Graphics Card FAIL, Nvidia Geforce Gtx 260m, Please Help

My laptop has been loading the log in screen and flickering to black then coming back as if everything is normal. I log in, eventually it will say my graphics card failed but reinitialized itself or something. But now on top of all that nonsense that I was content living with...on the $3000 brick slab of garbage =/ It now freezes my screen so that I cant do anything and have to restart it. I just started playing WOW and it keeps dieing on me 10 min into the game making it UNPLAYABLE.

At first I thought it was just overheating but now idk anymore. I ordered a $75 cooling pad and am waiting for that but it's now starting to freeze up even when the computer isn't even hot to the touch. It freezes when I try and click on something immediately/really fast when something pops up like a new window, or a movie etc.

I just wiped my drivers hoping that a fresh install after using Driver Sweeper would help but THE SAME thing has happened AGAIN when trying to install the latest driver - version 270.61

NVIDIA Update 1.134 Installed
PhysX System Software 9.10.0514 Failed
3D Vision Control Driver 270.61 Not Installed
Graphics Driver 270.61 Installed
3D Vision Driver 270.61 Not Installed

 

This sound very abnormal. Try these steps to see if we can find the problem:

1) Install HWmonitor32 and check the heat level
2) Reflash the computer bios and gpu bios
3) Do a power drain by removing the battery and press the start button for 5 secs.

 

What is step number 2 mean??

And for #3 I no longer have a battery, I just run it off the power cord because the battery case melted from the heat like 6 months ago and I couldnt find a place to buy a replacement that wasnt a rip off price.

Does that matter?

 

This is when i'm browsing the interwebs

 

Your temps are ok, heat is not an issue in this case.

2# means install Drivers & Downloads which is the newest m17x r1 bios. you follow the instructions in the .txt file after downloading it from Dell.

A simple way to describe it:

1. Download the newest M17x r1 bios (link above)
2. Burn it on a cd
3. Restart the computer and boot from the cd.
4. Now the computer will start the bios reflashing

It does not matter that you do not have a battery:wink:

Edit: You can also try to install the newest software for your gtx 260m http://support.dell.com/support/dow...dateid=-1&formatid=-1&source=-1&fileid=412648

 

umm...

i downloaded the zip what file in it is burnable?

 

Extract M17XR1A07
now inside the extracted folder extract another zip file called A07W64.
now inside the folder A07W64 run WinPhlash64.

Chose backup BIOS and flash BIOS with new settings.
You will be asked to insert a disc.

 

Gategod, from your description, that's your video driver failing.

Go to BIOS by pressing F2 at the alien head. Find Graphic options and switch PCIeGen 2 to Disabled, now this should force your cards to run at 8x bandwidth and you should not get anymore video drivers related lockups.

Now download the latest nVIDIA drivers for your cards and uninstall your current drivers, reboot in Safe Mode (F8 repeatedly at startup ) and run CCleaner ti clean your registry, additionally you can run Driver Sweeper and choose nVIDIA display. Reboot I'm Windows and install your previous downloaded drivers.

Those temps can be tamed a little with a repaste.
Look up the teardown videos of the M17x and clean your heatsinks, while you're at it grab a thermal paste tube and clean your old paste from your heatsinks and die and apply new one.
Remember patience is key.

Cheers