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22 Posts
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166025
XPS M1710 Video Failure and Temperature Monitoring
Hello All,
I recently had failure of Ge Force Go 7950 GTX in my XPS M1710 4 months out of warranty. Fortunately I had bought the machine using American Express so was covered by Amex Buyer's Advantage insurance and had excellent service from Amex once I got a quote to fix from Dell. I got 12 months' extended warranty and fix fom Dell. The first fix attempt was to install a refurbished video card which overheated in seconds when running a game. At second attempt Dell has replaced Video card, motherboard and fans and (fingers crossed) all appears OK so far.
I want to get the best possible out of this machine now so I would appreciate some advice about temperature monitoring software. I believe heat is enemy #1 for laptops, particularly high performance ones and I want some visibility into what is going on.
I have found positive comments about i8kfanGUI but I am concerned it may void my warranty as it affects fan control. Similarly I have concerns about RivaTuner.
For monitoring only software I have found HW Monitor 1.11 (not Pro) from CXPUID and Core Temp 0.99 which looks pretty basic and monitors core temperatures only.
Does anyone have advice about these or any other good alternatives?
Also, any comments about usefulness and effectiveness of laptop cooling mats?
XPS_DEAD_AGAIN
36 Posts
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November 15th, 2009 13:00
Thanks rimsh, 72 + 8 =80, which is normal for the Dell Bios. I guess Dell's newly modded GPU temps are good and bad news. Good that we are all still in the same boat as far as temps go so perhaps the powers-that-be don't see this as the real problem ... and bad news that the temps still get that high at all:) I wonder how high the temp would go with the fans disabled completely, though I dare not test this myself. We're fortunate to have i8kfanGUI to keep the temps down ... kudos to the programmer(s) that have given much of their personal time to supply us all with this great program for FREE !
Yes indeed you are lucky ... please keep us updated as to the longevity of this newly modded card. Who knows how long this CADis repair will last either but here's hoping. I will let everyone know the next time my card fails and why if possible. I was never told either what all the CADis engineer did to repair the card with their "permanent fix" as they profess, but I can certainly understand why they would not :) I would not either.
good luck
Phylter00
38 Posts
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November 15th, 2009 18:00
Let me rephrase what I said. If you don't know what you're doing then using another app to control your fan speed can be dangerous. If you know what you're doing then you should be fine.
My BIOS keeps my GPU between 50C and 70C. Problems with overheating mainly come when the fans aren't working correctly or the vents are blocked. The bios is set to manufacturers recommendations and as long as it stays within those parameters then everything should be fine.
I use SpeedFan for monitoring and as long as the bios is doing it's job then I don't care. nVidia cards do tend to get hot and for that reason it would probably be wise to monitor to make sure everything is working as it should.
Some newer cards can run as high as 105C before having any problems. http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_geforce_gtx_260_us.html (Yes, I know it's a desktop card)
mopard
9 Posts
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November 15th, 2009 18:00
I also must disagree with the "not using fan control" comment. I tried that route and fried 2 cards and a motherboard by letting the Bios alone control the fans behaviour. To each their own but I don't see how actually using the fans to keep the entire notebook 20 to 25 degrees celcius cooler can be anything but beneficial. It appears that nearly every owner of this XPS M1710/Nvidia experiment has experienced an overheating failure of one sort or the other and many like myself have had multiple GPU failures without ever even have played a game on their M1710.
It should be noted that i8kfanGUI does not bypass the stock Dell Bios fan control settings completely ... meaning that if for some reason your fans fail to be engaged by i8kfanGUI then they will still be engaged by the Bios at the normal 80*C GPU temp. The i8kfanGUI fan control does not disable the Bios fan control ... it merely enhances it. You can check this when you first boot up by not typing in your password and logging in right away as i8kfanGUI does not load until you've actually logged in. Let the GPU heat up while sitting at the login screen and the Bios will engage the fans when the temp reaches 80*C and turn them back off at 70*C as per usual.
I am very impressed with how much cooler my M1710 is running all the time now with the help of the i8kfanGUI fan controls. Even the keyboard is so much cooler and more comfortable to use. Time will tell if the GPU lasts any longer now that it runs between 50 & 65*C instead of in the stock 70 to 80*C range all the time. I would bet that if noise was not a factor that Dell would have the fans running at an optimal speed full time ... just like the fans do in our desktop systems.
Either way, good luck!
rawhead
4 Posts
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November 16th, 2009 05:00
As mentioned, a tersely worded email to several Dell email addresses got the ball rolling. Bought the notebook in 2006 and had purchased one year extended warranty which ran out in June 2009. I simply made the point that several Dell users have been complaining about exactly the same issue in what is supposedly a high-end unit. I had been told by one tech rep that I might need to replace the motherboard which would effectively mean I should by a new unit, which was unacceptable. Seems that was not the case. Good luck to all with similar issues.
XPS_DEAD_AGAIN
36 Posts
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November 21st, 2009 11:00
I agree 100% that dust accumulated inside around the vents is likely the main cause for heat related failures. Of course a fan failure would be fatal if not caught in time. Dell should have advised owners of this dust problem and explained how to deal with it. But they didn't.
The beauty of i8kfanGUI is that, as I mentioned, it does not completely disable the Bios so if there is a problem with this program then the Bios will still kick on the fans at the temps indicated by the Bios. I've verified this on my machine anyhow.
Apparently, so I've read, the 7950 GTX can sustain temps well over 100*C (up to 120*C) before the GPU fails but there is a defect in these cards that cause premature memory failure at temps below 80*C. I've been fanatical about good airflow (my M1710 always sits elevated at the rear and on a hard surface ... always and from day 1) and never even played a game or used anything else that would stress the GPU. It's the memory corruption that seems to be the ongoing reason for failure for most it seems.
I have the latest Bios A07 flashed and my fans engage at exactly 80* then turn off at exactly 70*C ... this cycle continues forever unless somehow the CPU temps rise high enough to engage the fans first. I've only seen this happen a few times. What Bios version do you have flashed Phylter? It's odd how your Bios engages the fans 10 degrees earlier and runs them 20 degrees cooler. I installed HW Monitor and i8kfanGUI to verify the temps and of course had to add 8*C to the original i8kfanGUI reading to compensate ... as instructed. If my Bios maintained the same temps as yours then I too would leave well enough alone as that is pretty close to how I have i8kfanGUI setup (50 to 65*C). Very strange indeed. I've never used SpeedFan to monitor ... I wonder if it is reading the same sensor? Either way, good luck to all!
Phylter00
38 Posts
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November 21st, 2009 17:00
Bios A08. Dell is known for using cheaper memory so the GPU memory failing at lowered temps isn't surprising. I use SpeedFan for monitoring.
XPS_DEAD_AGAIN
36 Posts
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November 22nd, 2009 11:00
hey Phylter, Dell shows the latest Bios as A07 for my XPS M1710 (MXG061) ... where did you find A08? Or do you not have the same MXG061 (the latest) model of the XPS M1710? Maybe this explains why your Bios handles the fans differently as far as the engagement temps are concerned ... different models and video cards? Do you have an Nvidia 7950 GTX video card also? Maybe we are comparing apples to oranges?
Phylter00
38 Posts
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November 22nd, 2009 12:00
I guess we are comparing apples to oranges. I have E1705 with 7900 GT. I would think the graphics cards would have similar tolerance though.
Lord Liverpool
2 Posts
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December 25th, 2009 05:00
One tip: keep your fan outlets clear.
I also had a graphics card replaced in my M1710. After a few minutes of Civ4, the old 7900 would fry. About three cards were fried before they replaced it with a 7950 and the problems went away.
However, a couple of months ago the laptop started overheating and turning off after maybe 20mins of gameplay. I guessed the problem might be dust, and sure enough, after I turned the vacuum cleaner on the outlets grills for the fans, the laptop's average temperature went down (as measured by I8kfangui btw, an excellent little app, works fine with the M1710 and much recommended), and the problems stopped.
So now, I vacuum the dust out of the outlets every few months.
BTW, I also tried one of those passive gel cooling mats, and found it made absolutely no difference. I prop my laptop up at the back with a block of polystyrene-type material and it works much better at keeping the machine cool.
VirenJ
8 Posts
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March 10th, 2010 17:00
Add me to this list too. My XPS M1710 decided to crash on me and apparently the only way I can get it to work is to spend >300 gbp to fix it. It has the XPS 256MB NVIDIA GEFORCE GO 7900 GS card, which Dell refuses to cover.
Apparently the reason my XPS is not covered under the 'extended' warranty is (and I quote here)
1. Systems with G84 and G86 chips graphics card are recognized under this. This system has G71 chip graphics card
Card, GRAPHICS, 256MB, M1710, G71
2. His system doesn’t fall under the list of systems identified as having this problem.
Sigh. So now its time either to bake my video card, or order either the Sudio 17 or Studio XPS 16.
vincentfunk
3 Posts
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December 10th, 2010 10:00
If your GPU is that high while idle, you should take it apart and clean out the heatsinks.
Mine used to run hot too, but after I pulled a huge clog from each heatsink, the temps went down by a lot.
ATM the gpu is idle at 47 degrees celcius.
Gippsland
22 Posts
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December 11th, 2010 00:00
Just to clarify for all, the modded part is Dell 58C8T for the M1710. Still reports as nVidai 7950 GTX.
See my post in this thread on 23 Jan 2009 for links to information on this widespread problem.
See my post on 22 Sept 2009 for the information on what Dell finally did.
Gippsland
22 Posts
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December 11th, 2010 00:00
No amount of cleaning, laptop cooling mats or software made any difference - my 7950 GTX kept failing. The only thing that worked was Dell finally admitting there was a problem and replacing the card with the nVidia modded new part. 15 months on now and my M1710 has not missed a beat.
LESJMC
22 Posts
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September 2nd, 2011 12:00
Gippsland how has the 58C8T video card fix worked out for you so far??? Would like to know your answer