Dell M2010 (luggable) SSD upgrade and video card fan fix

Here are some disassembly photos from a Dell M2010 upgrade. Two upgrades were performed:
#1 SSD installation
#2 “Always on” fan mod (this alleviates the NVIDIA GPU death issue)

Enjoy 🙂

Removing the leftmost access panel

Removing the leftmost access panel

After SSD installation and fan power mod

After SSD installation and fan power mod

Fans hardwired ALWAYS ON via SATA power splitter

Fans hardwired ALWAYS ON via SATA power splitter

SSD installed

SSD installed

SATA + power flex cable

SATA + power flex cable

OCZ SSD and Samsung SSD

OCZ SSD and Samsung SSD

Raising the M2010's access cover

Raising the M2010’s access cover

Left & right panels removed

Left & right panels removed

Removing cover

Removing cover

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2 comments

  • Jose Manuel Mendez

    Hello:
    Are you sure that the GPU is Nvidia?
    I have the same laptop and I have an ATI Radeon X1800 that dies each 6/8 months to be reballed. I tried to change it by another gpu but all info says that it is impossible.
    Could you please tell me the GPU you have?
    Thanks a lot!

    • J.D.

      Hey Jose, that’s a good catch. The post mentions an “NVIDIA GPU death issue” which is what the always-on fan mod addresses, it’s referring to the well-documented NVIDIA GPU reflow problem on certain older laptops. If your M2010 has an ATI Radeon X1800 instead, it’s a different GPU entirely, and the fan mod in the post may or may not apply the same way. I can’t confirm which GPU my specific unit had without going back to check, so you may have a different configuration than the one shown here. The reballing issue with ATI chips from that era is real and unfortunately common.

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