M17x R3 upgrade to Eurocom 6970m

Hey guys

I decided to buy a 6970m eurocom BlackComb XT card on eBay to replace my standard 6870m on my M17x R3. After a successful hardware installation and replacement of my 6870m, I am having big dramas with Windows 7 and getting the 6970m video card to actually work!

Upon first boot, I tried installing the latest 11.10 drivers and halfway through, I got a white screen. The computer was still running but the screen would stay white the whole time. Then I uninstalled the drivers and ATi CCC etc. and reinstalled again getting the same problem, white screen. Then I checked the device manager and it states that there is a Standard VGA Video Adapter and the Intel HD built in video. But the "Standard VGA adapter" has exclamation mark and in properties it shows "This Device Cannot Start (Code 10)".

Then I flashed the card with a few different vbioses I found, and most have the same issue, whilst some do not appear at all (even in bios).

Would anyone know a solution to this dreaded problem?

Also, I attached a screenshot of GPU-Z showing the stats on the unknown 6970m adapter posing as Standard VGA Adapter.

Thanks in advance!

 

Try the stock vbios from here.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...-enabling-overdrive-undervolting-your-r3.html

The "STOCK," not the "Stock w/ Overdrive enabled.

 

Did you buy this one?
ATI Mobility Radeon? HD 6970m GPU MXM 3.0 Type B | eBay

Because I was thinking about it as well.

 

Problem is that Eurocom use Clevo cards, not Dell ones. There aren't just firmware differences but also hardware differences between the manufacturers which may cause problems.

 

Yeah I saw that -- looks like they say it will work with Dell, Alienware etc. on the listing. Has anyone successfully gotten this to work?

 

Try cleaning out all existing drivers, including any remnants of Cat 11.10 and the Intel IGP in Device Manager (both cards should report as VGA devices), and then install the Dell 6970M drivers. Drivers and Downloads. You have to begin with the Dell drivers, which includes compatible drivers for the Intel IGP and the graphics switching app. Once the Dell drivers are stable, you can explore updating to more recent ATI/AMD driver sets for the 6970M.

 

Will he have to do flash a new bios or do anything to that existing 6970m? I think I'll be in the same boat as him shortly. Thanks for chiming in, very much appreciated.

**Anything beside what you mentioned about

 

I'm not sure, but based on our experience with the Clevo/Eurocom 69xxM's in the M15x, the vbios seems to be interchangeable. I would begin with the stock vbios that comes with the card. There are enough of those cards in R3's now that we should be able to find out what works best based on actual experience.

 

Hmm alright, I'm just a bit wary spending $400~ to find out it won't work correctly. I'll see if this guy has any luck.

I think they're selling two different versions, one with posts, one without. Any idea of which to buy?

 

Do you need a 6990 now? Cause i will have one for sale once the 7800's come out

 

I do -- and I'll deff. pay you asap for it

 

I just bought a 6990m from that seller last week. Should be here this week. If it matters I'll let you know when it comes if they're worthwhile seller. Just under $500 for one of those beasts.

 

That would be awesome, please let me know.

 

Hey guys

I solved the issue a little later after posting this thread.

One possible reason I was getting the white screen of death is due to the fact that the thermal paste did not melt/settle and the laptop was flexing the way I had it sitting (not on level surface). I finally noticed this after flashing with a few different vbioses, all with different results. I was mostly getting the "Device cannot start" problem.

Anyways, I think to make it work, I flashed the card with the Stock Dell 6970m vbios and then it was still saying "Device cannot start" and was showing up as Standard VGA Adapter. Then I tried installing the latest drivers with no luck with the damn mobility catalyst 11.10 package from AMD website.

DO NOT DOWNLOAD the 11.10 Catalyst package from AMD website because it does not actually contain the drivers for some idiotic reason!!! Use the links below to download the "REAL" drivers package. The drivers will install properly and the video card will work 100%, including the auto fan speed and HDMI Audio. Yes, the eBay one from upgradeyourlaptop does work!

Windows 7/Vista x64 ( http://www2.ati.com/DriVeRs/11-10_vista64_win7_64_dd_ccc_ocl.exe)

Windows 7/Vista x86 ( http://www2.ati.com/DriVeRs/11-10_vista32_win7_32_dd_ccc_ocl.exe)

Windows XP x64 ( http://www2.ati.com/DriVeRs/11-10_xp64_dd_ccc_ocl.exe)

Windows XP x86 ( http://www2.ati.com/DriVeRs/11-10_xp32_dd_ccc_ocl.exe)

Windows 7/Vista x64 Mobility ( http://www2.ati.com/DriVeRs/mobile/11-10_mobility_vista_win7_64_dd_ccc_ocl.exe)

Windows 7/Vista x86 Mobility ( http://www2.ati.com/DriVeRs/mobile/11-10_mobility_vista_win7_32_dd_ccc_ocl.exe)

 

wich vbios then ?

 

Can you post stock Dell vBios?

And the HDMI audio works?

 

Hdmi audio works. I'm using the hdmi driver + 12.1 and its fine,

 

Was HDMI audio an issue with eurocom cards on the R3 before the vbios flash?

I have an R2 with eurocom cards wanting a solution for HDMI audio out

 

HDMI driver? Links?

Using a Clevo card, no HDMI audio atm

 

Well, for me I had to download the seperate hdmi audio driver. You might need it too.

ATI Catalyst? HDMI Audio Driver

 

Hmm, already had the latest ones installed and just tested it and yeah I have audio through HDMI.... using a clevo card pretty neat! Didn't think it would work, seems like the R3 likes to work with whatever hardware you put into it

I assumed it wouldn't work originally but now that I have tested it it works