Alienware M17X R4 980M Problem

Hi, so I have a Alienware M17X R4 with a 860M 2GB, never had any problems and could play hours on it.

I bought a MSI GTX 980M 8GB, after having issues on getting it to post due to optimus I managed to install it and install drivers.

I wasn’t keeping eye on temperatures as much as they didn’t exceed 70C, but the laptop completely shut off during first gameplay with the card and it wouldn’t turn back on, just kept booting for half a second and turning back off which was weird as it wouldn’t boot at all.

so I reverted back to the 860 and it worked fine, so I retried the 980m, same problem again would not turn on (every time I pressed power button I heard a clicking sound as if it trying to do something).

I had a idea to put the 980M into my older M15x, installed drivers and played a full game and no problems whatsoever, until I did a benchmark and it got a bit too hot and turned off, with the same issue as the R4

Is this a card problem or am I just experiencing overheating issues? And how do I get it to turn on after the shutdown as cmos reset doesn’t solve it until I switch the GPU... thanks

 

Hi, seems like overheating VRM issue. Make sure the 2mm thermal pads on the top of the card are making good contact between the VRM chips and the cooler (you may have 3 of them) and on the right of the card next to the 2 inductors (2 VRM). You can't monitor them and can easilly be more than 110°C.

 

Hi thanks for the reply, I have made sure that it’s fully covering them, only issue now is when it does turn off I genuinely can’t get it to power back on, it just turns itself off after a second and will not boot up, I’m lucky if I can get it to boot up again, usually works when I put it in different laptops to somehow power it and then it works fine again in any laptop, do you know what that could be?

 

this is the card btw

https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/1535645830...5sejMgJyecPdfHmmeqGhTk93UmLklNkAaAucSEALw_wcB

 

Hi, very strange... I own this same card too. If it power up for a second then switch off, there is a short somewhere. May be hard to find. You may try your GPU on another laptop if you can and wait for others to answer you.

 

Hi, yes it’s very strange it cuts out in different laptops too, I’m gonna install a dell vbios to see if it helps, and lower the tdp and clocks slightly see if it’s just unstable as I don’t know if the cards Been vbiosed before

 

Card has a short in it. Buy another unless you are an electrical engineer with excellent soldering skills and a hot air station