Did I just fried my 675M ???

Hi guys, writing this to get some informations regarding what happened to my GPU and what I should do now.
2 days ago I downloaded the 337.50 Beta from NVidia (through Geforce Experience), tried it a little bit on Rome 2, and I had a couple of BSODs, related to the new driver.

This morning, my R4 was idling and then it shut down all of a sudden. I tried to restart it, no way. I finally managed to restart it (removed to battery and pressed the start button to empty the capacitors), but since then my GPU (675m) is nowhere to be found. Both the GeForce Experience software and Nvidia inspector are unable to find it. I restarted several times, switched the GPUs (Fn+F7) but nothing seemed to work.

I'm currently redownloading the 337.50 drivers, directly from Nvidia, to try to reinstall it.

Do you guys have any idea of what happened, and of how I can fix this ?

Thanks

Specs:
M17x-r4
i7-3840QM
16GB RAM
WD 750GB 7200RPM + 32GB Samsung SSD
Integrated GPU Intel HD4000
Geforce 675m

 

The 675M has been known to fail under the exact circumstances you just explained. If it does not show up in the BIOS, there's a 90% chance it's dead. You should run the system diagnostics through the system BIOS/Boot Options. This will test all of the components in the system and determine if they're faulty or not.

Are you still covered under warranty? I'd call Technical Support Monday.

 

Wow that was quick, thanks!

Yes I'm still under warranty, gonna check in the BIOS to be sure, but I do fear it is dead.
Anyway, thanks for the answer !

 

That's good news on the warranty .

I've had a bunch of them go bad on me! Last one was a few weeks ago, the new NV drivers are pushing cards a little harder and a poor quality chip like the 580m/675m is just giving up (IMO).

Make sure you load the latest driver Dell publish before calling, they will want this as a first step anyway, but if the hardware is not detected then you might not be able to install and they should just replace it.

I'm sure they have internal notes on the 675m since when the last one I had failed (it would suddenly shut down) it was a 10 minute call

Some people with killed cards: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/721878-nvidia-320-18-driver-warning.html


Good Luck.

 

Yeah I tried to roll back one or two WHQL driver back but the installer can't even see the hardware, so I guess I'll see tomorrow with the support guy.
Do you guys know if they still replace 675m, or if not, what kind of GPU I can expect as a replacer?

I'm just glad I signed for the warranty extension, definitely worth it considering the price !

Edit: +rep for micky, your link was interesting to read

 

They have to provide you with something of equal or better value and performance. That means, if they can't give you a 675M, you should be upgraded to a 770M.

If for some reason they say that your system won't support the 770M (which is likely going to happen because they go by what their PC in front of them has listed for "supported GPU's") you should ask for an Alienware 17 of equal value to your original configuration. You may end up with a brand new Alienware 17 laptop, or at the very least, a decent refurbished system. If you do get offered an Alienware 17, do not accept anything less than a 4810MQ with 770M.

Hopefully they just send you a 770M, but who knows what will happen. Just try your best to get a fair replacement, if it comes to that.

 

Ok, thanks for the help ! +rep for you too

 

Yeah they still have them here in the UK. Mine was replaced about a month ago. I should have asked for a 680m which IS supported and a far better GPU but I was just happy with a next-day replacement!

You can always ask about a 680m saying that you hear that the 675m fails a lot. If you've already had one fail (and I had) then they should at least consider it.

Good Luck

Edit: did you try reseating the card?

 

I don't feel too comfortable about opening the beast, I think it kind of scares me... hahaha !
As long as I can get a quick replacer, I don't mind a little waiting. I mean the only positive point with optimus is you don't get a 3000€ bookholder if the main GPU fails

 

That's fine - it can be a little daunting with something as complex as a laptop .

It's actually very simple in comparison to any other laptop I've opened up. Two screws holding the lower panel (under battery), 3 screws holding the fan and two screws to remove the card and heatsink as a complete assembly.

Since you live in a big city an engineer visit shouldn't be a problem so hopefully they don't ask you to ship it in.

Yup, whenever my card plays up I have an expensive door-stop

Let us know how it goes .

 

Ok so the guy changed it for a new 675m and gave a good cleaning to the fans and heat sinks, I'm currently rolling back from 337.50 to 335.23.
I'll keep you posted if there any evolution, thank again for all the help and tips

 

They replaced a dead 675M with a new 675M? I'm surprised they still had leftovers. That's hard to believe it's brand new.

Anyway, I'm glad you've got things sorted out, but I wouldn't have accepted that trade. The 675M will die again, it's only a matter of time.

 

I've had 4 of them in two machines. I'm sure dell stock up heavily on spares and as soon as a sell point is reached they stop selling them to keep a stock of spares.

You as the customer have no choice but to accept the same part, you can ask for 'consideration' of a 680m on an R4 and goodwill on Dell's part should supply it. With the R3 (as I originally had) there was no upgrade path from the 580m so i got a new R4 .

It will almost certainly fail again, could be 6 months could be 2 years, but while dell still have them they will keep replacing them. Dell do not refurbish/reuse GPU cards. Far too likely they pass tests but are still faulty - making it an expensive service call.