Installed a 780m in my m17x r3. Computer keeps freezing. Can't install drivers.

EDIT: Made a new thread as the problem had evolved quite a bit. Seems to have been solved as of now, but only time will tell. http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/m17x-r3-freezing-cant-install-windows.776393/


So I got my 780m in the mail today and installed it following this video:

The card came already hooked up to the heatsink + x-bracket + thermal paste / pads. So all I had to do was take out my fan, take out the 6970m w/ heatsink, screw in the 780m w/ heatsink, put fan back into place.

I followed the guide found here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...-questions-concerns.722670/page-4#post9324676

I have thew a12 unlocked bios, have my bios options set how they say (integrated graphics disabled, display set to PEG, integrated sound disabled.

Whenever I go into Windows now though, everything freezes after some time and I am forced to use the power button to restart. It happens in safe mode as well. I cannot install the drivers for the card due to these freezes. I am able to type in notepad (which is where I am typing this) without running into a freeze, but when I try to extract files, run the driver installation, go through my files w/ windows explorer, everything freezes.

I can't look at the video from the guide that is supposed to show if I have set the card correctly or not because it is now set to private. So maybe I didn't install it correctly? I have used DDU to completely uninstall old drivers several times and that is making no difference. Not sure what else to try. I'm on windows 7 Home Premium.

 

Okay so after posting this, I was able to keep my windows alive for long enough to get the drivers installed correctly. So now I have the drivers installed, but I am still running into the freezing problem. It seems to happen mostly when I'm moving around in folders or extracting files. There are also quite a few "hang ups" that I didn't experience before installing this GPU. What I mean by hang ups is when I am moving my mouse and the computer just freezes for a second before the mouse whips to where it should have been. Minor freezes I guess. And then of course there are still the freezes that force me to power down. ??

 

Tested it out in a game and it runs a lot smoother than my old card which is good, but these mini+major freezes are bothering me. I haven't had a major freeze occur while in Chrome, but I do have minor freezes while scrolling through pages. Had no issues in game (Heroes & Generals).

 

EDIT: Fixed this individual error by deleting an nVidia folder in users\appdata while in Safe Mode.

Also getting an error on startup now: NvBackend.exe - Bad Image

C:\Users\xxxx\AppData\Local\NVIDIA\NvBackend\ApplicationOntology\Ontology.dll is either not designed ro run on Windows or it contains an error.

Google says to just reinstall drivers, but I'm hesitant as to how difficult it was for me to install them in the first place. I also doubt it's related to the freezing as the freezing was present before any drivers were installed.

 

Maybe I screwed something up while I was inside the laptop?

Looking at this picture for reference: http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviewimages/alienware-m17x-3d/alienware-m17x-3d_inside.jpg

I took the fan out > took the old GPU out along with its heatsink + bracket > put new GPU in along with its heatsink + bracket > put fan back into place. I took the new GPU out and put it back in once as well. The only other thing I touched while I was in there is the piece just above the GPU in that picture. It has the little circular cutouts on top of it. I unscrewed a couple screws on it, then realized I didn't need to and so I tightened the screws back up. Maybe that needs to be reinstalled?

 

Read a post from someone saying they don't get crashes as long as they have their GPU working, so to ensure their GPU is on at all times, they leave their nVidia control panel open at the "Adjust image settings with preview" tab. I haven't had a crash since I've opened mine, but it's not a long enough sample size yet to know if it's legit. If I'm still crashing tomorrow, I will reinstall my 6970m to see if that stops the crashes or if it's unrelated to the video card.

 

Did you make a clean install before installing the card, maybe there is som Radeon driver that conflicts with the new NVIDIA card and drivers?

 

I used DDU to uninstall both AMD and intel drivers. So I assume the AMD drivers have been wiped, but if there is a better way to make sure then I will try it.

 

So ever since keeping the nVidia control panel tab open, I haven't had any full freezes. Still have minor freezes once in a while, but nothing that's forced me to power down. I may try a full reformat to see if it's software related, and if that doesn't solve the problem, then I will reinstall my AMD card.
If the problem remains after the reformat, but stops when my AMD card is in, I guess I will have to send the card back.
If the problem remains after the reformat AND with my AMD card in, I guess it is related to some other hardware? Maybe my hard drive?

 

EDIT: Nope, not the fix.


I've found a promising lead. In the nVidia control panel > Manage 3d settings > Global Settings > Power Management Mode > Set to Prefer Maximum Performance (instead of Adaptive). Set it not too long ago so I'll have to wait and see if I get any freezing or errors at all, but so far so good. Generally I get a lot of freezes in the first minute after a reboot, and this reboot I received none so I am hopeful.