I have a XPS M1330 notebook PC with a nVidia GeForce 8400M GS GPU.  My GPU malfunctioned 5 weeks ago and I had it (and the system board the GPU was integrated to) replaced by Dell under the extended nVidia GPU warranty 10 days ago.  Today, after the PC had been activated for a prolonged period (20 hours) and was a little hotter than usual, I encountered a brief display blackout lasting 3-5 seconds, followed by a message balloon stating the display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding but had successfully recovered.  I am fearful that this may herald another nVidia GPU malfunction and am hoping it simply meant either my PC was a little overheated and needed a break or the nVidia GPU drivers needed updating.  I shut down the PC for several hours, then went to the nVidia website to look for updated drivers.  I found driver 186.03, released 6-9-2009, using the nVidia automatic update function, in which the nVidia site scans my PC to confirm my GPU and find the most appropriate driver.  However, nVidia placed a notice by the driver description stating that the PC manufacturer (i.e., Dell) wants its customers to update the nVidia drivers only through its own website and wouldn't let me download the driver.  The Dell website has only one driver update for my nVidia GPU model, 176.44, and it's three generations old, having been released 10/23/2008 (nVidia has released two newer drivers since).  Using the manual search function, I circumvented this situation, downloaded the most recent driver from nVidia 2 hours ago and I haven't encountered any problems since.  To be safe, I created a restore point just before installing the driver.

Dell apparently does not want its notebook nVidia GPUs updated from nVidia, even if it means forgoing the latest updates.  Is this related to the nVidia GPU problems Dell (and other manufacturers) has been experiencing on its notebook PCs?  Does Dell view the nVidia drivers are part of the problem?  I thought the issue was more fundamental, basically a design flaw of the mobile nVidia GPU causing insufficient heat dissipation and subsequent heat damage to the GPU.

Thanks,

PG