Alienware m9750 Graphics card has broken :(

Hello guys,

I'm posting this here because I don't know where else to turn really. I think my problem(s) might be quite vanilla but hopefully someone can point me in the direction that I need to move to. My laptop is the m9750 Alienware beast from about 3.5 years ago.

Background info: Hard disk fail last November - had been building laptop back up since then. In January, I started to get some Computer freezes when I moved/nudged the laptop. I managed to stall this by buying a laptop rester/cooler - the fan and the extra pressure placed on the bottom of the laptop seemed to help it stop doing that - but intermittent crashes still occurred occasionally. This included moving the screen too.

Main problem: Where this draws in with my main problem is that I had to keep the screen in the same position because if I did not - the screen would be black - even when booting. About 4 days ago - I was playing DOW II when my computer display messed up and I got 'artifacts' all over the screen. Red lines and dots running down the screen. When I tired to load up the screen still showed these corruptions and then when it got past the Windows XP load up sign, the screen blacked out and stayed that way. In the end, the only way I could get onto the pc was to load up in Safe mode.

I sent the laptop off to a local technician and he said that the Graphics card had buggered up and because it's an Alienware, the G. card is integrated with the motherboard and fixing this would be painful and expensive (hence him recommending a new computer).

My questions are thus:

1. After browsing around, it seems that the Gefore 7950 GTX card can be replaced, but this appears to contradict what the technician told me. Who's advice is correct?

2. Should I cut my losses and start afresh with a new pc? I still have my data on that pc and I can copy it onto an external hard drive via safe mode if need be. The technician said that each time I start safe mode, more of my files will corrupt. How true is this?

I have tried Dell and Alienware support, but since I'm out of warranty, they offer me little other than the cold shoulder!

System specs:

Display: 17" WideXGA+ 1440 x 900 LCD - Stealth Black
Operating System: Genuine Windows® XP Professional UK with SP2 - English
Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7200 2.0GHz 4MB Cache 667MHz FSB
Graphics Processor : Dual 512MB NVidia® GeForce™ Go 7950 GTX - SLI Enabled
Memory: 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz - 2 x 1024MB

Any help you guys can give me would be grateful. I'm an intermediate with terminology - I'm just a gamer at heart and all i want to do is play games without the pain!

I will try my damndest to answer any questions you need.

Qwenty.

 

Easy Bake?

 

Bake the GPU's

 

Tech probably wants you to "donate" your alienware to his "library" or something. The cards are removable, try taking the secondary out and seeing if it works that way. Or hell just disable SLI. Try a fresh restore/format as well.

Good luck.

 

After re-reading your post I'd just cut my losses and get a new machine. Laptops have come down, and you should be able to pick something up with much more horsepower than that older alienware on the cheap.

 

The M9750 is still a great machine, but it depends if you can find a decent card (likely just 1 is fubar, not both).

Take out the 2nd card, and see if you still have problems. If you still have problems then the 1st card is defective. If you don't then it was the 2nd card.
Prices on 7950GTX's are insane on ebay, but if you have some patience you can get decent deals (always the risk you buy someone else's baked crap).

You can Definately replace the gpu's, don't go to the technician again who told you you can't, he obviously has no clue whatsoever what he is talking about.

In the end, look for a good deal, if you can't get it, think about a new laptop as it's not worth spending more then $300-400> on.

 

Ah yes, I just need some aluminium foil! Is this guarannteed to work in most cases?

Ok, well that's what I'll tyr first - taking it out to see what happens. When you say secondary, do you mean the Slave VC?

That's also another valid option. I thyink i remember my cousin saying she was looking to sell her laptop - which happenedn to be an Alienware I think! Co-incidental or what?!

I saw one on ebay - but I've been burnt in the past by e-bay, which is why I'm a little reluctant to use it.

The more and more I think about it, the more I think I was preyed upon by the technician. Shouldn't have told him it cost me £1500! Doh!

Thanks for the help guys!

 

Hi again alienb,

I'm getting ready to have a look inside either tomorrow or the day after. I have been thinking of new laptops though. My cousin is selling her Alienware desktop, so I can get a good deal on that I presuppose. However, I might need a laptop in the interim and all I want to do is to play DOW II and Retribution - don't care about the graphics, just as long as I can play it. What laptops would you recommend just so I can pass the time? They don't have to be high end, I just want something cost effective in the interim, preferably below £500, if that's possible! Thanks!

 

Hey Qwenty, can't help but noticing your thread, wondered if your be interested in another M9750. It has the exact same specs as yours, with Windows 7, but i have all the original Vista discs. Thanks!

 

TBH Kev, if I don't manage to fix this myself, I think I might just get a cheaper laptop with ok specs. Out of interest though, how much would you be willing to sell it for? You can pm me if you want in reply.

 

I'd be willing to part for it for $650, less than the cards for it would cost.

 

Have you tried baking the gpu yet?
From what you say though the problem is with the motherboard's primary gpu slot. A problem with the GPU would not exhibit when you move the system, a problem with the slot however would. This is a known issue with the m9750 and the trick was i believe to wrap a coin in insulating tape and then place it somewhere in the system above the primary gpu slot. The procedure is on the forum somewhere, a search should find it.

 

Ok Kev - thanks for the offer but I think I will say no because really, I just need to get this over with quickly.

Right, well I reseated the primary video card (I forgot the start off with the secondary). In and out, started it up....screen had cracked! How on earth that happened, I will never know!! I placed the laptop on a surface supported by chusioning and towels. I didn't press anything down hard and now it's cracked! I could see from about halfway up on the screen; the artifacts appeared and then dissapeared in quick order, so I thnk it's possible that the reseating might have fixed the issue, but obviously another one came up!

Kev, I was going to go with your ption before this happened!

 

I'm glad you didn't, you'd be stuck with two dead M9750's. My cards just blew. Got in my car, and my dad's drivin. Jump on NFS, freezes, restart, red lines everywhere. One of the cards still works, but the other's toast. I'll sell the working one and get a new 3870. If you want, I'll sell you the working card, its the parent.

 

Hi everyone,

I hope this is the right place to ask this, apologies if it isn't.

I have an M9750 with a 7950 GPU that is showing artifacts. It mostly won't boot on the laptop display but will normally boot on an external monitor....

My question for the hive is this:
I recently bought a 3870 GPU (PN: ALWH-40GAB0439-C40S) from ebay that basically said it was a master and would work in an M9750, however, it definitely seems like a slave, even has a sticker on it that says it is! But it doesn't work in the master (daughter) slot ...(no real surprise)...Now the tricky bit! could I put this card (Ati 3870 GPU) in the secondary (parent) position and use my poorly Nvidia 7950 in the master (daughter) slot (so I can see what's going on) to flash the 3870 into a master? Using the appropriate VBIOS of course!

Yes, I could return the 3870 for a refund etc but I just want to know if the above is an option first.....I'm running out of time here, visiting the folks for 2 weeks soon and they live at the -hole end of nowhere so I'd really like my lappi with me.....I'm sure you understand!

Baking the 7950 board is most definitely on the cards but while it's limping along I'd like to try something like the above before I send it to oblivion and beyond!

Any help with this would be hugely appreciated guys!

Thanks

 

I wouldnt try to flash the card if I were you, you really need to have an ATI master card in there to flash the slave one I can foresee huge issues trying to mix brands of cards.

 

Why don't you guys try some HP 3650 ATI cards? they work for most people as unlocked MXM cards. Would be a cheap and easy trick.

The decision of whether to get a new laptop depends on how into MXM cards and cooling mods you are. You could just get some good cheap cards like 8800m GTS or even cheaper 8700m GT, then if your notebook dies or it doesn't work out get a better compatible MXM notebook that supports socket P and core 2 quads, better cooling etc.