D630 Owners Thread

[bones01]

Hi all. I came across this forum tonight while desperately looking for some guidance. My D630 is currently almost useless because the screen freezes and nothing will work. I'll try to describe it as clearly as I can. I'm using Linux, but don't believe that contributes to the problem in any way.

I can turn the laptop on, and it powers up. Sometimes it loads up and I can use it for a few minutes, but then it just freezes. It doesn't relate to what I'm doing as it has frozen at different times with different things happening. I cannot shut it down, so have to hold the power button to kill it.

I have been able to use it with an external monitor, and this seemed to work ok for a week, but even that seems to be uncertain now. Even with a monitor, it freezes and needs to be closed.

In my searching, I found this site - Dell D630c LCD Screen Testing - so tested the LCD by powering it up while holding the "D" key and got the flashing lights.

I believe it has a nVidia video chip/card (whatever).

Is this an easy fix, or does it need a motherboard replacement? Thanks for any guidance anyone can offer, or if you can point me to another forum/site that might help.

Brian

[jruschme]

I recently acquired a D630 from $WORK and have it running nicely under Windows 7. The only issue is that I can't seem to get the fingerprint scanner to work or even be certain that it is being seen by the system.

I've enabled the TPM in the BIOS and activated it. I have also installed the device driver from the Dell website. DeviceManager shows me an entry for the TPM as a Security device. Nowhere, however, do I see any device which I recognize as the fingerprint scanner (and no section for "Biometric" devices). Is there some other way that I should check?

Also, does anybody have a link to the actual fingerprint registration software. I can find the driver for the scanner but not the application.

Thanks...

[Robin24k]

You can use the UPEK driver for the fingerprint reader, and TPM isn't required to use the fingerprint reader (it's connected to the system with the touchpad, so it can't be disabled in the BIOS).

You can download Wave Embassy Trust Suite from Dell, but if I remember correctly, it might be 32-bit only. I used UPEK Protector Suite with it, and the free version should suffice.

[jruschme]

You can use the UPEK driver for the fingerprint reader, and TPM isn't required to use the fingerprint reader (it's connected to the system with the touchpad, so it can't be disabled in the BIOS).

You can download Wave Embassy Trust Suite from Dell, but if I remember correctly, it might be 32-bit only. I used UPEK Protector Suite with it, and the free version should suffice.

I'm really starting to think my fingerprint scanner is dead/broken. I downloaded Protector Suite and installed it, but it can't find any fingerprint device.

I tried the TPM settings after seeing comments (probably about other Dell models) that connected enabling the fingerprint sensor to enabling the TPM.

Thanks...

[mrmondaynight]

anyone elses run hot?

temps say 69 degrees, but the bottom plastic is HOT to the touch

i have the intel model

just replaced the heatsink & fan. is this normal?

[booboo12]

anyone elses run hot?

temps say 69 degrees, but the bottom plastic is HOT to the touch

i have the intel model

just replaced the heatsink & fan. is this normal?

My D630's always ran warm...at least for the past few years. The reason why the heat feeling is amplified is because the bottom of a D630 is actually metal...so when it's hot...you feel it.

[Agentbolt]

Hey all, former D630 owner here, looking to maybe re-become a D630 owner. Basically I had an old D630 with the Nvidia card, and of course after 5 months the screen became corrupted and useless, and THEN I learned about the Nvidia issues. I was outside of the settlement period at that point, so I ended up just pulling all the useful components out of the laptop and chucking it.

Since then I've mostly just had a tablet, but I think I'd like to maybe go back to a laptop, and I did really like the D630 when it worked properly. I was thinking about maybe just buying a used incomplete D630 off E-Bay, there seems to be tons of them around, and the sellers are doing a pretty good job of posting service tag #s so I can avoid Nvidia-GPU units. I'd assume I could grab one of these barebones laptops for maybe like 100 bucks without any issue. I already have a hard drive, battery, AC Adapter, RAM, DVD drive, and wireless card from the old dead laptop. So here's my questions:

#1. If I stick with something a little higher end (like say, a T7800 and 4 gigs of RAM) and put Windows 7 64 on it, is the laptop going to be able to do basic tasks without feeling horribly slow? I would mostly do homework on the laptop, as well as some web surfing and Hulu/Netflix video watching.

#2. If I can't find one with Intel graphics, I've read most of the thread and see some people mentioning changing the heatsink on their GPU, or the GPU being a revision of some sort that doesn't have the video card failure problem. Is there any way I'd be able to find a "safe" NVIDIA equipped one by the service tag #? Is the "mod" for the GPU fairly simple? I've never taken apart a D630 or any laptop more thoroughly than swapping out RAM under the keyboard and such.

Thanks for any advice!

[Robin24k]

You should be fine with a well-equipped D630, as long as you're not going anything GPU-intensive. I've prepared several D630's with Windows 7 64-bit, and even by today's standards, they still run well.

Honestly, I wouldn't recommend getting one with NVIDIA graphics. I've got a D630 with NVIDIA graphics on eBay right now because I purchased a parts laptop locally with Intel graphics. Even though I've replaced the thermal grease and pads, and temperatures are much better than before, I wouldn't feel comfortable giving the system to my cousin, who is in high school.

Furthermore, there's always the option of purchasing a with NVIDIA graphics motherboard with Intel graphics to install in your old D630 (of course, if you feel comfortable taking apart the system).

[Agentbolt]

You should be fine with a well-equipped D630, as long as you're not going anything GPU-intensive. I've prepared several D630's with Windows 7 64-bit, and even by today's standards, they still run well.

Honestly, I wouldn't recommend getting one with NVIDIA graphics. I've got a D630 with NVIDIA graphics on eBay right now because I purchased a parts laptop locally with Intel graphics. Even though I've replaced the thermal grease and pads, and temperatures are much better than before, I wouldn't feel comfortable giving the system to my cousin, who is in high school.

Furthermore, there's always the option of purchasing a with NVIDIA graphics motherboard with Intel graphics to install in your old D630 (of course, if you feel comfortable taking apart the system).

Replacing a motherboard is probably a bit out of my league, especially if the new motherboard would also just die on me. I'll stick with an Intel-only one, surely some of the E-Bay ones are equipped with that.

I certainly don't plan on doing anything GPU-intensive, unless the X3100 supports hardware decoding of Hulu/Youtube/Netflix type stuff (which I'm not sure if it does). I might dust off an old copy of Warcraft 3 for funsies, but even that I'm not going to be shooting for anything past 800x600 at like the lowest quality setting.

[Robin24k]

Sorry, looks like there was a glitch with the text editor. What I meant was to buy an Intel motherboard to replace the bad one in your old system. That would be the most economical way to go as well.