Oh man...It hit the fan

Ok so I'm typing this from my limping m15x. I was playing Heroes of the Storm and my comp froze. Couldn't tab out or ctrl+alt+dlt out so I had to do a hard reset. Upon restart my computer booted to windows logo then immediately went to a black screen that had absolutely nothing on it. Sooooo I tried a TON of stuff. All the command line-jutsu I had. Eventually I wiped the HDD and tried to reinstall windows 8. It didn't like that for some reason and wouldn't finish install. So I made a Windows 10 tech preview usb at work and installed that. Success!....sorta....because I only have generic Microsoft graphic driver running. Display adapter isn't even showing up in my Device Manager. The system has 1 "unknown device" that somewhere down the line it realizes really is my 7970M because it tries to update the driver appropriately every time. Nooooo dice though. Everytime I try to install the right driver it bumps me out to that blank, black screen that locks the system and I have to hard reset. I am at a lose. I have no idea where to go from here. Manually installing the driver doesn't work, gpu-z shows blank because it can't see my card for whatever reason, I lost a couple patches of hair. Hell I even took the gpu out and cleaned and put new paste on it. Heeellllllpppppppp. Save me Obi-Wan

 

F2 run diagnostics, see if the HD is failing. I've seen that so many tunes with these symptoms..

 

OK, lemme reboot and do it.

 

I fixed the thread title and removed the foul language filter bypass with asterisks. Please be mindful of forum rules.

If your hard drive passes the tests OK, you've probably got another dead 7970M. I hope it's just your hard drive.

 

Sorry about that, I actually put the asterisks in myself lol. I ran the diagnostic test that comes up when I hit F12, as F2 takes me directly into Bios
Everything passed. Hwinfo does also recognize that a 7970m is slotted in. So I suppose at least that program sees it.


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Sorry, meant f12... My ambien kicked in when I typed that. sound like the gpu has taken a dump as brother Fox mentioned.

 

It looks like your GPU has taken a dump especially how it had ended abruptly in a middle of your gaming. I would rule your HDD out to be the cause because you weren't able install drivers or have any other way to make your card active again. Bad signs of a bad GPU.

 

This is a sad trend for AMD 7970M GPUs. Looking on the bright side, you now have a perfectly legitimate reason to grab a 970M or 980M beast GPU, which has already been tested and proven to work fantastic in the old M15x. And, either one will soundly outperform the dead red card.

 

^^^ I may do this my self, kinda feel like powering up the old beast again

 

So diagnostics turned up doodle poop, which I guess is a yay...sorta lol. So what I don't understand, and bear with me if I'm just not putting my neurons to properly, but if my GPU took a dump and the i7 920XM doesn't have a graphics component...how am I getting any video at all? Like I said..might be a derp derp question, but I have to satisfy my brain lol.

ALSO: are 980M's really really going for $900????? O_O

 

Get the 970M... You can get it for like $450 from RJtech although warranty wise, it's **** to be honest...

 

Installing the driver to replace the standard Windows VGA driver is when your problems start. That is a strong indication of a failed GPU. Using the standard Windows VGA driver is like running in Safe Mode for display output.

If you let yourself get screwed on eBay they are $900. If you get them from a Clevo reseller they are between $700 and $800, depending on the vendor. So, basically pricing following the same trend that we saw with 680M, 780M and 880M. If fact, that's how much those older GPUs are usually still selling for. AMD GPUs are cheaper, but if you have to replace it every couple of years because they fail, then it's actually not as much of a bargain as it first seemed to be.

 

This is pretty much it, my experience says the same. If the issue starts when the driver is installed then it's time for a new card. Hopefully, a new 970m will do a lot better than your current GPU and you'll get something good out of this situation.

 

Sounds like time to go graphics card hunting.

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Agreed with the win VGA driver the clocks probably remain at 2d speeds. Once the proper driver is installed the card tried to clock to full 3d speeds and fails.

Still just in case keep it until you have your next card installed and working properly. Then get rid of it.

 

Just read the thread about Nvidia doing away with the ability to overclock their mobile gpu's. Any good AMD options beyond 7970M that my little m15x can take? Or should I just sit on my hands...and money..?

 

If day a 680, 780 or 970 would be plenty fast for games without overclocking. Overclocking gives very minimal gains in gaming, higher gains for benchmarking.
I'd be concerned about overclocking to much in the 15x anyway with the minimal heatsink it has.

 

I have a set of 880ms that function pretty well in the m15x although a bit hot running. on average under heavy load it can spike to 84c. The 970m is a great option it has a lower power requirement than the 880m and the performance is neck and neck. But the 970m won't break 75c properly installed. The 880m has 8gb of vram and the 970m has 6gb. I'd go with the 970m but if you are interested i'll sell you a 880m for $375. i got my 970m from RJtech and they are reliable. Good luck to you.

 

May take you up on that 880M. I would like a 970M but don't know if I can come up with those funds right now. I'll get back to you soon on that.

 

Do you still have the 880M available?