Another BSOD Dell Studio 1558 Laptop

[joe]

Hi,

I have the same laptop with the same configuration. I started getting a BSOD some time back pointing to the driver atikmdag.sys

Since I had most of the my critical information already backed up, I went ahead and did a factory reset with the Dell back up disks. It worked for the first time after the reset. Now I get a BSOD every time I start my laptop, even before it reaches the Win 7 login screen. Any advice on what I should try next?

One observation is that on the boot screen, now along with the Dell logo there are some red lines that cover the entire screen. I checked the bios version and that is the latest version that is available on the Dell website.

-Joe

 

[Wrench97]

Hi Joe try tapping F8 while booting and see if you can enter safe mode.

Also tapping F12 on Boot should bring you to a Diagnostic menu run the Video tests if you can get to them successfully.

 

[joe]

I entered safe mode and uninstalled the ati driver. But windows simply reinstalls the driver on restart. Also it abruptly powers down in safe mode a couple of times. The diagnosis passed all the tests including the video tests but then powered down abruptly.

I thought it might be a heat issue, but the fan works fine and the body of the laptop does not seem that warm.

 

[Wrench97]

Does it act the same both plugged in and on battery?
Does the battery charge indicator light come on?

In safe mode w/networking D/L and install Hardware monitor lets get a look at the temps instead of assuming.
D/L and run Hardware Monitor Expand all the trees and use the Win7 snipping tool to grab a screen shot of the HWM window, post the screen shot using the paperclip button in the advanced message box(Go Advanced button).

 

[joe]

Hi. I installed the hardware monitor but it would not stay on long enough for me to capture and post the screenshot. So I clicked a picture and I'm attaching that. I tried this a couple of times. The temperature was 40C just before it shutdown.


Also I've attached a picture of the red lines on the boot screen to show what I was referring to.

 

[joe]

I uninstalled the display drivers and deleted the file atikmdag.sys from the System32/drivers folder. That allows me to login normally, but it still powers down within 4-5 minutes. However I captured a screenshot of the hardware monitor with more details.

It switched off in 1-2 minutes of capturing this screenshot

 

[Wrench97]

The 40c in the first shot is the hard drive temp.
The high for the CPU in the second is 68c on core 2, the max for the first gen i5 is 105c so that should not be the reason.
The lines appear to be a video chip failure, is there any warranty left on the laptop?

 

[joe]

Unfortunately there is no warranty left on the laptop. Is there any way to replace the video chip or bypass it easily?

 

[Wrench97]

I'm pretty sure the video chip on that model is part of the motherboard and not a separate card.

Were you able to run the Dell Diagnostics?

 

[joe]

I'm not able to run the Dell Diagnostics since it shuts down half-way through the tests.

 

[Wrench97]

Well that takes any Windows issues out of the equation since those tests are not OS dependent.

Couple of things I would try, run the diags on the battery only, run them on the AC power adapter only with the battery removed.

If those 2 tests show the same results then I would remove the fan and heat sink clean the heat sink and reinstall using new thermal paste on the CPU and Video GPU chips.
Dell Service manual > ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-prod...o_laptop/studio-1558_service manual_en-us.pdf

 

[joe]

Thanks. I don't think the diagnostics will run completely in either mode, but I'll give it a shot. Also I've already ordered the thermal cleaners and thermal paste. It will be some time before I get it and can try it out. Fingers crossed, hopefully that does the trick!

 

[joe]

Hi,

So after a long wait, I finally got the Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste delivered and I applied it to the processor , the graphics chip and 3 other chips that I am not sure what they were (they had detachable heat-sinks and had some old thermal paste on them, so I just replaced it)

However when put the laptop back together, I had the same issue with the red lines on the boot logo and it shutting down abruptly after 3-4 min. However the temperatures in the Hardware monitor was definitely lower than before.

I tried it on once again today, and now the red lines from the boot screen logo have disappeared. But it still shuts down abruptly. One thing I noticed is that on startup the system fan does not come on. However it turns on after some time on its own. Could this be that the fan is bad and needs to be replaced? Or since it eventually does turn on, does it mean that the voltage to the fan is not adequate initially? Any idea how I should proceed debugging this? (Once the fan does come on, it runs at maximum speed with a lot of noise and then after a minute the laptop powers off)

 

[joe]

Also the diagnostics in the bios ran completely without any issues. (with battery inserted and charger plugged in). Below is the screenshot of the hardware monitor. Any advice on what to do next will be deeply appreciated.