Dell XPS m1530 will not turn on - narrowed the issue down to faulty motherboard - need advice on course of action

There is no truth to what you've been told.  All of these chips count as "discrete" -- not integrated.  However, it is not heat that damages the system board when the chip fails - the chip fails because it wasn't properly engineered by nVidia.

There IS a 12-month extension that covers the problem (see below).  If it's beyond that, and you have to pay for a replacement system board, seriously consider a new system - though nVidia claims it fixed the chips in the later production runs, there are many who believe otherwise - and that a replacement will simply fail as well.

Given that nVidia has pledged $2M to settle these claims, I'll let you draw your own conclusions.  Mine is that they're about to wash their hands of a problem they known cannot be fixed.

The warranty extension details are here:

http://en.community.dell.com/blogs/direct2dell/archive/2008/08/18/nvidia-gpu-update-dell-to-offer-warranty-enhancement-to-all-affected-customers-worldwide.aspx

Note:  ONLY the video chip is covered - - the problem you're having sounds like it's not part of that issue, and if it isn't, the extension won't apply.

Thanks for the reply!

So what you are saying essentially is that a damaged GPU and a faulty motherboard are two separate things - as in, if I did have a damaged Nvidia GPU it wouldn't have caused the motherboard to be faulty. As of yet, there is no evidence of a damaged GPU, only evidence of a faulty motherboard.

You are also saying to weigh the risk of purchasing a replacement motherboard for a laptop when the GPU is a ticking time bomb. I guess it really depends on how cheap I can find a replacement motherboard. Even if my m1530 is at risk of having the GPU die - it would still be worth buying and installing myself a $150-200 replacement motherboard.

It doesn't sound like the GPU is the cause of your problem, that's correct.

Yes, my sense (and I haven't seen any evidence otherwise - these GPUs simply fail at increasing rates on all systems - Dell, Apple, HP, Toshiba ... every manufacturer) -- and I haven't seen any evidence the problem was ever truly fixed.  nVidia was never very forthcoming with information about the problem - most of what's out there is gathered from people who've analyzed the problem from field failures.

There are even those who claim to be able to fix the problem -- though most of the engineering analyses I've seen say that's impossible.  Interestingly, most of the "repairs" are warranted for 90 days-6 months, meaning the repairers aren't backing up words with funds.

I would differ a bit - the design of the GPUs isn't OK - - it is faulty.  The engineering of the chip includes the materials specified - those came from nVidia.  Many of these chips were built by TSMC, which also builds ATI's chips - which have no such history of failure.

There are many reasons why this problem might have happened - some technical, and some economic.  They lead to the same end - nVidia screwed up the engineering big-time.

Excessive heat from the GPU does not damage the system board. The faulty GPUs tend to fail from excessive temperature cycling. The design of these GPUs was OK, but some of the materials used in the fabrication were bad, and temperature cycling causes a mechanical failure of the chip; breaking a single IC trace can cause a failure.

Have you tried hooking up an external monitor or TV? You need to do this to see if it's the GPU or the LCD display. Most of these chip failures initially show some type of distorted display before completely failing.

It's on the board near the memory sockets -- starts with DP/N

There are two boards - one has the 8600GT and the other the 8400GS.  Within those types, all boards interchange.

Thank you for the quick reply!

I'm browsing ebay right now, looking for my model number - and they don't seem to be identified by the DP/N number - they seem to be using a P/N number - is there any other way to match up exactly what motherboard I need?

Hey again,

So I ordered a new mother board and replaced the old one - good news is that I no longer get the diagnostic light error code as I did before which was when I held the fn key, the first light blinked and the other two remained constant.

Now that I've made the repair - the MIDDLE light blinks when I turn on the machine, so I no longer need to hold the fn key to see the diagnostic lights.

According to this website:

http://www.bay-wolf.com/portpostcodes.htm

The code I am getting now indicates:

The memory has encountered an error.

1. Reseating the memory.
2. Replacing the memory.
3. Replacing the system board.

I tried reseating the memory once more - but with the same result. Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks for any help.

UPDATE -

The reason why I was getting the error in the above post was because I did not replace the black cover/tape that protects the motherboard from the keyboard connection. When I removed the keyboard, it booted up fine - so I took it apart again and made sure to put the black cover/tape where it was supposed to be by going by the old motherboard.

Now, the computer boots up and I see the Dell logo screen..........then it shuts off. When I attempt to press F2 or F12 to go to the bios settings or boot menu - it still shuts off. Does anyone have any ideas? I still have a disk stuck in the slot drive for when it originally died and I still cannot get it out.

When I replaced the black cover/tape - I only did so around the area of the keyboard connection. I'm going to dissasemble it again and replace ALL of the black cover/tape and see if this gives me different results. If this doesn't work, I'll have no idea what else to try.

Weird. I have this exact laptop and am experiencing this exact problem. I'm good about staying clear of viruses, but this is ridiculous. The Dell boot screen won't even load. I really don't know what the problem is, but if you find a more inexpensive solution, please let me know. Also, if I were to just get a new laptop, would all of my files on my hard drive be salvageable via external HDD case?

Thanks in advance.

Short answer to your hard drive files is yes, they can all be read via any kind of external hookup.  Perhaps you already have this answer.  Good luck.

The graphics chip is integrated - it's part of the system board.

If the GPU fails, you need to replace the mainboard.