m15x gpu upgrade assistance

hi guys! I have a gtx 880m (msi) and i have already installed the card physically, but i am getting a black screen on the laptop itself. not even bios shows up. however i can use vga out and get into windows. basic ms display adapter wont accept nvidia drivers.

so... what is next? i am a bit stumped and require assistance. thanks!

 

The VGA will display the video rendered by the Motherboard, but after consulting with @Alienware-L_Porras we believe that the highest you can go with the 15x is the 780M. Anything higher might not give you the desired picutre and our hardware might not be able to accept it.

 

interesting.. thanks for the advice. unfortunately I've already purchased the card after seeing people showing benchmarks of the gtx 880 actually working in the m15x, which is odd. unfortunately nobody there was talking about HOW they got that to work, which is confusing and frustrating.

is there any sort of work-around or bios mod/upgrade that can be done to salvage this purchase? otherwise I just wasted a few hundred dollars after doing my research.

 

update: here's what i was talking about.

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/7990696
https://sslcdn.techinferno.com/uploads/monthly_02_2014/post-80-14494997183862.jpg
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/m15x-gpu-upgrade-assistance.803188/

 

Than what about 970M and M4000M?

 

is that a question for me.or wasserman?

 

970M and M4000M work perfectly, even the 980M work if you can manage the thermals there (125w card).

 

well that's good news for me... do you have to do anything spcial to get those cards to be detected? im thinking about putting dell vbios on my card if that would help

 

plug and play

 

well crap. read my first post. any suggestions? it was not plug and play for me.

 

Oh 880M


"basic ms display adapter wont accept nvidia drivers."
you need to dl a modifed driver for this, maybe @kosti or @Raidriar has some info for you




what brand is that 880M ? clevo or dell?

 

if you read the whole post you would know i cant even get into bios unless i plug into vga. its an msi 880m. its not just drivers.

 

that might be an issue, you need driver

using vga to install driver might be possible

 

drivers dont do anything before windows loads. i cant get video output in bios.only vga video out tells us the mobo doesn't recognize the gpu.

i will try the vbios fix tonight.

as for drivers let me know if you have a link to modified inf files for an msi 880m since i will need those after this is fixed.

 

I don't have any 880M experience and sadly my M15X is retired for the moment because of a dead motherboard.

Svl7 had one work successfully in the M15X so it should not be a compatibility issue. He may have made a custom vbios for it which will optimize it in the M15X but I am not sure if the custom vbios will solve your issue though.

Another possibility that you may want to consider is a defect in the card itself. As an example, I had a Radeon 5850 that did the same thing as you are describing (no native display, worked fine with external monitor). The only difference with mine was that it would ocassionally display an all white screen, and sometimes a black or blank screen. The card was a used card pulled from a Dell laptop so there's no reason for it not to work. Upon inspecting the card physically, I found a couple of missing components on broken solder pads so the card had physical damage.

You may want to consider contacting the seller to see if they'll take it back.

Actually the M15X is well known to accept pretty much any pre Pascal MXM 3.0 card. So theoretically anything up to the GTX 9 series should work. The Pascal GTX 10 series uses the eDP interface instead of LVDS for the native display so those will not work since the eDP interface is not used in the M15X (although it actually has an unsoldered eDP header on the board).

 

well I guess there's a first for everything... flashing dell vBIOS on the msi card did the trick. I then modified the .inf in the latest nvidia driver and got that to install correctly (while doing the special unsigned drivers boot option) which has the card running properly now.

that being said, do you know where I could get a dell 880m vbios that would allow for some overclocking? everything is locked down on this one and it's not coming anywhere near temperature problems right now. I found one on some other forums but my account doesn't have enough posts to grab it from there. Additionally what's this about a vbios optimized for the m15x?

either way thanks for poking your head in. it's good info.

 

Ahh nice Glad to see you got it working. So it appears that you need a Dell vbios in the MSI branded cards.

There's only one vbios file at the techpowerup site and it is probably the same one you already flashed.

https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/162101/dell-gtx880m-8192-140309

SVL7 created a bunch of custom vbios files which optimize certain high TDP cards (over 75W like the 880M) to work in the M15X. The M15X graphics card heatsink and fan are rated for 75W cards, and depending on the efficiency of the card, most 100W+ cards will require an undervolt to tame the temps in the M15X. Otherwise, temps will soar to unsafe levels pretty quick under load. This is also the case with the 980M which is why people recommend the 970M in the M15X instead.

You may want to try to contact SVL7 and see if he has a custom vbios.

EDIT: The vbios linked above puts a TDP cap at 117W. This is quite high for the M15X. Besides the high temps this will introduce, you may also notice a bunch of throttling with a card like that if you are using the stock 150W adapter. If you are using a quad i7 you need to factor in 45W for the CPU (55W and higher for an XM). Factor in around 15-25W for the rest of the laptop and you can see that a higher powered PSU will be a benefit. Some of us have done a center pin mod by buying a right angle adapter and pulling off the center pin from that adapter. The center pin regulates curent between the PSU and motherboard via the BIOS. If you pull the center pin directly from the power adapter's plug, you will never be able to charge the battery, which is why it is recommended to purchase a right angle adapter, pull the pin from that, and remove the right angle adapter when you need to charge the battery. Also, according to Deadsmiley, the 240W SLIM adapter eliminates throttling without the need to do a center pin mod.

But either way, I would expect that card to run hot in the M15X without an undervolt via a custom vbios.

Right angle adapter:
https://www.amazon.com/BiXPower-LC90B-90-degree-Connector-Converter/dp/B004ETQHV4

 

Just to add a few thoughts.

I tried my 880M in the M15x and it had no display on boot. My 880M is a Clevo and has a modified VBIOS. I did not try to reflash it.

Tried the M4000M and it works perfectly until the VBIOS was modded. Then it had no display on boot but worked perfectly in my M17x R4 leading me to believe that this is an M15x specific issue.

Before all this I have had two 970M's. They are currently in my daughter's and daughter-in-law's machines. The work perfectly with both Prema and svl7's VBIOS mods.

 

Hello,
I have an Alienware M15X, want to upgrade gpu to gtx 680m. I've tryed all to install drivers, but still no result.. I've flashed bios (to custom), flashed GPU bios (dell gpu gtx680m), modded inf. files in the different version of drivers-nothing works... Even if driver installation finished successfully-after restart black screen... Could you advise me how can I resolve this problem?
Hope for your understanding.

 

How did you install drivers if the system boots to black screen if the 680M is installed? Did I misunderstand?
Is the system posting at all? are you seeing any post errors flashing on the touch bar?
What is your power brick? 180W, 240W?
Thanks

 

Hello,
without installation of driver - system boots, but after successfull installation of driver with the modded inf. file system boots with black screen... No post errors...I'm using a 150W charger...

 

Honestly, I'm surprised the system is even posting with a 150W PSU. the 680M is rated up to 100W power draw. I had to upgrade to a 240W PSU to get my system to work with my quadro 4000m and the GTX 765M. I would recommend getting a bigger PSU and trying again (I got mine from Aliexpress for 35$ Cdn.)

 

Ok, thanks for advise!I'll try this evening.

 

I've tried with 240W charger-the same thing...I'll try to reinstall different drivers with modified inf. file.Maybe one of them will work... Thanks again!

 

Hmm. I would be surprised if a bigger PSU makes a difference. Your black screen sounds like a bad card. Stock 150W PSU is usually good for 180-200w before conking out. Booting on a 920xm and 680M is not enough to push the PSU over the limit. Also from experience if you trip the PSU the laptop WILL shut off suddenly not have a black screen.

The other day my card died. That is to say at boot it works and then as soon as windows boots I had black screen. Basically the card could no longer hold 3D clocks which windows automatically triggers after boot. I think this is your problem as when you boot in safe mode or without drivers then the card runs in 2D clocks which is obviously stable while 3D is not=black screen

Needless to say I threw it out and chucked a new card in there today. Sucks and I hope you paid peanuts for the 680M

 

I've made the same manipulations with GTX 670M, that was working-the same probleme-after successful installation of drivers-black screen after boot.... All the people say that this cards work with M15X, don't know whats the probleme... I've tried all-but nothing works...
Thanks for answer!

 

Very strange. I have run the following cards and never experienced black screen after boot (unless card died)

260M (piece of sh*t died last week)
Mobility HD 5850 (today )
6970M (sold)
6990M (sold)
7970M (sold)
680M (sold)
980M (sold)

Can you explain exactly what you have done step by step so I understand better your process? It could also be that you are over tightening the screws on the gpu heatsink for example

 

I've flashed bios to custom + flashed VGA Bios (with official dell vga bios for gtx680m), installed drivers with modified nvdmi.inf file... Different versions of drivers, before flashing of both bios or after-same thing... Nothing changes...

 

May I ask you which 680M you have? Is it a Dell or Clevo version? Also do you still have the stock vbios?

The M15x is not fussy regarding vbios version so cards will always work on their stock vbios.

I would say if you have the stock vbios (should always be kept just in case when flashing) then flash it back. Then install DDU. This will wipe all remnants of nvidia drivers from safe mode (just follow instructions for it to reboot your machine). Then get the latest 680M driver and mod the inf. You should be good.

 

Failing this. Then look up Prema on here and tell him you would like to use one of his vbios (you must know exactly which card version you have). Then you donate a little (10 bucks or so) and flash your card with it and try again.

If your card isnt damaged his vbios will work wonders. Always used his vbios for my 680M and 980M in the past.

 

I'll see now (if it's clevo or dell). Yes I have backup of vbios.
I'' install the DDU now. Thanks.

 

Hello,
I'm not sure, but I think it's a Dell version , it's green (I didn't disassemble PC, just opened cover to see the color of gpu board, clevo is blue, as I know)...
I've tried all, but still the same problem...

 

Could it be an MSI board? I have a 670M that is from MSI that does turn on with a black screen. Have no idea how to get it to post with a display, but I have a 970M now.

 

Hello,
I think you're right, because I've tried earlier gtx 670m (from MSI) and system was booting with black screen! I'll try to buy another one.
Thanks for reply!
Regards.

 

Why not get a GTX 765 instead? I can say for sure that it will work with modified drivers. I have one working on my M15X.

 

Green MXM cards usually mean they are MSI cards. Once you installed the drivers, then you say that you get a black screen when trying to boot into windows?

 

Hello,
the card is green and I have a black screen only after installation of drivers...

 

Then this means your card is likely faulty.

Without drivers a card will run in 2d clocks only. After driver install the card will attempt 3dclocks and more often than not this failing (black screen) is a clear sign it is dying .

I say this as M15x really is a highly compatible platform. Only the newest edp only cards wont work on the internal LVDS lcd screen.

 

PCB color is absolutely not vendor specific. Dell used green PCB for their nvidia kepler cards (6xx and 7xx), the R9 m290X, etc. PCB color cannot be tied to a certain manufacturer at all. To say that green MXM cards are "mostly MSI cards" is very wrong.

 

Didn't know that, the maxwell and newest kepler cards do seem to follow the trend tho, didn't look up into older hardware or the AMD series since they are rather rare after the HD8xxx one.

Thanks for clearifying.

 

I've tested my graphics card nvidia gtx 680m on Alienware M17x R2 with modded driver inf file, and it works fine, only brightness adjustment is not working {with fn key}.

 

If brightness does not work, there is a registry change that you may want to try. It is under

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318

There should be a key or keys under there labeled "0000" or "0001", "0002", etc. Inside those keys there should be a DWORD value called "KMD_EnableBrightnessInterface2." If the value of that DWORD is 1, try changing it to 0, then restart the PC. You need to do this to all instances of "KMD_EnableBrightnessInterface2." I had this issue with mine and changing the value to 0 worked for me.

My card is a Firepro M6000, but I suspect that some cards may have this issue and it seems to be related to the drivers and not the card itself. I remember this issue came up after I upgraded the drivers and it was driving me nuts until I found this solution somewhere. Hope this helps.

 

Hello,
thanks for advice!
My problem is resolved, It's strange, but it was a problem of faulty charger, now adjustment of brightness works with other charger

 

I've found also the reason why Alienware M15X with GTX 680M was starting with the black screen after installation of gpu drivers... I've changed screen to IPS, so this laptop doesn't want to work with IPS screen... After changing of screen to origin all is ok.
Alienware is very-very strange...