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    Alineware m17xR2 5870's no post after bios update !

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by kingdom9214, Aug 24, 2011.

  1. kingdom9214

    kingdom9214 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hey guy's I have a alienware m17xR2 with dual 5870's, I have this problem with crossfire enabled. When crossfire is enable I get screen scrolling and flickering, theres also a black bar that shows up about a 1cm on the left for the screen. As soon as I turn off crossfire this problem goes away. I also would like to update my Bios because I also have a fan issue, that when my fans spool up to cool the card they never slow back down, Its kind of annoying when there at 100% after playing a game and they wont slow back down =P

    So my first thought was drivers, after installing and uninstalling about 10 different ATI drivers, I just gave up. My next thought was to update the bios. So I downloaded the new A10 bios from Dell, when I install the bios, my alienware doesn't post, the keyboard lights up and fans spin, but nothing comes up on the screen. The only way to get the laptop to post is to remove the secondary GPU, then load windows and flash back to A02, A02 is the only Bios version that my computer seems to run on.

    So my next guess was that the VBios need updated, and when i look at GPUZ my Vbios is 012.020.000.027.037640, So I looked on the forums and found out that this is the Dell 5870 A01 Vbios. I'm pretty frustrated, I was hoping someone here could tell me exactly what my problem is guys.
     
    kingdom9214, Aug 24, 2011
    #1
  2. katalin_2003

    katalin_2003 NBR Spectre Super Moderator

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    Pretty sure that the fans weren't slowing down as the GPUs were getting too hot, this can be fixed by cleaning the heatsinks, doing a proper thermal paste application on each die and probably need to change the thermal pads as well.

    Does your laptop post now in every situation now?
    Make sure you're running the latest vBIOS by Dell for the 5870.
    Try the secondary GPU in the first slot to see if it posts alone.
     
    katalin_2003, Aug 25, 2011
    #2
  3. kingdom9214

    kingdom9214 Notebook Enthusiast

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    The temps on the GPU are fine, its just a bug i guess, when my gpus hit about 75c the fans come on full speed, but when I done playing games they never spool back down, even if my cards are idling at 35c.

    My cards are running the most up to date Vbios, and my laptop posts just fine as long as I'm on the A02 bios, but i have the screen issue. My main question was weather or not it is a Faulty GPU or just a drive/bios issue.

    I'll update the bios and see if the secondary card will post in the other slot ! I'll post back my results =P

    Thanks
     
    kingdom9214, Aug 25, 2011
    #3