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From: Christopher Muto on 24 Jun 2010 00:00
JayB wrote:
> thanks Chris
> of course i tried all the other things you suggested.
> i originally thought malware, but i cant even get anything to display
> when it turns on.
>
> holding to function key when pressing the power button runs a diagnostic
> resulting in the A light (caps lock) is flashing,
> which i think signifies a bad video card.
> not sure what to do from here.
> is there a video card that can come out?
> i'm not used to XPS model laptops.
>
>
>
> Christopher Muto wrote:
>> JayB wrote:
>>> I have an XPS M1330 with behavior I have not seen before.
>>> Turning on the laptop works once and hits the Dell logo,
>>> and the post screen, and the bar seems to go across to the end slowly,
>>> the screen got some blue bars on it, like a bad video card,
>>> then it clears the screen and just sits there forever.
>>> no sign of activity.
>>>
>>> subsequent tries result in power up, but nothing at all on the
>>> display except a blank screen.
>>> connecting to external monitor did not result in anything different.
>>>
>>> removed the battery, power, memory chips, and the same results.
>>>
>>> i suspect a bad video card, or an overheat problem, or both.
>>> how can I isolate and fix this?
>>> thanks.
>>> jay
>>
>> what is the status of the capslock, scroollock, and numblock key leds.
>> they may be presenting you with an error code that can be looked up on
>> support.dell.com. also, i would suggest reseating the system memory
>> to see if that helps, and if not would pull the cd drive and then try
>> to boot from the optical drive to eliminate the hard disk as the
>> source of the problem (and the most common problem with laptops.

some smart people here, but no way anyone could know you tried things if
you don't state them. you say the capslock light is flashing; is it
flashing continuously or a specific number of times and stopping. and
what are the numlock and scroollock light showing (solid on, solid off,
what).
From: JayB on 24 Jun 2010 11:34
i believe it is flashing continuously, never stopping,
and the others are off.
but that was only after the powering up while holding the function key.

i will double check and pay better attention to the lights.
thanks

Christopher Muto wrote:
you say the capslock light is flashing; is it
> flashing continuously or a specific number of times and stopping. and
> what are the numlock and scroollock light showing (solid on, solid off,
> what).
From: Christopher Muto on 24 Jun 2010 13:58
JayB wrote:
> i believe it is flashing continuously, never stopping,
> and the others are off.
> but that was only after the powering up while holding the function key.
>
> i will double check and pay better attention to the lights.
> thanks
>
> Christopher Muto wrote:
> you say the capslock light is flashing; is it
>> flashing continuously or a specific number of times and stopping. and
>> what are the numlock and scroollock light showing (solid on, solid
>> off, what).

these lights can be helpful in pinpointing the problem. it is likely
the video as you suspect. like others mentioned this model came with
either integrated intel video or nvidia. the nvidia have been known to
have problems (blue screen or random artifacts on screen). no image,
like in your case seems a bit extreme and could be due to something
else. but the nvidia issue can often be resolved by applying heat to
the graphics processor with a hot air rework tool that are used to
solder integrated circuits to a board. lots of videos about it on
youtube. the tool costs about $100 and may or may not permanently solve
the problem.
From: JayB on 24 Jun 2010 14:14
thanks Chris

after looking at the lights more carefully,
holding the function key while powering on results in the caps lock
flashing continusouly

regular power on = 3 1 1 1 3 3 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 .......

where 3 = all 3 lights, 1 = just Caps light


Christopher Muto wrote:
> JayB wrote:
>> i believe it is flashing continuously, never stopping,
>> and the others are off.
>> but that was only after the powering up while holding the function key.
>>
>> i will double check and pay better attention to the lights.
>> thanks
>>
>> Christopher Muto wrote:
>> you say the capslock light is flashing; is it
>>> flashing continuously or a specific number of times and stopping.
>>> and what are the numlock and scroollock light showing (solid on,
>>> solid off, what).
>
> these lights can be helpful in pinpointing the problem. it is likely
> the video as you suspect. like others mentioned this model came with
> either integrated intel video or nvidia. the nvidia have been known to
> have problems (blue screen or random artifacts on screen). no image,
> like in your case seems a bit extreme and could be due to something
> else. but the nvidia issue can often be resolved by applying heat to
> the graphics processor with a hot air rework tool that are used to
> solder integrated circuits to a board. lots of videos about it on
> youtube. the tool costs about $100 and may or may not permanently solve
> the problem.
From: Christopher Muto on 24 Jun 2010 15:31
JayB wrote:
> thanks Chris
>
> after looking at the lights more carefully,
> holding the function key while powering on results in the caps lock
> flashing continusouly
>
> regular power on = 3 1 1 1 3 3 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
> 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 .......
>
> where 3 = all 3 lights, 1 = just Caps light
>
>
> Christopher Muto wrote:
>> JayB wrote:
>>> i believe it is flashing continuously, never stopping,
>>> and the others are off.
>>> but that was only after the powering up while holding the function key.
>>>
>>> i will double check and pay better attention to the lights.
>>> thanks
>>>
>>> Christopher Muto wrote:
>>> you say the capslock light is flashing; is it
>>>> flashing continuously or a specific number of times and stopping.
>>>> and what are the numlock and scroollock light showing (solid on,
>>>> solid off, what).
>>
>> these lights can be helpful in pinpointing the problem. it is likely
>> the video as you suspect. like others mentioned this model came with
>> either integrated intel video or nvidia. the nvidia have been known
>> to have problems (blue screen or random artifacts on screen). no
>> image, like in your case seems a bit extreme and could be due to
>> something else. but the nvidia issue can often be resolved by
>> applying heat to the graphics processor with a hot air rework tool
>> that are used to solder integrated circuits to a board. lots of
>> videos about it on youtube. the tool costs about $100 and may or may
>> not permanently solve the problem.

did you look up the 'original configuration' on support.dell.com to
determine if this unit has the intel or nvidia graphics? once on
support.dell.com click on the 'warranty status' link in the left hand
column, enter the tag number and then click the 'original configuration'
tab. sounds like you have the nvida and it is indeed having problems.
if you do have the nvidia graphics processor then there are two
potential fixes, one is to simply remove the heat sink and apply new
thermal grease and reassemble to improve the cooling of the chip. the
other is to resolder the nvidia graphics processor to the system board.
look on youtube for videos on how to use a hot air rework tool to re
solder it to the system board... but take the videos with a grain of
salt as lots of armature videos are out there that point the heat
directly at the integrated circuit (ic) chip itself instead of the pins
where the heat should be applied. this video shows how to remove an ic,
which is *not* what you want to do, but it demonstrates hot to correctly
apply the heat as well as shows how long it takes to liquefy (and
therefor reflow) the solder.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-6vPyG8MGA
and this one shows you where to find the chip in question in the
m1330... remember to apply thermal grease to the gpu, chipset, and cpu
before reassembly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJlgPbELL0E


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