Dell complaints

[Atrium]

Well, after doing the PC recovery twice, running all the hardware tests several times, reslotting the card, getting the card itself replaced, installing a multitude of drivers (from the ones on Dell's support site to the Omega drivers), and dealing with tech support so many times it hurts, I've come to you guys in an attempt to salvage something from this computer.

I'm running an ATI Radeon X1300 Pro. All was well for the first few weeks after I hooked up the computer and was ready to go. Then things began to quickly roll downhill. I was getting the Windows bluescreen constantly (with an error talking about the ati2dvag.dll, which I found out was the main driver dll), sometimes at random, and then always when I changed resolutions. I contacted tech support and we reinstalled drivers, checked the hardware, etc.

It was then I found out that after I installed new drivers, the problem didn't happen for a slightly longer amount of time. This went on for a while longer before I finally got the card itself replaced by Dell. I thought my problems were over, but I was wrong.

I've bid farewell to the Windows bluescreen and am now constantly plagued with a VPU Recovery error, which I can only assume means the card reset itself instead of bluescreening. It either did that, or simply froze, either in game or at a blank screen.

I've run the recover process twice now, once just tonight in fact (although the second time was unwilling, as I got a missing hal.dll error). I decided perhaps I should order a new, non-ATI card: an nVidia 8600GTS. The reason I come to you guys, however, is that I'm wondering if there's something I'm missing, if I don't need to get a new card. Or, heaven forbid, if the problem will continue after I install the new card.

Everything checks out fine with the hardware diagnostics, but could it be the motherboard? Could it be heat (although I prop open the side from time to time)? Or is it just a bad combination of card and computer?

If I forgot to mention it, I do use this computer for gaming.

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System Information
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Time of this report: 12/7/2007, 02:19:05
Machine name: LOLCOMPUTER
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_qfe.070227-2300)
System Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
System Model: Dell DXP061
BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 2.5.1
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6300 @ 1.86GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 1022MB RAM
Page File: 663MB used, 1794MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.2180 32bit Unicode

ATI Radeon X1300PRO, driver version 6.14.0010.6618

[Rocke_T_Sinetist]

I don't know of a clear cut answer, specially seeing as how it 'mostly' works. On a performance video card, it can be heat. Can you leave your finger on the graphics heatsink for >5sec? If so, that lessens the likelihood the problem is thermal. If it locks up displaying desktop--when the GPU isn't working hard--further lessens likelihood of thermal.

Did the ATI come WITH the computer, or you got it over the counter? There are variations between the same 'model' of display card and drivers as sold by Dell and as sold over-counter. Either should work, with the driver that matches it, since the slot is Intel standard.

Possibility the drive is failing, corrupting files? Any other evidence of that?

Possibility the graphics/memory hub (chipset, MB) is flaky, sending rubbish to the slot intermittently.

The history of the problem changing when you switched cards suggests something is marginal rather than outright broken. That makes it harder to nail down. Possibility you got 2 bad ATI cards too, but it's an expensive fishing expedition swapping parts around if you have to buy them. If it's still in warranty, they're supposed to offer you a replacement system after 3 attempts to fix the same problem fail. Doesn't get you out of the aggravation of dealing with Dell support though.
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Rocke T Sinetist
as in, 'it doesn't take a...'

[MagiAwen]

Restoring SHOULD rewrite the boot files but does not always do that successfully....complete and total format and reinstall should remedy that.

Have you used the XP repair option to rewrite your MBR?

Have you tried a complete clean/destructive format and reinstall of windows?

Have you run a chkdsk and scanned for errors on the hard drive?


A good deal of the time missing hal.dll is something to do with sectors on the hard drive needing to be repaired and/or failing...

Also do you have any USB mass storage devices connected to the computer? These can be a thumb drive, a card reader or camera or printer...especially a networked printer...mp3 players...anything that could be considered storage plugged into your USB drive could be sometimes that the computer is trying to boot from the USB device as most usually Dell has their BIOS set to boot from USB.

Good luck.

Oh yeah...and just to add.... you aren't the only one having XPS issues...I see a lot of them...stuff like this.... most generally the motherboards they used in these machines are crappy...so if nothing works to get the video card installed...including changing to a different brand of video card... then do what you can to get the motherboard replaced while you are on warranty...and DONOT let them talk you into one that is refurbished...those are worse.

[Atrium]

Well, I've gone through the chkdsk procedures, and everything checked out fine. The issue crops up pretty much whenever I boot up a game. At this point, I essentially bite my lip and do what I can before the inevitable crash. Even running several games by Valve (Half-Life 2 and its assorted mods) with the launch property -DXLevel 70 only prolongs the crashes (ranging from a D3D draw error to random complete lock-ups) by a short amount of time.

I believe the warranty expires soon, if it hasn't already, so I may try to see what I can do about the motherboard. I'm worried that purchasing a new card may do nothing to change the issue.

Thanks for your advice, though. It's just hard to be optimistic after becoming so used to not being able to game on what was marketed as a PC that can do just that.

[Rocke_T_Sinetist]

You didn't say if you got the ATI from Dell. Like I said, display cards Dell sells do not necessarily match capability or compatibility with the same model sold over the counter, which your games are probably expecting.

Can you borrow a known good display card (and its driver) to see if the problem goes away?

Dell is going to stonewall you on warranty, and they actually have a leg to stand on since they specifically disclaim compatibility and software-induced faults.
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Rocke T Sinetist
as in, 'it doesn't take a...'

[Starman97]

You could have a power problem.
Modern Vidcards pull a whole lot of power when running in 3D.
Try reducing the load on the PSU, or increasing it bay adding a couple
of extra hard drives. Dont need to mount them, just get them spinning.