M17X R3 dead 6990?

Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum (well I browse it A LOT) but registered today
I need advice that I don't find here locally.

About 2 weeks ago I bought this M17X R3 with, according to the seller, a dead GPU.
When I came home, the first thing I did was reformat with Win 7.
Now here comes the problem/issue: the card shows up in the BIOS (unlocked A12 BIOS), it shows up correctly in device manager when the official Dell drivers are NOT installed, but when I install them and reboot, the screen goes black after the Win splash screen. The only way to get to the desktop again is to disable the 6990m in safe mode. Is it also normal that it disappears in devicemanager afterwards?

Putting it from SG to PEG results in 8 beeps.

Next, I ordered a refurbed (and according to the seller 100% working) 6990 from Ebay. That card arrived today and guess what. It doesn't even show up in the BIOS. Repasted it, re-used stock thermal pads (but ordered new ones) reseated it around 7 times, reset CMOS, ....still undetected.
Putting in my old card results in a non-detecting either but after some fiddling with reseating and clearing CMOS, it shows up again in the BIOS. I just contacted the seller and they are going to send me a "new"/another one.

Is it safe to say both cards are fried or am I missing something????

Thanks in advance

 

I have this problem occasionally. Here is what usually fixes it for me
1. Remove the ATI card.
2. Turn on the computer with the ATI card removed. It should switch to the intel GPU
3. Access the BIOS menu
4. Reset all settings (using the reset option in the menu)
5. Turn off the computer, reinstall ATI graphics card
6. Restart computer, get into BIOS. both the Intel integrated and the ATI gfx should be detected in the bios.

Problem occurs on 6970m, 6990m, and 7970m and I've fixed all of the above with this method.

 

WELCOME TO THE COMMUNITY!

Seems like you received a DOA card.
Wait for the next one and let us know if that one has the same issue.

 

@technos: I reseated the new card like 7 times with no result but I only go as far as the bios when booting. I never go to win desktop if the card isn't recognised. My old card takes one or two reseats to make it visible again. But can someone tell my why it doesn't show up in devicemanager after disabeling it (after installing the Dell drivers). Is it just working enough to be recognised in the bios but nothing more?

@Porras: thanks I will keep you updated but it can take a week till the next card is here. Slowly I'm starting to think: what if it also doesn't work? Mainboard problem, another dead second hand gpu ?

Just to rule everything out, I'm going to plug it in again tomorrow without the heatsink. I read somewhere that someones gpu turned up without the heatsink installed....If the next one works,I'm going to reflow the old one as a little experiment hehe.


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Best of luck with the replacement GPU.
Hopefully you run with better luck.
Welcome to the forum by the way!
Keep us posted with how it goes.

 

A small update: yesterday I put the old card for 8' in the oven at 200°C and guess what....recognised in BIOS and when enabled in device manager, it works but with artifacts. That rules out a mainboard problem yuyyyyy. Is another reflow useful or a waste of time?

Tried the new one again without the heatsink but still not recognised in bios. DOA for shizzle


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Another update:

* did 2 reflows of my original 6990m: no artifacts anymore it seems (just quickly booted to the Windows desktop since I didn't install my heatsink)
* the new 6990m has arrived and is installed (and also recognised in my BIOS) BUT.....................since some thermal pads on my heatsink were damaged, I had to remove them and order new ones. I've been waiting 14 days now, so these are probably lost in the post (really Murphy?????????!!!!!!!). Ordered another set so I'm hoping that they will arrive tuesday or wednesday so I can FINALLY assemble and test the laptop.
So far I haven't had much fun with it since I bought it a month or so ago

 

Finally it's up and running again!! Put on the new thermalpads today, MX-2 paste on the gpu and installed CC 14.4. Did a quick test with Skyrim. Got 60FPS on ultra. Going to try some more games tomorrow and monitor my temps


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Instead of wasting time and money on the 6990 since it will die again in a month or 2, why not just upgrade it to a 780M?

 

Well................

1) my budget is limited and the 780M is way too expensive for me
2) I got it pretty cheap
3) my time and money is already spent so no need to do this again...
4) I still use my desktop for gaming and I'm a casual gamer, not a die-hard anymore
5) when it comes to the games I play, the 6990m is still decent enough for me
6) it's probable I'll sell the laptop pretty soon (reason: see *4)
7) are you sure it will die again in 2 months because there are people who are still running a 6990m

CONCLUSION: I don't need a 780M

 

Hey mate, I have a problem almost identical. Same laptop M17x R3 and VGA HD 6990M, and same problem.
I'm going to give a try to your way. Just to confirm, you just put the VGA in the oven for 8 seconds? GPU face up or down? You removed the bracket first?
Thanks

 

Remove all stickers,paste,heatsink (and bracket). You need a bare card. Gpu was faced up but I don't know if it makes a difference. First time I put it in for 8 minutes but I got artifacts then. A second attempt was for 10 minutes and that was more succesful. Just don't forget to put a sheet of aluminium foil in your oven and put the card on 4 aluminium balls (1 on each corner). PM me if you want more info


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I baked 3 cards following your instructions, but with no success...
I'm giving in, I'll use my laptop without VGA card, just intel HD 3000.
Thanks anyways mate.

 

Do they show up in your BIOS?

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nope, I have "Discrete graphics [NOT DETECTED]" on BIOS for the 3 of them.

 

Hmmmm or they are indeed dead (but 3??!!) or you can try a cmos reset. That sometimes does the trick too. Since the seller of my first doa card doesn't mail me back to send it to him, I'm gonna reflow that one too. That one didn't show up in my bios like yours. Maybe I can revive that one too so I have 2 spares. Try to find a cheap replacement on ebay if you still want to put money in it. Saw some nicely priced gtx560 and 460 with heatsinks on ebay.


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yeah, that's the point. If I switch to nvidia or another AMD (like 7970) I have to search for another heatsink,... etc. Not feeling like I want to waste any more money and time. I just tried with another motherboard, same result... very odd. Maybe it's just a double fault or just the 3 of them are dead.

 

That is some of the worst luck I've ever seen with computers. THREE dead gfx? Here is what you could do...douse the cards in liquid flux and rebake them in the oven. Sometimes reflowing the card breaks solder joints, flux will fix broken joints.

 

I just tried to bake it again, no success. I have also flashed unlockes A12 BIOS and tried to reset BIOS, AMD GFx still not detected. This unlocked BIOS has some available features, is there anything I can touch to bring VGA to live.
This is odd because when VGA card is plugged, the GPU and de VBIOS get hot, and the battery run out very quick, si I think the VGA is somehow alive and draining current from the battert, but still not detected by the motherboard though.

 

Is your display set to PEG? I got 8 beeps then when it was dead

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Hi guysm, I tried with a 6990M and set display to PEG, as a result the laptop got bricked bricked : black screen and 8 beeps. Then I tried with another 6970M spare, same result. So I removed all VGA cards and removed CMOS battery and laptop came to life again...

 

Had that too. Seems like it's dead. If I were you I'd find a cheap replacement unless you don't want to put more money in it...


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Hi guys,
I tried with another 6990M. Now I can see the cards in the IOS (ATi GFx) and in the Device Manager (HD 6990M). But now I can't switch graphics to AMD card in Windows. When I press Fn+F7, a pop-up appears saying that switchable graphics were detected and asking me to press Yes or No. If I press Yes nothing happens (same as if I press NO), any ideas?

 

Have you tried gpu-z to see if the gpu changes?


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yes I use that software, it shows HD Intel Graphics 3000 active. When I press Fn+F7 nothing happens, the pop-up closes, nothing else

 

OK next option I guess (but where are the experts here ?): Have you tried setting it to PEG again with this card? I suppose you have the Dell drivers installed? Just checking to be sure...

 

yeah, I tried installing Dell drivers, installation went successful, but same issue : pressing Fn+F7 nothing happens.
I have formatted hard driver and make Windows 7 clean installation but same issue, HD 6990M seems ok in Device Manager, but when i press Fn+F7 nothing happens.

 

Hmmmm weird...So your display is set to PEG right? Because at first my 6990m was recognised in BIOS and devicemanager but it actually ran from the HD3000 (was also in BIOS als main adapter). Pressing Fn+F7 did absolutely nothing like in your case. Dare I say it's a mainboard problem because no card seems to work or it's a bad case of Murphy's law??? I'd really like some more experienced opinions on this matter because I'm all out of ideas...

 

I would uninstall all the video drivers and reinstall Dell's original A00 driver package.

 

Just checked my laptop since I hardly use it....it seems that with cc 14.4, my drivers for the intel don't work so pressing fn+f7 doesn't do anything. I agree with technos now.


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