M17x ("r1") and 5870m Fan Issues

Hi all, long time since I lurked here.

Few years ago I installed the 5870m in my M17x, running happily ever since, mostly due to the fact I wasn't playing any particularly taxing games, so most of the times the gpu fan wasn't required. Lately I've been wanting to play some other games and have run into overheating issues. (Temperature steadily rises, fans never turn on no matter what the temperature is, heat is never dissipated and laptop eventually shuts off.)

For those unaware, the system basically fails to recognise that the fan exists and has no way of controlling it.
HWiNFO shows the fan, and purports to allow control of it, but in effect it does nothing, sadly.

What I'm wondering is, did anyone out there ever solve the fan issues with a 5870m in an R1?

Additional info:
A07 BIOS,
13B96101.104 A01 VBIOS.

I've come across plenty of old threads on this forum and other places, but alas no solution has ever been found to my knowledge, aside from hardmodding the fan to be on 100% of the time, which is far from ideal..

Looking forward to hearing from you guys!

 

If it doesn't work it must be some incompatibility between the mobo EC and GPU... no one had multiple motherboards and / or GPU's to pinpoint where the problem lies. Some have fans stuck @ 2500rpm, wich can be usefull to atleast get the 5870M working by undervolting and slightly underclocking it.

If your fans don't work at all, you are best going to 4870M and overclocking it to 5870M levels, or (and this is not for rookies):
- swap out the motherboard for an R2 version (DPN: 014M8C)
- swap out the cpu for i3/i5/i7 (first gen arrandale / clarksfield only) (3X0M /4X0M /5X0M / 6X0M / 7X0QM / 8X0QM / 9X0XM)
- swap out the media daughterboard for R2 media daughterboard (DPN: 0F71XN)
- swap out the magnesium tray for R2 version (DPN: 03MJ0K)

I definitely wouldn't hardmod the fan to 100%, that would kill the fan prematurely not to mention the nous coming from that thing xD

 

Hi maxslo, cheers for taking the time to reply!

Unfortunately money is an issue at the moment so can't afford to buy different hardware currently :[
Would quite love to basically make it into an R2 otherwise

At the moment, I'm considering flashing the 5870m with a 4870m VBIOS and overclocking it to 5870m levels... I'm very curious as to whether the fans would work in that situation! Possibly an odd solution but I refuse to ever go back to the nvdia 260Ms.

 

Never flash the 5870 with 4870 vBios ... They are totally different cards ... You will brick the card

 

Bugger

 

Exactly, the vBIOS flash only works between 5870M and 6870M.

Imho, the 4870M option is best if you don't have the money. If you get a good one it can be OCed to 5870M stock performance.
The 2X0M don't like to OC at all in my experience... and a are already 5-15% slower at stock than a 4870M.

If you sell the 5870M you should get enough to buy almost 2 4870M's...

 

samething happened to me my r1 recognized both 5870m cards but fans wont work properly

 

i noticed this as soon i installed the cards therefore i avoided gaming to prevent damage

 

Hi panamaniacs, exact same issue as myself, wish I had better news for you but I've been unable to fix it myself..

 

Fan control works like this:

1. GPU reports temperature to EC
2. EC controls fan rpm (using fan table)

Since the temperature reported by gpu is functioning, that leaves the EC (or the fan itself); GPU<->EC miscommunication, like maxslo mentioned. Reason might be their vbios, if these cards were pulled from a non-Dell system (Clevo/MSI?). You can look on the card proper and note down the numbers on the sticker. Compare those to techPowerUp's database, that will tell you the original manufacturer. Check with GPU-Z as well, in case someone flashed it to a different version.

If they are non-Dell, then you could force-flash the Dell vbios, but this does have it's risks. Better check and search for others who've done the same thing. Also helps to have access to a programmer, in case things do go awry (desolder -> reprogram -> resolder).

Apart from a vbios flash, it is possible to bypass gpu fan's EC control entirely by running gpu fan via the cpu fan connector. You'd disconnect the +5V wire going to the gpu fan and split the cpu fan's +5V to go to both cpu and gpu fan. They'll run in sync., of course, but chances are that when cpu temp is high, so is the gpu temp, neatly balancing things out. Draw on the cpu fan connector will be twice as high, so check the rating on both fans; their total oughtn't to exceed much beyond 3W.

Also, since you have access to the fan, check for mice:

Spoiler: obstruction