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xps m170 with video problems that come and go
When I started up my m170 this morning, the post screen had 3 rows of lines through it and the windows loading screen had the same. When It got to what i assume was the log on screen there were just large fuzzy blocks of color and nothing else. This was like this for several hours. Any Time I booted into safe mode (running off software video), there was no issue. Not one problem with the display in safe mode even when the post screen and bios showed the lines. I later ran the diagnostic boot mode twice. The first time it went to a screen of blocks of colors and nothing else. The second time it ran through everything with out a problem. After the second diagnostic boot, I was able to load windows and everything was fine for a bit. Within forty five minutes, my screen just went blank and nothing could be done, however when i rebooted everything was fine. Does anyone have an idea of what is going on with my xps m170?
ejn63
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August 7th, 2009 04:00
See if the problem replicates itself on an external monitor. If it does,reseat the video card, and if the problem continues, replace it with a new one.
If the problem doesn't show externally, the display panel is the source of the problem.
jack3dxvi
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August 7th, 2009 06:00
The problem replicates itself on an external monitor. Do you mean reseating the video card connections or the card as a whole?
ejn63
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August 7th, 2009 07:00
It's worth reseating the card itself:
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/xpsm170/en/sm/index.htm
If that doesn't fix the problem, you need to replace the card, which will be relatively expensive.
jack3dxvi
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August 22nd, 2009 13:00
Thanks for your advice. The problem went away for some time, since the day I made the first post. Now it's back again. This time it goes from the loading windows screen to just a blank screen (same with an external monitor). So now I took the time to take it apart and reseat the video carrd and the problem persists. Looking at around $400 for a replacement card (after shipping) from ebay really makes me just want to sell it for parts and either use the money to assemble a new desktop or save up for a newer labtop.
adrian961
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August 25th, 2009 23:00
Unless you have a good warranty ,get rid of it. I've had to replace at least 8 video cards on my xps m170.Those Nvidia cards are inherently bad and there is no fix. Believe me, they will just replace it with another card that will go out. Thank God I have an extended warranty.
jack3dxvi
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August 26th, 2009 14:00
Unfortunately I do not have a warranty on it anymore. I ran the dell diagnostic disc on it and it came up with errors reading and writing to video memory. Is there a faq anywhere on this sort of issue? I was reading on another forum (found via google) that some people have had to re solder connections on the card itself. I am wondering if a broken connection might be the issue or the ram on the card itself.