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This tutorial explains how you can upgrade your Dell Inspiron E1705 a.k.a. Inspiron 9400 by replacing the graphics card and installing more memory.
Dell has done something great here, a laptop that is user-serviceable and user-upgradable…Tonight, I ventured into wild with a few components and upgrades not normally available.
Dell Inspiron E1705/9400 laptop has two user-accessible memory slots. According to Dell specifications, you can install up 2GB into this unit (up to 1GB into each slot). You should use PC2-5400 DDR-II 667MHz modules.
Even though Dell says that you cannot install more then 2GB, the author of this tutorial installed 4GB (two 2GB modules) into his laptop.
The issue with a lot of bios’ out there (desktops, laptops, and even the XPS-line of previous laptops) is that they do not allow full access to all 4096 MB of ram – if you were to stick in 4GB of ram. The E1705 is one of them, and limits you to utilizing only 3.2 GB of ram available to the OS.
In addition to memory upgrade, the author was able to replace his ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 graphics card with a more powerful nVidia Quatro FX2500m 512MB graphics card. In order to install new graphics card, you’ll have to modify the laptop case.
Make sure to read through comments posted after the tutorial. You’ll have to install modified drivers to make your new graphics card to work correctly.
What you want to do is download a special “hacked” set. It’s basically the highend drivers from nvidia “desktop only” series of cards (laptops have lower-end versions). But with a slight tweak to the INI files to allow you to install it for your 2500m Quatra mobile edition.
Here’s another tutorial for upgrading the graphics card in a Dell Inspiron E1705 laptop, you’ll find it here. The author explains how to replace ATI x1400 graphics card with NVIDIA 7800go. In this tutorial you’ll find step-by-step laptop disassembly instructions, graphics card installation instructions and a few benchmarks to show you of the difference in performance.
The top picture in the x1400 that we removed, and the bottom picture is our new baby that is going into the e1705. The 7800go, while not the top of the line for NVIDIA mobile graphics anymore should be more than enough for the gamer that is taking his laptop on the road and will do some gaming. The installation of this card is no different than the x1400 as they use the same heat sink and assembly, so just pop it in, and then put everything back together.
ATI x1400 graphics card
NVIDIA 7800go graphics card
UPDATE: I just found another guide for Dell Inspiron E1705 (9400) users. This guide explains how to disassemble the laptop and replace the video card.
Originally, my notebook, a Dell Inspiron E1705 (9400), was equipped with a NVIDIA GeForce Go 7800 video card. In order to improve its graphical performance, I decided to replace it by a NVIDIA Geforce Go 7900 GTX.
Also, check out my new instructions for replacing a damaged keyboard in a Dell Inspiron 9400 laptop.
March 26th, 2012 at 7:00 pm
Wikipedia explains:
The Inspiron E1705 tends to run hot on its underside, which might be the reason the graphics processor on some units overheats and burns out within a year because of inadequate cooling. This problem can sometimes be resolved by re-heating the solder joints under the GPU with the use of a hot air gun. On most accounts of users who have experienced this problem, it occurred after the warranty expired.
Note that while this model only officially supports 2 x 1 GB dual channel DDR2 it is possible to use 2 x 2 GB for a total of 4 GB. However you’ll be limited to 3.2 GB due to a large reserved address space for I/O allocated by the BIOS and this whatever the operating system in use (including 64-bit versions of MS Windows and Linux).
March 9th, 2012 at 5:40 pm
Any idea what are the limitation (other than the slot and size) of the gpu you can install in the insperon 9400?
April 8th, 2011 at 12:34 pm
gtsouk,
Thank you for the link.
April 3rd, 2011 at 10:01 am
I there is a way to have 4gb ram on a 32bit system using PAE (Physical Address Extension). PAE is supported but not enabled in most 32bit version of windows. At least that’s what microsoft say’s. The following article describes how you can enable PAE:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366796%28v=vs.85%29.aspx
I just ordered 2x2gb ram from ebay so I haven’t actually tried it.
Good luck and post results
March 27th, 2011 at 10:52 pm
Hi. I;m looking at getting the FX2500m, could anyone post a link for tweaked drivers for this card? and will it work fine on Windows 7 32bit?
Also, the ‘baking’ process works multiple times on the 7900gs (250C for 5mins), and gives you a great story to tell others “i got a free laptop by baking it in the oven” :really” “yeah, pop it in at 250C for 5 mins, take it out, let it cool for 10mins and Voila! fresh laptop!” you can see how this ammuses people, they usually dont believe you the first time xD. However, if you are unfortunate like me, you will want to get either the ati x1400 card or the 7900gtx (FX2500m if you want to put in the effort). but thats just my opinion.
so yeah, heads up on drivers would be great,
Cheers guys
March 26th, 2011 at 8:00 am
Hi. I was trying to upgrade my ram from the 2x1GB (2 GB total) to 2x2GB (4 GB total) and am having issues. I keep getting a physical dump when booting. The system is not giving me all the ram. When I go into the setup screen, it shows 4 GB, says that it is more than is allowed and has reduced it. The available only has about 122 MB. I’m not sure what is happening that has caused this. Any suggestions out there?
March 19th, 2011 at 1:12 am
Hi,
I just upgraded my Dell Inspiron E1705 Laptop. I added a new CPU an Intel Core 2 Duo T7600 64bit processor and 4GB of RAM. After you add these items and power on for the first time, it will take a couple of mins to boot while it recognizes the changes. It will then say something like Time and Date are incorrect … hit F1 to continue etc as well as Memory config has changed…hit F1 to contunie etc. Once ur past that it should boot into your OS.
I am running 32bit Windows 7 and my latop is only recognizing 3.2GB of RAM. I also upgraded the BIOS to A10 which is the most recent version made in 2009. I’m not sure why we can’t get more than the 3.2GB it allocates. That’s the only part that sux.
The system is faster and now I can run VMware Workstation running a single VM which is Windows 2008 R2 and installing Citrix inside that VM and it works great….just like my wife’s late 2008 Toshiba latop. I purchased my Dell in spring of 2006 so am happy that I can at least Virtalize it.
FYI… if you’re gonna do the same, when you install your new CPU, go into the BIOS and enable virtualization…assuming you have the same or similar BIOS as A10. I recently upgraded to that from A04…prior to my CPU upgrade as I didn’t want any BIOS probs…eg: not recognizing the new 64bit cpu etc…
Hope this helps! FYI…so from what I’ve learned on this thread…even if I were to install Windows 7 64bit which I was about to..it looks like it would only see 3.2GB still. Oh, as well, when I went into the BIOS ver A10 it did say that it has 4GB of memory but only 3.2GB is usable as the rest was for system memory.
I think the Video card also uses some of the RAM…from what I recall so perhaps that may have something to do with it…
If it were cheap….I would love to try 4x2GB = 8GB and see if the system gives me at least 7GB after…:)))) Anyone willing to try?
Take care,
KC
February 27th, 2011 at 12:05 pm
Yep, very familiar with the “baking” process. I have done this to about 5 laptops and a handful of discrete graphics cards. Until this one…my success rate has been about 95%. Only 1 video card has failed again after the reflow. I always keep my eyes out for laptops with this problem and usually can spend a couple hours working on it…get it back to a functioning machine, then resell it for a small profit or give it to a friend/family member in need. Well, this one…nothing. I didn’t invest much for the laptop, so if I fail to locate a replacement…I’ll just part it out. It has the sought after T7400 CPU, so selling just that, I will be able to break even on the deal.
I appreciate the advice and suggestions, but alas, I need a replacement card. Booooo!
February 26th, 2011 at 4:52 pm
Craig Adams,
Looks like Dell XPS M1710 is one of those models mentioned on the NVIDIA settlement website.
I guess it has failed NVIDIDA chip.
If you have nothing to lose, you can try these tricks to fix the video card:
http://www.laptoprepair101.com/laptop/2010/04/06/fixing-compaq-presario-v6000-motherboard-no-video-issue/
or
http://www.laptoprepair101.com/laptop/2011/02/23/fix-laptop-motherboard-with-failed-nvidia-graphics-chip/
February 26th, 2011 at 4:33 pm
I just picked up a XPS M1710 with a bad video card. Any of you guys want to sell one of the X1400s you swapped out? Just want to get this XPS up and running. Not gonna game on it..just websurfing, pix, DVDs, video…simple stuff like that. Hit me up.