GPU driver ruining my life?

Hi all,
So I've been having issues with my GPU for a while now (GTX 880m) in my Alienware 17 laptop.
A lot of time the card would just disappear and the laptop wouldn't recognize it anymore. And would start using the intel graphics. I thought it was because I never updated my BIOS. So I recently did. And downloaded the latest nvidia driver for my gpu. Everything seemed to be running great until now.
I'm a film editor and I work a lot in Davinci Resolve which is a coloring film software that heavily uses GPU power instead of CPU. I'm trying to get a project done for a client right now and I can't edit for more than 5 mins without the whole thing freezing up and I get an error at the bottom right of my screen (from windows I think) stating something along the lines of "Display driver 372.92 has stopped working and recovered:
Insanely frustrating since I'm pressed for time and trying to deliver to a client very soon and I can't even work.

I've tried downloading and installing older drivers to see if it was just an issue with the latest driver but that hasn't helped.
I've run out of ideas so I'm hoping someone here can help.
If I run games or anything it usually works fine.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Probably you have got not so tightly placed MXM card, might have become loose overtime or the HW failing or the software issue with the driver, could also be OS if you have upgraded or maybe the optimus interference with the updated system environment or maybe a just simple repaste work.


So to start the troubleshoot

First try to roll back to the stable driver/position of the system you had in first place and check with it.

You also said this editing is making the driver crash, Are you running the stable work software, that might be compatibility issue ? Update all drivers once to make sure everything is fine from this pov.

If it's not crashing in games (Make sure you run AAA titles to get the max out of the GPU to test or run a Heaven Benchmark maxed to test the stability of the system) Then the software might be the culprit and we can safely rule out the HW issue if the benchmark stability test passes.

Also try to run on the dGPU mode maybe IF you are running in Optimus mode that might be limiting the GPU processing power, dGPU mode is run on full discrete GPU pipeline negating all the ill effects of the Optimus mode's display output pipeline sharing with both iGPU and dGPU.

Finally give it a cleaning and re-paste (might be this, check the temps while benching and work to correlate the issue with the one possible hw maintenance case) with re-seating the MXM card to make sure it sits firm. Double check the MXM slot, the repair guide is fairly simple can download from Dell or can check Youtube videos, Just noticed your's is an 880M it's a fairly not good card like 780M, please double check the temps as it tends to overheat.

Last but not least which OS you are on, Win10 ? make sure you are upto date with that POS OS, hell the RS1 is not at all stable, TH2 is stable for now I believe a.k.a 1511 version or build 10586. Also if you are on other OS like Win8, make sure you are running updated to Win8.1, if the benchmark/stability is passed then the OS might be also a cause as I thought since an incompatibility.

And I feel sorry for the issues you are facing, Hope you might fix it soon, good luck bud.

 

Thanks for the reply.

So I just used the display driver uninstall program to try and unintsall all drivers and do a clean install of new drivers. After my laptop rebooted now my laptop doesn't recognize the GPU at all anymore. In the device manager there's only my intel graphics under displays. This is exactly what happened to me like a week ago. I went to bed and in the morning it popped back up when I booted up. I don't understand this.

How do I run in dGPU mode?
I've been monitoring my temps and they don't really go above 60 degrees so I don't think that's the issue. It might be some kind of power issue. But now I can't diagnose anything since the card isn't even showing up. I think I'll have to reseat the card. Which I've never done so it worries me a little but I think I have everything I need to do it.

I'm running windows 10 64bit.

 

The fn + f5 allows you to switch b/w optimus or the dGPU mode, So now the GPU is not there right ? Or it shows up randomly ? even so do the below.

First disassemble the laptop's MXM card and then re-paste (not much of a hassle, just order any good paste, Gelid GC extreme is what I prefer and just use rubbing alcohol 90% IPA with some swabs or use the Arctic Clean cleaning kit and apply the thermal paste, X method or 2 lines on the die with some gap in b/w them horizontally that should do the thermal paste job well), re-seat it & then try to fire it up again. If still no GPU then the card is dead probably unfortunately.

Probably this is not Win10 causing issues since the Device manager doesn't show that means the MXM card is not firm or the card has failed, Don't worry though, You can upgrade to the 980M or even get a 780M.

 

So I just re-seated and repasted my GPU and the laptop still doesn't recognize the card

 

Well it looks like I'm screwed. I reseated and repasted the GPU. Still no card showing up. This happened a week ago and in the morning it randomly appeared again. Don't understand what's happening at all.
I've had this laptop between 1 and 2 years. Taken very good care of it, barely even moved it around. Most of the time it just sat on my desk. And now GPU is dead? Blows...

Anyway I'm done trying to trouble shoot this. I guess it's time to order a new GPU. What card do you suggest? I need something I can just plug in and get it working right away with no hassle. I don't mind upgrading if it isn't going to to cost a ton.

 

Happens, even my 860M died out of nowhere.

Well you can get the 980M from this thread, he's a reputed vendor here.
And for the method of installing he will guide you, If you have any doubts shoot me a PM and Don't install EVGA Precision X, MSI Afterburner.
GoodLuck.

And here's more threads for you to max the UX more.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/alienware-17-60hz-gtx980m-upgrade.768673/
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/aw17-r1-ranger-fan-mod.776418/
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...us-working-great.777145/page-47#post-10248782

EDIT

No idea sorry.

 

Thanks so much for the help. Will order a new card but I'm rather screwed with work for the mean time. I have a 7970m sitting around somewhere that i tried using with my old m15x. Would this work in my m17?

 

I also have a GTX 460m sitting in my old laptop. Does anyone know if that card is compatible with my Alienware 17? If I could just pop that in for time being that would be great.

 

Why don't you just try ^^?