Put a Geforce 9650m GT in my Acer 7720g

So, I put a Geforce 9650m GT (ddr2, 1g vram) in my Acer 7720G.

I also got a 9600m gt (the ddr3 512mg vram version), but it doesn't fit my heatsink correctly without a bracket / mount, so when I tried to put it in, the screen looked like a rainbow.

Anyway, back to the 9650m GT. Yes, I know it is technically slower than the other card, but it at least works - kind of.

I can run the computer in safe mode all day, with no issues. I can run the computer in normal mode, and even do graphics intense activities like watch HD streams of sports or play video games - and it runs fine. But, it will randomly freeze, in normal mode.

Sometimes the freeze occurs almost right away, sometimes it doesn't occur until the computer has been on all day. But I've never been able to get the computer to stay on correctly in normal mode for more than about 6 hours at a time.

The way the computer freezes is interesting - and started happening immediately after I put in the new gpu. It will "freeze" for a few seconds, but when I say freeze I don't mean the entire computer freezes, it seems like it is just the "screen" freezing, the sound coming from the computer doesn't change at all. The freeze will last anywhere from 1 to 6 seconds, and then it will act like nothing happened. Then, less than a minute later, the "freeze" will occur again, and again. Eventually the computer actually freezes - the screen won't move, or sometimes it turns black. One time it turned gray. However, the computer doesn't shut off. The fans stay on. No sounds change.

My first thought was overheating, but I've been monitoring the temperatures when this happens and they don't seem to get above about 55 degrees Celsius. I even opened the computer up directly after one of the crashes and did a hand test to see if the gpu felt abnormally hot and it was just fine.

I have tried about 3 or 4 different drivers, because that seemed the next most likely cause, but the problems have occurred at a similar rate with all of them - but maybe I just haven't found the perfect match yet.

I updated bios on my motherboard, but I don't really want to try flashing the bios on the gpu quite yet - but I do have the .rom file I need in case it comes to that.

So, I've done as much research as I could trying to figure out solutions or different things to test out. I am not sure what to look for next.

If anyone could point me in the right direction or give me some suggestions on what to do next, let me know. Thanks in advance!

 

Welcome to the forums, shcforward!
I'm afraid I haven't a clue what on earth's going wrong here, but I've contacted another user here who has an upgraded 7720G to help you out.

 

Wow, thanks! Yeah, I've spent plenty of time lurking here. There is just so much great information.

Thanks again. As I said, I am pretty much out of ideas. I might have missed something obvious, but I'm not sure.

 

Is this happening just on the desktop or in games?

If it's just the desktop maybe the 2d voltage is too low?

 

The "freeze" has happened almost always in the desktop - but I haven't played games for too long. Only for about 5-10 minutes to test it out. I'll try running a game for longer and see if anything happens.

 

Here's an update.

I did some research into voltage problems and my card, as Meaker mentioned.

I made some tweaks, and as of now it's been going for about 5 hours strong - with 2 hours of gaming.

It's too early to call it a success, but if it is still going smooth in a couple of days, I will post the exact procedure I followed in case it might help anybody else.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

I have the same problem and i put this beta drivers from nvidia 3 days now its ok but i not sure if its ok !!!!if u found something new please post
Thanks

NVIDIA Driver Downloads - Advanced Search

 

Hey shcforward I'm guessing your using the latest drivers from Nvidia... If so I would recommend using the drivers located here Forceware 195.62 - LaptopVideo2Go Forums I also had some issues with the drivers right off the Nvidia site they caused my laptop to randomly freeze when doing the most random things like just browsing a forum on-line. Lowering the voltage might help but if your laptop isn't overheating shouldn't make much difference.

Whats your load temp for your gpu by the way?

 

Cheers, i'll keep this in mind, could you post here what those tweaks where so I can help others?

 

So, this is what I did and it is working so far.

Board Message

There is a feature called Powermizer on this card. From what I understand, it basically sends less juice to the card when it isn't under load. Problem is that this card needs a decent bit of power. You can follow the instructions in that link. I'll repeat / rewrite them here.

1. You will have to add some new registry keys. If you had an old version of the gpu driver, you would edit them, but if you driver is anywhere close to updated, you'll be adding new keys.

2. Open up regedit (windows + r, type regedit).

3. Find \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video\
- there will be several folders here. Most of them only have about 4-8 things you can edit. However, one of the folders will have a ton of things you can edit, like 20-30. That is the folder you want. Open that folder and go to \0000\

4. Right click anywhere in there and go to "new." We will be making a bunch of new keys (D Word 32 bit value).
Here are the names that you will add and values:

PerfLevelSrc : 2222
PowerMizerEnable: 0
PowermizerLevel: 1
PowermizerLevelAC: 1

Put them in there. Make sure they are typed exactly as it says, same capital letters and numbers and everything. Close, save, restart computer.

In the link I posted, there is a much better explanation, with pictures and such.

Anyway, I hope this helps. It's been working for me, so far.

 

I had that issue with my card when I first got it...

First to know that your card will produce more heat when Powermizer is disabled (what you did by editing registry), thus it will consume more power when on battery since gpu won`t go to low power state to save energy by lowering core speed...

Second thing I would like to mention is that when I installed driver v250 that trouble with Powermizer was solved... So after that I had no need to edit registry and disable Powermizer... This also works fine with all official later driver versions (beta and WHQL)...

 

Funny enough using the latest ones fix the Powermizer issue but it kept randomly freezing my laptop must be a Aspire 7720 thing... Best thing is to just keep it off I find.

 

That is really strange...

It might be up to the laptops BIOS?

 

Never know but as we all know what works for one may not work for another. In my case my laptop hates the new Nvidia drivers lol

 

Well, for everyones luck, there is always a solution...

 

Whith the new drivers from Nvidia the problem i thick is gone !!
I keep testing..