M17x r2 cf5870 wont boot

I have searched google and these forums with no joy. My problem is when i turn on my machine the lights light up except for the alienheads. The fans are running but the bios screen wont even pop up, nothing. The last thing i installed was a demo from microsoft x and it nust have went in sleep mode. I have read the "black screen" posts and this has nothing to do with it. I pulled out batt a d power cable and held power button for 30+ secs, nothing. I cant even put in a cd to wipe the dang thing. I have a 7700 for 5 years so im pretty savvy on trouble shooting. You guys think the mb is bad? I just got it two weeks ago or so with no oc or driver or bios updates. Thx for the help guys.


EDIT BY AW MOD:

Please see the following:

 

FIXED--Not only can you just remove all the power sources, i had to disconnect the cmos battery and then it would boot up. I wantto test the voltage on that batt.

 

Does the Caps LockScroll Lock or Num Lock flash?

 

Sometimes. But it was just unresponsive to anything.

 

I had the same thing happen to me. The system boots fine with 1 5870, but when I add the second, the system refuses to do anything but light up and show a black screen, doesn't even show BIOS. I still got no solution for this...

 

Mine does the same thing. I had 2 4870s and yesterday got 2 5870s shipped to me. I installed them and the keyboard lights up but the screen stays black. I have no idea what to do. The aleinware tech is trying to help on the phone but keeps recommending things ive tried.

 

I've been trying with a tech as well... Right now, I'm not getting anywhere, but if you get a solution, could you let me know? I'm desperately trying the crossfire solution working.

 

Simply turn it off, disconnect the BIOS battery (the white connector near the CPU fan.) for half a minute and try again

 

Hahha please wait, call back again! Man that's funny. Yo what happened to your creed 2 avatar it rocks.

 

Also, have you tried to re-flash the BIOS with the latest version?

Got tired of climbing walls, lol.

 

-BIOS is flashed to A04 already, reflashed just in case.
-Removed all power sources, including CMOS battery

Result: Still nothing. 2nd 5870 card (right) enters system in a dead state (powers on, but no boot including BIOS). System boots normal only with 1 5870 graphics. Any other suggestions?

 

Did the cards come with heatsinks preinstalled? Are you sure, you're not putting the secondary GPU into the Primary slot? I know the answer but had to ask anyway, just in case.
Maybe one of the cards is dead to begin with, or has a bad vbios.

 

Yup, both cards came with the heatsinks preinstalled, but for the left side (Very smart Dell thought "2" cards mean any 2 cards, in this case 2 cards with left heatsinks installed). I manually took the existing 4870 heatsink for the right side, and installed it with the 5870 (right), along with applying fresh new thermal compound.

Do the ATI cards have specific left and right side components? I just thought the heatsinks installed were different and everything else was the same.

 

Oh my! That's the culprit! You should call them and ask for a replacement pair or just the secondary GPU (best stay on the safe side and get both). Looks like they sent you 2 primary cards!
Wow.

 

Ah, is the secondary and the primary you mentioned a big difference from each other? I thought the cards were exactly identical down to the last chip, with just the heatsink attached different.

But anyways, will do! +rep

 

The cards are identical, but if they both are flashed to be primary - there's a problem.
Dell sends you the cards with heatsinks installed and they should be on different sides (one for the primary, another for the secondary) the secondary has to have the CF cable connected to it (at least with 4870's it's so).
Anyway, I'm certain that as soon as you get the correct cards - you should be fine.

 

I installed one 5870 in the primary slot and it works perfect. I got the new A05 bios on dells website. I am going to try the second card now maybe you have to install the primary first? Also its not the cards. Dell has sent me 5 5870s 3 secondarys and 2 primarys so far. And another set on the way. That is there solution the cards are broken. But there is a simple solution I just havent found it yet. Cant wait to get this $4000 brick working

 

Oh yeah the cards are designed so you cant install a primary in the secondary slot so there is no messing that up. Let me know please if you figure it out

 

Hey guys thought it was just me having these problems and bad luck. Rep came out to swap new 5870s in XF for the old 4870s. NO GO my battleship was SUNK. I havent cried in years but believe me i wanted to when the rep hit the power button.

Laptop display stayed BLACK AS PITCH. Nothing... and nothing

So I plugged external 24 inch dell via HDMI, I get an Alienhead saying press f2 or f10... neither works when pressed. Scroll Lock and Num are Flashing like spaceship lights, Caps is constant on.

Not sure what problems were all having, but im sure its similar. These cards were just being shipped out (says alienware tech who promised me these cards cause i had a system replacement), so I'm sure they're all refurbished... shouldnt matter though because its suppose to work.

Pretty pissed, was waitin on these cards for over a month.

Rep calls HeLL, the tech tells me to send them the laptop to have it looked at then fixed, then shipped back... I say F that twice send me new parts, they were gonna replace the whole system, but 3-4 weeks... again? no thx besides I had strings pulled to get me processor upgrade and video card upgrades. who knows if the new system would be similar.

Anyhow, they're sending new motherboard, ram, video cards, touchscreen strip, and "LCD" (I kept saying LED... he said im sorry we refer to it as LCD, I'm thinking in my head you better be referring to the same SHIET that's right here). They're basically sending me everything instead of the processor, which i should have had them send that too. So i'll find out if it's a hardware problem for sure. I'll post back if I find the solution, until then please post if anyone else finds a solution.

 

Wondering if the rest of you guys got it working since you haven't posted back in a few days...

 

If anyone has any updates on their situation or scenario anything would be highly appreciated. I'm gettin new cards sent out to me, the rep wasnt trying to send me 5870's b/c my Service tag says there 4870's what a Hater. Anywayz hung up on him and called different department and gave them the order number on the first 5870 cards sent out.

So far nothing new. Tried uninstalling all ATI drivers/software then uninstalling from device manager. Swapped the old 4870's in and out 4 times with the 5870 set... same thing everytime. Black screen on LCD, if plugged into HDMI to external 24 inch. I get frozen at the alienhead saying to press f2 or f12... cant press anything. Tried spammin that and f8 as i restarted... nothing.

 

Same problem here. A02 will boot with both 5870s, but a05 will not.

 

So I should convert to A02 to get them working in Xfire? I think I tried the primary card (card of left side) and it still didnt work by itself. Also, have you tried to convert back to A05 after getting them to work with A02?

 

Just an update couldnt get xfire to work with new cards. Same problem. Primary alone works like stated above.

Tried to convert to A02 using the .exe in windows. Failed to flash then froze. I rebooted with A05 still intact. I said F*** trying to fix this. Dell is sending me ANOTHER (will be 2nd replacement 3rd m17x) laptop. Cool with me... I'll use the 4870s in xfire till i get the new one.

If anyone does find another fix besides changing bios do let me know plz. I kept a set of 5870s here next to me incase dell sends the wrong cards with new system.

 

I tired to install A02 from a site i found it at, not sure if it was corrupted or what. Can anyone send me a link to where I can get the A02 bios? I wanna try reflashing bios with the new 5870s. This stuff is pissin me off big time. Also, how should i install the bios. Seems whenever i use the .exe through windows it gives me problems, such as freezeing and locking up.

 

Finally... got my 5870s in XF working. Reverted to A02 using the "CD ROM" method to prevent lockup and dead motherboard. 5870's in XF ran perfectly and installed. I then installed "DELL" drivers for 5870s. Reset etc etc... D/L the 10.6 from AMD. Didn't edit the files at all, just wanted to see if it would recognize the new version. (on my 4870s it wouldnt let me install them, I had to switch some files around, but it after also worked PERFECTLY on my 4870s).

So I let it go naturally but chose "CUSTOM" install to see what it would allow/offer me. It saw everything, and I installed everything smoothly. No BSOD nothing. So, 5870s running A02 bios... honestly I cant tell the differencce from when I was running A05 bios. Same noise in fans etc, same everything. I will update if I notice anything else changing.

Other notes: Cards work fine on normal m17x display and through HDMI on my dell 24 inch. My new 30 inch from dell should be arriving in a few days. So i'll test the display port. Cant wait to see 2560 x 1600

 

lol. Please give credit where credit is due That was my fix, I found it 12 days ago and shared it with 'm17x-r2'

But yes, sticking with a02 and dell stock drivers will crank out very decent and respectable scores in vantage, and 3dmark06

 

Did you try installing the 10.6 drivers? btw i gave you credit, i posted that on the other post, not sure if you saw it. Anyhow, have you tried new drivers or going back to a05 now? also, who the hell cares bout rep on a forum?

I'd rather get P*ssy drink wit my friends and game but hey that's just me and to each his/her own. 3 time gladiator on WoW before I quit. Forum rep = Nothing. Money= New Toys. =)

But again, thanks for the info on the A02 thing I gave you rep. Lemme know if you can run heaven with 10.6 drivers if you get to it, or if you can get a05 to work.

 

I guess I don't understand why there is a problem. Everyone has Dual 5870 XF in their sig, so it must work, and Dell is selling M17xR2's with XF 5870's, so why all the sudden is there talk that they don't work and one must resort to back-revving to A02 in order to make them work? Did everyone get sent defective computers?

 

Celest.. I just saying I put in the work to figure it all out, tried multiple bios's, diff 5870s config, and a few other items. Yes I also got 10.6 to work without a single issue

Lancorp, the people who got them configured direct from alienware arent having these problems, and also plenty of people who had 4870s and upgraded to 5870s didnt have issues, but plenty of people did. I think an a06 bios update will ultimately fix the issue, but for now a02 is a confirmed working solution.

Jon

 

i think you should rma your system the A05 bios was confirmed to work with so many systems that something has to be wrong with the hardware. no offense, but using a "workaround" to get it to work it is a little short sighted to the actual problem. there is a reason you pay for a warranty. i would have sent this thing back the second i couldn't get it to work right.

 

Interesting perspective, but could just open up another nightmare of waiting and waiting, and card swap outs that do nothing, etc.

Oh well, I have a nice new m17x-r2 in my posession with factory original crossfire 5870 and a05, and I installed 10.6 drivers. Works like a champ... although the a02 and stock dell drivers system DID beat it in bench marks by about 400 on 3dmark06

 

10.6 drivers? I'd be curious to know how you got those to work since Crossfire doesn't work properly with them from what I've seen.

 

Try unplugging the AC power from the m17x-r2 while running and see if you don't lock up within a few seconds...that happened to me with the 10.6 drivers. I had to reinstall the stock Dell drivers to fix that.

 

Zebras have strips and large PC manufacturers such as Dell, HP, Gateway and Micron limit the advanced options available to the end-user in the BIOS. They do this in order to reduce ill-advised "tinkering" and the resulting support calls. The same philosophy appears in place with respect to Catalyst Mobility. I never understood why people purchased the 3 year warranties but now I understand.

 

Tell me what you would like me to do to confirm this. I can take screen shots of course and show you, but what games do you want me to play? So far I have played APB, run vantage, 3dmark06, Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising, batman arkham island, and some other random games I have fotten.

I didnt even know there was an issue with the 10.6. I can say this, I feel better now, knowing that, because the only issue I have seen is that I can NOT play Fallout 3, without it locking up, and it does it within 45 seconds of game play starting. But every other game/ perf program I run, all run like a champ with no issue. This solves the mystery for me as to why fallout 3 keeps locking up. Odd that its only that game for me, all others work like a champ.

 

That does not happen for me, only issue I have, which I didnt know where it was coming from was Fallout 3 locking up. Now I know why. No other issues have I experienced with the 10.6, and honestly they installed easier then any other drivers so far. Sometimes I will have to reinstall the drivers a few times to get them to 'take' (was the case for 10.4), never tried 10.5, went right to 10.6 and the ONLY issue is lockup in fallout 3, with crossfire on or off, same thing.

 

Viper, did you ever try to go back to A05 after u got 5870s to work with A02? Also, i think bios A02 lets you install any drivers from AMD site with ease, the problem being that it should restrict you because of the Dell/alienware drivers, but it doesnt. More or less what i mean is that when i had A05 and 4870s I had a hard time installing AMD drivers because i had to take some of the files from AMD and put them into Dells. But everything worked GREAT NO NO NO problems what soever. I dont forget what files I swapped but I think I'm going to do the same with the 5870s. Anyways, Let me know if you figure out exactly what files from the AMD drivers I should put into the Dell ones.

Basically I believe that the dell drivers work better because of who knows what maybe something they did for their systems. But if you cant take the important parts of the drivers and software from Dells drivers that make the system stable with just strictly the "driver" from AMD, you got the perfect most updated "driver". Thats what i did for the 4870s with A05, problem is with A02 I cant see any restrictions.

Problems I had with 10.6 full install from AMD was that when i plugged to external monitor screen would lock up after monitor shutdown after 5 minutes (which is what i like it to do) also if i opened laptop both external monitor and laptop screen would freeze black. With the dell drivers everything works perfect. I use my 24 inch via hdmi and open up laptop and i get identical screens. I shut laptop, external still works. That's how it should be. I might just use the Dell drivers because they seem to work fine, hell i'm not sure I'll even get an improvement using 10.6. On the real note, I dont even have any games to on my system to test, But heaven kept crashing from unigine when i had 10.6 drivers. Wouldnt even start after I hit run.

 

Going back to 10.6 drivers, as my reinstalling of original dell drivers (Did 10 mins ago) did NOTHING to fix the Fallout 3 issue, so I am now NO LONGER blaming 10.6 for the fallout 3 freezing, and since 10.6 worked great on all my other games, i see no reason to not go back to it.

I officially am a WORKING 10.6 ATI Driver User

 

10.6 caused freezing when you unplug the power from your computer and it switches to battery. Do you have that issue?

 

Go into the control panel, hardware-->click on the 5870s, go to the driver tab and show me a pic of the driver version.

 

Are you sure your crossfire is enabled while gaming? You check by going into the ATi tray icon and clicking, "show crossfire status icon" and then turn on a 3D game in full screen mode and it should show the ATi Crossfire logo. I tried several inf file modifications as well as file swaps and couldn't get it to work in A02 or A05. As soon as I would turn on a full screen game the screen would go dark and the system unresponsive. If you got around it somehow, I think many people would be curious to know how.

 

100% positive crossfire is enabled while gaming. I have turned on the feature where it tells me crossfire in the upper right, and its there for my games. I have NEVER "turn on a full screen game the screen would go dark and the system unresponsive." had that problem, or any problem other then fallout 3 locking up, no matter what version drivers I run, or xfire or not. But my list so far of games I have played and 10.6 worked flawlessly are:
Half Life 2
Half Life
Arma II
Stalker Clear Sky
Operations Flashpoint
Far Cry 2
Brothers in arms hell...
batman arkham
3dmark06
3dmark vantage
windows perfomance tool
APB (all points bulletin)

and I am currently downloading more from steam to try additional ones.

While not all of those games/apps use crossfire a number of them did and it worked flawlessly.

Keep in mind, my new system was shipped fedex overnight from Dell last Friday, so I am definitely newer then you.

Maybe you should get yours RMA'd since you cant run 10.6 and a05 like I can. ;-) (See how silly that sounds..)

 

Nobody as far as I know has gotten 10.6 running successfully. Since you claim yours runs games without issue, then you should tell us exactly how to do so.

 

PS. My bios version on my gpu's is: 012.019.000.006.036284

 

But I am NOT claiming magic. I am not saying I did anything other then what anyone else did. I downloaded it directly from AMD, installed, and everything went smoothly. No exceptions, or issues.

If I did something to make it happen, I would share with folks, but I did an install and thats it. Again my system is newer, maybe dell updated something since your system was built.

I am no more of a liar then you are. And I gain nothing by saying I got something working that you have not. Because I cant explain why mine worked and yours didnt. I'm not trying to keep it form anyone. I already helped people with the a02vs a05 issue with the 5870s, why wouldnt I share this, if I knew what the difference was.

Jon

 

Nobody called you a liar. I was curious what you may have done to get them to work. BTW I just tried them on my newest M17x (shipped on 6/28) and they also worked! Dell must have changed something in these newer M17x-R2's to get the 10.6 drivers working because i"m still using my same Windows 7 install from on my SSD from the older M17x. I'm going to copy the video bios files right now and put them up for others to try.

 

Ha! Hmmmm..... I love that YOU had to validate I was telling the truth Glad I could help you see the 10.6's do work.... Enjoy!

 

Yes, I did validate it and thanks for the find, +rep given. See I'll give you credit where it's due There's been many attempts at getting 10.6's running so you should understand the level of cynicism that would be present when someone claims otherwise. Anyway, here's the files for those that want to flash their older 5870s to the newest vbios: <link removed>. Hopefully it is the vbios that was changed and not something at the hardware level.


Edit: Spoke too soon, vantage locked up at a black screen like before. However, my other game (frontlines fuel of war) works. I didn't test this game before so it might still be the same thing. Going to keep checking and remove the vbios link for now.