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XPS Gen 2 Video Memory Bad... Can Board be Repaired? Plus Other Questions.

post #1 of 6
9/4/08 at 8:40am
Thread Starter 
Greetings,

The other day, my wife was using our XPS Gen 2. She had just installed an SD card to view digital camera pictues, and then the display started to flicker, then black out completely. We have been using the integrated LCD at 1280x800. I had noticed before, since the system was new, that the GPU temp (according to I9kfangui) seemed to be a little high, but I never bothered to do anything about it (shame on me...). The entire area between the vents for the CPU and GPU was quite hot. I blew out a large amount of dust from the vents, which I should have done long ago, and then the display worked properly... once. Since then, it blacks out completely after getting through BIOS. I ran the Dell Diagnostics, and consistently get Error Code 5300:0119: failure of reading/writing video memory. It seems as though I may have to replace the video board (6800U Go), but after seeing the expense, I want to be more certain of it. Would you believe... around $700 for a refurbished part from Dell, for either the 6800U Go or the 7800GTX Go? I have found much more reasonable prices on eBay, but I am still suprised to see that even the 6800U parts are still, after 3 years, selling for well over $200. My fans are working fine. I have a feeling that the damage is already done, because I have this problem even after powering on the PC after it has been sitting around at room temperature and cooled off.

1. I see that more than one seller on eBay is offering $40-$50 for the old or dead boards... so I imagine they are getting repaired. If my board can be fixed, that would be great, but I can't find any information about such repair (the forum search engine was of no help). What's the lowdown on this? Is anyone here or anywhere else repairing these boards, or can I do it myself?

2. This problem with the video memory failing seems to be common. Does the 7800 GTX Go have the same problem? I'm on the fence as to which part to buy if I do need to buy one, and this an important consideration.

3. When POSTing, my display shows some corruption. But I have found that if I use Safe Mode or VGA Mode, the video in Windows XP will be displayed without corruption. What's up with that? As soon as I try any higher resolution besides the 640x480, 8-color, the display completely fails. This leads me to believe it may be a driver issue, so I tried the newest driver from Dell's site, but this was of no help. However, I'm not even certain the new drivers were actually installed, because the date in Device Manager has not changed. I have to boot in VGA mode, so perhaps that is preventing me from installing new drivers?

4. Can I install the vanilla 6800 Go in my XPS Gen 2? I just want to know what my options are.

5. What are typical GPU and CPU temps for an XPS Gen 2? What is the highest I should allow either to reach? Right now, under typical conditions, my GPU is at 51 C.

6. Is there any way to perhaps underclock the video speeds (especially memory) to prevent having this problem again? Would doing so help prevent failure, or should I expect the parts to last at stock speeds as long as I blow out the vents, say, at least every 3 months?

Many thanks for reading my long post! Any information will be greatly appreciated.
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post #2 of 6
9/4/08 at 10:19am
sorry to say but it sounds like your gpu has died, it is not unusual for this to happen at all, and if both the replacement parts cost around the same, get the 7800gtx, it is a great card (accept for it running a bit warm and eventually failing... )
you can try to double check by hooking it up to an external display to see if it will work, but i can almost guarantee it is the gpu, as i used to own a m170 and i think i went through 4 or 5 7800 gtx's before dell replaced it, and it acted the same in a few of the cases.
another option is replacing it with a lesser video card, any thing that was offered in the I9300 will work, it might take a bios re flash but to tell the truth there aren't too many people that go backwards like that so i have not seen anyone actually (BDA might have done it, but i don't remember if he was just asking or he actually did it... an ati x300 128mb i believe)do it, but theoretically it is doable. if gpu power is not important to you anymore, get an x300. it is a good card with plenty of power for the non gamer, and probably a sh!t load cheaper than other alternatives
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post #3 of 6
9/4/08 at 10:29am
oh, and ya, sometimes the gpu's can be repaired, i think they just repair the bad memory digitally, but i dont know... you need to clean your vents, and by that i mean take it apart to clean them sometimes... it is a huge pain in the ass but a necessity with laptops, at least dell's. i do have a Toshiba satellite i got back in 1999 which has never been cleaned out which is still going as far as i know (my brothers girlfriend has it now). i never even blew out the vents, and i have 2 cats... why did i start getting dells?
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post #4 of 6
9/4/08 at 4:19pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks, woodstock... so the GTX7800s die too? Is there anyway to avoid this, say by really keeping up with the cleaning and using top-notch heatsink compund? Or by underclocking the card a bit (say 10%)? I wouldn't mind getting a GTX, but I really don't want to keep going through this... then again, in another 3 years, I may or may not be using something else. I suppose $300 after 3 years isn't too terrible... the only other hardware problem I have had is two battery failures. I am curious about trying an x300 now, especially if they are cheap. If nothing else, it would be a relatively inexpensive way to determine if the problem is truly the video board. I'm off to eBay to search, and might be back with a new thread.

Thanks again.
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post #5 of 6
9/10/08 at 3:50pm
Since you have a choice, definitely go for the 7800GTX if you can find one. They come up for sale periodically here in the "For Sale/Wanted" forum and on eBay.
Don't worry about the GTX dieing, all higher-end laptop video cards run hotter and consume more power than integrated or "vanilla" graphic card solutions. That said, Your 6800 Ultra is an extremely hot running video card, more so than the 7800 GTX which was manufactured using a smaller die size. With any video card choice you make you just have to remember to periodically clean out the dust from the heatsinks. Dust is the number one killer of CPUs and GPUs in computers, and especially so in laptops, period! (Overclocking is probably #2).

My 7800GTX runs cooler and gives me the same, if not increased battery up-time than I ever got with my old "vanilla" 6800 that came with my I9300. On the other hand "vanilla" 7800s which were sold with the I9400s had a serious overheating problem because their single-pipe heat-sink wasn't up to the task for the default speeds they were clocked at, which is why they had such a high failure rate.

If the replacement cost of your card is a concern and you aren't a hardcore gamer, may I make another suggestion? You can hunt around for a "vanilla" 6800 made for the I9300 which is considerably cheaper than either the GTX or Ultra, and install the dual-pipe heat-sink from your old Ultra (which will fit perfectly). This will give you a much cooler running card, with increased battery life from what you've had with your Ultra. But if you're a more ardent gamer than you definitely want to go with the GTX.

I hope this helps,
Ciao
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post #6 of 6
9/11/08 at 1:09am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tiburon666 View Post
If the replacement cost of your card is a concern and you aren't a hardcore gamer, may I make another suggestion? You can hunt around for a "vanilla" 6800 made for the I9300 which is considerably cheaper than either the GTX or Ultra, and install the dual-pipe heat-sink from your old Ultra (which will fit perfectly). This will give you a much cooler running card, with increased battery life from what you've had with your Ultra. But if you're a more ardent gamer than you definitely want to go with the GTX.

I hope this helps,
Ciao
I didn't know I could use the dual-pipe heatsink on the vanilla 6800.

I bought a 32MB ATI X300 from eBay on Saturday, and it should arrive soon. I imagine it will work well enough for non-gaming, especially at our lower 1280x800 resolution. I have been getting by at 640x480, 8 color (the only way the video works reliably) so anything significantly better will probably be OK. I do play games on my XPS2 but really only in spurts. There are a few games I would like to play now but more and more it seems that essentially all of them are also available on consoles. I would probably be content with console gaming only now. Plus, I am trying to save money. I am probably going to buy a PS3 sometime in the next few months. If I do decide later to get a better card for the XPS2 I will keep your suggestion in mind. Thanks!
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