XPS M2010 Black Screen Of Death

jmfsms,

  You bring an interesting and I'm sure on going point about the video card in the M2010.

I can tell you that I have had my card replaced twice last year. The first time my unit was shipped back to the "depot" to be fixed as it would not turn on at all. Replaced the video card and bluetooth module. Two weeks later, it started again. Tech support wanted me to reinstall my OS but I refused and convinced them to replace the video card again which they did. Haven't had a problem since to this date.

I recently upgraded to Win7 64 bit and am running better than ever, including a new 320gb HDD. The thing I will tell you is that Dell is going to do nothing as they have not and will not release any new drivers for Win 7 support to help people with these legacy machines. I upgraded only because of the many other diligent minds around the globe who persued the upgrade inspite of Dell.

  I feel we are on our own to keep our computers running especially when our warranties run out. They only care about the new machines they are selling and don't care about all the different legacy computers out there, some hardly over a year old. Look at the forums and you'll see all the problems people are having upgrading because there is no support and very few computers are listed  as compatible on Dell's support website. If yours isn't there, then you are on your own.

Good luck with this.

I have sent the following e-mail to Dell Tech Support and I will keep everyone posted as to their response:

I am currently having my Dell M2010 serviced again for a video card that does not work.  As usual a tech has already replaced the motherboard and now I have to ship it back to Dell.

Long story short, this is a known issue (can find examples all over the web) and I would like to know if dell knows the cause of the card blowing or is looking into this issue as I believe that there is a flaw.

Secondly, I am curious why Dell is not supporting system 7 upgrades for this machine which is more than capable of running this os.

Finally, I would like to know a contact (e-mail) at Dell who can explain these issues to me and what is being done to correct them.

Thank You For Your Time -Jay M. Foster

My story is exactly the same as your, now i'm out of the hell warranty so it made tree video cards i change myself..thing that i do bether than any hell tech..

they also said to me that if a problem that hapened many times under waranty was going to apear out of warranty,they will considere it to be factory defect and still honore the waranty...

no need to tell you that was all lies..they told me to buy $400 around warranty for extra years..or nothing from them..

i talked ,i waited, i yelled at them ,..but i just realised that the problem is too heavy and widespreaded for them to resolve it and they just stopped manifacturing the product.

all this for a stuppid video card overheating problem.. 

the machine of my dreams took one year to turn into a nightmare machine, now it works verry whell ...i bought a HP laptop and use this $5000 dream machine to hold my HP laptop a little higher on the desk ,a wonderfull dock station, and some days when i feel brave i turn it on few moment ,do the windows updates and then power off and duck it under my always working HP ...

I remember when i bought it, they still offer choice between 128 meg and 256meg vidéo card..i badly regret the choice i maide then..

Hell XPS M2010

Intel centrino duo  CPU

T7400 @ 2.16 ghz 2.17ghz

ATI Mobility Radeon X1800

4GB Mem

BIOS A06

Win XP 32

Hi guys,

Sorry to learn of your experiences but maybe you might benefit from knowing you are not alone. The M2010 hit all the right 'good looks' button, but what laid beneath in the motherboard are design issues waiting to go off. The black screen of death plagued purchasers, calling for one motherboard after another, and graphics card, is but one example of a poorly balanced assembly. I suspect voltage issues are partly to blame. 

The most infamous issue however, has been the odd bluetooth assembly calling for three different sets of programming to force it to work. From my experience this is  fact. That is to say Toshiba's bluetooth stack, the CRS chip driver, and Bell's own belt and braces of a driver was a doomed collaberation waiting like a time bomb. Boot into the DOS start up screen never a problem. But when Windows took over! The latter often called for another mobo and as these are usually handed out by engineers second hand, it was only a matter of time before lifting the phone up again.

And if either of these popular breakdowns didn't get you, the forums are alive with other issues.

Switching from Vista to Win7 fixed the bluetooth bug, but did not or apparently could not fix all underlying incompatabilities. In my case the first 18 months produced a regular call for help but the M2010 managed to limp along as I chewed wasps every other month. After that it was down hill having seen 5 mobos, 4 graphic cards, replacement RAM and CPU; I finally let off steam and Dell offered to buy the M2010 back providing I paid at least £1,200 to buy a replacement system. Which I did at the equivalent price of £2,500. Now two months on I am planning to replace the mobo because I really need more outputs than the mini mobo supplied can provide, but in any case I want a retail mobo with manfacturer's gaurantee, not a cobbled one from an assembler.

I also need more power than Dell provide in their low value PSU (against ATI recommendations for an HD5770 graphics card), and I need SATAIII and USB3 which Dell are either shy of promoting or haven't yet fathomed out how they can cut corners on the next PC generation in order to hold prices for sake of added profit.

I am sure you can see where I am coming from. Power supply issues? Incompatibility? Cut backs? Poor designs?

Good luck and best wishes,

CRC2

Nice one mate!

I'm in the UK and am unable to acess dell support and am using this friendly forum to help me out with my problem.

My mext one won't be Dell though!

Are you guys getting the same thing I'm getting?

When you open up the laptop, press the power button.  Watch the blue lights go across the DVD/RW drive.  On the far left the power light will be on or it will be a little dimmed and the Working/Hard drive light will come on for a brief time then you are left with nothing but a power light and you can hear the fans spinning?

JASON51482,

  Sorry about your troubles. I have had the same experience multiple times since new in 2007 and it's usually the video card has failed. Dell always wants to replace the mobo to fix this but they always end up replacing the video card as well. Hope your still under warranty.

I know this is not what you want to hear but good luck.

Hi Jason51482,

Just to confer with bellboy3, it's not good news and we don't help telling you it's really the norm for Dell. We all learn the hard way so either get Dell to do the usual if you can, and plan forward, so that next time you don't end up in a straight jacket. CRC2

Same problem for me. 3 times in 3 months. Today is the 3rd time and Im livid. Ive had everything replaced twice. I love this machine. But this is ridiculous.

Hello G33KG1RL, it's a while since we communicated about installing Windows 7 Drivers, and I am sorry to read you now are now experiencing the last breaths of your M2010. Well I no longer have the M2010 and while I miss it's design, I am so happy to see the back of it's limitations and the time, effort, and troubles spent nursing it along as it finally passed the point of no return. The Tech guys virually took residence during the last 3 months.

In  the early days we struggled to understand how Dell can advertise they support Windows 7 but on the other hand deprive premium paying customers of the means to upgrade to Windows 7. And so we learned a lot about how Dell assembled the M2010, and why it could not be simply upgraded, and we learned a lot more about the credibility, ethics and values of the Dell organisation. What we found we didn't like because we ordinary folk know the difference between right and wrong even if not technically minded.  But in fairness, we found Dell are not alone in the manner that computer assembly companies twiddle, tweak and haggle component manufacturers to get products delivered to them as cheap as chips, so much so, that the suppliers withdraw warranty. Enter the OEM arena, which apparently, all computer companies believe that consumers know what it means, and expect it.  IThis is not true and a poor excuse to mislead and rip off inncocent consumers. Its a huge story that one day will be picked up by an investigatative reporter who may then get a medal or something for exposing this corporate greed for what it is.

In the meantime us ordinary people are all we have to help each other, and that is what we do through these forums. Sometimes Dell step in and remove postings, and sometimes they don't.  Although I have now replaced my M2010 with a new £1,500 Dell XPS Studio and a £1,000 separate screen (which is actually a very good monitor)  I had great problems because of the belt and braces way Dell foolishly assembled it. They admitted guilt but then tried to replace my brand new motherboard with a second hand one! However, I know what I am doing and managed to tame the beast into doing what was right to get my new set up running properly.

I also managed to switch the remaining 2 and a half years of unexpired warranty from the M2010 to this new set up, but I am not happy. For a top of the range replacement it is so far behind current technology without USB3 and SATAIII. And yes, their tricky dicky advertising caught me out again. The PSU is way underpowered from the recommended standard set by ATI, and the motherboard turns out to be a mini. Because of the OEM cop out, it's apparently OK for Dell not to state in truth and clarity about what parts they have cobbled (i.e. list all parts that are 'OEM' or better still state which parts they advertise in headings and specification actually have no manufacturing support or warranty). And it's OK to not flag any parts that do not comply with manufacturing component recommendations (whoops that may mean up to 50% of the motherboard and most components that are plugged in)?  

OK you know what I mean. Is it so hard for DELL and the like to be open and honest?  Does it has to be like this? Good Luck and Best Wishes to you all, CRC2.

Only 2 screws. My last but one visit added two broken plastic panels (rear left and right) to the list, and wait for it, a buckled chasis that would not close tight leaving gaps all around. The engineer shook like a leaf you see, and didn't know how to release the rear panels, until I told him which was too late of course.

Good luck again-

Hey guys, I had a question for all of you.  I might sound ignorant for asking but I thought I would give it a shot.

You know how when you build a PC, motherboards back in the day would have a sticker on them saying they were Windows Vista compatible?  Is there any chance that this motherboard inside the M2010 is just not compatible with Windows 7?  I know Vista and Windows 7 are almost close to each other but could this be the problem?

Have all of you put Windows 7 on the M2010 and started having these problems?  Or did you get these problems with Vista?

Just searching for an answer really.  I'm fixing to pull just my video card and go have it tested and see if it is still good or if it is burned.

Hi Jason51482, unlike the old days you can use Windows 7 checker for free. It scans your mobo and lets you know what to expect. Also, all of the old windows operating systems were and still are designed to be upgradable, the only problem is whether PC manufacturers roll out upgradable parts to make it possible. This is the problem with DELL and others,so when you buy from them the chances are you are stuck with the original operating system.

However, the M2010 is compatible with Windows 7, even though Dell won't help you to install it. The Black Screen of Death is not related to Windows 7. It actually comes from, and here we have to say it almost certainly seems to come from, the way Dell put the M2010 together in the days of XP and Vista. These inherent weaknesses were visible then- in fact they were worse. So upgrading to Windows 7 is something of a saviour. But it doesn't fix all the inherent problems.

I assume you are aware there is a 'how to install win7 on a M2010' written procedure available in the Dell forums? Best wishes, CRC2.