Dell XPS M1210 video/display problems

I am looking at purchasing a second hand XPS M1210 that has video problems
to see if I could fix it up and wanted to know if anyone here has any
experience with this laptop.

Seller described symptoms as follows:
I was using the internet, when it suddenly switched off. I restarted it and
now it only seems to load into safe mode. When you try to log onto Windows i
just get a bluescreen and this it restarts. Now the screen wont display
anything, but if i connect it to an external monitor it looks distorted.

Is the video card integrated to the motherboard or a seperate daughter
board? I am not sure if it is the dedicated GeForce 7400M or an onboard
varient.

The system is 2 years old and the rest of the specs are decent making me
think that if i could buy it cheap and it was a simple fix then I would be
doing well.

Specs:
Intel Core2 Duo Processor T7600 (2.33GHz 4MB Cache)
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 Dual Band 802.11a/g 54Mbps Wireless Mini Card
12.1" Wide Screen XGA display with TrueLife 1280x800 res. & 1.3MP Web Cam
4096MB (2 X 2048MB) 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM
120GB SATA Hard Drive
Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Module
Windows XP Professional SP2 (English)
65W AC Adapter
9-cell 85Whr Lithium Ion Primary Extended Battery

Thanks for any advice or help with this.
Robert

Update - It is the GeForce 7400M video card if that changes anything.


"Robert McMillan" wrote in message
...
I am looking at purchasing a second hand XPS M1210 that has video problems
to see if I could fix it up and wanted to know if anyone here has any
experience with this laptop.

Seller described symptoms as follows:
I was using the internet, when it suddenly switched off. I restarted it
and now it only seems to load into safe mode. When you try to log onto
Windows i just get a bluescreen and this it restarts. Now the screen wont
display anything, but if i connect it to an external monitor it looks
distorted.

Is the video card integrated to the motherboard or a seperate daughter
board? I am not sure if it is the dedicated GeForce 7400M or an onboard
varient.

The system is 2 years old and the rest of the specs are decent making me
think that if i could buy it cheap and it was a simple fix then I would be
doing well.

Specs:
Intel Core2 Duo Processor T7600 (2.33GHz 4MB Cache)
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 Dual Band 802.11a/g 54Mbps Wireless Mini Card
12.1" Wide Screen XGA display with TrueLife 1280x800 res. & 1.3MP Web Cam
4096MB (2 X 2048MB) 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM
120GB SATA Hard Drive
Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Module
Windows XP Professional SP2 (English)
65W AC Adapter
9-cell 85Whr Lithium Ion Primary Extended Battery

Thanks for any advice or help with this.
Robert

"Robert McMillan" wrote in message
...
Update - It is the GeForce 7400M video card if that changes anything.


Ask if you can temporarily take possession of the system and adapter to test
it.

F12 at the Dell screen and run the short diags (about 15 mins) to
completion, then run the extended Dell diags on the system.

Should give you a pretty good idea as to whether or not it's hardware and
what component - IF it ill actually complete the tests or produce fail codes
for you.

"Robert McMillan" wrote in message
...
I am looking at purchasing a second hand XPS M1210 that has video problems
to see if I could fix it up and wanted to know if anyone here has any
experience with this laptop.

Seller described symptoms as follows:
I was using the internet, when it suddenly switched off. I restarted it
and now it only seems to load into safe mode. When you try to log onto
Windows i just get a bluescreen and this it restarts. Now the screen wont
display anything, but if i connect it to an external monitor it looks
distorted.

Is the video card integrated to the motherboard or a seperate daughter
board? I am not sure if it is the dedicated GeForce 7400M or an onboard
varient.

The system is 2 years old and the rest of the specs are decent making me
think that if i could buy it cheap and it was a simple fix then I would be
doing well.

Specs:
Intel Core2 Duo Processor T7600 (2.33GHz 4MB Cache)
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 Dual Band 802.11a/g 54Mbps Wireless Mini Card
12.1" Wide Screen XGA display with TrueLife 1280x800 res. & 1.3MP Web Cam
4096MB (2 X 2048MB) 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM
120GB SATA Hard Drive
Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Module
Windows XP Professional SP2 (English)
65W AC Adapter
9-cell 85Whr Lithium Ion Primary Extended Battery

Thanks for any advice or help with this.
Robert
The XPS range being high end have dedicated pci-xpress graphics cards of
either 256 or 512mb and the cards failing are a recurring problem, and are
one of the most expensive parts to replace expect to pay about in the region
of £200 or what ever that is in $ , apart from that they are easy enough to
replace

"Fixer" wrote in message
...

"Robert McMillan" wrote in message
...
I am looking at purchasing a second hand XPS M1210 that has video problems
to see if I could fix it up and wanted to know if anyone here has any
experience with this laptop.

Seller described symptoms as follows:
I was using the internet, when it suddenly switched off. I restarted it
and now it only seems to load into safe mode. When you try to log onto
Windows i just get a bluescreen and this it restarts. Now the screen wont
display anything, but if i connect it to an external monitor it looks
distorted.

Is the video card integrated to the motherboard or a seperate daughter
board? I am not sure if it is the dedicated GeForce 7400M or an onboard
varient.

The system is 2 years old and the rest of the specs are decent making me
think that if i could buy it cheap and it was a simple fix then I would
be doing well.

Specs:
Intel Core2 Duo Processor T7600 (2.33GHz 4MB Cache)
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 Dual Band 802.11a/g 54Mbps Wireless Mini Card
12.1" Wide Screen XGA display with TrueLife 1280x800 res. & 1.3MP Web Cam
4096MB (2 X 2048MB) 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM
120GB SATA Hard Drive
Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Module
Windows XP Professional SP2 (English)
65W AC Adapter
9-cell 85Whr Lithium Ion Primary Extended Battery

Thanks for any advice or help with this.
Robert
The XPS range being high end have dedicated pci-xpress graphics cards of
either 256 or 512mb and the cards failing are a recurring problem, and
are one of the most expensive parts to replace expect to pay about in the
region of £200 or what ever that is in $ , apart from that they are easy
enough to replace

Thanks for that, do you know if the dedicated graphics card is part of the
main motherboard and therefore will all need to be replaced or is it some
kind of daughter board. Though it sounds like it might not be worth the
cost.

Robert

Robert McMillan wrote:
"Fixer" wrote in message
...
"Robert McMillan" wrote in message
...
I am looking at purchasing a second hand XPS M1210 that has video problems
to see if I could fix it up and wanted to know if anyone here has any
experience with this laptop.

Seller described symptoms as follows:
I was using the internet, when it suddenly switched off. I restarted it
and now it only seems to load into safe mode. When you try to log onto
Windows i just get a bluescreen and this it restarts. Now the screen wont
display anything, but if i connect it to an external monitor it looks
distorted.

Is the video card integrated to the motherboard or a seperate daughter
board? I am not sure if it is the dedicated GeForce 7400M or an onboard
varient.

The system is 2 years old and the rest of the specs are decent making me
think that if i could buy it cheap and it was a simple fix then I would
be doing well.

Specs:
Intel Core2 Duo Processor T7600 (2.33GHz 4MB Cache)
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 Dual Band 802.11a/g 54Mbps Wireless Mini Card
12.1" Wide Screen XGA display with TrueLife 1280x800 res. & 1.3MP Web Cam
4096MB (2 X 2048MB) 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM
120GB SATA Hard Drive
Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Module
Windows XP Professional SP2 (English)
65W AC Adapter
9-cell 85Whr Lithium Ion Primary Extended Battery

Thanks for any advice or help with this.
Robert
The XPS range being high end have dedicated pci-xpress graphics cards of
either 256 or 512mb and the cards failing are a recurring problem, and
are one of the most expensive parts to replace expect to pay about in the
region of £200 or what ever that is in $ , apart from that they are easy
enough to replace

Thanks for that, do you know if the dedicated graphics card is part of the
main motherboard and therefore will all need to be replaced or is it some
kind of daughter board. Though it sounds like it might not be worth the
cost.

Robert

Go here and enter the express service code and you'll be able to get an
answer.
http://support.dell.com/support/topi...=19&l=en&s=dhs

"Robert McMillan" wrote in message
...

"Fixer" wrote in message
...

"Robert McMillan" wrote in message
...
I am looking at purchasing a second hand XPS M1210 that has video
problems to see if I could fix it up and wanted to know if anyone here
has any experience with this laptop.

Seller described symptoms as follows:
I was using the internet, when it suddenly switched off. I restarted it
and now it only seems to load into safe mode. When you try to log onto
Windows i just get a bluescreen and this it restarts. Now the screen
wont display anything, but if i connect it to an external monitor it
looks distorted.

Is the video card integrated to the motherboard or a seperate daughter
board? I am not sure if it is the dedicated GeForce 7400M or an onboard
varient.

The system is 2 years old and the rest of the specs are decent making me
think that if i could buy it cheap and it was a simple fix then I would
be doing well.

Specs:
Intel Core2 Duo Processor T7600 (2.33GHz 4MB Cache)
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 Dual Band 802.11a/g 54Mbps Wireless Mini Card
12.1" Wide Screen XGA display with TrueLife 1280x800 res. & 1.3MP Web
Cam
4096MB (2 X 2048MB) 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM
120GB SATA Hard Drive
Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Module
Windows XP Professional SP2 (English)
65W AC Adapter
9-cell 85Whr Lithium Ion Primary Extended Battery

Thanks for any advice or help with this.
Robert
The XPS range being high end have dedicated pci-xpress graphics cards of
either 256 or 512mb and the cards failing are a recurring problem, and
are one of the most expensive parts to replace expect to pay about in the
region of £200 or what ever that is in $ , apart from that they are easy
enough to replace

Thanks for that, do you know if the dedicated graphics card is part of the
main motherboard and therefore will all need to be replaced or is it some
kind of daughter board. Though it sounds like it might not be worth the
cost.

Robert It's a daughter card and they are as rare as rocking horse poo, I
do know someone in the uk that can repair them and charges about 100$
depending on exchange rate, it all depends on how much your going to pay
for the whole machine in the 1st place , i buy & sell dell spares and
repair laptops and I'd want to be paying about £250 and at the very most
£300 if that helps