M1730 Video problem

Question

Recent, I booted my XPS M1730 and it locked up with a black screen.  The drive stopped loading software and no other indicators were given.  (System description - originally came with Vista 32 but I upgraded to win 7 with no real problems and had been running fine for several years.)  I had suspected a bad drive so I ordered a replacement and and rebuilt the system with win 7.  Win 7 loaded fine and the system was fully functional except that it only saw a generic video card vice the 8900m GTX.  However, when I tried to update the video driver, the install completed without any issue but on reboot the system locked up with a black screen.  I have to revert to the last known good configuration (generic video) to get the system up.  The BIOS sees the 8900m GTXs but win 7 only see's a generic video card and loads that driver.  NOTE: I did not get my video card replaced early by Dell as it never had a heat problem or failed . No knowing what else to do, I rebuilt the entire system from the Dell system disks.  The build defaulted into Vista 64 and loaded fine with the generic video card/driver.  Again, I tried to load the Nvidia Vista video driver and the system locks up on the black screen.  It seems to me that the video card is damaged somehow but would welcome comments or suggestions. tks.  Gm.

ejn63 · Answer

The video chip is toast -- common with nVidia chips of this vintage.  You will need a new video card (which will likely be expensive) for the system.

Gerry M · Answer

Thats what I suspected but glad for the input.  thanks.  gm.

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