~GX660(R) Owner's Lounge~

So I got the CH341A unit and the cable for flashing the vBIOS on the replacement HD5870, which looked like it was from a Clevo machine if you remember.

The flashing chip and software were actually quite simple and seemed to work pretty well once I got the flashing software switched into English
It's easy to confirm everything has flashed to the chip correctly by re-reading and comparing the chip to the file you flash.

The bad news is that flashing the BIOS onto the new Clevo card didn't seem to work.

- I copied over and tried flashing the BIOS from my old dead MSI card to the new Clevo one - got nothing
- I then tried flashing the MSI HD5870 Mobility vBIOS from Techpowerup to the Clevo card - still got nothing
- I lastly tried flashing the Dell HD5870 Mobility vBIOS again from Techpowerup to the Clevo card - but still got nothing.

None of the BIOS'es gave me any signs of life on the LCD or external VGA output, though the system itself was still booting fine into Windows and accessible through remote desktop.

So it seems I'm out of luck. Either I bought a dead card from eBay, or a Clevo card just won't work in this MSI system (with any BIOS), or the problem is more than just the video card and there's a fault with the motherboard as well. If it is the motherboard, then it's weirdly specific enough not to cripple the system and prevent it booting into Windows.

I'm not sure what else I can do.

- I could try again on eBay and get a HD5870 that is an MSI one as near to the original as I can get and hope that works next time?

- Is there anything I can do to diagnose either the cards or the motherboard? If anyone feels like it, I'd be happy to mail either of the HD5870 cards if you reckon you could figure out if there is a problem. Obviously I backed up and copied the BIOS'es from both my old card and the new one too - so I'd be happy to send over the files also if they're of use to anyone.

- If it is an incompatibility with the system, could I try flashing the main system BIOS to a newer/different version that might have compatibility? Can that be done blind or with another flashing module?

 

I'd try and return that one and get a 770m or other modern card (maybe snag a cheap one on the members market).

 

I bought a cheap one once more at ebay.

But now another problem:

I bought an 7970m for my gx660r. i read much about changing the card befor i tried it now.
i read in techinferno for to let run 7970m without flashing, you need only to switch boot priority pci from "efi-compatible" to "legacy rom" in unlocked bios.

today i installed the ati 7970 with 024 bios. when i switch on the machine, i dont see anything on screen. then i conectet a monitor to vga-connector. only when windows starts i see a picture at vga-monitor.

now i want to flash the card from 024 to 022 or 017. i want to ue hdmi, is there any bios with hmdi-function awailable? can i flash bios in windows?

 

I've not seen the msi do that with an hd7970m before, which brand is it?

 

Good news from me - I went for the option to try get an actual MSI card from eBay. I actually found one for sale that was from the exact same model. It arrived and I plugged it in this morning and everything works fine!

So I will probably be selling the Clevo card on eBay at some point.

I'm so glad to have my GX660R back working - I've really missed it.

Now that everything is working again and I can see BIOS posts, it does mean that I can now do system BIOS flashing. I would like to know if anyone thinks it would be worth trying to update the system BIOS to a version that supports more video card types, in case this new card ever blows up. Does such a BIOS exist?

 

such bios not exists - only locked (from msi) or unlocked exists

 

That's interesting to know.
If you want special unlocked BIOS then best to contact Svet directly from MSI forum.

 

An unlocked bios won't expand the supported MXM cards, it's to do with the deeper coding of the bios. There are other options that should still work going forward.

 

Does the HD7970m/HD8970m from the GX60/70 series work with GX660R? I will recommend this to a friend

 

It should, as long as a Dell 7970M does...

 

hello,

i've got an MSI gx660-Eu,

and today i bought SSD, and ..... like many many other users, now i am stuck to not fully used it without ANCHI support,

can someone help with some guidance?

Thank you

 

Yes worth trying an unlocked bios as that will give you the options it will ever be possible to have.

 

Do you want to provide the download link for the modded BIOS for him to try?

 

thank

i willl very appriciate if someone could send me a modified BIOS for my GX660

 

You can also talk to Svet on MSI forum and he will be able to make one for you based on donation-basis (any amount).

 

Thank you a lot

 

I will be probably be the last person to do this, but I finally put a 920xm in my laptop, I noticed the improvement right away. A f2p game I play sometimes Hawken, I knew that game was cpu intense but now I can run it like butter, which is great. I tried a few other games and it's all better, the only one game that gave me trouble was Crysis 3. No matter what I change the game randomly drops frames, even when I'm standing there doing nothing. I checked and it seems to be a universal problem, as the game is poorly optimized.

With a 920xm and 7970 in here I'm pretty much done upgrading, however I wanted to upgrade the ram, now I know after going through this treasure chest of a thread that I can at least get 12gb in here, my question is since the 3rd slot is a bit tricky to get too, can I try a combo of 8gbx1 and 4gbx1? Will that be ok?

Thanks to anyone that can help.

 

It's not that hard to get to the third slot, why risk it?

 

Maybe for you or someone that goes into laptops all the time, but to me taking it apart that much to get that deep is risky. I guess I will just put 2x8gb in there then.

 

what psu you have ?? 230/240Watt ? 180W its to weak
what multipler you use on XM ?
temp cpu in C3 ?

 

180W is definitely more than enough if you still run an HD5870m. I ran mine with OC both CPU and GPU on a 150W PSU, at 3.2ghz all cores.

 

It's not that much, you unclip the power button board, remove 5 scews holding the keyboard down and gain access to the memory slot.

 

I have 180w. I'm pretty sure I asked this before, and was told 180w would be ok. It is funny you ask about Crysis 3 temps, as I noticed I was getting stupidly high temps on it, well into the 90s and sometimes even hitting a 100. I think however I did a bad job at pasting (I put too much) the cpu and now I'm waiting on some new (GC Extreme) paste to arrive along with the clean up stuff. Previously I used some old AS5 I had left over.

My multiplier? I'm not sure I follow, but looking at Throttle stop I think what you mean is this; 24/23/17/17

As said, Crysis 3 was the only game giving me trouble, I haven't had any problems with running my system or other games and no crazy temperatures. Are you saying a 230/240 Watt is going to change that? I don't see how unless you could explain, I know Crysis 3 is a demanding game, if the re-paste job don't help then I won't be playing it I guess.

You make it sound so easy , it probably really is, however if everything is working fine and I just happen to mess it up for not much reason (6 ram), I can pass on that, but thanks for the tips.

 

Don't worry, even though it is easy to do so, if you have no issues then there is little point in messing with it.

As for your power supply, 180w is definitely enough so I wouldn't worry about it. Definitely try repasting and cleaning your fans. After repasting I recommend using HWMonitor to monitor temps, as well as MSI afterburner and any other software to monitor your % Utilization for your CPU.

And if your temps are good enough, definitely fiddle with the multipliers to bring them up! 920xm is a very powerful CPU and with some good OC it can keep up with current CPUs at least for general gaming

 

Remember ideally the system wants 0.5mm thermal pads throughout.

 

Hello everyone!
I have come to ask if its worth to upgrade my old and loved GX660 with 7970M/8970M. I already have better PSU (not modified yet). Im missing the card and heatsink and Im wondering if I should invest more in this or get something new. I think I took good care of my laptop but im not sure how long its going to last, also its quite noisy after the years (fan replaced recently, I think the noise comes from heatsink). I have no idea how good are modern laptops compared to what Id get with 7970M/8970M. Im a bit worried about GPU temperatures after possible upgrade. Please share your thoughts

My current setup is:
i7 920XM (19-20 multiplier and 35 TDP to ensure safe temperatures and prevent my current PSU from damage)
ATI 5870M (slight OC, I dont think that matters much)
12GB RAM
256GB SSD + 500GB HDD
1080p LCD
Stock PSU

 

If you can find a cheap one then yes it might be worthwhile to upgrade. New gpus are coming out in october or newr that, and bring a nice performance increase but 7970m is still a fantastic performer and a huge jump from hd5870m.

Keep in mind upgrading to a new laptop with stronger performance might mean a hefty first investment.

So anyways if you find a cheap 7970/8970m go for it. Otherwise go for a nee laptop with a 970m which is bound to be cheaper and bring excellent performance per dollar and watt.

 

The whole machine won't be cheaper than a card.

 

Yeah i meant cheaper than the big sibling 980m. I was typing on my cellphone, so I messed it up. Man, typing on smartphones can sometimes be an exercise in frustration!

 

Cost comes down to the people who get hold of the card of course. We will see how much they charge. I get the feeling both cards will be in high demand.

 

Sorry for the late reply guys, that will teach me to order things from Scotland during a busy time down there. Well I finally got to go back into my laptop and oh boy that paste I put down before was all over the place, I had to really pull on the heat sink to get it off, it was like it was glued down. When I did, I saw the mess. I cleaned it all up and also gave my fan a good clean. I also added some new thermal pads around the heatsink component parts as the ones in there were pretty much done, it was 0.5mm like Meaker suggested. I also bought a cool master NoteP U3 plus, now I read and watched a ton of reviews on laptop coolers and it doesn't seem theirs an out right winner and they offer little help, but every little bit helps in my case anyway, I like it because you can move the fans where you want, even if they're on the weaker side.

I have that software you mentioned ryzeki, but I've been using Core Temp to keep an eye on things, all I do is Alt+Enter and just move the screen across so I can see Core Temp. Now for Crysis 3, before it took only 10mins of playing for me to reach 92-100°C and my idle temps were around 54-60°C.

Now after the clean up I get around the 80's or lower playing Crysis 3, mostly 84°C, I know that's high still, but a massive drop from what I was getting before and that was me playing it for almost an hour. In idle I know get 35-44°C.

I'm happy with these results, I haven't tried any other games yet as it was only Crysis causing the problem, and their ain't much else as demanding as Crysis anyway.

Hey ryzeki, yes I hope the 920xm can last me awhile. I'm not interested in buying a new laptop till Cyberpunk 2077 comes out, which I think will be near the end of next year maybe? If the game turns out to be as good as I think it will be, it will be the last game I need to buy as I hook it into my vains lol, but I can still hold on for awhile yet, I'm quite happy to drop settings to play those games when they release. With new GPU cards coming out recently I will keep an eye out for which laptops can handle the likes of Witcher 3 etc.

Thanks for your help guys.

 

You are welcome Rizer I am sure 920xm will last another year for gaming, specially since you are running off an HD5870m so it is still balanced. Plus you can always overclock it a bit more to get playable performance if push comes to shove!

Your temps are okay. There are better but I had very similar temps when gaming and the laptop is still up and running

 

Glad it worked out for you, sounds like you did things right and those temps do look normal, crysis over time will always push those temps up

 

Hey all,

My GX660 fell backwards from 20 cm from the floor.
Now it doesn't charge or power the laptop without battery, I think the power socket might be damaged.
I could either ask a local repair shop (I guess they might require a new socket, but I saw you can order it for 10$.)
Or I should I send it to MSI ? Or could I try to re-adjust the socket if I open it up, I have the tools to open it.

Thanks.

Edit: Problem solved, when I got home I used a knife to push back the socket and my GX660 is fully operational again.

 

Sounds like you may want to get it re-soldered. Even if you have it working now.

 

Hey guys,

I've a GX660 and just bought an ssd yesterday.
Now I need to enable AHCI, but I need to flash that modded bios for that and I just can't find it haha. Could anyone upload the GX660 version of the bios for me please? Thanks in advance.

EDIT:

It works now.
This is how I did it:
1. I flashed this bios: http://www50.zippyshare.com/v/91276404/file.html (credits to Majster msi).
2. I had to enter the bios by pressing del and then I had to put it in AHCI mode for it to boot properly.
3. The laptop is ready for a SSD-HDD raid set-up in AHCI now .

(If I forgot something could someone correct me, as my SSD should arrive tomorrow so that I don't kill my laptop off).

 

Curious, why do you need the modded bios for that? I don't remember having to use any modded bios for HDDs, nor to change even settings for the CPU. Have you tried the advanced BIOS startup? (different combination of keys). This is just out of curiosity, since I did install single SSd, RAIDs SSDs and RAID HDDs. All without having to mess with the BIOS

 

Well I'm going to keep the 500 gb 7200RPM HDD I've in my laptop now and I'm going to add a Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD to it.
So I've read on the internet that it wouldn't work correctly then, users said that the pc couldn't find the SSD in AHCI mode and in IDE mode the performance is worse.
That's why I wanted to make sure that I can use AHCI with an SSD & HDD together in my laptop.

 

I see, how odd! I did use Crucials, but it was an m4. Never had issues with installing it, formatting it, reinstalling two etc etc. I suppose it depends on the model whether they have issues or not, and I did use them in AHCI.

 

Oh that's good to hear. So I was worried for nothing haha.
I'll let you know how it worked out.

 

Some systems have issues with the mx100 so it comes down to what system you have exactly.

 

You were right, it just started melting near the socket.

 

I've a MSI GX660-651NL. MSI GX660-651NL - Specificaties - Tweakers
It's a i7 740QM/5870m/Intel Mobile PM55 maybe I didn't even need to reflash it.

 

The SSD drive's working really well . Just installed Windows 8.1 on it and the laptop's flying!
Thanks Majster MSI for your bios ^^ the SSD drive's working as it should in AHCI mode.

 

Glad it's working at least. I know I'll never go back to an os on a mech hdd

 

Enjoy it while lasts!

 

clevo gtx 670mx in my msi gt660 Clevo gtx 670MX 3GB (kepler) w MSI GT660 (16f1) 1gen cpu - Forum Notebookcheck.pl

 

Interesting, a GK104 chip playing ball with a pre 3rd gen i7. That will be a nice little upgrade

 

I have a GX660 with 5870m and i7 740qm

Having trouble booting past windows logo in windows 7 whenever i have amd drivers installed.

- it fell last week from a 20cm height and it didnt charge anymore or power up.

- i pushed back the dc socket, it worked again but started generating heat and the laptop shut down

- i had it repaired and it worked, gaming and all

-sometimes it had trouble booting after repair like i described at first, but i got it working mostly

-now it only boots up fully if i remove the video driver (through device manager or amd cleanup utility), if i reboot after succesfull bootup the problem resurfaces because at previous bootup a driver is installed (not through windows update).

Everytime i remove a driver, and old one is installed.

Once or twice I managed to boot up, install current drivers and play a game with normal perfomance.
So something weird is going on. Any ideas? Could this be hardware related damage from the fall or repair?

 

You can check the gpu heatsink and card but it's likely the video card being dead and needing replacement