M18X R1 6990M recommended drivers?

Hello everyone. I've been working on a friends R1, which keeps losing video.. whether it be black screen, gray screen, blue screen with lines.. it just has issues. The system is not under warranty, and Dell recommended he get the motherboard replaced and/or the video cards:
- I've upgraded to the latest BIOS.
- Tried different video drivers (Dell and AMD) after reloading the OS (Win 7).
- Cleaned out the GPU vents, and fans.
- I've read over 200 pages of posts here on various topics.
- Monitored the GPU temps, in which they pretty much stay 5-8 degrees F apart.

My friend has told me to give it a go, and if that doesn't work, to move on and sell it. So my big questions would be.. has there been a consensus of what drivers, versions.. etc, that has put out the best results. Barring any issues after that, it would be hardware failure.

Oh, and one last thing.. whenever I open the laptop, there are sweat marks on the screen, above the A-S-D-F keyboard area.. has anyone else experienced that?

Thanks to Mr. Fox, and everyone who has done all the hard work...this R1 laptop is maddening!!

 

Have you try disabling the xfire? The 6990 are not good cards. You might need to remove the sevondary card and retest. If its still acting up try putting the secondary in the primary card. Maybe the only way to test the system. Good luck

 

When I received the R1, it was already having issues, and I found that xfire was disabled. I did enable it, but the issues continue.

I should also state, that this isn't an hourly, or daily thing.. it's very random. Hence, the reason for this post. I'm trying to eliminate the drivers that have already been tested and have higher failure rates.

 

6990m's had a fairly high failure rate after launch. Add the wear & tear which comes from use, and the chance for failure of one (or both) increases exponentially. Judging from your thorough assessment, I'd venture the notion of video card failure, perhaps motherboard as well. I also had an R1 with 6990's, and both of them died spontaneously. Did a thorough clean of the vents/fans, a repaste with quality material, but there was no saving them-the cards had seen their last day.

 

With all the posts I've read, and frustrations I've come across.. I'm not sure I want to continue fixing something that is hell bent on staying FUBAR. Thanks for your help!

 

PM me, we can discuss something in private.

 

6990M is just a big failure. I also had them and they died. Better sell these and buy some 680M/780M.

 

I'm not able to PM anyone. It might be due to me not reaching a post quota.. not sure. Maybe if you started the PM, I can reply?

 

Try again now. You need 5 posts and overnight processing. Maybe the overnight processing had not taken place.