M17x R4 HD7970M Dead...

Hello, i'm new here and i hope i'll find someone to help me

I have an Alienware m17x R4 ( early 2012 ) and sadly my hd7970m died, accordingly to Dell PSA Diagnostics
i have a video ram problem, forcing me to use my integrated hd4000. recently i found an old gtx260m from another alienware ( maybe m15 or m17 ) but i cannot manage to make it work, either nvidia or dell drivers works. i manage to install through modifing the .inf files but when i try to switch to my dedicated card (FN+F7) after restart my pc goes black and beeps 8 times ( no gfx card ). i forgot to mention that i'm using the a12 bios.
i leave here some details of the card.

PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0618&SUBSYS_05511028

 

That card might be faulty as well. Sounds like yet another VRAM issue.

Have you tried the card in another MXM system?

 

no i cannot try to another mxm system cause i have only this one...., at first time was weird because even if it's an older video card should fit into an newer machine since it's the same MXM 3.0b, even bios detects NVIDIA GTX. maybe unlocking the bios?

 

Hi, I'd say that's worth a try. The general rule with AW's and a non-standard GPU is an unlocked BIOS and force PEG (plus one other setting I can't remember ) since optimus plays up.

If it fires up watch the temps as sometimes the fan tables fail as well so you need to use HWInfo for fan control.

Good luck.

 

Do you have guide to follow? Since is my only pc avaible atm i don't wanna screw something up

 

No sorry, you're going to have to track down the details. Try a search on unlocked bios for the R4. Hopefully you can find one at the same revision level.

 

the only "unlocked" version that i found was an older a05, since i don't want to go downgrade deeper than a11, anyone have the unlocked version of the a11 or a12?

 

Does this help?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/gtx-780m-installation-on-m17x-r4.737888/#post-9458298

 

Could help but i only can see the 1st link a05 the others are grayed out

 

Grrr, thought I'd found it! Guess your best bet is a PM to svl7?

Strange those links missing...

 

i guess i found the problem: i need 5 confirmed post to actually see things

 

I don't see those other links either and I do have a small amount of rep over there...

 

but tell me if i miss something...newer gfx card won't run until you unlock bios cause sometimes you need to change some values, but putting older gfx card on newer machines requires no changes i think...

 

They should run after you install the unlocked BIOS.

Message @svl7 for an unlocked BIOS. That guy is a wizard.

 

thx mate...i sent a msg let's hope

 

I don't think that older or newer makes any difference. If it was not a GPU sold with the machine then optimus messes up and you need the unlocked bios to be able to force PEG boot and dump the iGPU from the equation...