Dell Inspiron N7710 Video Issues

[goombawaho]

Got a customer saying that her computer basically locks up periodically with a weird grey screen. Trying to get her to take a picture when it happens. Have to power off/power on to get it going again.

Dell diagnostics found NO errors.
MemTest386+ found no memory errors
Video Stress Test from Ultimate Boot CD found tons of errors - like this:
"Error at <memory address? must be FF but found XX" (where XX is different on each line)

The laptop has Intel HD Graphics 3000 video. I thought it shared system memory, but system memory is clean.
What should I do?

I see that Dell says of this model "Product not tested for Windows 10 upgrade". So maybe that's the deal - no correct driver for that video card!!!

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[Beilstwh]

According to the Intel site the 3000 (developed in 2011) will not have a windows 10 driver developed. You can try a hack using the following link

https://communities.intel.com/message/261938

or get a new board. Unfortunately their comes a time when it is not cost effective to keep supporting older hardware in new Operating Systems. Sorry.

Compatibility matrix follows

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/graphics-drivers/000005526.html?wapkw=cs-034343

Bill
Lead Application Developer
New York State, USA

 

[goombawaho]

The driver shows as being installed and functioning properly in Device Manager and must have been installed by Windows 10 automatically. But, as the chart shows, not supported.

I would ask about putting in an add-in video card, but I was reading that you really can't completely disable the onboard Intel video, so the problem would still be there.

This begs another question: Didn't Windows 10 upgrade advisor (or whatever they call it) say something about video card non-compatibility or this PC not certified for Windows 10?



"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[Beilstwh]

You can't disable the onboard chip but there is no reason that you can't add a windows 10 compatible video card and plug the monitor into it.

Bill
Lead Application Developer
New York State, USA

 

[edfair]

Goom's question:
"This begs another question: Didn't Windows 10 upgrade advisor (or whatever they call it) say something about video card non-compatibility or this PC not certified for Windows 10?"

The couple that I installed 7 on (installed fine even though not certified for 7) installed 10 fine but one upchucked on activation. Phone activation on it indicates that it has an invalid install code. The rest activated OK even without Dell's blessing on 10. All this was just to get the activation stuff on MS's servers if I want to put 10 on these spares again.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[goombawaho]

From what I understand though, when you have two video cards, it uses the integrated video card for some (low horsepower) duties and the better video card for more intense activities and therefore the video problem would still exist even if you added another card. You can't truly disable the Intel graphics card and use an nvdia card 100%. True or false.

I saw this on a Dell forum, but not for this particular model

You cannot disable the Intel GPU - it is the only one that has a connection to the display panel. The AMD GPU is simply a video co-processor - it passes data through the Intel GPU on its way to the display panel.

While there are some systems that let you select the video chip at the hardware level, this is not one of them - the video system is entirely software-controlled. You select the AMD GPU on a per-application basis. The Intel GPU is always primary - there's no way to change that.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[rclarke250]

This "LAPTOP" has 2 video cards in it already, or chips. The Intel 3000 is integrated into the CPU, the Nvidia 525m is a chip with associated memory next to the cpu. Very rarely is the Intel CPU die at fault, 99% of the time it is the board or bad connections that you would need special equipment to fix. Cheaper to get a board. Or considering the age, another laptop.

 

[goombawaho]

There is NO nvidia card in it (per Device Manager). That was OPTIONAL on this model.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[strongm]

My wife's N5110 also comes with the Intel HD 3000 (with an nVidia GT525). Intel graphics work fine under W10.

 

[rclarke250]

EMM386+ is not infallible. I have a pair of PNY Dimms, that test good on loop for more than 24 hours, but I have put them in 2 different systems and Windows will blue screen with that memory in, sometimes just sitting at the desktop. Change memory, no more blue screens. The really weird thing is they are a matched pair, with only one Dimm in the machine, no blue screen, with either, but if I but both in at the same time, blue screens all the time. I would test with external monitor, and a Live CD, or throw a hdd in and load windows 7 back on it to test, one at a time of course.

 

[goombawaho]

Probably getting too complex/expensive for this level of troubleshooting.
Advice for customer: you're out of luck.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[Beilstwh]

Have you tried to use different memory chips. Unfortunately PNY chips are cheap but they have a lot of failures. Personally I would pay a little more and get a more reliable memory chip. Just a suggestion.

Bill
Lead Application Developer
New York State, USA

 

[rclarke250]

Yes, Corsair and Geil and even Team memory Dimms work great. So I know it's the PNY that is the issue, My contention was EMM386+ does not always show a failure, it doesn't on these 2 Dimms, but Windows doesn't play nice with them. They are currently taking up space in a drawer, I bought them on clearance for less than 10$ USD, and they came with a free movie download.

 

[goombawaho]

Wait - who said anything about PNY. Not me/my situation. There are two different brand DIMMs in there, but I don't know what brand.

Are you suggesting a system memory swap then regardless of my brand?

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[rclarke250]

I think he was talking to me, and my mention of PNY memory that had an issue, but didn't show an error in EMM386+

 

[goombawaho]

Finally got a picture of the screen when it's malfunctioning. Anything to glean from these pictures?
Do we still think swapping the system RAM might be a good test?

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[Beilstwh]

could you provide sharper pictures I can't read anything on your images.

Bill
Lead Application Developer
New York State, USA

 

[goombawaho]

I hope that's a joke because that IS exactly the problem we are working on.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[strongm]

The last time I had a display that looked anything like that and exhibited symptoms similar to those you describe, it was actually caused by a faulty PSU.

 

[edfair]

From earlier systems with similar issues (not laptops) it generally was the graphics chip that fuzzed stuff up. Been a long time tho.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.