M15x & 6970M / 6990M - What you need to know - upgrading, problems, solutions

Right, but the CPU seems to be the determining factor in throttling/crashing. I'm just brainstorming at this point.

 

now i just don't know what to do anymore. My last resort failed.

i7920 and 6970 still shutdown in bf3.

repaste and repadded, heatsink mod, voltage mod, everything and anything that i can think of has failed. i don't know what to do anymore.

 

I think a big question is why is only on some games? The only games i've had it happen on are Skyrim and Alan Wake. I've played SWTOR, ME3, Batman AC, Dead Space 2, The Witcher 2, and a lot of others for hours on end with no issues.

 

i think the error is caused by tesselation and/or hd textures. When i active tesselation or hd textures on crysis 2 or bf3 i have shutdowns. If i turn off tesselation in AMD catalyst
i havn´t any problems in bf3 with mid graphics, im playing bf3 in M15x 620m 8gb ram and 6970m 775/950 on external display 1920x1200px. If i turn on high textures in catalyst and bf3 i have crashing.

I still thinking in which parameters i can play with no problems but i thinks the problem is no only with graphic consumption.

Sorry for my english im spanish xD

 

What do you mean by mid graphics? Could you list out the settings or are you using default medium?

Sent from my SCH-I405 using Tapatalk

 

yes, sorry, default medium in bf3. AMD catalyst: tesselation OFF and Catalyst A.I. on performance.

In crysis 2 same way, graphics in low or medium, maybe even on high don´t cause shootdown, but ultra graphics with HD textures and tesselation causes shootdown.

In my system, none Dx9 or Dx10 cause problems, for example starcraft2, or BF3 in Dx10 mode.

 

Thanks! By the way, have you tried running on high settings - custom? I don't have a chance to test yet but my tessellation has been on, hopefully this will work.

Anyways, the custom settings I normally used are:
Custom quality, everything set to high. No AA, no motion blur, 1x Anisotropic, SSAO occlusion. Can you test this and see if you encounter problems or are you running it fine?

 

ok, give me one day.

 

Log with GPU-Z, so you can check it after the reboot to see what the card was doing.

 

Hey guys, just got a 6970m. Installed it and my screen stays completely black.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m15x/571445-m15x-6970m-6990m-what-you-need-know-upgrading-problems-solutions-180.html
I have exactly this problem as Mike26668. The only difference is that when i connect to an external display, I see POST but nothing else after that. I have to sign in without being able to see and once it logs in, I see my background picture but no icons or anything. What the balls could be causing this?

I have cleaned all of the connections with alcohol and made sure I have done things properly. I have installed many cards before and know the process very well. I am beginning to think it is the card.

 

And your BIOS version is?

 

Gotta flash the card.

 

any1 know where i can buy ati 6990m for my np8170

 

Your Clevo reseller, eBay or RJTech. There might also be one in the marketplace here.

 

still wondering if i'm missing a procedure when changing CPU from i720 to 920. and also do i need throttlestop now since i'm using 920?

 

Not much point in buying one without it.

Use it to lock the CPU at something low, like 15x and see if you still get the shutdown.

 

thanks for the tip johnny, i'll get the test done and post the gpu-z log soon.
anyways on further inspection of everything about the laptop and the ac adapter (which is 150w) by the way, i notice this:



should i be worrying about this? the cable is still strong, but it just came out like that.

also my ram is from samsung instead, should i somewhat change to a better brand ? was aiming for 8gb anyways.

 

If the cable is fine. Why not superglue the thing back in. A little around the rim and on the rubber part which rests on the rim should do the trick. Or upgrade to a 240W adaptor. Considering you are rocking a 6970M and 920xm not a bad upgrade.

 

KoI,

Do you now manage to o/c both 920XM and 6990m with the new PSU ? How stable is that ? Clocks?

 

talking about 240w will this work ?

240W Slim AC Power Adapter Charger for Dell ALIENWARE M17X ADP-240AB B PA-9E | eBay

 

^^^yes thats the one im using currently

 

Just got BF3 installed and played for an hour. Temps are high on 100% load even with a voltage mod. I have a good paste job and plenty of pads. I even did the big pad under the GPU. I didn't have any shutdowns or problems while playing.. Maybe I'm okay as is?

 

Did you play multiplayer or singleplayer? I don't have any shutdowns with BF3 either in SP mode.

 

Just singleplayer - I'm in Afghanistan and my internet connection doesn't allow for multiplayer.

 

Hey, guys I bought an m15x from ebay , the seller said when he was on facebook the laptop suddenly shutdown and wont start up again, and the temps never goes over 76oC he told me he did a repaste with ic diamond thermal paste the vga in it is hd 6970m. what could be the probem, now once he press the power button laptop turn on's and turn's it self off after few seconds.

 

I work on desktops, and have limited experience with laptops. However, from my experience it could literally be just about anything. The only way to really figure it out is to take it apart and pull everything not needed for it to boot up. The only thing needed is the Motherboard, the CPU, and power supply. One of those three are usually the culprit, but who knows you might get lucky.

Chances are only one part is bad, so even if you part it out its still a good deal. You just need to figure out which part is bad.

Did the seller give you any details about what happened?

 

: he was using facebook with hd 6970m and suddenly the laptop turned off and would turn on again, and he told me the temps never exceed 76oC.

 

Tried running BF3 with tessellation turned off, 665/900 at 0.95v and crashed :/

May try again later with Throttlestop set to 18x instead of Turbo, however I have the same CPU and 8gb RAM as phobos...maybe I'll try his settings too. Ugh..

 

Did you have a log running?

 

Hello guys,

I stumbled upon this forum as i was searching if it was possible to upgrade my m15x GPU.
After reading most of the posts i became a little worried with all the random shutdowns etc.

I have an i5 540M in my m15x, i noticed alot of people here have the i7's.
Does anyone with an i5 experience the random shutdowns?

So far, no luck with dell over here in belgium. Keep getting transferred and ending up with people that need to ask their supervisor, which seems to be never present...

Thanks in advance!

 

I have the i5 540M and have had zero shutdowns with any games I've played including Skyrim, Battlefield 3, Mass Effect 3, as well as older games.

The only issue that took some work was getting the card to run cool. I did a few repaste jobs and applied new thermal pads and now my idle temps are good and gaming temps are stable.

 

Thanks for the information cnduffey!
Rep up!

A friend of mine is already calling dell who owns a m17x to see what their prices are. If it proves to be more then 500 euro's i prefer to get the one from MXM upgrade and since i'm in belgium it's even more convenient.

Will keep you posted!

 

Hey Everyone,

I own a M17xR2 and am trying to get to the bottom of an issue where the DisplayPort is no longer working after the 6970/6990 upgrade.

I know these are different systems but I am just trying to see if there is any correlation.

So, has anyone here had a problem using a DisplayPort monitor following this upgrade?

Or has it pretty much worked flawlessly with the new cards?

Thanks for the feedback!

 

With the M15x DP works perfectly, even the Dell cards support audio.

 

I had the dell 6990m and the DP always worked flawlessly, never gave me a single problem

 

Ok, so the general consensus is that the DP works after the upgrade, without any modifications or tweaks.

You guys generally use the Dell cards yeah?

I have a set of ES cards (pretty sure the same as the Dell ones) and DP does not work. It also does not appear to work with the Clevo cards either.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback.

 

It worked for me with the Clevo card and ES Dell. Though the Clevo cards needed the Dell VBIOS to be able to get sound through DP.

Which VBIOS version is on your ES card?

 

Hi svl7,

It is a little different for the m17xr2's. The Clevo cards only have an issue with the Audio over HDMI.

The Dell cards have Audio over HDMI but require manual fan control.

Mine is the latter, however DP seems to be not working for both.

vBIOS details are attached

If there is a newer vBIOS version that I can use, I will be happy to try it As long as it is Dell

 

I am running bios a09. I have never flashed a card before and am not quite sure what to do. I have tried to download atiflash but it says my computer is not compatible. I have 64bit Win 7. Will running it in compatibility mode effect anything?

 

Hoooold up, we are refering to vBIOS and I think you are refering to the system BIOS.

They are two different things, and you do not use atiflash to update the system BIOS.

Also, atiflash should be run from a cmd prompt from a bootable device.

 

Ya, definitely spend some time reading up before you try anything. You don't want to brick your machine.

 

I did it. Worked like a charm using the guide in the beginning of the thread. Thanks SVL7! Didn't realize atiflash had to be run from the flashdrive. Got me a little confused. Other than that, it went very smooth for my first time. Thanks again!

 

Support audio but not video. The dell vbios for amd 6970m (from mxm-upgrade) support audio through display port, but video is not sopported.

 

Hey phobos, did you ever get around to testing with the custom settings? Also, is your catalyst AI "Enable Surface Format Optimization" box checked or no?

 

Sorry, I've been really busy, several games will be tested as soon as I can.

Surface format optimization is disabled.

When i have extra time i will test starcraft 2, battlefield 3, battlefield bad company 2, crysis and crysis 2 on directX10 and 11 with stock clock and OC stable clocks (775/950) and different graphics configuration.

 

It's all good haha. Gaming is always secondary to work I only disabled tessellation last time so now I'll try both off. I hope this works :s

Testing: Throttlestop on turbo, CCC tessellation off, format optimization off.

 

Any of you guys running SC2 on your M15x with 6970M? I have the 6970M with a 940xm and 8gbs of RAM and SC2 starts off at like 90fps at almost maxed out settings then suddenly decreases to like around 40-50 and then gradually goes down. Checked temps and they were not over 75C. What's up?

 

I have an 620m 8gb and 6970m and i play sc2 1920x1200 on external display and i never had a problem, with vsync i have 60 fps with full settings

 

My FPS constantly fluctuates, especially as the duration of the game increases, maybe I should enable VSYNC again, I might have had it off.

 

Ok, so I enabled VSYNC and I was getting a solid 60FPS for like 10-15 minutes then it just dropped to like 30. Really weird, so I took VSYNC off and changed the refresh rate and it just stayed the same. Any explanations?