Area 51 m15x graphics card problem

Hey, I'm having a ton of issues with my graphics card and I'm hoping someone here can help me out.

I have the 8800m GTX and am running Windows 7 Ultimte 32-bit

First, I'm still using the 186.03 driver, which is pretty old. Whenever I try to install some of the newer drivers (such as 258.96), the computer will install the driver, then notifies me that I need to restart, but during the reboot, I get a blue screen of death. If I manually restart after that, depending on the driver I tried to install, it will either keep giving me the BSOD (forcing me to go into safemode and install the old driver again), or will successfully boot up but does not recognize the graphics card or the driver.

My second problem is a lot more complex. My laptop was working fine, but all of a sudden when I tried to play a game (NBA 2k11, which I've successfully played before, but seems to happen with any other game I tried after that), the screen started flickering between the game and different shades of gray and black screens, before the screen turned black (maybe dark grey) and the laptop wouldn't respond, forcing me to manually turn the power off. This happened within 5-10 seconds of running the game.
This has happened a ton of times, but a couple of times, the screen would flicker for a few seconds, and then return to the game screen and windows would give me an error message (in a bubble in the taskbar) saying something along the lines of "the display adapter has stopped working and has successfully recovered."
A couple of times, instead of the screen flickering I would just get a blue screen of death.
This was happening constantly for a few days, and then I switched the Windows theme from aero to basic, and reinstalled the same driver (186.03). After that, I didn't experience any graphics card related issue for a few days, but the problem returned after maybe 3 days.
Since then, the problem has gotten worse (in one day), and now the problem occurs even when I'm just browsing the net and even just 5-10 minutes after booting the laptop. And instead of either the screen flickering or the BSOD, i get 1) screen flickering then turning black/dark gray, 2) screen just turning black/dark gray (without flickering), or 3)screen turning bright white.
After that happens, the computer does not respond so I would have to manually restart, but if I do, the laptop won't even get to the windows login page, and the screen would go black somewhere along the boot up process. It seems that the longer I wait (between manually turning off after the probelm and turning the laptop on again), the longer the laptop would last before the screen would turn black or whatnot.

I definitely don't THINK it's an overheating issue, although I have no way of knowing for sure. The reason is because, at no point did the graphics card temperature exceed 80 celcius. And the problem can occur when the temperature is under 60 celcius so I don't see how it can be an overheating issue.

I apologize if this has been covered in other threads before, but my laptop may freeze at any moment, so I had to cut my searches short.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

Does this happen on integrated graphics mode as well?

 

It was a pain to get the computer to stay on long enough to switch to inegrated, but no the problem does not seem to occur in integrated graphics mode.

 

Have you tried to plug it into an external monitor with the video card and see if the problem persists?

 

No I don't have an external monitor that I can use, but I don't think that's the problem because the computer hangs or freezes when that happens and it's not just the display that is gone.

 

The thing this doesn't happen when you use integrated graphics, that's why I'm suspicious of the video card.

 

Yea I think it's the video card too. I've had a similar issue in the past and it turned out to be the video card and I got a new one under warranty. But that time, it was clearly an overheating issue where the temperature would go past 100, whereas now it stays under 60 or slightly over during normal use, and no higher than 80 during gaming.

 

Are you still under warranty?

 

Unfortunately not. I had a 1-year warranty when I got the gfx card replaced with about 2 weeks to go in the warranty. And now about 13 months after that I'm again getting problems with the gfx card (although different problem). What, are the cards supposed to only last a year under normal usage for a $4000 laptop?

 

Yea, it sucks, the 8800's are prone to mess up (mines did too). Try to reseat the video card. Make sure you got thermal paste.

 

Tried that. Would you happen to know what's going on with the drivers not installing?

 

I hear that it's due to bios limitation, but don't know how true this is. I've never had any trouble updating my ati drivers to the latest ones though.

 

Had the same problem with my m15x with 8800m gtx. It was indeed the graphics card which was defective. First time I was under warranty and got a replacement graphics card. But second time I wasn't under warranty. I'm very sad about the quality of this NB which cost me at least 2,5k...
I tried the method recommended here and on other pages.
THe Baking Method: Pull the graphic cards out of the m15x, pre-heat the oven to 120°C (sorry I'm from Europe so just find out what it is in Fahrenheit ) and put just the grapics card into the oven and bake it at least for 20 - 30 min....
I tried that and it worked... first time 2 month, second time (on 200°C and 15 mins) it worked 3 month and third time (again on 200°C and 15 min) it works now for at least 5 month! So try it out... The graphics card is defective anyway, so it can not happen anything other than it will make the graphics card work again...
Good luck!
Also check out this thread, could be interesting for m15x owners in the US (I'm from germany :/ )
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...acy-systems/523582-nvidia-gpu-litigation.html

Besides the graphics card I also repaired the hinges of my m15x on my own (with epoxy: got a tutorial on this page too)... it was the first and last time I bought a NB from Alienware...

 

When you did the baking in the oven trick, was your card showing the same symptoms as mine? Cuz I've heard of this before, but my understanding was that it only works if your graphics card is completely dead (as in not working at all.) I'm also very disappointed at Alienware. This was my first purchase from then and quite possibly the last (at least as far as laptops are concerned). Definitely did not get my $4000's worth and their customer and technical support is no where near the level at which I would expect considering how much they charge for their products..

EDIT: Also..when you do that does it smell really bad? In the oven and kitchen lol.

 

Yes, exactly the same symptoms... crashing ingame or only when working with word... on reboot black screen... waiting for a while and I would get a signal on the display but after a while black screen again (before this defective pixel shown) and the time the display will show something depends on how long I waited too turn it on again ...
And no it didn't smell as bad I as thought it would. You will not smell or taste it when baking the next roast or pizza ... I put the graphics card on aluminium foil but also tried it on baking paper! Worked both. Just get sure it is clean

Btw: You can easily boot on integrated graphics card by pressing and holding on the right touchpad-button side untill NB switches on (it will start media center after starting windows, but you can close it again and proceed with working on windows).

 

I'll definitely try the oven trick once I get a chance.
Not sure what you mean about the integrated card. Press the right click button on the touchpad before turning the laptop on and let go once it boots?

 

yea, hold down the right click button until the laptop turns on. This is a shortcut to get to integrated graphics.

 

Tried that, didn't work for me for some reason.
So I'm supposed to hold down the right click button before the laptop is on, and while holding it down, turn the laptop on, and let it go right away? or am i supposed to keep holding it down for the windows to load?

 

When the laptop is off, hold down the right click(instead of using the power button), it will turn on the laptop and boot up into integrated.