M17 Crossfire hd4850 issues Windows 7

I recently purchased refurb hd4850's to upgrade my hd3870's in my m17 and am running into boot issues. I can install the master and it works fine. As soon as I install the slave and windows reboots to update the driver, windows will freeze before the login screen. But if I have both installed, the machine will boot, windows will start to load and freeze before the login screen. I have tried clean installed of multiple different drivers with and without CCC. Has anyone else run in to this issue? What should my next step be?

Thanks in advance,
Bryan Tracy

 

both cards don't have the additional power tab right?


i would need picture of the actual cards cause the master and slave 4850 are not identical and the slave should not be able to boot the system

 

No, they are 2 different cards. You are right, I need the master installed for the slave to work. I can boot in safe mode and both cards show up fine in the Device Manager but if I try to load Windows normally, it freezes up. I may just put my 3870's back in but would like to get these to work.

~edit~ granyte: I have looked at a lot of your post over the past few months actually. I opted to upgrade a few things on my machine and buy my wife a new laptop.

 

i guess you have the driver for the 3870 in the machine and didnot reinstall windows?

is it the driver from alienware my hive or you updated since?

 

I have followed the clean install steps and have tried both Alienware drivers, and 8.85 and 8.82 (I think) from AMD's website to no avail. I have not reinstalled windows, I would like to avoid that, but if its my only option I will do that next.

 

If you can install either one of the cards and the machine will boot then they may BOTH have the master bios in the cards. Use GPUZ to figure out which version.

 

I will check that when i get home from work tonight. I miss spoke earlier, I did not try and boot the slave by its self.

 

Still at work but had a quick question. Will GPUZ give the information you're asking for in safe mode? Since I can not boot normally unless I delete the graphics drivers and run as VGA adapters.

 

try to boot the slave by it self


and will windows boot normaly on just the master?


also where did you get the refurb 4850?

as a last note what bios version are you running? (it shows up during boot)

 

Windows boots and runs fine with just the master.
I am runnnig zfactor .029 bios.
The refurb units came from SPlus Technologies in Texas.
I just ran GPUZ and here is what it came up with:

 

Granyte should be able to clarify the BIOS for you but if your GPU Z readout is like that, something tells me that your drivers arent installed properly. What is device manager showing?

 

I know the drivers are not right, but if I try to install the drivers for both cards windows will not boot.

I noticed when I run CPU-Z under graphics it says 3870 x2 still. Im going to try the newest mainboard bios really quick and see if it helps.

 

Which version are you currently on? B13? B14?

Give this driver package a shot:

DNA-AMD GFX 11.5b.1 Vista/Win7 | Do Not Argue

Run the DNA cleaner first and then try installing the drivers from the DNA package.

 

zfactor .029 but I am going to flash the b14 bios now. I will also try the link you sent me. Thank you!

 

During the DNA-AMD installation, the screen went black like it normally does when updating a video driver but it locked up the computer. Unable to restart windows without disabling the slave card in safe mode.

 

Disable the 2nd card and allow DNA to install.

You should have your master + DNA installed + the slave card that is missing a driver.

Update the driver manually and point it at the drivers files in the DNA folder packages. There's a few there but one of them should work.

 

the bios number id and all seem right
i guess the speed error comes from the driver issue or the bios is corrupted on the slave


you might need to uninstall the second card physicaly once we can be sure that the master is working we can try to find the issue on the slave


you might have to atempt a Vbios flash on the slave or to rma it

b14 has little to no adventage over z.29
you could also use kizwan's mods they really unlock the true potential of the laptop

 

Installed the DNA driver on the master with the slave removed.

 

No matter what driver I use, If I enable the slave card, the computer locks up

 

Alienware M17x w/ATi 4870 info thread!

on this thread there is a guide on how to overclock with bios flash just follow the first step to drop both vbios i need both files (i think you can upload them right here on the forum)
name them only bios0 and bios1 like mandrake did so that we don't mix them

if it's just the Vbios that got corrupted i'll be able to tel from the files but you will need to wait a little time befor i can provide with a stock bios



edit you purchased throught thier website or how? if it's the site i think hell it's an infinite stash of replacement part for the m17

 

I will read that out when I get home from work.
As for the cards, I was following them on ebay for a while and prices never dropped so I sent them an email. They sold them to me for a really good price outside of ebay. The invoice I received was from the business, not ebay/paypal.

 

I just noticed I never posted the site.
Results for Alienware Laptop Parts:Video Cards

 

Here are the bios I extracted:

 

No ideas? I already contacted the retailer to exchange the slave card. The master works perfectly on its own.

 

the card seem defective i can't see anything wrong but i just came back

and i could provide my 2 original vbios for you to try

 

Ok... from what I can tell, they look to be the same bios as Mandrakes from another thread I was browsing but I will try yours when you have time to upload. Thanks

 

they are diferent cause you can't boot with both set to slave


and both to master result in the issue you describe


EDIT here you go
View attachment 66454
View attachment 66455

but since i can't see any issue with your bios i suspect it really is the slave tha't defective

 

Syphr I have exactly the same problem before. It happens when I flash SLAVE VGA bios with MASTER bios. I fix it to replacing slave card into the master slot and reflashing with slave bios.

 

yup or flashing both cards with the bios i provided bios 0 on card 0 and bios 1 on card one

woah nice more 4850's user around i got a couple things to discus show experiem with you guys

 

Tried that to no avail. I sent the card back for a refund as they do not have any more slave 4850s

 

Syphr Maybe different vendors?

granyte Ur uploaded BIOS modified or default?

 

they are my backups from my originals i had to get them back from my stash that's why it took so long

i also have an experimental vbios that undervolt and underclock at idle it also overclock to the level of a 4870 under gaming condition
how ever i haven't uploaded them cause i think they need cooling mods to be fine on the m17 so i could not upload them and say here you go they are stable and kill 3 set of 4850

 

Funny thing is that my current single 4850 seems to run a lot of games smoother at higher settings than my 3780x2's did. The vendor is supposed to let me know if they receive anymore. Supposedly they purchase old/overstock from Alienware/Dell.

 

Get another 4850 Master and flash it to slave BIOS...

 

ya non cfx is smoother and 512->1024 makes a world of diference for higher definition

 

You can't install it in slave slot, cuz they're different.

 

I've never owned a 4850 so if what he says is true then my apologies.

I've done the vbois flashing with 3870's with no issues though

 

ya but the 3870's are identical in master and slave the 4850 are not

how ever i suspect you could just cut the power tab or the case to fit it flash it to slave and just enjoy

how ever it's a high risk operation any cutting could result in desastrouc consequences


while we are at it any one tryed underclocking thier 4850 if so what have you reached?
also maybe we should start a 4850 general info thread about clock temps version's where to find some etc etc etc

 

JOY it would seem i'm currently suffering from the same issue as you my slave is giving random reading and windows cannot start it anymore

 

Im sorry to hear that. I wonder why this happens. There has to be a reason.

 

i think it's actualy a windows issue cause my slave had been disabeled for like 3 weeks and i try to enable it yesterday boom


and even worst if i try to update my driver the master goes boom to i needed to make a system restore to be able to use my gpu again

 

During windows start-up?

 

i tryed to enable it and it just failed when i updated my driver the laptop kept bsod even on boot

 

What about removing all drivers (with drivecleaner) then starting fresh?

 

i'm afraid i could simply not reboot afterbut i might give it a go how ever i now need to put the slave back in place

wow without the slave the m17 can have more then 3 hours of batterie life

 

haha no way! my battery is dead....lasts for like 5 min max (good thing this guy never moves)

oh i ment driver sweeper in my last post.

 

i tryed driver sweeper no avail my slave really seem dead i'll try to see if i can force flash it maybe it's just corruped if not i'll try to bake it (who knows maybe ati suffer from this issue to) if it still fails i'll order a master from splus tech and just cut the HE power tab anyway it's routed somewhere else on the slave and the master seem to have it to

 

You know whats funny, I have a slave in my master spot, and a master in my slave slot (cause I was too lazy to reflash both of them), there just a little plastic piece of the frame blocking the tab of the master into the slave spot...I used wire cutting pliers and cut a groove deep enough so the master tab could fit right in, no problems at all .

splus still has them instock?

 

i hope they do they have like 11 complete m17 lool how eve op never answered how he purchaced them from splus

what you mean they are spot specific?

 

I sent them an email. But be advised, I still have not received my refund from the card I sent back to them. UPS shows they signed for it on 6/17. I have sent multiple e-mails and left voicemails with no response as of yet.

Bryan