Member Avatar for egmik3

Hey everyone, I have not really posted much on here. I usually just read threads. well enough about me here's my problem and specs:


I enable SLI from the NVIDIA Control Panel and its says I must restart for effect. So I hit "restart" and it reboots. During the reboot it goes passed bios and shows the loading bar for Vista, but once that disappears the screen stays blank.

To go back to single I booted from safe mode and uninstalled the video driver. I then installed the driver from the dell website since NVIDIA's website does not have that video card listed.


SPECS:

2.4GHz Intel Core2 Duo
3GB RAM
200 GB 7200rpm HD

NVIDIA GeForce 8700M GT
- Driver Date: 9/6/2007
- Driver Version: 7.15.11.5661

I believe this is all. The system has a fresh install of Vista Home Premium 32-bit.

Let me know what you guys think :)

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by khopki30

Dani AI

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Brief expert summary and practical steps based on the thread: the blank screen after enabling SLI on an XPS M1730 is most often a driver/initialization problem rather than a permanently damaged screen. correctly reminded everyone that SLI requires two GPUs (which this model can have), and ’s note that the Vista logon can appear after a few minutes is important — the multi‑GPU driver stack sometimes takes longer to initialize.

Troubleshooting checklist (in this order):

  • Try waiting 2–3 minutes at the blank screen first, as the driver/desktop may still be initializing.
  • Try an external display (plug in VGA/TV) during boot to see whether output is being routed off the internal panel.
  • Do a full power reset: shut down, remove AC and battery, hold power for 10–15 seconds, then boot. This clears GPU state and often fixes boot-time video hangs.
  • If it still won’t show the logon, boot Safe Mode (F8) and perform a clean driver removal (Device Manager uninstall or use Windows Add/Remove). Then reinstall the OEM (Dell) video driver package for the M1730 rather than a generic desktop driver — mobile SLI often requires the vendor’s package and firmware.
  • While in Safe Mode check Event Viewer and enable boot logging (F8) so you can inspect driver load failures (ntbtlog.txt).

Additional notes and cautions: update BIOS and chipset drivers from Dell before experimenting with SLI; mismatched firmware/driver combinations are a common cause. If enabling SLI continues to produce a blank boot despite a clean driver install and power-cycle, leave SLI off unless a tested vendor driver/BIOS combination explicitly supports it — laptop SLI implementations can be fragile and OEM support matters more than generic drivers.

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Member Avatar for jbennet

Um, you cant have SLI?

You have a single 8700M in your laptop?

SLI needs 2 cards and (generally) doesnt work on laptops

Member Avatar for egmik3

Um, you cant have SLI?

You have a single 8700M in your laptop?

SLI needs 2 cards and (generally) doesnt work on laptops

Ah should of added that, It did come with 2 video cards.

Member Avatar for khopki30

Ah should of added that, It did come with 2 video cards.

I have the same machine with the dual 8700M cards.

If you wait (for a few minutes) the Vista logon screen does appear.

I thought the same as you that I had broken something when I enabled SLI, but there is a delay for some reason when you boot. Never looked any further as I boot and walk away and come back now.

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