Dell Precision M90 will not post ... please assit

[dud]

I have a very old Dell M90 that just crapped out on me. I use this laptop for surfing and watching movies. While surfing yesterday the screen went BSOD denoting a critical hardware failure. I have repeatedly tried to reboot the machine but it fails each time. When the power button is pressed the unit turns on, the CD drive makes a short, quiet sound and then the HD just stops accessing. The screen never comes on (its black all the time). The unit will sit there forever not booting, with just the power light on (and the BT light as well). The time from power on to this final state is no more than 5 seconds.

I was hoping that someone had run into this type of problem and solved it previously. I have 2 precisions and have done a lot of work on them. I can remove/replace just about anything in this unit ... I just need to ID the problem first. I almost ordered a replace MB tonight but realize that it could be something else that has gone wrong.

Please, if you need additional info please ask and I will get back to you ASAP.

Thank you ...

 

[86waterpumper]

We had several of these at work a few years back, and every single one of them had the dedicated videocard fail one machine had it fail twice. Ours had the nvidia quadro cards in them. It might be something to check.

 

[imagoon]

Pretty sure M90 was one of the models with the nNvidia bad Laptop GPU fiasco from a couple of years ago. My first guess would be remove the video card and see if the error code changes to "missing video card."

 

[86waterpumper]

Most of ours when the video would go bad, had crazy green blocking and artifacts on the screen, but that did not happen every time...sometimes it was just black.

 

[dud]

Would a bad vid card cause a laptop not to post. I ask because when I turn the power on absolutely nothing happens. The HD access for just a second and then it fails to post I removed the HD cage and put it in another M90 and it works fine.

So far I have it narrowed down to either a bad vid card, CPU or MB. If I knew what went bad I could fix it in a jif.

 

[imagoon]

Would a bad vid card cause a laptop not to post. I ask because when I turn the power on absolutely nothing happens. The HD access for just a second and then it fails to post I removed the HD cage and put it in another M90 and it works fine.

So far I have it narrowed down to either a bad vid card, CPU or MB. If I knew what went bad I could fix it in a jif.

Yes. Everything from dead to blinking codes.

 

[Matt1970]

Yes it can. Over time the heat causes the chip to become de-soldered from the board. Once the chip no longer has connection it will not boot. There are videos on YouTube on how to solder them back with a heat gun and tinfoil but it's not for the faint at heart.

 

[nForce2]

We had several of these at work a few years back, and every single one of them had the dedicated videocard fail one machine had it fail twice. Ours had the nvidia quadro cards in them. It might be something to check.

My old workplace had 'em as well. There were maybe 10 or 12 M90s in our area, and over a period of about a year or so, all of us had needed the video cards replaced except for one guy whose machine was holding out. He was always giving us a hard time about it, about how we must have abused our machines, etc, etc, etc, until one day his finally went belly up right when he really needed it.

His replacement video card lasted less than two weeks before it died too. :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

 

[Matt1970]

I'll be dipped, those do have an actual separate video card. They can be replaced but how much are you willing to put into that laptop with no guarantees it won't do that again in the near future?

 

[dud]

Just wanted to thank everyone for their help with this issue. I have determined that the video card is indeed bad as I was able to get the laptop to work with a swapped card. At this point I am preparing to "bake" the card to see if I can revive it. If it cannot be revived I will either buy a used/refurbed replacement or just used the dead unit for spare parts.

Thanks again ...

 

[86waterpumper]

My old workplace had 'em as well. There were maybe 10 or 12 M90s in our area, and over a period of about a year or so, all of us had needed the video cards replaced except for one guy whose machine was holding out. He was always giving us a hard time about it, about how we must have abused our machines, etc, etc, etc, until one day his finally went belly up right when he really needed it.

His replacement video card lasted less than two weeks before it died too.

HAHA that sounds similar to what we had going on here. It is a good thing the precisions come along with such good warranties eh? D: Good luck fixing that thing. I'm not surprised at the description Matt gave of why they fail. These laptops get VERY hot under a steady load

 

[rgldsmth]

I just replaced the vid card module $49.98 eBay, however most folks are asking for $80.00 to $120.00 for the module, easy to switch out.

Yeah heat issues, big suckas though.

Ya know I did not think to bake it, I have done this successfully with Desktop graphics cards, ow I will bake the one I took out, oh, new one is artifacting .....