XPS M170 video card

As much as the solution seems possible due to the same size and contacts the M170 will not accept anything outside of the 6800 Ultra and 7800 GTX videocards. Both are quite expensive and likely your only options.

Im actually a little wrong I recall seeing someone putting a X300 (not x1400) which at the time was the 2nd lowest video option the inspiron 9300 had.

BIOS is the largest obstacle in getting cards like that to work on your system. You do have one on the way so no harm in trying at this point but for future reference if the system never actually supported the card in the BIOS then it wont in the future.

I have to tell you and the whole world. I just spent 2 weeks now doing everything possible, thinking its a bad Video Card. Heres the thing, its the heat sink.

Do all these steps and you should have your video card running in no time.

1. Take apart your laptop (may take some time to figure out what disconnects from where), and remove your video card.
2. Useing a star patern screw driver, remove the heat sink from the video card.
3. With a clean paper towel (not damp or wet), clean off the heat sink and GPU processor. There will be some old silver gunk on there from when it was first put together.
4. Once all surfaces are clean, apply a thin layer of OCZ FREEZE Thermal Extreme Conductivity Compound (better then the silver stuff). Make sure you dont put to much on or it will spill over the edge and get on the GPU board. Thin layer all the way around
5. Put heat sink back on and reinstall.
6. Before you put your computer back together, spray out all dust from the fans and heat sink grills.
7. Finally put your computer back together.

Now, once done with the hardware, its time for Software.
I have a Dell M170 Go 7800 GTX Nvidia. Dell assumed graphic driver for this card and so Nvidia doesnt reconize it at all. And by the way, Dell stopped making drivers for it back in 2006 . BUT Nvidia Beta Driver works.

1. Install Nvidia Beta Driver 167.51_forceware_notebook_winxp_32bit_international_beta. Search www.nvidia.com for it. (sry no time to link it)
This driver is way better then what Dell offers.

2. Install i8kfangui. Google it. It tells you the temperature of you CPU, GPU, Memory, Harddrive, etc... and also, you can control your fan speeds.
What I noticed is that my fan speeds were too low and the heat sink was off the GPU Processor, so I set my fan speeds to "Full speed all the time".

After you do all this, your Graphics Card should be back to normal. (mine was )
If not, check you memory (swap out ram with differnt sticks). If that doesnt work, then , your screwed, sry . Ebay sells new cards for 300 bucks (sometimes you can see private sellers for cheaper).

GOOD LUCK!!!!

I realize you got it fixed but a list of cards that work are: ATI X300, ATI X600, NVIDIA 6800, NVIDIA 6800 Ultra, and NVIDIA 7800 GTX. That should be about it ignoring the equivalent Quadro's NVIDIA makes.

The X600 might be a bit hard to find. It was only offered on the Latitude D810 and most of those shipped with either Intel integrated graphics or the embedded X300. Should work though since the card is the same form factor (just trade heatsinks), couple members here managed to get GeForce 6800's to work in their M70 Precisions.

I also have a Del M170 (XPS) with the burned out nvidea card, I followed your advice and ordered an ATI X300 on Ebay. Unfortunately there is no way to install this card in the 170, the form factor is way different, no screws line up on the heatsink, and the X300 covers one
of the critical conectors on the M170 motherboard. Any ideas?
Thanks, N. Thompson

The X300 may be from an Inspiron 6000, not a 9300. Even then I would have gone for an ATI Radeon X1400 because it was sold in the Inspiron 9400 which is pretty much the same as the M170 XPS.

You can't just go to eBay and grab any X300 Laptop video card you see, it has to be a specific one for a specific series of systems.

As Mr Evil said, there are multiple types of X300's. You need to get the one that looks like the your (Dell) 6800 go or 6800 go ultra except it only has one heatpipe (that extends to the right). You cannot use the X1400 most likely though because the BIOS will not support it. Also, the X1400 would need its heatpipes bent to allow it to fit in a XPS2/M170 which is never a good idea. Doesn't really matter though since both the X300 and X1400 are crap cards.

Thanks for the tips on the x300, a least I'm only out 50 bucks, penalty for not doing my homework. At least I'm not the one who bought the M170, I'm only trying to fix it. I guess I'm going to hold off until I'm sure I have located the right item. I'm not considering a new 6800 go ultra since I've read so many reports of failure for that card even when replaced Thanks N.T.

My 6800 ultra's (I had 2) were both rock solid and never failed. I didnt really hear too many people here complain about them. Rumors are rumors, just keep that in mind. The X300 is not in the league with any of the Nvidia cards supported by that machine.

The X1400 won't fit in an M170 or I9300 for that matter. It's a slightly different form factor. The I9400/E1705 is nearly the same as the M1710 not the M170. It's the same problem as trying to fit the Nvidia 7800gs, 7900 or 7950 on an M170 or i9300. There's a screw in the way and the on/off switch is in a slightly different position than the cards that will fit. As zzpulp mentioned, the only options that will work are ATI X300, ATI X600, NVIDIA 6800, NVIDIA 6800 Ultra, and NVIDIA 7800 GTX.

I hope this helps,
Ciao

Arggggghhhhh, You're right Tiburon. I was completely wrong on that. Unfortunately Dell recycles their service manual pictures and I have to go STRICTLY off memory.

No problem MrEvil, we all make mistakes. Considering all of the posting you do and the amount of (excellent) advice you give it's surprising it doesn't happen more often. Keep up the good work!

Ciao

Am so I glad I found this thread - have had an m170 for about 6 years now. First graphics card went when laptop was just over a year old so Dell replaced it, second card went about 6 months later so they swapped the card again and now three years later, it has gone again. I followed the instructions and took it apart and redid the thermal compund, put it back together and all working again!

 

Have installed i8kfangui and now that fans are going full time, CPU & GPU are both running 20 degrees cooler!

cheers ...