And another.. 7970m in M17x R2..Installation with photos

May try this for the R3, as a last resort before i enter all out war with Eurocom.

 

I tried that and it doesnt work. CCC only detects one screen (My VGA). I tried the FN + F6 to swap screens and it also only detects one LCD screen (The VGA). Now I read a thread at techinferno where a guy had the same problem and flashed his vbios and got it working. I got the link to the Vbios but I can't download it cause I don't have permission (just created an account there yesterday and probably not been accepted or something). Worth giving it a try! His symptoms were exactly the same. The guy's name is Whap-a-Chow. If anyone has access to that Vbios let me know so I could try it?

[M17x R2] with AMD 7970M CrossfireX - Page 4

 

Haha! never doing that again....I just soiled myself.

 

i have a few questions before i buy the 7970m and perform this upgrade.

you can see my current specs from my sig, will a 240w psu be enough to handle the 920xm and 7970m?

i know you use the same method as described in the 6990m upgrade thread but where will i be able to find the right bios needed for this.

this is the card i am planning on buying, will they be able to provide the x bracket and matching screws?

Original Alienware AMD HD 7970M 2GB GDDR5 -for M15x, M17x and M18x ,original box | eBay

and please feel free to give tips/problems with this upgrade, thanks.

 

Are you looking to just purchase one card or go crossfire? If just one card, they should have everything you need, but I would contact them first to be 100% sure.

You could also save some money and check in the sale forum for some good deals.

I have one for sale, check out my sig

 

Atm i was thinking of only buying one. i looked at your offer and its quite good. however i'm wanting to install it on the r2, are the bios ok for my system and i won't be requiring the r3 heatsink just the x bracket and matching screw set

 

I've fixed my problem! I've never missed my laptop display this much lmao. Contacted Whap-a-Chow for his RJtech vbios (although my cards are Eurocom), flashed it and it worked. No more black screen!

 

Cool Dalorian! Could you post the file for download (like from a file share site)? Or you could send me a PM and I could it. Maybe it will help me out in the end as well.

 

Sure, send me a PM with your email addy and I'll send it over. I flashed to a Eurocom vbios first and it turned out to be the same one I had so it didn't work, but that RJTech vbios did it.

 

Can you guys post the vbios just encase I need it tomorrow when my card comes?
\

 

Ok, since most companies and other people are scared for file sharing sites, I've updated all the bioses I have to this site ( link).

The working one from Dalorian has the words RJT in the file name.

Good Luck!

 

Did it solve your trouble?

 

Havent tested it yet, and doubt it will. See, my laptop's entire screen is white-bleached now. That is both with the old and new card. So I have to solve that first before I can go back and trying the m7970 again.

Just wanted to post that up since it was hard to get anywhere else. Thanks for the file!

 

Ah alright Good luck with your issue :O

 

Got my card in today from Eurocom. Installed it and everything is running smooth.

I got the modified A10 BIOS

 

Bad news, display port is not working. does it requires any drivers or what ?

 

flingin,

thanks for checking but no, the display port does not require special drivers. It seems that all external digital ports are not working on these m7970s (at least the Eurocom ones).

 

My HDMI was working with the old vBios. Will check if it works with my new one.

 

I started up my laptop today and I got that white bleach screen that faded into black. No sound but HDD lights were blinking so it was booting to Windows. I connected my monitor via VGA and it turned on. Boo, its weird cause I was rebooted it a few times yesterday.

 

Did you flash with the RJT vbios like Dalorian did?

 

no, but I just came back from a concert (so away for 12 hours) and now it boots up fine

 

Lol great. Self repairing M17x R2 Wish I had one like that lol.

 

Sorry been away for a while. What's the verdict on the R2 skeined 7970? Are there a lot of issues? Will they work undervolted in crossfire?

Haven't had much time to get on here and research.

Sent from my Samsung Captivate/ICS using Tapatalk 2

 

Just a little update. I contacted eurocom and bought a 7970m upgrade kit. Since i contacted them they gave it me for a decent price and didn't charge me for shipping even though i live in the uk. Hopefully this white/black screen nonsense won't happen to me but seeing as though DR650SE is reluctant of buying this makes it seem like a bad idea. Wish me luck package arrives on wednesday the 15th

 

Seems to be working for most as far as I've noticed. Some people still have issues I think (I solved mine by flashing the vBios). Hopefully those having issues can solve them like that too.

So far not many people have tried the cards in crossfire in the R2. I'm guessing though that undervolting won't cut it this time. Hopefully someone who gets around to test it will reveal more

 

Hi Guys,

I've thinking of replacing my CF 4870m cards in my M17x R2 with one 7970m card from eurocom.

However, is there anything special that i have to do to move from a dual to a single card configuration or do i JUST remove the slave 4870m card/heatsink and leave the fan/bracket inside ?


JR

 

Guys, when buying from Eurocom just ask if it will support HDMI out before you buy.

All of they're stock are Cleveo cards flashed with an Alienware Vbios. I don't know how that affects the R2 but in the R3 HDMI in and out was lost.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

You remove both cards, and insert the 7970m. Use the same heatsink but be sure to ask Eurocom to include screws and x-bracket with the card.

I still need to check my HDMI after i reflashed the card, but HDMI was working when I got it from Euorcom in my m17x R2.

 

Dalorian, did you remove the GPU fan for the slave 4870m card or did you just leave it in?

Note: Would the fan come/stay on if there's no card plugged in?

 

Just leave the fan. You can remove it if you want I think but it never comes on as far as I noticed.

 

New updates from my side: Dalorian's linked vbios did the trick. I now have the 7970m running in my R2 without a white burnout, but it is a long story.

Currently, the R2 LCD cannot handle the dell vbios on the 7970m. It will boot to a black screen. I believe that it is setting it to an unsupported refresh rate, and so the LCD refuses to display an image. Over time, since at first I left the 7970m card in my R2, it wore down the LCD until the LCD started to boot with artifacts, and then finally settled into the white burnout. So whatever component handled contrast in the LCD was burnt out. The "good" news to this was now I could boot the screen and start flashing vbioses.

I am also in luck in that I have a spare LCD that I ordered from ebay two weeks ago. Must have been divine intervention. However, booting to this new LCD without changing the vbios would result in a blank screen again. So I knew it was just the LCD that was damaged.
Using the damaged LCD i started testing what vbios could boot to both the damaged and the new LCD. Only Dalorian's posted bios did the trick. So now I can boot and run windows on the new LCD screen without damage. Now I just need another free weekend to install it, as I need to research the best way to disassemble it.

 

weird, my R2 is running fine. I only had that one incident and after that, it never came back. I have been playing games on it like crazy too

 

Glad it worked Kinda glad my LCD didn't take damage, it was just black each time untill I flashed the vBios.

 

Yeah, it is kind of crazy what the vbios on the MXM cards need to know to make these laptops work. I sort of get it now why product support is so short (just kidding, product support is a joke). Still, glad we found a solution and all that is left is to fully test the HDMI and Display ports to see how well they work/dont work.

 

Just out of interest, how much did you guys pay for your cards including the x bracket, thermal paste, thermal pads etc. I feel like i have been ripped off but want to know how much bye

 

Hey so how did you guys flash your VBIOS? I followed the tut in the 6970 / 6990 but it keeps giving me that "bad command" error. I feel retarted right now xD

 

If it tells you "bad command" there should be a mistake

to flash this is what i usually do:

atiflash /i this will list the cards on your system, usually 0 & 1

atiflash /cf bios0.rom <(your bios name here) this will verify your rom checksum, compare it with the original bios.rom of your cards, it has to be the same, if not don't flash! i found this really important in order no to screw things up with a bad flash

Then to flash:

atiflash /p 0 bios0.rom <(your rom name here)
atiflash /p 1 bios1.rom <(your rom name here)

 

[GUIDE] AMD VBIOS flashing

Found a good guide for ya Oh and one more thing, you will get a sid error, so you will need to force the flash. add a -f, E.g. "atiflash -p -f 0 modVbios.rom" force flashes the file modVbios.rom to adapter 0.

 

There's good news and bad news.

The good news is that the 7970m worked in my laptop with the bios eurocom had put on. However the bad news is that i can no longer turn on my computer because the center power button cover/hinge has had a ribbon cable holder broken for a long time but i could just tape the cable into place and it would turn on but that no longer works so i'm guessing the ribbon cable has shorted out or something.

 

Thanks guys! Got the new vbios flashed now and everything seems to be running good!

 

Hey guys,

I just got my 7970m in today and it came with the IC diamond 7 thermal grease, should I used this or my MX-4 that I used for my CPU?

It seemed like the IC diamond got a somewhat better rating online by like 1 to 2C but is there any special application method for it or do I just use on small blob in the center of the GPU? or should I just stick with the MX-4?

 

I was I the same situation as you and I have to say ic diamond is a lot better. There is a special application method for ic diamond. Boil some water and put it in a cup/mug then allow the tube of Ic diamond to soak for about 6-7 mins then we do the rice grain method by putting a blob about the size of a rice grain in the middle of the gpu die. Then leave the paste tp sit on the die for 10 mins to allow the solvent to evaporate. Now Clamp on your heatsink and it will spread the thermal paste for you. Good luck.

i put a little bit extra on mine but it still turned out great, here's a picture of mine with the thermal pad layout if you did not know it already.

 

Hey guys,

I got my 7970m from eurocom...but I didn't get any screws along with it...just thermal paste, thermal pads, xbracket (mounted) and cd...?

Do/can I use the old existing screws from my 4870m?

If they are different , does anyone know their sizes (length & diameter ) ? Maybe I can find something similar at the local hardware shop...

 

hi guys i recently purchased an R2 and im wondering if the 7970m out of the R3 will be plug and play, ie no need to flash the bios.

 

screws from 4870 will not fit, you have to buy screws from eurocom or get them from somewhere else

dell versions tend to have more problems than eurocom versions, yes that is wierd, but dell versions just sometimes refuse to post from what i know...maybe someone can correct me i dunno 100%

 

flingin is correct, dell versions of the card often do not post. However performing a simple Vbios flash before you move them from the R3 to R2 should aid in avoiding blind flashing them. the 2 Vbios i can recommend are RJTech or Eurocom. Good luck, look a few posts back, somebody posted a link on how to flash AMD cards.

 

Never mind...I found the screws stuck between two layers of the packing form.

So , I see there's a catalyst version 12.8 out....should I download and use this version? Are you or anyone else using this yet with their 7970m , although It just came out on the 10th?

 

I see a large blob of solder on your card that isnt on my Dell Card but was on my Eurocom card. What the hell is it?


There, in the cricle below:



Then check this picture:



Originally, i thought i had messed up the pad arrangement and over heated. I remember when i first installed (Eurocom card) I kept getting black screens.

Now i see the same thing on yours.

 

Yeah, I have a large solder joint on my eurocom 7970m board too but its the on chip to the left of the one you circled and it's connecting both of the surface caps above it....as long as those connections are also made by the broad traces then it shouldn't be a problem....but I can't say for sure..

I haven't finished installing my board yet, so I don't know if I'll run into the same issues you had..

 

Oh thats good. I really thought i had over heated it and melted that point. Strangely, i didnt notice it when i installed first time but when i got black screens, decided to remove card and check pads and paste and then i saw it.