9800M GT problem

Hello.

My computer started crashing two days back. I'm kind of running out of options so I was hoping to find any answers here.

I have area 51 m15x-r1. Using win7 ultimate 64bit and video card 9800M GT. Week ago I bought 24" LCD screen and SSD Hybrid hdd. Reinstalled windows, got all the drivers back. Everything seemed to work ok at first even faster with a new drive and clean windows. After few days of playing World of Warcraft with no problems (with a lowered details so my FPS would be decent even with big screen) my game crashed few times with a weird screen lines and colors, than after minute of not responding it maximalized game again and was running still. That happened few times a day and I was trying to find out what is the problem, but no success. Yesterday when I started game it froze in 30 sec every time. Sometimes it let me get to Win, sometimes it crashes whole pc. Windows log was reporting resetting of GPU driver few times.

Even after new windows install with different drivers it did't change anything.
I was thinking about any other things which could affect my graphic drivers. Its a little strange that my OSD software reports card as a integrated internal, even if I'm running on external 9800m GT. When I run the game on integrated card game doesn't crash so I don't think it could be problem with new SSD drive.

Do you think my GPU got damaged due to using new big screen and resolution? Any idea what should I try to be sure its GPU? Also anyone knows which is the best GPU I could put to my laptop in case I will have to buy new one?

Thank you very much.

 

I think the Gpu is faulty, but not because of anything you did. A lot of the 9800m gpus failed.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/search.php?searchid=5600657

best upgrade:
Alienware m15x upgrade guide

It's going to run hot, using a cooler would be a good idea.

 

I would try running your laptop using just the integrated or on Stealth mode with out the GPU and see if it still crashes, if it does then it may be something else. I would also try and make sure that you try the stock drivers that came with your laptop and see how they work. I hope this helps. God Bless

 

Hello again. Thanks for the fast reply. I did try running game with integrated card and it didn't crash. I did try few different drivers and it was the same. Can' try the ones I got with laptop because they were for Vista 32 and I'm using win 7 64 at the moment.

I'm using Zalman cooling pad which had quite a nice reviews so I don't know how better to cool up my laptop.

JDELUNA
I can see you do have Nvidia GTX 280M. Would it be upgrade from 9800M GT? Will it work in my old laptop?


Found those three cards on Ebay. What do you think?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/GTX-280m-1gb-...o_TV_Cards&hash=item4aa844c7f9#ht_1049wt_1139

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NVIDIA-GTX-28...o_TV_Cards&hash=item19c12be26c#ht_1148wt_1139

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NVIDIA-GTX-28...eo_TV_Cards&hash=item19b9a80347#ht_739wt_1139

I hope its not again rules to post links from ebay. If so I will delete them.

 

The 280Ms WOULD work (at least the ones you posted would; be careful, they come in both MXM 2.1 and MXM 3.0, and you need the prior) but would undoubtedly have serious overheating problems without extreme cooling mods being put in place.

If you need to replace your GPU I'd highly recommend looking at an ATi 3870. It wouldn't be an upgrade, but they aren't that expensive, they're reliable, and won't run as hot. You might need a different heatsink though, or you might need to mod your current heatsink.

 

The first GPU of those three is downclocked to avoid heating problems. Also its cheaper than the other two. Would't it be good choice to go for that one?

 

No he won't need a heat-sink, the 9800m GT has a great heat sink, I sugget you try baking the card actually. People are on both sides of the fence on this one, but you really have nothing to lose, I suggest baking the card and then seeing if you have improved results.

 

If he did decide to get a 3870 it'd need a different heatsink or a heatsink mod due to the different sinks used on them. At least, if I remember correctly.

 

There are only 2 heatsinks, available for this system



8600m

and



Larger one, He has the larger one obviously for the hot 9800m so you can't get a bigger/better heatsink and I wouldn't imagine you'd want to downgrade so thus He should KEEP his heat sink

 

I was actually thinking about baking the card and I think I will give it a go.

About your idea with ATI 3870. Was checking GPU tests on
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M - Notebookcheck.net Tech
And ATI 3870 seems to have really nice performance as dual cards, but as a single one it would be actually downgrade for me. But if there is any stronger ATI card I could get in it isn't actually bad idea. I'm kind of bored of changing Nvidia every year and half because it burns out. I will try few more tests when I get home and if everything fails I will try oven

But what do you think about this downclocked card?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/GTX-280m-1gb-A...ht_1049wt_1139
Wouldn't it be good idea to get this one?

 

I still wouldn't get the downclocked 280M. You can't say for sure how well it will perform, and it may well still overheat.

And yeah, the 3870 would perform slightly slower than a 9800M. However, the reason it's popular in the m15x is for its reliability. Unfortunately that was the only card officially compatible with the system, I can't remember if any others even worked but I don't think they did.

 

I just got home, my pc crashed in windows while copying some files and after it just got stucked screen dead. So I took off 9800 card and boosted normally with integrated card. So it probably doesn't leave much chances it could not be graphic card screwed. I should probably start searching for some kind of stronger card that 9800 but not as overheating as 280M. Anyone has an idea what would be good choice? Or is there any way how to cool 280M enough? I have no idea how to make better cooling for laptop gpu's :/

What about this card?

NVidia Quadro FX 3700M MXM 2.1 III Work as a GTX 280M on eBay (end time 28-Feb-11 05:09:11 GMT)

possible to use it in m15x?

 

Just go with this, Nvidia Alienware area-51 8800m 9800m GT MXM 2.1 III/HE! - eBay (item 320646060718 end time Feb-19-11 21:05:44 PST)

I mean I think this is a good price, and you can always make an offer as well.

 

fx 3700m has slightly lower clocks than a 280m but runs hotter because it's 65nm while the 280m is 55nm.

 

You won't get a card in between the 280M and the 9800M, apart from the 260M. And even the 260M will have heating issues.

The only way you could get it in there without worrying about heat is if you did some serious cooling mods. Or at the very least, run it without the back cover on, on top of a good notebook cooler.

 

Hmm its really hard to say. Think it that I would rather buy better gpu than 9800M GT because I would like to have at least an upgrade now when I have to get new one. And even 8800M GTX and 9800M GT had a problems with heating. I don't know what temperature is unhealty for GPU's. Both cards I had were heating up from 80C to around 105C and the top one was usually the point where the card started to cause problems. Even as they were really hot they both worked fine for year and half.

Going to do a little research to see how bad is it with overheating of 280M GTX. Also I will try that crazy oven action today. Not that I would give it any chance really, but wanna try it anyway just for fun.

What about the 260M? Does the overheating issue is not as bad with this card?

By the way I got this cooling pad.
Zalman USA Inc NC1500-B Notebook Cooler Black

And I was just thinking yday that it could be good call to leave the bottom of laptop open to help the cooling. I would probably have to quite often clean it from dust, but it wouldn't be such a problem.

 

Awww I just found this card on ebay and was cheering for the price, but than I realized its MXM 3.0 so it would not work in my pc. I'm right?

NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 260M notebook video card on eBay (end time 02-Feb-11 16:09:20 GMT)

 

You could replace it with a 260M, just be warned that you might still suffer overheating problems. I don't believe it was particularly any worse than a 9800M, but that ran too hot as well and the 260M isn't cooler, that's for sure.

At least you don't have the fundamental problems that the 8800/9800 had, that made them destined to fail after a time.

You could replace it with a 260M but it's a lot of money, think carefully first about the risks. See if you can get a reseller that will allow you to send it back if it does run too hot.

And yes, that card you posted above wouldn't work. You need to look for MXM 2.1.

 

I'm searching around to find the right seller, but it seems to be harder than I thought. Only two cards GTX 280M at Ebay with price around 350£, but can't find any GTX 260M at all or can't even find any internet shop within UK where could I order from. Very strange. Do you think that 350£ is decent price for it? Also they offer 90 days return policy, which isn't awesome long time but its enough time to see how it will be with heating.

 

I'd say £350 is a fairly good price, I've seen them sell a lot higher than that. And the 90 day return policy is good.

 

I don't know how oftenly you check 3870 prices on ebay, but prices are going through the roof. The 280m looks like a low budget option if you compare it to 3870 prices lately

 

I did try yesterday to put my old card to oven. It booted fine to my surprise, but when I try it in game it crashed after few minutes again. Going to buy NVIDIA GTX 280M - MXM 2.1 TYPE III on eBay (end time 20-Feb-11 18:17:55 GMT) than I hope I can cool it enough.

Also when I'm already here in discussion I'd like to ask about one more thing. I did put password to my BIOS years ago and since then was never able to get into it. Anyone know how to reset it? When I called AW support they told me to take off the battery from motherboard press the power for few seconds so I will be sure all power is gone and it should reset. But it didn't...Anyone knows how to reset BIOS any other way?
Thanks

 

forum rules don't really let us tell you, sorry.

 

One more thing just came to my mind. If the card will have problems with Overheating I should be probably able to downclock it myself in order to cool it down it bit no?

 

Yes, you should be able to. And you can even lower the voltage using nibitor.

 

Sweet. I also realized that I may be able to make a hole to down cover to put there slim active cooler with a additional metal cooling to support heatsink. Just need to see how much space is there and try to find parts which would fit in.

Also as I'm in upgrading mood this days do you know what is best CPU you can get to m15x and if it supports dual 2x 4Gb memory?

Also how it will be with a drivers? 9800M GT had to use 186.81 very old drivers, all the never one's crashed PC. Will it be fine with new cad?

 

Can you run CPUz and check what chipset you have?

 

Chipset is GM965

 

Best CPU would be an X9000, next best is T9500 and then T9300.

 

T9300 is the one I have now. Do you think I will be ok with the gpu drivers? I'm a bit scared about it to be honest :/

 

I can't be 100% sure, but I don't see why a new (non faulty/damaged) GPU would have any problems with drivers. But again, I don't have your notebook so I can't be sure.

 

There was a problem between external gpu and binary card and it was happening to each laptop from this series. Any never drivers than 186.81 just cause BSOD :/

 

So if you saw weird colors and crashing your video card(s) are going bad. If they had a problem with overheating then you might have solder issues. I do recommend trying to re-flow them because as other members say what have you got to lose ?

However, i dont recommend putting them in an oven. Go to your local hardware store, if you have harbor freight go there. Invest in a heat gun, its only $20 max. Take your GPUs and put them on a FLAT, cant stress this enough, non burnable surface, i recommend cardboard as works for me. Clean all the thermal paste off of the processor and remove all heatpads etc. Turn on the heat gun and let it warm up. When its hot, move the heat gun in a circular motion over the processor of the GPU,hold the gun about 2-3 inches away from the processor, for around 30-45 seconds. LET IT COOL for 20 minutes before you touch/move/breathe on it.

Plug it back in and hope for the best.

 

Mourning....techniqe will work HOWEVER. When I fried one of my 9800m gt's I baked it according to the instruction on the site and I was able to use that card for another 9 months with out issue. The card was still working when I took it out after Darkloki hooked me up. Actually if your interested I could sell you the card I BAKED for $100 US. It still works and if it craps out with in 30 days Ill take it back and refund you the money no questions asked. let me know, and good luck with whatever you try.

 

Well I actually just tried to bake it in the oven. It didn't help. Now I'm just waiting for my GTX 280M and praying that it will have no problems with new drivers and that I can manage cooling it down enough for it to work fine.

 

You can probably undervolt it a bit while keeping the stock clocks. That should make it cooler. 0.95V might be possible.

 

I must be the only one not understanding people wanting to actually have a baked card in their system, or even try to sell their problem to someone else.

It is a home made temporary fix for people on a budget not wanting to cash out on a new decently working issue free card
It's like using water in your car for cooling instead of real cooling liquid. It might work a while if you're lucky but it's just plain crap.
Not to mention the idiots on ebay selling baked cards as professionally refurbished/repaired/fixed, or baking their card and selling an alienware as decently working in 100% technically top shape. bah.

**end rant ^^

just my 2cents...

 

I can understand it, it's a fun experiment to try.

What I don't understand is those people who offer to "repair" your GPU. Then they just reflow the solder. Or they reball it (which still isn't the great because it wasn't just the solder that was bad, BTW there is solder between the actual core and the package that they can't reball, they reball the solder between the package and the GPU board. To really repair it they would need to replace the chip with a new one, but then it still could fail).

 

I understand everyone sides, some people have luck some dont, good luck on getting your GT280x running. If you get it all sorted you will be good to go fo a while.

 

I count my blessings everyday, that I haven't had an issue with my 9800GT in my m15x yet. I game everyday and besides that weird driver issue a few months back it's been fantastic. I seem to notice on this forum, there's a much higher failure rate with the 8800GTX cards compared to the 9800GT. I'm glad I opted for the 9800GT when I ordered it, even if it's relatively the same performance. It seems the 8800GTX's were highly defective.

Edit: Forgot to mention, I've never used a cooling pad for it. I just make sure it's on a flat surface with room underneath for the fans

 

Same, but I know that I often switch between the Intel GPU and the 9800m pretty often. I use a SSD drive so the bootup doesn't really bother me much switching between the 2.

 

Card is still stuck in the Canadian post office...7 days so far :/

 

So now after 3 months card finally arrived. Put it in, had a bit hard time to force computer to switch to external one and now facing problem that card is identified as standard graphic adapter and nvidia drives are telling me I dont have such a card in my pc. Any idea which drivers would work or how to make them to work? Thanks

Application identify the card, but then when its installing it tells me driver couldn't find the card :/

Just now, when I manage to install drivers using modified inf from Laptop Drivers computer didn't boot up, but threw BSOD. Thats what I was afraid of, it always happened with my old gpu when I tried never version of drivers. Now I have no clue what to do with it.

 

Why don't you just google 280m in m15x and see exactly what jdelluna did?

 

I did read through the post already, used same drivers and everything, but my pc just doesnt seem to be picking the card up at all.

 

After spending whole weekend, trying different drivers and anything to make the card working I'm kind of out of options and I'm thinking I may ressell it and get back 9800GTX again. Even it wasn't best card ever at least it was working :/

Last drivers I used for GTX 280M had question mark next to it in driver management saying that driver was turned off by system after problems.