XPS m1710 wont boot

okay so i left my computer running last night, went to use it this morning, the screen had turned itself off automatically as it always would, but it didnt hibernate (i didnt want it to). anyway instead of just coming to life nomally and the screen flicking on as usual the screen came on, i had about 10 seconds of the computer working and then it locked up completely to the point that the only way to do anything was to hold the power button down, let it turn off, then restart.

the problem is this. since this happened, i cannot get into windows normally. i attempt to restart my machine it works but the dell bios screen which is usually black has lines of what look like green text all over it around the images. same thing for the windows loading sreen.

i cannot get it to boot into windows in anything other than safe mode... it works and is without issues in safe mode (and safe mode with networking) and the display is showing everything correctly in that mode(shouldnt be a physical issue with the display hardware then) but in anything else its totally screwed.

also did a little vid of the bootup so you guys can see what i am talking about and where it freezes.

any suggestions?

here is the vid:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WejVksUcN08


sorry about the poor quality but especially in the first few seconds its really visible.... will try to get a better quality vid soon.

yeah i had that thought too... im just in safe mode now backing up my data to an external hdd. thankfully i have several of those to keep my most critical info on.

as it sits this will be the second complete reinstallation in 2 months if i need to go to that level, im starting to think i may just punt vista and dell completely and go with a macbook pro next if this keeps up. i need a reliable machine for work and for law shool, so far in the last two months this thing has been anything but reliable.

okay so i just did a fresh install of vista... still getting the same thing. going to try with an xp install now and see how that goes.

looks like my m1710 is coming to its end.

f*ck... the weird part is that it works great with getting into safemode, even seems to be working in xp (granted i just put it on there for a min to try, dont want to be using xp). but wont do anything vista wise.

edit:
well scratch that, i tried to put in a real video driver on and not one of the basic ultra low class windows ones.... soon as i did, boom computer screen dies, goes black and its over. attempting to do an upgrade of vista over the xp install fails every time. sounds like the gpu is toast. since my warranty was up a few months back im gonna try with dell since there has been such huge trouble with the nvidia cards lately, and they i know were offering a warranty extension to cover the failing cards. if dell doesnt do it im gonna try to find a cheap 7900 card for the 1710 or just call it an end with dell and the the machine, move myself over to the new macbook pro.

i gotta say i didnt expect this to be coming... sure enough it is.

well i called dell, they confirmed that the GPU is dead.

they also told me they wanted a ridiculous price for a new one since im out of warranty. i pushed they said tough luck basically. it has left a very bitter taste for me in regards to dell. end result is that im sitting here typing this on my dads toshiba (a granted brand new one) which has been given on a long term loan to me until the term is done and after that i can "buy" myself a macbook pro which is what i am going to replace the dell with.

sucks that it had to go this way. but im not going to throw more money at the dell with no assurance its going to work any better. this xps has been nothing but trouble, in its lifetime i had replaced 3 dvd burners, a wireless card (shipped DOA from the factory), the motherboard, the palm rest, the speakers... and the m1710 was a complete replacement for a m170 which had the video card cook itself and the machine.

alas dell has burned through my patience and trust. i may try once more tommorow to get them to do something about this but i dont have alot of hope for it.