Dell to replace fans and graphics card on my XPS M1710 again today

I'm having Dell replace another set of fans and graphics card on my XPS M1710 today (well, it's scheduled and booked in for a replacement between 8am-12noon).

My 7950Gtx card was starting to overheat again (most likely due to the design flaws, coupled with the heat we've had here in australia lately) - 2 crashes later and suddenly having artefacts appear when playing games or objects simply just not rendering (big black blobs moving about on the screen) and Dell has sorted out getting a technician to come out and replace both the fans and the graphics card again.

This is the 3rd graphics card i've had in this laptop and the second set of fans/heatsinks - and it will most likely not be the last either considering we're again replacing 1 refurbished (and faulty card) with 1 other refurbished (and previously faulty card).

It'll be interesting to see how well (or not) this new card works and how long it'll last.

not keeping my hopes up that it'll actually be the last card that burns out - so, i'm just happy that Dell extended my warranty by another year. Historically speaking that should mean i'll have another 2-3 cards replaced during that time. It's only been 5 months since i had a total of 3 fixes - 1 set of fans/heatsinks, 1 motherboard and 1 graphics card + Dell managing to keep my laptop for nearly 9 days to check it out.

I asked Dell to provide me with the fault analysis from the last time it went away (it was in their lab for testing, which took forever, and eventually they replaced the motherboard) but so far they haven't come up with the goods. Reason for asking for this information is that i want to see what else could possibly be damaged in the laptop by these constant failures of hardware.

Published Mon, Feb 16 2009 7:40 by Brian Madsen
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Comments

# re: Dell to replace fans and graphics card on my XPS M1710 again today

Sunday, February 15, 2009 6:57 PM by andrew bartucciotto

Damn Brain sounds like one for the bin soon. I was looking at the new XPS laptops but am having second thoughts after reading all the problems you are having... i've had my sony core 2 for nearly two years now without a hitch, maybe I should just stick to the vaio

# re: Dell to replace fans and graphics card on my XPS M1710 again today

Sunday, February 15, 2009 8:36 PM by Brian Madsen

@Andrew

Yeah - my issues with Dell has definitely not left with a lasting positive impression.

even though they're now working  very hard at changing my perception and making my experience a positive one again. They're suddenly honouring their next business day parts replacement warranty with me, which was earlier 3-4 days instead of NBD.

just called home and the wife told me that the technician was about to boot my laptop up for the first time and this time around there was no artefacts during bootup (which is a positive outcome so far).

I'm expecting the  graphics card to die within another 3-4 months again - and i'll currect my last timeframe which was 5 months since it was replaced - that's incorrect. only 3 1/2 months since it was replaced last.

Lets see what happens - Dell has previously been the best bang for buck you can get and i've rarely, if ever, had problems with the systems i've bought from them. it's only really the M1710 that's caused me a lot of grief.

# re: Dell to replace fans and graphics card on my XPS M1710 again today

Monday, February 16, 2009 2:27 AM by Colin Scott

Have you considered that maybe technology is just allergic to you?

:)

# re: Dell to replace fans and graphics card on my XPS M1710 again today

Tuesday, February 17, 2009 7:29 AM by Will Hughes

From a consumer affairs point of view - if you can demonstrate that the thing keeps dying by no fault of yours, then your warranty should be resetting each time they're repair it.

At least, that's my understanding.

# re: Dell to replace fans and graphics card on my XPS M1710 again today

Tuesday, February 17, 2009 3:53 PM by Brian Madsen

@Colin - he hehehe..could be, could also just be that this piece of equipment is flawed :p

@Will - i believe that's the case as well, but Dell always tries to get away with it.

i still have 1+ year of warranty left and with three graphics cards being in the laptop in the last 3 1/2 to 4 months i'm not living with the hope that this will have been the last fix.

i wonder how much it's costing them to maintain my laptop? 4 technicians, 3 graphics cards, 2 sets of fans/heatsinks and 2 motherboards..plus it's been in a Dell service lab for more than a week as well.

it must be costing them a fortune and i still don't understand why they either 1) dont just refund me, 2) give me a new laptop or 3) fix it once and for all?

the idea of replacing faulty parts with "refurbished" parts - which still means we're putting a wet bandage on the wound imho - would only be good if that replacement part actually works.

the ramifications for Dell in this is an added service cost, disgruntled customers, bad publicity and even worse, a bad reputation..it might be a cost savings excercise up front but in the long run it's going to cost them a lot more than just the price of 1 technician call out and the price of the part.

# re: Dell to replace fans and graphics card on my XPS M1710 again today

Tuesday, February 17, 2009 3:57 PM by Brian Madsen

On a further note (actually wanted to blog this yesterday) then the new fans/heatsinks and graphics card is appearing to run a bit hotter than my previous card.

i especially noticed it last night because it wasn't as hot in the house as it's been over the last couple of weeks. it's not "burning" to the touch above the keyboard, but it's certainly warmer/hotter near the fan outlets and above the right hand side of the keyboard.

but, beside that, i took note of the FPS i was achieving in CoD4 and it's 20-30+ above of what the last card was managing...

last card was consistently locked in at around 50-60fps (would at times drop down to 20-30fps) while the new card performs at around 70-80fps (sometimes it peaks up to about 100fps but only briefly).

naturally that could be why it's warmer/hotter?

# re: Dell to replace fans and graphics card on my XPS M1710 again today

Tuesday, March 03, 2009 2:28 PM by Graeme Garner

I bought an XPS M1710 just over a year ago and i seem to have suffered the same problem as you with the machine over heating. The problems started with the machine crashing and rebooting with different coloured vertical spaced lines on the screen with sporadic reboots in between. After running some DELL dignosic tests and all coming back as ok. I thought that perhaps it could have been two other things causing the error such a graphics card or hard-drive failure.

I've since replaced the hardrive and thought about replacing the graphics card but i think it's mounted to the motherboard???. Would anyone know if it's possible to just replace the grapics card, or do I need to invest in a brand new motherboard?

Unfortunately my machine is just out of Dell warrenty by a couple of weeks!! How Annoying!!

Appreciate anyone comments..

# re: Dell to replace fans and graphics card on my XPS M1710 again today

Tuesday, March 03, 2009 3:44 PM by Brian Madsen

hey Graeme,

it's a very known issue with the graphics card setup on this model - i've spoken to several (6 actually) Dell technicians when they've come out to replace one part or another, and they all mention that this graphics card and laptop model have had tons of issues.

you can replace the graphics card, if you can locate a 7950GTX Go card out there, but be careful because it'll most likely have the same problems as the ones in circulation already.

Since this last post i've had yet another fan replaced (yesterday evening) and the technician noted that it took a LOT to get my fans running - i had to start up 9-10 applications before even the cpu fan would start up and we initially thought that the fan controllers had died again (on the motherboard) but eventually they kicked in.

i now have it in writing that should i have any further overheating issues, within the next 2 weeks, that Dell will replace my unit completely...but ONLY if it's a related issue. they claimed that the issues i've had so far has not been the same - eg, the two graphics cards that's died, the three motherboards, the three sets of fans and heat sinks - are all unrelated...

i was completely shocked in that they refused to see a trend happen here - all within a span of 5 months...rediculous if you ask me. They even quoted my very first call, where i needed to get a remote control for the external media card sent out as it was missing in the box, as being another unrelated issue.

the first technician i spoke to claimed that i'd only contacted Dell three times...i was absolutely gobsmacked to say the least..3 times?? i've probably called them well in excess of 30 times now.

i even had to follow up with the service company doing the support for them in Perth, because Dell wasn't capable of getting the correct details to them...

Dell's technical support is an absolute giggle - i've had snr technicians telling me that it's my OS that's burning out the hardware, that's making the motherboard fail, that's killing my graphics cards and that's causing the fans to die due to fan controllers failing on the motherboard..took me a massive argument with them to see reason on this one.

anyways, i still have close to 1 year of warranty left and i'll be calling them whenever there's ANYTHING wrong with the system - if this means having a weekly meeting with a technician then so be it...

# re: Dell to replace fans and graphics card on my XPS M1710 again today

Thursday, March 05, 2009 6:34 AM by Ken

Had my GPU and heatsink assembly replaced a short time ago (still within warranty thank God) - but I got the impression that 7950 cards are running out. I have also seen in some of Brians other posts that Dell has on several occasions replaced the machine with a 1730 (which may also have issues with heat).

This new (refurb) card runs hotter than the last, so prob wont last as long. Idle temps run at upto 80c - game temps (even with fangui at max) can run at over 102c.

The engineer when he was here suggested I take the machine apart and vac it every 2-3 months.. oh yeah and say bye-bye to remaining warranty - I dont think so.

@Graeme - contact Dell, if you can other posts here you should see that others have had their system fixed for free even if you're just out of warranty

# re: Dell to replace fans and graphics card on my XPS M1710 again today

Saturday, March 21, 2009 10:58 PM by Warren Sutton

Glad to see I'm not alone... I bought an M1710 with the 7950GTX back in October 2006.  The video card failed with the 'green dots' symptomolgy.

I bought a new nVidia Quadro FX2500 from parts-people.com but I didn't replace the fans because they seemed to working OK and I was running the I8kfanGUI.

Everything was peachy for about three weeks then guess what failed last night... yup, the fan for GPU.  

I came back to my computer and found my LCD screen displaying a deathly white.

I connected an external monitor and got a display in safe mode... and the green dots were back.  

An inspection of the fans revealed that the one on the GPU side had siezed and (apparently) the resulting heat spike took out my brand new card.

I guess the lesson is to replace the fans with the video card.

I'm off to order another video card two of each fan.

I'm not a big Dell fan right now...

# re: Dell to replace fans and graphics card on my XPS M1710 again today

Sunday, March 22, 2009 5:19 PM by Brian Madsen

Hey Warren,

ouch i say - expensive lesson to learn...

I've so far had 3 graphics cards, three sets of heat sinks + 3 1/2 sets of fans as well as 3 motherboards in this laptop.

after having spoken to a ton of people - even the technicians themselves - it's become apparent that the flaw actually lies in the fan controllers...and..guess where they're sitting? yeps, the motherboard..

problem is, once a part fails due to overheating, you can be 100% certain that other parts has taken damage and will eventually fail.

@Ken,

i've had confirmation from Dell that taking apart the laptop, as long as it's just opening up the case and not pulling all the parts out, does not constitute a breach of your warranty.

however, i've been warned that if i disconnect any of the parts, and if it's discovered, then my warranty may be void...so be careful with the keyboard and other nifty parts that's connected which you'll need to move to the side to get to the internals.

# re: Dell to replace fans and graphics card on my XPS M1710 again today

Thursday, April 02, 2009 11:52 PM by Erik

Wow, you guys are scaring the crap outta me lol I also have this same laptop and my Gefore Go 7900 GS has already faliled once, and I thought it was just a rare case, and continue to use my laptop normally, now I'm afraid if it's going to happen again, my laptop is out of warranty since 2007 and the card cost me $250 to replace, at the rate your talking about failure, every 5 months I would have to shell out $250 just to keep it running..........................Dell is hell

# re: Dell to replace fans and graphics card on my XPS M1710 again today

Friday, April 03, 2009 4:40 PM by Troy

Ive had my 9400 with a 7800go for just over 3 years so far.

I play games and it has had a massive amount of game play (over a full years worth in that time 24/7)

I got my 4th video car yesterday after extending my warrenty for a 4th year and it died after 2 hrs!

refurbs ftl!

# re: Dell to replace fans and graphics card on my XPS M1710 again today

Wednesday, April 08, 2009 1:50 AM by Ken.

I posted a short while back about how my 'new' 7950 card ran hotter than the last. Well surprise surprise.. I now get temps of upto 104c (I8Kfangui + Offset) and the machine downclocks and performance drops. Sent an EMail to Dell, they got me to perform a few tests (via EMail) all passed and now.....

Dell are now going to replace the MB, Heatsinks and Fan in this machine.

Wait a sec - all tests passed and they are going to fix it.. Well it does only overheat when you play a game on it.

# re: Dell to replace fans and graphics card on my XPS M1710 again today

Wednesday, April 08, 2009 5:11 AM by Brian Madsen

@Erik,

i've had 3 graphics card in this unit in the last 5 months..so that's $750/5 months, not just once :)

scared yet?

@Troy,

Dell refuses to acknowledge that the parts they're putting in are "second hand" parts - it's termed "refurbished" parts, which apparently means they're completely new and has never seen the light of day before being set into your unit..

according to wikipedia, refurbished means "Renovated" or "Renewed" all depending on context....essentially this means that it's been repaired or had something replaced on it that's failed :)

they'll continue to split words on it because admitting there's a geniunie fault would cause a recall and could ruin them.

gotta love word semantics eh :)

@Ken,

same happened to me - each and every test has passed with flying colours - but ... it also passed when one of the fans didn't even turn around??? so that's how much i'd give for their tests.

each time i've had parts replaced they've run those diagnostics - and each time it's passed with flying colours...they still replace the parts though...begs to question, what's really the problem? is the diagnostics not trustworthy or does "passed" in green letters means something else to Dell than it does to the rest of the world?

Good luck though - you'll most likely see it happen again and again and again and again :) better get used to it...

# re: Dell to replace fans and graphics card on my XPS M1710 again today

Thursday, April 09, 2009 3:15 PM by Erik

Well I'm using I8Kfangui to control the fan speed, I have my gfx card fan on HIGH all the time, it never goes below high now, and even when gaming my temps don't go above 130F

so do you think that would make the card last a little longer?

# re: Dell to replace fans and graphics card on my XPS M1710 again today

Wednesday, April 15, 2009 11:08 AM by Ken

@erik and all

fangui will not drive your fans to 100%. Under fangui using force to high I get a round 3750 rpm, I left fangui on monitor only and heated up the GPU and the fans hit 4300, temps still got to >100c but it did take longer to get there.

Just had MB, 2 fans and LHS heat sink replaced and all refurbs I think (MB Definitly) , no effect whatsoever

Next steps, call Dell again?  Ask for refund,  a replacement, all I want is my M1710 7600G running correctly without it down clocking the CPU to cope with the heat.

# re: Dell to replace fans and graphics card on my XPS M1710 again today

Friday, May 15, 2009 3:54 AM by Brian Hunter

High guys in the first year I had 4 motherboards, 2 complete chassis, 4 sets of fans, 3 batteries, 5 power blocks on an pc that cost £1700 is just total crap!

Now my screen has went but I have also got an non working fan next to my GTX 9500 CARD yes the dreaded one that is well over worked and gets so hot underneath its dangerous and crashes the system.

The question is should dell recall the entire 1710 model, I think they should lets face it guys how many 1710 owners are out there saying never again will I buy dell XPS or anything else its meant to mean something owning an XPS yep they are right there is every chance of getting thrid degree burns of this machine.

I was going to buy another samsung panel for this pile of junk but after reading this its time to cut ones losses AND MOVE ON!!!

Kind regards,

B hunter,

Scotland.

# re: Dell to replace fans and graphics card on my XPS M1710 again today

Saturday, May 30, 2009 2:30 AM by J.C.

my xps m1710 got the blue screen about 4 months after I bought it back in late 2006. dell replaced my screen in 2007. warranty ran out in 2007. screen some times blacks in and out while doing normal things like internet searches and such. I've called dell and they tried to give me the runaround when I told them it was a overheating issue and a bad graphics card. I've lived with this problem for over 2 years about to be 3. I feel high temp on the right side fan area. I have to let shut down the laptop and let it cool for a few hours before using it again. I clean it every month and a half. Dell customer supports are a bunch of idiots imo. Next step is replacement fans, video card, and putting a cooling tray under my laptop. email me @ martijc22@gmail.com if u guys have any ideas.

# re: Dell to replace fans and graphics card on my XPS M1710 again today

Monday, June 01, 2009 6:31 AM by Jason Farr

Well it seems I am not alone. Sadly I purchased an extended warranty or thought I did but Dell has no record of it so my M1710 is out of warranty.

Been getting the BSOD's and black screens until finally nothing comes up on the bios boot screen. Sad to say but it's a 2700 dollar paperweight and a wreck. I beg borrowed and pleaded with Dell to send me out a new card but instead they want me to pony up 500 bucks for a new card which I refuse to do.

Then I get some jackass telling me that oh they will instate my warranty only after I purchase the card because the laptop has an ongoing "issue".

I'm growing sick of this. I'm so frustrated and sick of Dell's cheap tactics and lack of customer service I'm either going to sue them in small claims or file a class action lawsuit.

If anyone else wants to help me in the email me at jazyjason@gmail.com

It has been too long since dell has gone unpunished for their horrible ethics and treatment of customers period.

# re: Dell to replace fans and graphics card on my XPS M1710 again today

Wednesday, June 03, 2009 11:12 AM by Allan

I have also had my graphics card replaced but only once. Even got a free upgrade from the 7900 to the 7950, bonus. My issues were the same, overheating, artifacts, random colors. But ever since I got my new GPU about 1 year ago it hasn't hiccuped since. But I also changed the Thermal paste dells uses with a better brand and I also clean out the heat sinks every month. They tend to collect A LOT of dust blocking air flow. Also I use a nifty app called 18kfangui which allows you to change and regulate the fan speeds. So I just set them to full blast while I play games and it stays around 75*C-85*C

I highly recommend changing to a brand thermal paste on your GPU and CPU because the Dell crap just doesn't cut it.

Also the right hand side of the laptop is where the GPU is and that sucker can through off the heat, I average at about 60*C at Idle

Yes the XPS M1710 does have design flaws but with the right tender loving care it works better than most desktops.

# re: Dell to replace fans and graphics card on my XPS M1710 again today

Friday, June 05, 2009 2:14 PM by Chris

Had my M1710 almost a year now 2 months left on my warranty! After reading all the above iam actually disgusted in the way Dell are handling this situation, it is no wonder they try force feed you the 3 year package warranty because deep down they know 3 years might just cover there arses and eventually customers will lose motivation to resolve "Dells" issues!

My M1710 has experienced all the above, a technician is coming to visit me in a few days to replace the heat sinks etc and check the gcard since its giving off more heat than the sun!

After ringing up dells "24 7 xps support" i wonder why! i got put threw to india where the women who answered was awful, and said 2 me the department is closed, in which i replied isnt it 24 hour service, she replied by hanging up the phone! it then took me another 4 phone calls to get threw to a different operator to eventually get the engineer to visit!

So far my experience with dell has being very displeasing, i would rather buy the parts and build my own as the stress i have being through by purchasing this laptop for 1k its 1000% not worth the trouble!

DO NOT PURCHASE DELL PRODUCTS UNLESS YOU REALLY DO WANT TO EXPERIENCE THE ABOVE ISSUES!

# re: Dell to replace fans and graphics card on my XPS M1710 again today

Friday, June 05, 2009 3:49 PM by Brian Madsen

@Chris,

this is one of the smaller threads - there's a much bigger one here:

msmvps.com/.../dell-xps-m1710-gaming-laptop-overheating.aspx

Sorry to hear that you're having problems as well - it seems that it's definitely worth getting the warranty extended IF you're going to buy a Dell...

i would however, for Dell anyways, read the warranty statement as they do try to actually fill you with BS on many occasions by referring to the warranty and the "Contract".

# re: Dell to replace fans and graphics card on my XPS M1710 again today

Saturday, June 20, 2009 3:57 PM by Joe

I too!!! have had fan/motherboard/ and graphic card replacements!!.

this will be he 4th card to be replaced.Surely there must be somthing we can do to either

1. get our money back

2. get a replacement!!!!

any ideas!!

# re: Dell to replace fans and graphics card on my XPS M1710 again today

Sunday, June 21, 2009 2:04 AM by Brian Madsen

@Joe,

the best bet is to prove that your system, in particular, is having recurring problems.

first off, make sure you got a record (your own, cuz Dell's are vague at times) of all repairs and replacements.

secondly, don't speak to the middle tier Tech Support guys at Dell - they can't help you and are only capable of arranging for a fix.

thirdly, speak to the XPS Resolution Specialists - so when you call up, ask to speak to one of them. be reasonable - loosing your temper (i've learned) isn't going to help anything, but also, don't take BS. They'll cite the warranty, the contract etc as that they just have to fix it - well, if you'd have multiple replacements (of the same components) state that it's obviously not being fixed.

Also, keep in mind that it costs Dell a phenomenal amount of money to maintain these systems - especially if it's recurring issues - and don't ask for an upgrade, because that wont happen if you ask for it - be happy with a complete replacement of the M1710 - even with a refurb.

To top this off - i had 7 major parts failures in 9 months and i can't imagine the costs to Dell for that.

I got the lucky news monday this week (15th of June, 2009) that they'd replace it with a refurb model and that'd my replacement had been approved.

Much to my delight AND surprise, i'm not getting a M1710, but the newly released M17x from Alienware. It'll get here in the next couple of weeks i believe (by the 1st of July, 2009 that is).

They've definitely done the right thing by me - definitely..my system was flawed to the extent where i had a technician out more than 1 every second month on average. I have 280+ days of warranty left on this system and it'd have cost them way more than a new system to keep that up at this rate.

I blogged my happy resolution here: msmvps.com/.../dell-replaces-my-xps-m1710-laptop.aspx

Good luck guys!! be patient with them and give them as many chances, as humanly possible, to fix your system...have to be fair to them as well...

# re: Dell to replace fans and graphics card on my XPS M1710 again today

Monday, June 29, 2009 1:59 PM by yogstr1

hey..i have an m1710 also..err soon itll b 3yrs that ive had it..i must say however that throughout the time that i had it i havent had a single problem with it. i dont think its the model though. cuz all of the comments that ive read was with the gtx7950 cards, n well my buddy had one with a 7950, n dell couldnt fix it so they replaced it with a m1730!  i have a 7900 card on mine..i was actually lookin for a 7950 card to buy, and stumbled across this blog..and now after reading this i dont think i want to buy one anymore :(

# re: Dell to replace fans and graphics card on my XPS M1710 again today

Monday, July 20, 2009 1:48 PM by IanJ

Wow.  Surprised to hear all this.  I've had my M1710 for ages and no problems.... GPU hits 70 degrees C max when I'm playing games and normally around 50 when just using Windows,