GPU seems to stop working?

Hey everyone,

I'm getting n wierd error and dont know what to do to correct the problema. My current setup for Alienware mx17 R2 is

• 2x ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 in crossfire
• Intel Core i7 Q740
• SSD OCZ-Vertex4
• 16gb RAM

So, basically I'm playing any game, and all of the sudden I get a massive drop in FPS. For exemple, playing League of Legends, I'm at a stable 60fps and without any warning and what seems to be totally ramdom, I get 10fps and it never recovers until I reboot the system. After rebooting, I can log back to the game and finish it without any problem or the problem happens again and a new reboot is needed. After every reboot, everything works start working fine (until it happends again). I can be playing all day without any problem, and the next day it happends all the time.

I'm using CPUID HWMonitor to monitor my tempetures and my GPU never gets higher than 70º C. The interesting thing is, after this massive drop in fps happen, the GPU temperature starts dropping as if it's not working anymore.

So a friend of mine lend me an AMD Radeon 7970M to see if it was a problem with my GPU's and after a fresh install the problem still exists.

Does anyone have any ideia what could be the problem? Any help is appreciated...I dont want to buy a new laptop especially because I wanted to buy the 7970M to upgrade my system.

ty all,
Rodas

 

What is your CPU doing during all this?

 

In terms of temperature its fine too. It normally get to aroung 65º C in all cores.

 

Well you have isolated the GPU as not a problem so you must look at other parts.

What about your power supply? When it slows down does it show as the AC being connected or running off battery?

 

I've been using the laptop for years without the battery pluged in. I think I never used it tbh. The AC seems to power the laptop without any problem.

 

The power supply could indeed be a problem. Do you have a friend or someone you could borrow a power supply from? Id hate to have you buy one if it's not the problem. But might be worth a shot. It's possible that as the laptop ramps up that the power supply just can't cut it anymore.

 

After Greywolf22's suggestion, I went into the BIOS and saw that the power supply was not being reconized and that the alarm beep / message was disabled (dunno on how it got disabled tho). So I turn the beep / message back on and restart the laptop. As it starts to reboot, I can a loud beep and a message saying "AC Adapter currently connected is not supported, connect a Dell AC Adapter for optimal performance".

So this could make the GPU shutdown?

 

check HWinfo.
If your CPU speed drops below 1K for each core you have a PSU problem, causing the CPU to reduce speed and your GPU to be slowing down as part of it.
If your CPU dont run good, your GPU suffers. (reduced FPS) If your CPU slows down it gets colder also. Makes good sense.

You sure you have the correct PSU?

There are two different PSU's for your computer and if u have crossfire you should have 240W PSU.
There are peeps that has bought replacements forgetting there are more than one option.

Think you also are better off using your battery. It can help out when consuming high power for short bursts i guess.

 

I'm sure the PSU is the correct one because it's the same on that came with the laptop and the problems are recent (I have the 240w PSU). When I get home i'll check HWinfo for the information you posted.

Ty all for the help

 

so yea...

I got home and ran a benchmark that I knew would cause the problema right away with HWInfo running. It After the problem appears, I get very low CPU readings. I attached the images of before and after.

I guess i'll try contact DELL to try a new PSU :S

 

So a friend of mine lend me a 940MX and I put it on my laptop just to see if it was a problem with the processor and the same thing happens. Since I cant my hands on a PSU, i guess i'll have to get a new one a try it out

 

you are monitoring temp so it probably isnt a problem, but mentioning since you swap CPU back and forth. Remember bad heat compound appliance (or crappy compound) can give same problems on some of the cores since it puts the overheated cores in slowmode, while some of the temperatures can still look ok. Since you see temperature decrease when this happens, and below 70, this is probably not the problem. It would have had to be in the high 90 area for that core(s) to slow down for temperature.

 

So here is an update.

I ordered a new PSU from DELL and it arrived today So I tried it out and the problem with the CPU speed dropping disappeared. I ran a couple of games that I know that triggered the problem and all seems good

The only thing is, I still get the message stating "AC Adapter currently connected is not supported, connect a Dell AC Adapter for optimal performance". Should I worry with this ? could it damage the new PSU?


EDIT: I talked to Dell about this problem. One of them said to buy a new motherboard(lol) and the other said to downgrade my bios to A07 because that is what the M17x R2 should use

 

Dont you run without your battery?
Try using it again.

If not dell might be correct and you have a mobo error. Sad, but if it works like it is, why should you. :-D