XPS M2010 Failed. Help Please

Question

Hello,

I have a Dell XPS M2010 and it has suddenly developed a fault.

The monitor went blank while I was using it, there was still luminance from the screen but no image.

I had to press and hold the power button to switch it off and powered up again it stayed blank again. Not even showing the dos startup.

I left it off for a while then turned it on again. This time it booted up ok and as I was about to log in again, it went blank. Now the screen wont come on.

Anyone have any ideas? I'm going to attach a monitor tonight or use the SVGA output to see if it's the monitor or hardware.

Had it for just over a year now

I hope its not dead :(

Thanks in advance

Davet50 · Answer

if it will not power an external monitor then more than likely the video is bad. Not sure if it is a card of built in to the motherboard...are you perhaps still under warranty??

scaseman · Answer

No, not under warranty unfortunately :(

scaseman · Answer

ok, not got a dvi monitor to try yet but plugged thought i'd try with a s-vga lead. When I powered up, the screen actually came on and i said boot in safe mode.   it got as far as loading iastorv.sys then hung..... i can't seem to get any consistancy when it boots.   Mostly the lights just come on then the screen stays blank, then nothing.... funny thing is, is that the cd drive wont even open when it's in the hung state.   Anyone got any tips on what to do first if I manage to get it up? I'm thinking checking the events log and getting my data off   Is there any way I can read my data off my drives outside the m2010? I have it set up as RAID (striping) not mirrored.   Thanks

Brocklee · Answer

If you can see the POST screen via the monitor when you first power it on, you should press F12 for boot options.  One of the options is 'Diagnostics'.   Let it run the diagnostics.  You might have some bad hardware.  Hopefully something simple and easy to replace (i.e. not the motherboard, heh)   Also, I would do the diagnostics first, before trying to force a boot and rescue data from your array.  There are usually a few options for getting data in safe mode.  For one, if you boot with safe mode + networking enabled you can push data to a shared folder on another machine on your LAN (assuming you have one).  Or maybe even put a big USB drive into one of your USB ports and push data to it (not sure how much volume of data you're talking about).   However, unless this is data that simply can't wait, you might hold off until you know exactly what the problem is.

scaseman · Answer

Oh it's not looking good......   just ran the diagnostics and it only got just past the monitor test and then hung :(   I think you might be on the right track with the motherboard fault idea.   I'll keep trying

scaseman · Answer

Ok, I thought i would have another go at running the Diagnostics this morning and it got so far through the initial tests then started beeping and the lights on the keyboard started flashing in a sequence.   Another thing to note is that the only way I seem to be able to get the screen on is to have the battery out and unplugged from the charger for 10-15 mins, then plug it back in and switch on..... otherwise the screen stays blank and doesn't seem to go anywhere.

Brocklee · Answer

That is interesting behavior concerning the battery and needing to unplug it for 10-15 mins before it will turn on.   I wonder if there is something wrong with the health of your battery.  Do you have a spare that you could swap?  Does the battery or charger get really hot or anything?  Can you access the BIOS setup (F2 from POST screen) and check the battery info/health screen?  (not sure if that will give you much info on battery condition besides the charge).

scaseman · Answer

Right, thanks for keeping up with me.......   I don't think it is a battery thing now, i have tried running the diagnostics from the resource cd (booting to the cd) and it gets so far then hangs, again at different points.   Could it possibly be the processor over heating? Failing then working again when it has cooled down?

Brocklee · Answer

Heat could possibly be a culprit.  Not just the CPU either, it could be memory overheating, GPU, chipset, etc.  How often do you hear your fan spin up?  How hot is the ambient temp of the room you're in?  Is it cold outside?  Could you take it to your garage (if it's cold) and see if it will stay up long enough to complete a full set of diagnostics?  I know that sounds odd and won't solve anything in the long run, but if you can figure out conclusively that it is a heat issue (or perhaps eliminate heat as a factor) then you can move on to figuring out how to fix it.   Another thing you might consider, is taking out one of your DIMMs (assuming you have two) and see if it will complete the diagnostics with one or the other DIMMs removed.  This could eliminate bad RAM.  I'm not certain if when using a single DIMM if the DIMM has to be in the DIMM_A slot for operation or not.  If not, you could also trying running with one in DIMM_B to eliminate problems in the motherboard circuitry that feeds the data slots.   Just shotgunning here with ideas.  =)

scaseman · Answer

It now gets stranger.......   I got home, turned it on expecting to see the dos screen but nothing,.... left it for a while and turned it on again, but screen stayed blank.   I nearly gave up, but left it switched on (with a blank screen) then noticed alot of the lights flashing so thought of connecting it to the network and mapped to the C$ and D$ with success so I am now copying my files over while its stays up...... been on now for a good couple of hours.   So now, I have no video but can map to it. When I have all my files I will try and RDP to it to view the Events log.

Brocklee · Answer

Well that's good!  Just remember when checking the event log and whatnot that you were getting these 'hangs' (or display blanking?) even during diagnostics that were pre-Windows boot up, so it's unlikely that you're having anything solely wrong inside Windows (like drivers and stuff)

scaseman · Answer

Right,   I am now starting to think this is just Video Card related. Here's why......   I managed to connect via RDP to the M2010 and checked the Device Manager to find that the Video drivers where not loading properly. However I couldn't update so uninstalled.   Now it has booted up to the log in prompt (with big icons) I logged in and the desktop appeared but then it hung.   However, I was able to RDP to it and the screen has stayed hung as I am browsing the desktop when it should have logged out etc.   I have also took the machine to bits and cleaned out all the dust and checked the connections.   Do you know what the latest video driver is? Is there a way of forcing a driver change??

scaseman · Answer

Guess who's back?? :)   My latest prognosis is that it can't be just the Video card as it still isn't booting up reliably.   ie. If it was only the video card then you'd still expect the machine to boot to login prompt, so I could Remote Desktop to it..... even if the screen is blank, wouldn't you?   This is driving me insane as I start getting somewhere then get knocked back.   To summerise   On power on, 'usually' the lights flash, the power light (and bluetooth light) stay on, the HD light flicks on once. The screen doesn't come on at all and the dvd drive, buttons are inactive ie cant open dvd drive and it just hangs in this position.   'Occasionally' boots up from power on, HD lights etc flicker on and the machine boots up, but the screen stays blank. This is when I can RDP to it and remove files etc.   When it has successfully booted to the DOS prompt I have F12 and ran diagnostics from the disc which have got so far then hanged.   I have tried removing both pieces of RAM one at a time,   There are no 'Volume Light codes' (I took all the ram out and tried booting and saw the Volume codes so I know they work)   I have had it in bits and cleaned all the connectors from dust (by blowing)   Any more ideas would be great guys thanks

magedam · Answer

i vote for the graphics card , cooling issues can not do all this mess , it is not a desktop pc , and with that you still can take it to an air conditioned room and check , but i vote for the graphics card .

Brocklee · Answer

While I agree that this may not be heat related, it's still true that heat can destabilize solid state components pretty easily, and he has exhibited some symptoms of erratic behavior where no other variables are being changed except perhaps the ambient temp of the room.  Anyhow, I'm a software engineer, not an EE, so who knows.  ;-)   I am working on my XPS M2010 right now and can't reboot to look, but if you can get into the BIOS, maybe you can see if there is an option to disable the LCD monitor.   There is obviously something unstable and it is obviously not software related.  Electricity is a funny animal when stuff like this is happening.    ---   Anyhow, I haven't opened mine up to see the video card (btw, you have X1800, yes?).  I'm not sure how integrated it is.

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XPS M2010 Failed. Help Please

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