Dell XPS m1330 Video Problems - Dell Support Sucks - Am I alone here?

Question

I purchased a dell XPS a couple of months back.  No problem what-so-ever because I have been doing some stock trading and just basic typing and surfing the internet on the laptop. Recently, I just started to watch some movies AND THAT'S WHERE THE PROBLEM START.  I was able to watch the movies for like 2 minutes without any problem, then just when I was relaxed, sit back and enjoying the movie, it started to LAG, slowly at first, then sound and video just stop and freeze. I thought it was the DVD that's bad, so I test by watching some youtube & hulu videos, but the problem still the same. I called Dell support, they said to perform diagnostic on the laptop hardware, I did everything without any error using their diagnostic tools.  SO, they suggest that it might be a Virus or spyware infection on the laptop, although I have a antivirus software.  They told me to back up everything and reload the dell factory image.  I did.  But the problem still there after i reload the dell image.  I told them that the problem happend whenever I watch movies or do something with heavy graphic usage, but they keep insisting that it's a virus or spyware issue.  They told me to perform a fresh windows installation.  I DID.  BUT THE PROBLEM STILL THERE.  Movies still lags after a couple of minutes.  After the dell image reload and a fresh install of vista, I stopped believe that this is a software issue, or a virusand spyware issues.  However, the Dell customer service keep on insisting and wanting to charge me for their service to fix the problem. After reading online abou the NVIDIA gpu heating issues, I starting to believe that this is a video card problem.  Anyone have any similar problem?  Any similar situation?  How do you get support on this type of issues?  Is there a solution out there?  Or is Dell trying to drag it out until warrantee expired? System Specs: Name NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GSPNP Device ID PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0427&SUBSYS_02091028&REV_A1\4&2950AA54&0&0008Adapter Type GeForce 8400M GS, NVIDIA compatibleAdapter Description NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GSAdapter RAM 128.00 MB (134,217,728 bytes)Installed Drivers nvd3dum.dll,nvwgf2um.dllDriver Version 7.15.11.7644 OS Name Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home PremiumVersion 6.0.6001 Service Pack 1 Build 6001Other OS Description  Not AvailableOS Manufacturer Microsoft CorporationSystem Manufacturer Dell Inc.System Model XPS M1330System Type X86-based PCProcessor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU     T5850  @ 2.16GHz, 2167 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)BIOS Version/Date Dell Inc. A15, 12/26/2008SMBIOS Version 2.4Locale United StatesInstalled Physical Memory (RAM) 2.00 GBTotal Physical Memory 2.00 GBAvailable Physical Memory 0.98 GBTotal Virtual Memory 4.22 GBAvailable Virtual Memory 3.06 GBPage File Space 2.29 GBPage File C:\pagefile.sys

ejn63 · Answer

Is the system overheating? Do the fans work (F12 at powerup gets you to a diagnostic menu where you can test them).

The nVidia problem has nothing to do with causing or resulting from overheating - it's a flat-out failure of the chips due to substandard engineering - they can't take repeated thermal cycling.

rl08 · Answer

Use caution, Dell will regularly drag things out until warranties expire and they can no longer be held liable. It's SOP for them.

CM770 · Answer

That is exactly what they did with me by giving me the run a round, I was pretty upset.

CM770 · Answer

No you are not alone, I purchased mine, XPS M1330, and started having problems with it 6 months later. I was going to collage on line at the time so I didn't really have time to do anything with it, then I realized that the warrenty was about to expire so I emailed Dell customer support - they told me to contact the tech department who told me to contact the people I baught it from???

Come to find out that one of my fans was not working which made one of the ram strips to burn out.

Thanks to Dell, I went to a private computer specialist to have it temporarily fixed...he wasn't sure if the fan would last. He told me generally they don't break.

Good Luck with yous!

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