M17x R3/7970 dead. HELP!

So, turned on my laptop today, noticed when I was moving the mouse around white, horizontal lines would appear for a split second on the right side of the screen.

Started playing a game and a few minutes in my Laptop Red Screens. I had to do a hard shutdown.

Decided to check the GPU, repasted it, and reassemble the laptop.

I booted, POST fine, get to log on screen and its just a mess of white lines and flickering.

Rebooted again to be greeted with 6 bleeps.

Fine, my GPU is dead. But can I not remove it and use the laptop on the Intel Graphics?
At the moment I have removed it and just get 6 bleeps continually. Can't access BIOS to re-enable the Intel GPU. (Currently disabled so I could install the 7970M)

Any help on what to do next? Can I safely buy a new card knowing that its just my current GPU that's screwed or can I test the laptop somehow.

Thank guys.

Oh and things to note, I recently upgraded to Windows 8 and last week when I booted it booted straight into a red screen which changed to green then blue then black then white before shutting down and rebooting normally.

 

Take the CMOS battery out to reset the bios. If that doesn't work, blindflash the bios

 

Cool, how do I blindflash?

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/601701-bios-recovery-case-you-brick-your-m17x-r3.html

 

Resetting the bios didn't work. Still getting the 6 beeps.

 

Make sure the 7970M is out then blindflash the bios

 

So what will the blind flash achieve? Will it allow me into the bios?
If this fails should I bake the card?

Thanks geo.

 

It is guaranteed to revert all settings to stock which will reenable the iGPU

 

I swear I keep seeing more and more 7970m users lose their GPUs without cause or warning. Did you ever change the video configuration settings for your system to only use the 7970m card when you installed it? If so, yeah blind flash would be the best way to reverse the settings on the unlocked BIOS. Here is the thread which outlines the blind flashing steps: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/601701-bios-recovery-case-you-brick-your-m17x-r3.html
You will want to flash back to an unlocked BIOS version though so you can go back to the video configuration settings and set the video adapter to iGFX which will force the system to use the Intel iGPU and not even look for the 7970m card.

PS: you may want to remove the dead 7970m card from your system BEFORE you blind flash...just a thought.

 

Thanks bud.

Cna someone post a link to unlocked a10 bios?

 

A12 Unlocked with sata fixes: Downloads

 

Thanks guys, worked a treat. Running on IGPU now.

Now what to do with the GPU lol.

Will try the bake method.

Thanks again guys. +rep

Wondering whether to just upgrade to an m18x and strip the 17 for parts or flog it with no GPU.

 

Just curious, did you happen to buy your 7970M from upgradeyourlaptop?

 

No, the one i bought from upgrade your laptop was incompatible with the M17x R3 (loss of HDMI out) so i sold it on.

This card was bought 2nd hand from another user on this site. Which, might i add, has nothing to do with the card being faulty, what so ever. It worked flawlessly for 6 months, I beielve the card was a Dell card.

 

if you bought it from table, me and geo got replacement, but looooong time ago, might give it a try?

 

So many 7970m's dying lately! Let me know how the bake goes!

 

Going for the bake now, really dont wanna do this as if it fails, i'll have to blind flash again and all that lol.

*Edit*

Ah well, I wasn't holding out much hope. Dead as Dodo. Whats the compatibility like with the 680m atm?

 

I think people even managed to put in clevo 680m, but I am so out of the loop, so let's see what geo has to say..

But if I were you, I would put whatever your m17x came with, and wait until 8970m, not to pay 600 bucks for 6 month old tech, your call

 

great point. BUUUUUUUT a flogged my 6970 to fund the 7970. Learning that lesson the hard way. plus cant go with out GPU till May/June. May just go all out and get an M18x with base specs and transfer parts over.

 

I've seen a few 7970M from Eurocom died but this is actually the 1st time I heard a dead Dell card. Probably should switch to 680M sooner or later, before my card completely dies.

 

well we had dead dell cards early may (but they were not OEM)..

@Joe85, yeah dude, then for sure buy a new toy, otherwise with all the new games coming before march, it would be a pain to endure without gpu also look on the bright side, i think 7970m and 680m is good enough for another year m18x is not a bad idea, xfx and you get yourself a monster

 

Thats the plan

Going to buy a 6990m to replace the dead card, replace the lid and bezel, make it look nice and new and sell it on. Hopefully get near £1000 but we'll see.