<p>OK--I'm a little worried. Dell is sending out a technician to replace the motherboard, processor, graphics card due to defective nvidea. I'm definitely not a computer pro but I did a little research today and discovered that there is a major problem with nvidea and it's not limited to Dell (also HP and MacPro). My concern is that when they replace the motherboard and other stuff, that they will replace it with just a new part but with the same defect in it thus, delaying another failure in the near future. I really don't know too much about this but maybe someone on here can explain the problem to me a little better. I'm very concerned because I'm sending my kid off to college with this same computer.</p>
<p>the problem has something to do with bad materials in the GeForce 8400 and 8600 graphics cards. if they're replacing the video card with a different one, or if nVidia has started manufacturing revised versions, then the problem will go away. they have to replace the motherboard since the graphics card is built into it in laptops (or something like that).</p>
<p>if whoever uses the laptop doesn't do anything that taxes the graphics card, the problem may never arise.</p>
<p>We didn't abuse the graphics card. It's just defective and basically just died because it was faulty to begin with. No games on the laptop--just your basic stuff like itunes, office, mozilla, antivirus, adobe, and a printer. It was a top of the line dell xps1330 and this problem occurred after only about 6 weeks of having the thing. Dell was good about the support. I called them up today and they've all ready shipped out replacement parts and the tech guy is supposed to call to make appt. to come to the house either tomorrow or the next day at the latest. It's covered under the warranty. I just hope that they don't replace the part with a the same defective part but just a new one. Hopefully, they're replacing it with a corrected part.</p>
<p>Is there a way to know if you have the defective chip?
I upgraded my bios to a version that's supposed to be a safeguard against it, but I would feel better if there was a way to find out if I have the defective chip before my computer dies during college or something...</p>
<p>I think that they were dropping the clock speed of the graphics card to fix the problem. I don't know if they have a real solution. BTW, the Dell M1330 is normally a cool-running system - at least the one I have is. I have Intel Integrated with it so that nVidia card must be putting out some heat. I think that the computer companies and nVidia are hoping that they systems can last through the warranty period and that they are only fixing machines that fail. It's a pretty crappy situation.</p>
<p>I have an 8600GT in my MacBook Pro but it doesn't get hot because I don't do any gaming.</p>
<p>Dell is offering a warranty enhancement for the laptops affected by this issue:</p>
<p>The Dell technician is coming to my house in a couple of hours with new parts (motherboard, RAM, and whatever else) to hopefully correct this problem. I'm so mad. I'm not mad that the computer broke because I understand that problems do occur sometimes. What I'm mad about is that no one at Dell can confirm to me whether or not they are replacing my parts with new defective units or new defective free units. I specifically asked the technician if the replacement parts are from the same bad batch of defective parts or if they're from a new defective free batch. All he would say was that Dell is replacing the parts and it SHOULD correct the problem. He would not answer my specific question.<br>
Is there anything that you suggest that I ask the technician when he gets here? I'm not a computer pro so I'm not exactly sure what I should say to him or ask him?</p>
<p>The Dell tech came and replaced the motherboard and some other stuff. It took about 30-45 minutes. He said to use it a lot in the next 2 days because if it's going to fail, it should happen then. I have my fingers crossed that the problem is fixed for good.</p>
<p>Hi - I hope your problem is sorted out. What were the problems you were having? My 8 month old Dell has a nvidia 8600 and recently I keep getting the blue screen of death several times a day plus it gets really hot sometimes (to where I cannot keep it on my lap and have to turn it off for a while). I am wondering if i have the same problem as you had. I did not know there was a problem with nvidia till reading your thread.</p>
<p>If your computer is going to school with your daughter you should hopefully be able to have it fixed there if additional problems arise. My daughter's 3 year old computer has had to be fixed twice and the Dell tech will come here or one will go to her school. I think her extended warranty is about to expire now that I think about it. :(</p>
<p>nysmile: do you know what video card you have now?
if not, right click on desktop -> properties -> settings tab. what does it say under "display"?</p>
<p>The Dell welcome page says that it's nvidia geoforce 8400GS. He replaced the motherboard, processor, video, and I think the RAM. He said he basically replaced everything but the hard drive. He was a very nice guy. He hates VISTA and feels that a lot of problems to computers are caused by it. He said that the new motherboard has the most up to date BIOS on it.</p>
<p>swimcatsmom what model Dell do you have that has the 8600 in it?</p>
<p>Correction--the Dell Welcome screen says that it's a nvidia geoforce 8400M GS. That's the replacement. He said that the new motherboard has BIOS to address the problem. Also replaced the processor and RAM. I'm not a computer pro so I can't give you too many more of the details. I just kept telling him that I'm really worried that it might happen again but he seems to think everything should be fine now because of the replacement parts.<br>
He did say that if anything happens to the Dell when S is away at college, a Dell technician will come right to his college to fix it. That's good to know but I hope the computer doesn't break again.<br>
This problem is not specific to just Dell. It's a problem with any brand of computer/laptop with nvidia.</p>
<p>Well it's not Dell's fault.</p>
<p>They don't make the graphics cards and all they can do is put the ones in there that Nvidia makes. If Nvidia hasn't fixed the problem then it could still happen, but I'm not sure whether it has or not.</p>
<p>and its not all nvidia cards, its just the 8400/8600 series.</p>
<p>and If I recall correctly the BIOS update should keep the fans spinning all the time and cool the system down more.</p>
<p>archrival - i have an Inspiron 1520 which is not on the Dell list but I upgraded to the nvidia 8600 (had a good coupon).</p>
<p>For us, these were the symptoms of the nvidia issue:</p>
<p>--running fine and then all of a sudden the screen would flash and the computer would turn off.</p>
<p>--would work fine and then the next time we tried to boot up, weird designs would come onto the screen. swirls and/or squares/or lines.</p>
<p>--wouldn't boot up right. blue screen. </p>
<p>The first sign was when the screen flashed and the computer turned itself off. After it did this twice, the other issues began. It also ran VERY HOT at times.</p>
<p>I must say that Dell was at our house within a day of us calling about the issue.</p>
<p>yeah, that's what's been happening a lot.</p>
<p>the BIOS update will keep the GPU fan running...meaning the computer will be a little noisier and battery life will go down.</p>
<p>however, nVidia said (way back in the beginning of July) that they have been using better materials in their new batches...so where are those? is the BIOS update a precautionary measure, or is the new card also defective?</p>
<p>well, I went to the "online chat with a dell tech" on the Dell website to ask if my new motherboard had the updated BIOS. It didn't. It had BIOS08 so I had to download and install the new BIOS12. I was concerned that the new BIOS would make the fan run constantly and loudly but thank goodness, it doesn't.</p>
<p>lol i love their solution " let's not fix anything.let's just make their machine louder and make it suck up more power."</p>
<p>But seriously, the 1330 has a horrible cooling system. that plus the 8 series gpu's......</p>
<p>well they can't do anything else to fix it, they don't make the video cards</p>