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XPS: Replacement unit STILL locking up.

post #1 of 94
4/4/04 at 12:34pm
Thread Starter 
Well, XPS lovers... it looks like there's still problems out there in Dell Land.

I had a graphics card swapout on my old unit, and that appeared to solve the problem. Dell also sent me a replacement unit so I got that "fresh out of the box feeling" again.

Well, the replacement locks up in Lineage 2 at 1920x1200. Can play for about 20 minutes, and the lockup is almost ALWAYS after the fans "kick up a notch".

I'm really starting to get the feeling that the Mobility 9700 in this thing isn't ready for prime time.

-Karl
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post #2 of 94
4/4/04 at 12:45pm
Ohhh, crapola....
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post #3 of 94
4/4/04 at 1:03pm
karl are you doing that "reinstall" of the OS and everything when receiving your new unit? i'm wondering if you would have a better experience just leaving things be when receiving it, and not going through the OS reinstall or if not, then vice versa
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post #4 of 94
4/4/04 at 1:06pm
Yeah I noticed mor eproblems with people doing complete reinstallation of windows and it would hurt to monitor the temps in fangui even forcing the videocard fan to always be on liek i ahve it in my 8600
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post #5 of 94
4/4/04 at 1:28pm
Thread Starter 
I have reinstalled. But honestly, If I cannot install anything but a factory supplied OS on a machine, there's ZERO reason to own it

Anyway, with the previous lockup scenarios it didn't matter, so chance are it would not matter now.

I'm back on the old unit now to do some more comparison testing. But I gotta say, whatever Dell is doing to validate these cards - it ain't good enough.
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post #6 of 94
4/4/04 at 1:31pm
dm, so you're saying that fangui may not be a good idea? Based on what i've read so far, all this OS reinstall, gpu overclocking, system monitoring and tempering via fanghui, powerstrip, etc. might not be such a good idea. Has anyone who simply used the xps out of the box had any problems playing games? when i receive my xps i won't do an os reinstall, however i will go through software add/remove and remove anything that i don't think i will use, however i might load powerstrip, but still on the fence about fanghui, i don't want to change any default dell configuration in regards to when the fans are programmed to kick in or not................to me that's playing with fire
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post #7 of 94
4/4/04 at 1:53pm
Let me see if I get this right ..
The replacement video card that you got seems to fix the problem and it no longer locks-up?
The full replacement laptop that was sent still has some lock-up problems?

That in a way sounds plausible. For the card they sent you it could have been one of the newest batches they had at the time. As for sending a full replacement laptop how long did it take them to send it? If it was kinda quick then it sounds more like they tried to use one that was ALREADY built and if that were so there was a chance it actaully had a bad card. Now if it took a week to build it and then ship then I don't know.

Is that the only game that locks it up?
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post #8 of 94
4/4/04 at 2:01pm
yeah that makes sense, if the replacement lappy was part of a batch that was "held back" in inventory for replacement purposes. I know from my experiences with the axim and stuff, even for "hot" items where demand far outstrip supply, they withhold a part of their inventory in order to be able to provide replacement systems and such instead of making an already somewhat pissed off customer wait the long lead times as new purchasers. if so, then you might have gotten another unit with a bum video card.

i was one of the first to jump on board the axim when it first came out and i have to say, it wasn't a pleasant experience, they had some issues to put it mildly. not a good idea to be part of the first "batch" of a newly created product from any organization, not just dell

even though i say this, i guess i'm still a sucka, cause i continue to be one of the first to buy newly released products.......................

call me a dumbass
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post #9 of 94
4/4/04 at 2:12pm
Thread Starter 
Confirmed. Old machine that has the replaced GPU board does NOT lock up. Newest machine still DOES lock up. This is with the same HDD swapped to the other machine, so the problem is NOT the OS install.

Dell is gonna have a lot of complaints on their hands with this system. As for me, since I know I have a GOOD GPU board and a flawless LCD, i'm going to make one good working machine from the two I have

-Karl
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post #10 of 94
4/4/04 at 2:19pm
karl,

create yourself a franken-dell or would it be dell-kenstein machine.......or as that dog puppet on conan o brien, what's his name? create a super machine from the parts of lesser machines hahahahahah
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post #11 of 94
4/4/04 at 2:21pm

Ouchies

Ouchies, that is NOT good. My replacement is due to arrive tomorrow. I'm PRAYING i get a good machine!
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post #12 of 94
4/4/04 at 2:22pm
yeah, me too, first thing i'm checking is the 3dmark03 test. Make sure it doesn't lock up.

B.
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post #13 of 94
4/4/04 at 2:29pm
karl,

did your old machine with old gpu and new machine lock up during your 3dmark03 testing? would this be a good way to check for potential gpu lockup problems? thanks
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post #14 of 94
4/4/04 at 2:53pm
I didn't do a reinstall of the os on my machine and i haven't had any issues. Shouldn't have anything to do with it though.
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post #15 of 94
4/4/04 at 3:26pm
Thread Starter 
Diesel:

1st XPS machine had the lockup problem.
1st XPS machine had the GPU board replaced and the problem was FIXED.
Dell replaced my 1st machine, received it last week.
New replacement machine has the lockup problem.

So basically, of the THREE GPU boards, ONE of them works flawlessly. The other two have the lockup problem.
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post #16 of 94
4/4/04 at 3:53pm
The symptoms are exactly the same or nearly so? ie. the same test in 3D Mark kills it in about the same time and the same way?
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post #17 of 94
4/4/04 at 3:54pm
Yes .. I'd like to know how long did you have to wait for the replacement laptop? Did they actually build-it after you talked to them? Or did it ship pretty fast meaning it was one that was already built.
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post #18 of 94
4/4/04 at 5:22pm
Thread Starter 
Well, ONE of the same symptoms. During heavy 3d, a solid lockup for me thus far (no corruption this time around).

They put the order for the replacement in on the 8th of March. It arrived monday the 29th.
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post #19 of 94
4/4/04 at 7:44pm
Perhaps it was part of the bad batches. Didn't they say they resumed shipping the second or last weeek of March? We can only pray.
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post #20 of 94
4/4/04 at 7:55pm
For those who care, I haven't done a reload of the OS on mine, ran 3dMark, on the 3rd run, after fan cycled back down to lower speed, I got a lock up. When I robooted, XP told me that it was the 9700 drivers that seem to cause the lock up. I haven't loaded a game onto the mackine yet. I'll try that next.
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