AW 13 can't install drivers or updates after new motherboard

Hi I wonder if anyone can help me. On Friday a dell technician came to install a new motherboard after my nivida GPU started dropping out and causing it to crash. He put in the new motherboard and the system wouldn't boot of the SSD. so I gave him a normal hard drive I had laying around and he used the 8.1 media stick to install windows (I had windows 10 on the SSD). It installed fine but didn't have any drivers so the technician left and I had a working system (or so I thought). In trying to get the ssd to boot I ended up wiping the ssd as I found out the computer wouldn't boot anything windows 10 as I had a memory stick with windows 10 upgrade and a recovery disc on DVD. Also I can't install any drivers without the system crashing and then I can't reboot as it just hangs when I switch it on and then I have to do a system restore!

Then to add insult to injury I used to have a 960m but the new mother board seems to have a 860m!

I am going to give dell a call again tomorrow to try and get it sorted but I don't know if there is anything I can do to get a stable system in the mean time as I have tried everything and I feel I have been going round in circles! and I use this laptop for work as well as light gaming

Thanks,

Sam

 

If the replacement motherboard doesn't even have "at least" the original spec the I would just stop doing anything and get straight on to Dell, giving you a lesser spec is just not on.

 

yeah that's what I was thinking but need a usable system for now at least. Annoyed I didn't notice it before he left.

Another thing that is strange though is HWinfo says its a 960m and GPUz says 860m

 

I would report it ASAP, and get your money worth. If you just need a usable system have you tried a linux live cd/dvd? Or do you need windows?

 

I've already emailed the guy I spoke too and will call them in the morning. Its just annoying and I don't know if its a hardware issue or software as I remember when I first got the laptop I had issues with windows 8 and upgrading to windows 10 all the problems went away

 

That's because the GTX 860m you have has the GTX 960m hardware ID, but has the vBIOS of a GTX 860m (in other words, a big mess). It is only present in the early Broadwell models before the GTX 960m was officially released (mid-March), which would mean you have a motherboard that is older than your laptop, so to speak.
There's no way to flash it to the GTX 960m now, and even then it wouldn't be worth it as you were given the wrong motherboard. That needs to be corrected. It could also explain so of the issues you're currently having with it.

 

So they are just the same chip but with a difference vbios? That would explain a lot thanks for that.

 

Well dell are being utter ****'s (insert swear word of your choice they are all fitting) Arguing the toss that it was the correct mother board and I haven't installed windows correctly! The fact that the installation their technician installed had the same problem didn't seem to get through to him. Installed windows again as per his instructions and now waiting on a call back. What other 13" or 14" gaming laptops are available? seriously thinking of changing and I have been buying dells for the last 15 years!

 

Seems like they love to argue the toss however, the simple fact is that the majority of people you speak to don't know what they are talking about and technically inept. I would stand your ground and send screenshots of the offending information.

 

The problem I have is that the retailer I bought it off did have it listed as a 860m but it came with a 960m and I can't find the paper work that had 960m on

 

Have you checked the specs using the service tag? GPU's don't always show but its worth a look if you haven't already.

 

Hardware monitoring software like gpuz and hwmonitor aren't always very reliable for determining the actual hardware you have, the most reliable ones (and the most likely to be recognized by vendors for resolving disputes) are the direct-x diagnostic, the BIOS, and Nvidia control panel (also preferrably a version that is available via you service tag off of dell support site.

For instance, i am supposed to have an i7 6700hq, but hwmonitor says it's an i5 processor, but the BIOS and direct-x diagnostic disagree.

As for the whole Vbios thing, if your gpuz said it was 860m on the old mobo then there is nothing to worry about, if not then you have a claim for proper hardware replacement.

It also wouldn't hurt updating to latest BIOS available, you never know.

 

I did update the bios. They have admitted this motherboard is at fault and will replace it again! But still say I will get a 860m. All I have is a crash report from BeamNG that says it has a 960m not sure if they will accept that. Going to have to take it higher within dell it looks like as it doesn't say when I look up the service tag.
GPUz said 960m for the old mother board

 

It sounds like you need to contact the vender you bought it from to send you the info of what you bought so you can send it to dell.

 

well another and day and another motherboard! Now the keyboard isn't working properly so they are coming to install another motherboard tomorrow. I had a call last night from the first service agent I spoke to last Thursday and he said he will make sure that I am happy and that I get a 960m so will have to wait and see. They seem to think that the Motherboard I had with the 960m was the wrong one and it should have been a 860m. If I end up with an 860m I might just overclock it when gaming and be done with it as this is turning into a nightmare

 

Well 3rd Motherboard and all is well! Also the new motherboard also has the 960m which is great. They didn't tell me that was what I was getting either so its all worked out in the end! Thanks for your help everyone

 

Glad you got it all sorted!

My machine lands tomorrow, I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve!!