My M170 notebook was being weird (crashin' 'n' stuff) and was really hot in places. I thought my video card might be on its way out, but when i opened 'er up to see what was goin' on, i was surprised to find a different problem that, once fixed, made everything 'all better'!
So my M170 started crashing on me - either the screen would go blank or just be a mess of colours, and lock-up requiring a hard re-boot, at which point it would come back to 'normal'. It was also hot above the keyboard (to the right of the power button and in between the keyboard and screen) and on the bottom as well, even though I8kfanGUI was telling my temps were pretty normal (40-60°C for the CPU, 50-60°C for the GPU). Since it only seemed to crash when playing video, I thought maybe (if it wasn't just plain fried) the vid card might have worked itself loose and be in need of a re-seating...or something. And so, with my trusty, Dell™ XPS M170 Service Manual on-screen (on my desktop), I endeavoured to check it out.
N.B.: I'm not telling you to do this, 'cause you could mess things up, void your warranty, etc., etc., etc., ad. infinitum. Here's was I did for your information and entertainment purposes only...!
As per the service manual, I removed parts until I got to the video card/thermal cooling assembly. I removed it from the main board and, since I was in there anyways, gave the whole thing a good vacuuming to remove all the dust that had built up over the years. Not seeing anything obvious with the vid card, I started putting it all back together. Again, since I was in there anyways, I decided to make sure all the other modules, heat sinks, fans and 'stuff' were all seated properly and screwed in tight.
Lo and behold...!...the MCH (I had to look it up: Memory Controller Hub) heat sink had worked itself loose and, as you can sorta see from this picture, since the cooling assembly runs over/through the MCH, it would then get pushed up and out of whack.
So, in retrospect, it was the memory controller hub that had been overheating all along and, now that that heat sink and the cooling assembly are back to where they're supposed to be and everything's been cleaned out, my M170 is running rock-solid again and has been for at least a couple weeks straight, now!
Hope this helps someone out there...!
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