Dell Laptops with affected Nvidia mobile video
I posted here about the Nvidia mobile graphics cards that Nvidia themselves reported as “failing in the field at higher than normal rates.”
Dell have now announced the list of possibly affected laptops and has issued Bios Upgrades that change the fan profile.
These include the
Inspiron 1420
Latitude D630 and D630c
Precision M2300
Vostro 1310, 1400, 1510 and 1710
XPS M1330 and M1530
What do end users need to do?
Well you basically download and install the Bios update. The change to the fan profile will probably mean the fan’s kick in earlier to keep the system cooler. Step by Step Instructions are here.
Some people have commented (on the direct to dell blog) that this isn’t really an acceptable solution.
Tip1: If you purchased one of the above laptops with only 1 years warranty I would definitely contact Dell and upgrade your existing warranty to 3 years to give you some additional protection. Upgrading the Bios can only do so much.
Tip2: Normally I would recommend installing this immediately but in the comments of the conversations below there have been some people with bios install problems. I would hold off for a couple of days then check for any known problems.
Link: NVIDIA GPU Update for Dell Laptop Owners
Other online Conversations about this topic.
Dell explains NVIDIA GPU issues, throws out BIOS updates to help
http://www.ideastorm.com/article/show/10090995/Replace_All_Faulty_Nvidia_Laptop_GPUs
