involves:
Since then, there have been no blackouts on my system. (Used to have one almost every time I resized a Firefox or Excel window)
My system:
Dell Vostro 430 with 4 GB ram, i7 CPU, bios A14
Windows 7 professional, 64 bit (Dutch)
nvidia GT220 with 1024 MB
Monitor: Barco MFCD-1219 connected via DVI
Michial
39 Posts
0
February 2nd, 2010 14:00
Glad that worked for you. I had a tech on the phone with goto assist who witnessed the event on my computer after I installed new drivers. My screen stopped blacking out but would freeze up. I asked for a better card. I demanded a gtx 260 and got one free of charge or told them I would return the system. They delivered it overnight and it runs like a charm. I can play the latest games on it too. THe thing is super fast. So if anybody doesnt have your success ask for a better card.
kylarice
16 Posts
0
February 2nd, 2010 15:00
I got my machine in November. I finally complained to Dell and they installed the latest driver (from nvidia site) and Bios and its still didn't solve the problem. That was December. Recently I uninstalled the driver and installed the Jan driver and still have the problem. I might try the Bios next. I thought someone said A14, but I only see A03 on the Dell site? I think I'm way past the date for me to threaten to return my machine. For some reason I only get the blackouts when I turn on print preview. So I have been leaving it off. I don't do gaming, just graphics stuff. I'm wondering if its the printer driver causing the problem. I have an old printer. I bought a new printer and tried to install it but turns out it was dead and I had to return it. So still waiting on a new printer. I would love to get a GTX260 but I don't think I have any leverage at this point to ask for it except maybe thought the employee purchase program. Seems like sometimes purchases made though them seem to get different treatment.
bobbyklump
19 Posts
1
February 2nd, 2010 16:00
Listen............they have sold you a computer that does NOT work properly
phone dell tomorrow morning at 9.am
Tel Dell 'i want to return this computer. i don’t want it!
Simple
Go get your money back
You buy a brand new hard ware – it should work for at least one year!
Get YOUR money back
I have
dont accept rubbish
XenophonAnabasi
3 Posts
0
February 6th, 2010 13:00
I had this problem for several weeks with my XPS 9000 with NVIDIA GT220. I downloaded the new January 2010 driver directly from the NVIDIA site. That seemed to create a new problem: After going into sleep mode, the computer would not come out of the sleep mode; it would just whirr, with a black screen.
I then went to Control Panel, Power Options and unchecked the Dell power plan and checked the Balanced power plan.
Since then I have had no problems at all, after over 50 hours of use. Maybe there is a problem with the Dell power plan software---maybe it conflicts with NVIDIA 220 video card.
Try (1) unchecking the Dell power plan and (2) downloading the January 2010 NVIDIA driver from the NVIDIA website.