M17x R3 6990m dying?

Hi guys, first post.

I have had my M17x R3 for about 8 months now and in the last week i've been having issues.

It all started last week after i installed a 'modded' driver i download (from a link posted on this site) so i could get the latest driver to work with switchable graphics etc.

The day after i installed the driver, my computer crashed and rebooted iteslf. after it logged on, i was in 640X480 res. and the 6990m was not detected in the device manager or BIOS.

I then did a system restore and this seemed to fix the issue until 2 days ago. I turned it on and the card was not detected again. I called up Dell and the remotely took control and went into device manager and clicked 'scan for new hardware' and it popped back into 'Display adapter' and was showing up in BIOS.

I turn it on today and its not detected so i scanned for new hardware and popped up as it did whwen Dell did it and worked fine.

Why is my card sometimes being detected in BIOS, device manager etc and sometimes not? how do i convince dell to send me a new card and should i try a total reformat?

Thanks.

PS: Sorry for the long post.

 

I am going through same thing.

6990 will be fine, i'll be gaming and then it just vanishes. No bios, no device manager. I can pull my battery and unplug the laptop. When I power it on sometimes it will see the card. lasts about 10 minutes and its gone again.

Dell is sending out a tech on Friday to swap cards for me as mine has been off and on for 2 weeks now and I finally called. If you really want a new card, just unplug it from your laptop and call the tech for remote service, no way he will get it to show up during that diagnosis. lol

 

link, sounds like a driver issue.

First thing i would do is to remove the existing AMD driver. Do a clean with driver cleaner. Then install clean the official 12.2's from amd.

Start with that

 

Have you got a link to this driver cleaner program? is it free?

i have tried the amd drivers in the past and it says 'it is not compatable with my hardware'. I gather that has something to do with the switchable graphics?

Also, i have having these issues with the drivers from the dell site currently installed if that makes a difference?

 

Sorry bro, i don't have a link for driverCleaner, but google should solve that for you. Plus it was freeware last i checked

HOWever, i do have a link to the 12.2's...i have the preview version running on my laptop and everything works, including switchable graphics.

AMD Cats 12.2 Official

What i would do first is go to the dell.com/support and download their latest driver for the 6990m...then install over those with the 12.2's

Drivers and Downloads | Dell [United States]

 

I will try this tonight as im at work at the moment. (praying it works)

So the driver from the amd site will install fine. Does the link you sent me include drivers etc?

 

So a driver issue could be causing the BIOS from undetecting?

I had removed everything from my computer, then ran driver sweeper. Graphics card would still not show in BIOS and randomly appeared hours later.

Hours ago I was able to install the stock dell drivers, and only those drivers. Graphics card still crashes occassionally while I tried to play some games and gave up.

 

It does seem weird given the BIOS is un-detecting. Slick, you seem to know what you're talking about. Can you give any insight on this?

 

have both you guys done a hard power drain, and pulled the cmos battery?

 

I am still to yet try the above (driver cleaner and new drivers).

What is a hard power drain and where can i locate the cmos battery and what do i do once iv'e found it?

 

you guys are the 3rd and 4th person that have this problem since I join this forum. mine also, same like your story. yesterday still working fine, tommorow morning turning on the laptop just to see your resolution go to 640x480. The device manager and BIOS could not detect your GPU.

no matter what driver that you install, it's no working because the GPU not there.

send back to Dell and they replace my 6990 and mother board with the new one....

 

I am doing a full format of my M17x tomorrow, going to install a SSD (just want to upgrade), then going to install all the drivers from the dell website. if i continue to have issues, i will be calling Dell and requesting a new card. I will let you all know how it goes.

EDIT: Installing a SSD is not going to void my warranty is it? the laptop came with 2 X 750GB HDD's.

 

SSD will not void anything.

I have down power drain, worked for me once and made the 6990 show up in BIOS. But the other 5 times had no effect. I was really bored the other day and just wanted to GPU to detect so I could play mass effect 3

Never tried the CMOS battery pull though.

 

you have to unscrew the back plastic panel to access the cmos battery. Its only 2 screws. You can use the top part of my CPU guide as to what to do (guide is in my sig).

First, take the laptop battery out, make sure the power is unplugged, click and hold the power button for 1 minute. The cmos battery is a flat lithium-ion battery. Just take it out for 30 seconds. Then put everything back in reverse order.

If you're not confident doing this, call dell...you do have warranty?

 

I can do it, i just didn't quite understand what you meant

Yep, still got like 155 days of full warranty. doing a full format and installing a ssd today. will let you all know how it goes.

Off topic question, after i format, how do i change my login screen to the alienware one?

 

Here you go Linkim:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...ook-feel-after-clean-install-windows-7-a.html

 

Fantastic! Thankyou.

Should i format, install the SSD, then do a hard power drain and remove the CMOS battery in that order?

Also, the M17x R3 is SATA III yes? i can get a sata3 SSD and it will work fine?

 

link:

I would this order:
power drain
remove cmos battery
format
install windows and drivers on ssd
Then plug the ssd into harddrive caddy 1 (in the middle of the laptop)
set bios to boot from SSD

M17x is sata3...however, if you are on A09 bios, Dell messed up and downclocked everything to sata2. You have to be on A08 and install the SSd in the middle harddrive caddy

 

How do i downgrade my BIOS and is the power drain and cmos removal something that is worth doing?

UPDATE: tried a full format and reinstalled all dell drivers and STILL is not fixed. Calling dell now.

 

Am curious if you drained the power & pulled CMOS battery too?

 

I did a power drain but not the cmos.

Just got off phone with dell, i am having the graphics card replaced on Wednesday.

 

Great to hear Linkim. I hope that solves all your issues and I really think it will

mine got replaced today, has been performing great for the past 4 hours of straight gaming.

It was def just my card and not a driver/software issue as I am running same exact drivers as before (but it has only been a few hours I guess)

 

You should try to remove cmos, as Slickdude advised. It re-sets your bios. Definitely worth trying.

Or maybe not. But I'd still try.

 

That is correct, and is a good idea, but as i already have a new card on the way, i think i can wait for that now.

Let me know how you go. If you could give me daily updates or something on how your M17x is going, that would be great!

 

Just had the graphics card changed. Currently installing drivers. The driver from Dell downwloads works but cannot get the new 12.2 to work. Any ideas? Thanks.

Also, when installing the driver from Dell, my screen turned white for about 5 seconds (during installation). What does this mean?

 

My screen always flickers and changes colors when installing, don't know about for 5 seconds but it happens.
I'm sticking with the Dell driver. Works perfect for me and don't see a benefit of changing. Haven't had any problems and have been gaming and hdmi out and everything is well.

 

I treid the 12.2 preview drivers after the official 12.2's did not work and got a BSOD! does that mean anything or was it just a once off because the driver?

 

I would uninstall all drivers
Run driver sweeper and wipe everything again
Reboot and make sure everything is gone

Install the newest Dell drivers. Then try to preview drivers over the Dell drivers.

Might be possible causing a conflict after trying to install over the official 12.2s unless you did a full wipe of them and installed Dell drivers in.

 

I tried to install them over the dell ones. I think ill leave it. Not going to risk another graphics card lol.

However after the BSOD, i did uninstall all ati drivers and ran driver sweeper.

 

hey guys, did you figure what wrong here? i have had a 6970m and i was facing the same problems as you, and i have replaced my graphics card with a brand new 6990m and my computer still doesnt recognise it(same thing as 6970m). what i have to do? i have format my pc, updated my bios to a09 (from dell) and still's nothing.

 

Does bios recognize your card?
If not, then if you could somehow check another known good card.
If that isn't recognized, then most likely motherboard problem.

 

no the bios doesnt recognise the card. the 6990m is brand new, its a replacement for my 6970m. how can i check if this is a motherboard problem?

 

Only thing I could think of is a known good card.
Your new one could be doa but unlikely. I can't think of any other way to check motherboard.

Are you power draining your laptop when installing the new card?

Or try a clean install of windows and see of that clears things up. Sounds silly bit worked to recognize my card when it was failing a couple Weeks ago.

 

try that. still nothing!