<p>I think I might have one of those defective chips after reading nysmile's description of the "symptoms."
I did have some oddly timed blue screens a few weeks back before I did a bios update. I'm worried that I probably have e defective chip. Should I call Dell to have them replace it? I'm heading off to college this week though...</p>
<p>Update.....I just "online chatted" with another Dell tech because I wanted to know if the replacement parts are from a new nondefective batch of nvidia. It seems as though the new nondefective nvidia components have not been made or distributed yet. This means that defective nvidia that caused the problems on my son's xps1330 was replaced with the same defective (but new) part. I don't really know how this is going to solve the problem. If the first one lasted between 7 and 8 weeks, who is to say that the replacement won't also die sometime within the next 7 or 8 weeks. That will put the time frame right around college midterms!!!!<br>
Now I need some advice. Would you chance sending this laptop with your kid or would you take the loss, buy a new HP for about $800 (without the nvidia) and send the HP with your kid rather than chance another failure with the Dell?</p>
<p>If they updated the BIOS, it should be fine for the next two months at least, battery life might be slightly worse though. (Although I haven't noticed that much of a difference to be honest)</p>
<p>I just hope nvidia roles out those new chips asap because I would really want mine replaced too.</p>
<p>I decided not to send my kid to college with his new Dell xps1330 because of the nVidia issue. The fact that Dell "corrected" the issue by removing the fried components with the same, but new, components does not sound like a true fix to me. With freshmen dealing with the typical adjustments to college, the last thing he needs is to have his laptop crash.<br>
I've decided to keep his dell laptop as a spare home computer. If it fries again at home, it won't be a big deal. He'll take my 2 month old Black Mac for reliability reasons. The MacBook doesn't have the nvidia card so he should be fine. I called the school to make sure the MacBook would log on to the server and resnet said it would be fine. When he gets to school, all he has to do is go to resnet and they will install the school's version of mcaffee and the client thing that will get him onto the school's network. It has Microsoft Office on it so his work will be compatible with windows pc's.</p>
<p>
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all he has to do is go to resnet and they will install the school's version of mcaffee
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Please tell him not to install McAfee. It's totally unnecessary on a Mac and will kill its performance.</p>
<p>Good idea to use a mac. Generally very reliable. My Dell laptop was repaired with refurbished parts (a keyboard), and the service I got was just adequate. I like apple service much better. I went to the genius bar on a sunday, and I got it back on wednesday, all at no charge to me.</p>
<p>That said, I lost ALL my files. I can not stress enough backing up all documents, powerpoint, excel and other personal files all the time. A memory stick or back up hard drive is a must. The memory stick is easy since you can use it on almost any other computer. Also important documents can be saved on line in aol or other mail applications. I know that apple has a program to save everything on line, but I never used it.</p>
<p>srunni, I talked with resnet this morning about son bringing the black mac (this school's resnet will not service or give support for macs). However, they said that kids do bring macs and according to info from other kids via facebook, they seem to have less problems then the laptops promoted by the school (lenova). </p>
<p>His college makes everyone install their version of mcafee. If they don't, then they can't log on to the server. Resnet said that they will install everything on the Mac for him to get it up and running on the school network. </p>
<p>I feel more comfortable with him taking my (now his) Macbook. I think as long as he uses Microsoft Office, he'll be fine. I just don't trust the Dell with the nvidia. It fried once and it's very likely that it will fry again because of the defect. I was really frustrated and debated what to do but I think this is a smart decision.</p>
<p>
[quote]
His college makes everyone install their version of mcafee.
[/quote]
Wow, that sucks. I never run anti-virus, even on Windows. It's like a virus itself. One time after reinstalling Windows, I timed how long it took to boot up, with no software installed, with general apps installed, and then with anti-virus installed. There was a dramatic increase in the time after installing anti-virus. Ever since then, I stopped using anti-virus on Windows.</p>
<p>I hope my college doesn't have something like this, because it won't work on Linux ;/ Guess I'll find out tomorrow :D</p>
<p>its possible that you'll only need to have the antivirus and junk to register the computer on the network, then you can just disable whatever software that checks your computer afterwards. i did that, anyway :rolleyes:</p>
<p>but it doesn't work everywhere.</p>
<p>thanks for the advice. Has anyone else on this CC thread had their new Dell with nvidia burn out? I read that this issue is also happening on HP's with the nvidia geoforce 8400M and 8600M chips. I also read that MacPro's are having problems.</p>
<p>Daughter's MacBook Pro video card just died. The machine boots but I can't get any video out, either to the screen or the external monitor. Will bring it into the Apple Store tomorrow. It appears that a lot of MacBook Pros purchased around the time I bought this one have failed and the fix is a motherboard replacement. Of course I'm about one month outside of the warranty but we'll deal with the money aspect after getting it back up and running.</p>
<p>I hope that nVidia gets their act together. I don't expect any problems with my MBP as I don't do anything graphics-intensive. Best I can hope for is a Penryn motherboard.</p>
<p>Brought it into the Apple Store yesterday and they wanted $310 to fix it. I spoke to a manager and he said to call AppleCare. I called them and they agreed to waive the service fee even though the machine is out of warranty. I've read a number of posts where Apple is covering the cost of the repair even though systems are outside of warranty.</p>
<p>An article at The Inquirer (they broke the nVidia story) indicates that nVidia has a fix that was announced a while ago but actual good chips should have been going out around mid-August. I will do some GPU thermal testing when I get the MacBook Pro back. I did some thermal testing on one of my other MacBook Pros and was a bit surprised at the temperatures at idle. They were significantly higher than what I expected. For now, I will be running the systems with external cooling fans to cool the systems down. If the repair fixes the thermal problem, then I will look to Apple to do some kind of repair to my other systems.</p>
<p>I hope everything works out for you and your macbook pro. I'm happy to see that Apple waived the cost of the repair. </p>
<p>The Dell with its new motherboard, updated bios, and new RAM seems to be fine now but I'm not confident about how long it's going to keep running. For the moment though, it seems to be OK.</p>
<p>You could try downloading nTune from nVidia's website to monitor your GPU temperature. Mine was running at 73 degrees C at idle. The fan brings it down to 63 degrees. I read two articles that stated that 70 degrees is considered hot. The CPU temperature is only 42 degrees so my opinion is that the GPU is running hotter than it should.</p>
<p>I installed realtemp on my M1330 and the MacBook Pro and CPU temps on both machines are in the same ballpark temps. The M1330 (with integrated graphics) generally runs pretty cool. So it's pretty clear to me that the major heat issue with the MBP is the graphics card. But I think everyone knows that now.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info.</p>
<p>GPUs don't get into dangerous territory until you get into the 80 and 90 degree celcius range.</p>
<p>73 at idle is a bit warm, but I don't think its anything unusual in a MBP...</p>
<p>i think idle should be closer to 60 degrees...</p>
<p>nVidia recognized the problem way back in July, but i figure cranking out enough new chips to replace all the defective ones will take awhile.</p>
<p>The article that I read on TGDaily indicated an expansion/contraction problem with high-lead solder on the nVidia chips. Laptops cycle the fan when a high-temp is reached so temperatures cycle. The temperature cycling eventually causes the substrate to break resulting in failure. The article said that 70 degrees and up are problem areas.</p>
<p>CPU temps were around 41 degrees so the GPU is definitely putting out the heat in this machine.</p>
<p>It may be that 80 to 90 degrees isn't a problem with a non-defective graphics chip but it appears that it is with nVidia's problem given the number of failures that I've been reading about.</p>
<p>CPU's, especially the newer generation ones, should definitely be idling in the 40-50c range.</p>
<p>GPU's well it also depends on the computer and how well its ventilated, mine idles at right about 60, and mine is a 9500 which is basically a rebranded 8600 GT, and gets up into the high 70's when put under an intense load. </p>
<p>I wish I knew for sure if the 9500 was affected with this problem :/ I've heard conflicting things...</p>
<p>Dell missed earnings by four cents a share. Should be interesting to see if the nVidia-related board replacements gets mentioned in the conference call. It may take a day or two to find it but I'll keep an eye out for it. Dell missed on the top-line by almost half-a-billion.</p>