M5750 Do I rebuild it? Do I throw it away? Has anybody had long term success with the overheat...

Hello, ALL

I have an m5750 that came stock with:

T5500 cpu

xt1800 graphics card

2 x 512 ram.

I upgraded to 2 x 1 gb ram.

Replaced the xt1800 card, due to a ram parity error / no start.

I purchased the card from ztronics. Within 4 months, I had the overheating problem ( that might have also

been linked to the first graphics card failing as well ).

I have read thread after thread over the last few months, and have not found my solution.

I would LOVE to keep this machine. I no longer game, so even if there was a weaker video card that I could downgrade to, in order to keep my overheating problem from returning, I would be more than ok with that. I do use the machine for video editing, however, so downgrading the cpu is not an option ( upgrading is, tho ).

So I am hoping that someone out there knows the  "magic" formula, and has had long term success using it. I would like:

upgrade to 4 gb ram

keep T5500 ( or upgrade to a better ) gpu

ANY video card that lets me use the DVI for a secondary monitor

Windows 7

Not to overheat anymore :(

I know I may have to flash my bios, etc and I do have a USB floppy drive, if needed.

Any help would be appreciated.

-Chris

Well, I am just going to do it. I am very attached to the body style ( arent these the sleekest looking? I think so! ). I dont game - ever. But I do lots of video rendering, not too mention

the i.link port, I think I can hook my camera directly to this machine.

Ordering a replacement vid card now ( not going to upgrade it, afraid that a faster one would just run hotter ) and going to spend the $ I save on ram.

I will keep you posted. Thanks for the replies....reply's? Cheers!

-Chris

Ok, I flashed the bios to the newest this notebook can take ( 1.19 ).

I got the link from this forum. I was very careful to take an extra precaution:

I heard nightmare stories that some had locked themselves out PERMANANTLY by

not removing the password before flashing the bios.

I "blanked" out my password. But the bios still said it was password enabled, just with no password set.

There was no way to disable this, with a blank password.

So, I created a password.

Then, I disabled it.

Then I blanked it.

I am happy to report that I flashed no problem. I would urge you to take this extra step also, because the people

that had locked themselves out were not clear if they had just set a "blank" password, without disabling it,

and the flash instructions were _not_ clear about this.

So, now flashed, with an overheating video card, I am waiting for more ram. As long as the ram arrives

and I am succesfull in upgrading to 4gigs with this new bios, I will buy another xt1800 card. I do no need a faster

card, and from what I read some ( the nvidia cards ) will not work with this new bios ( meaning I cant run 4 gigs ram ).

The HD series cards the _will_ work, will work better and game faster, but the DVI port does _not_ function, and I need

2 monitors for video editing. 

I will update you all when the ram comes.

I know that no one needs this information roght now, but someone may in the future so I am just logging it all.

-more will be revealed

I should also mention, after the flash I had a new splash screen.

It now has the alienware logo, and below that it says "special edition". Kinda cool :)

Thanks. I am just being SUPER cautious. Altho I am an IT Director at my work, and have taken apart many, many laptops in my time, I tried to dissasemble this alienware once, and I could not. There seems to be a few rivets, rather than screws in a few key points. I may be mistaken, but at that point I gave up and put it back together. Anyways, will report back when 4GB of memory arrives :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by qhn 

That tip in BIOS password handling is cool
cheers ...

Ughh.

I got the ram.

The good:

I found it cheap ( 2x2gb for 35.00 )

The bad:

This lappy will allow you to put in 4 gb after the bios flash, but only 3.25gb is useable.

So, my bios reports 3.25gb, and Windows 7 also says

Memory: 4gigabyts ( 3.25 usable ).

So, I am not thrilled about this, but I will still hold onto this laptop for a while, but probably wont upgrade the cpu. This will probably

just stay as a laptop confiined to surfing the net, rather than editing video.

My road ends here, thanks guys.