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    5870m messed up display color

    Discussion in 'Alienware M15x' started by LHappydude, Jul 28, 2011.

  1. LHappydude

    LHappydude Notebook Consultant

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    Hey guys, I just installed 5870m taken out from m17x and as soon as I boot it up, colors are all messed up.
    It does this even on the bios menu so I guess it isn't the driver issue.
    I also tried running games like this and while it ran fine with smooth framerates, colors were still all messed up.
    Does anyone have any idea what's causing this?
    Please Help!
     

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    LHappydude, Jul 28, 2011
    #1
  2. The Revelator

    The Revelator Notebook Prophet

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    I sounds like you probably need Dell 5870M vbios A00. The later vbios (A01) causes screen corruption when used in the M15x, exactly as you describe. Check to see which vbios is loaded in your card; if A01, then find and flash A00.

    Check here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...here-asap-flashing-hd-5870-a.html#post6979511. Post #6 in that thread will give you a link to the old 5870M vbios. Several other discussions of the same issue in this forum.
     
    The Revelator, Jul 28, 2011
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  3. LHappydude

    LHappydude Notebook Consultant

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    Thank you so much!
     
    LHappydude, Jul 28, 2011
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  4. The Revelator

    The Revelator Notebook Prophet

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    The Revelator, Jul 28, 2011
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  5. ichime

    ichime Notebook Elder

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    Quick question about your installation: are your fans stuck at one speed when you installed your 5870M?
     
    ichime, Jul 30, 2011
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  6. Chinopr

    Chinopr Notebook Consultant

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    I'd like to know about this too :confused:
     
    Chinopr, Jul 31, 2011
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  7. kfaessen

    kfaessen Notebook Guru

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    If you have a real dell card then the fans are acting normal, low speed when idle and high speed while gaming.

    I'm not sure if that was also the case with bios A01, but I can confirm it with bios A00.
     
    kfaessen, Aug 1, 2011
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  8. Chinopr

    Chinopr Notebook Consultant

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    The card I have was taken out of a M17x and the seller flashed the VBIOS with A00 but my fans run at full speed. :confused:
     
    Chinopr, Aug 1, 2011
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  9. svl7

    svl7 T|I

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    It's possible that there are different hardware revisions of the card, this could explain why there some cards work properly in the M15x and some don't...
    The 6970m for example got already revised several times according to all the different version stickers on it. (PCB revisions, they might use some different parts etc.) Just an idea...
     
    svl7, Aug 1, 2011
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  10. ichime

    ichime Notebook Elder

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    You know, I'm starting to believe that theory. There's one guy who put two different 6970Ms in his R2 (one Eurocom card and one Alienware/Dell card) and even though both of them used the modified Clevo VBIOS, his fans are stuck at one speed. Yet, when I did an install of two Eurocom 6970Ms for a customer in his M17x, there was no fan issue, even with the original Eurocom VBIOS.

    It seems as if there's a chip somewhere on these cards that communicates with the EC on the motherboard and the revised ones can't communicate properly.

    Luckily, I hear the guys at bios-mods.com cracked open the motherboard VBIOS for Alienware laptops and could possibly make it so that the motherboard EC can read most temp sensors on these cards...

    I just hope the nVidia cards I have coming for my latest tests can read the R2's EC :/ , though using HWinfo would be fine :)
     
    ichime, Aug 2, 2011
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  11. svl7

    svl7 T|I

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    You got some 485m? Or 470m? :)

    Yeah, hope TheWiz & Co. can do some of their magic... they've already done fantastic work in the past!
    I've never really spotted a difference between all the cards, and I looked at a lot of pics... but I guess that's really the only explanation, at least the only one that makes some sense... there must be a slight hardware difference.
     
    svl7, Aug 2, 2011
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  12. widezu69

    widezu69 Goodbye Alienware

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    According to one of the Clevo users, he claims that Clevo cards have limited mosfet circuits due to cut backs. He says that Dell cards have a slight edge not just in terms of the quality of hardware but the actual hardware itself. I dunno where he posted this but this could be why.
     
    widezu69, Aug 2, 2011
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  13. svl7

    svl7 T|I

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    Yeah, generally it seems that Dell cards are of higher build quality, they also use (apparently) better components, e.g. the Hynix VRAM modules on the 6970m vs. the Samsung modules on Clevo cards, the Hynix usually can easily get to 1200 MHz, the Samsung VRAM says "goodbye" at about 1100-1120 MHz...

    Also in the past, Dell cards usually have been able to overclock higher than Clevo cards.
     
    svl7, Aug 2, 2011
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  14. ichime

    ichime Notebook Elder

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    You'll see what it is :)

    BTW, when you got the 470M to work in the M15x, did you manage to fix the OCing issue after editing the clocks?
     
    ichime, Aug 2, 2011
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  15. svl7

    svl7 T|I

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    Sweet!

    No, I sold it before I figured out a solution... though to be honest by the time I sold it I also run pretty much out of ideas. Tried pretty much everything which wasn't too crazy. Now that I have the possibility to revive GPUs that got bricked by the VBIOS I would maybe try some more things, but I haven't got the card anymore.
     
    svl7, Aug 2, 2011
    #15