M17x r2 with 8970m HELP!

The gpu in my r2 died recently and I took the opportunity to upgrade to an 8970m. The card I got was running BR44465.003. I can hear Windows booting up but I've got no LCD :/ I've done some research and it seems like BR44168.001 is the vbios I need. But I can't seem to find it anywhere. Does anyone have any advice? Is there anyway to get this card working without reflashing?

 

Hi there i went through the same process a few weeks ago and also had to install the BR44618.001 vbios. I edited and saved the vbios with vbe7 saving it as 8970m.rom and had to force flash with the command "atiflash -f -p 0 8970m.rom", doing it without the force flash notation doesn't work as its prevented from flashing by a checksum warning (that you obv cant see without a display). I've attached the vbios file i used to get it working. Only notes are that HDMI sound does not work with this vbios, the fans however work fine without having to use fan control. Hope this helps get it working

 

Thank you much! I will try this out tonight!

 

Well after trying to blind flash this vbios on to my card and not getting any sort of results, I tore apart my 17(r5) and stuck the 8970m in there to see if I could get anything out of it. Right away it showed up in the Device Manager and seemed pretty happy. So I installed the amd drivers and straight away the card disappeared. I can see it in my bios but device manager can't see it. Unistalled the amd drivers and the card is still undetectable :/ Atiflash also can't seem to see it either. It throws this: 0fl01 Error: Adapter not found. So idk if I screwed it up or what is going on.

 

Did you get the card to work just becuase I have a alienware M17x R2 too?

 

+1 to this, it would be good to know if it does work on the 17x R2

 

HD8970m (single configuration) works flawless in my M17x-R2

I use HDMI and SB R3D for the sound.

Only thing i need to find out is:
Displayport --> 4K

 

So there is no sound from HDMI with this card?
I was wondering if we could have a driver fix for this. Like editing the inf.

 

I've posted a thread a while ago, but it seems no one knows enough to chime in. So I guess the only way is someone to try it. My guess is that it should be able.

 

i have this same problem but i can't seem to be able to follow the directions above. a little over my head here please help, i have to do this blind flash on the vbios but cant seem to set the usb stick up correctly.

 

bump for help

 

I have just installed a dell version that was plug and play. Fans worked as well. Only issue I've came across is that when monitoring temps via HWINFO, the gpu thermal diode sensor ends up running up pretty high when gaming and will shut the laptop completely off. All other gpu sensors run in the 60-70s while gaming. Any ideas. Does anyone know where that thermal diode is on the gpu so I can try and pinpoint the heat issue? Would an undervolt/ underclock help? Retention clip mod is done and pasted with AS5 and fujipoly 1mm 11mw/k pads.

 

If it's happen only with HWINFOS it might be the fan control system option in hwinfos, disable it or use an other soft to monitor the temps like msi afterburner.

 

No, the laptop runs fine until gaming, when it goes full load. I took the 5%oc off the 940xm via bios and under general use (web browsing, etc) it's fine. Sensors read ok (no higher than 45c). Didn't try a game again last nite to see, but this leads me to believe the issue is the psu maxing out and tripping. I slightly under locked the gpu but would like to undervolt a hair as well. Can anyone point me in the direction of a vbios editor? I saw LBE7 editor, but couldn't find any download links to it.

 

The high temp value migh be the VRM or an other power supply part of the mxm card, it's normal to have them at high temps so yeap it might be your psu, with one 7970m oced and an 920xm massively oced it has never shutdown and with crossfire the 240 psu went out at around 270 W at the wall. Try to run the 940xm at 2 Ghz and under with throttlestop, or if you are motivated try with a 720qm ... Anyway it should'nt shutdown with one card and a good 240 w psu.

 

Only way I got it working was cpu no OC, turbo off and gpu at stock clocks. But fps is horrible now lol. Kinda bummed now. Guess my only option is the 330w mod

 

Try an other 240w psu first, the 330w psu is very heavy and massive. It take a lot of space in my backpack so i left it at home and use the 240w during travel. I disable the crossfire and it run fine with cpu oc.

 

I'd do that but wild then have to buy a 2nd as I only have this one. And if that's the case, then I might as well jus buy the 330w then and call it a day

 

Yeah you should go for the 330w if you planned to have one later. The mod itself is not particulary hard, the 3 metal shield inside are a bit tricky to unmount, don't try to desolder them, it deserve to nothing, just cut off theire legs and solder them back on later.

In my case i have put the id chip directly on the motherboard, now i can use the 240w and the 330w but it's not perfect, sometime the bios do some crap and desactivate the battery "loading" ( don't know how to say it in english ) so i have to do a clear cmos.

 

I was really just considering soldering the ID chip into the 330w. I have a delta 240w but wasn't sure if the mounting was the same in the 330w. I've seen the 2 different chip types between the 2 brands of 240w, but wasn't sure if the 330w was the same way or not. I'd prefer to take less apart. Would prolly never use the 240 again anyways.

 

My 330W is different from the imsolidated blog, so you might have to improvise, if you are in that case just solder the id line to data pin and the other two pin to the ground. Ground the id line on psu pcb and that would do the trick.

 

Do u remember which 240w you had? And what brand 330w u have now?

 

My 330w is a delta one and my 240w is a flextronic one.

 

Ok. Yeah those 2 are different chips

 

No, i mean the psu itself is different from what you can see here : http://www.imsolidstate.com/archives/1256

So you migh be in front of the same issue. I should have take some picture when i was doing mine ...

 

Well I think I just figured it out without the 330w psu. The GPU is triggering a shut down at 85c. This 8970 is a Dell card but the guy claimed the fans worked fine on his R2. But he also was having this issue with shutdowns too. Obviously the fans work but ain't kickin on at the right temps. I set the fans to full via hwinfo and tested again. 94xm turbo on/no OC only pulled max 58w during gameplay with Dying light and highest temp reached was 80c and never shut off this time. Something kept tellin me it ain't the psu since it really wasn't even getting that warm either. Maxing out the psu should get it pretty hot right?

 

Yea, the 240w can be very hot just before shutting down, i have used it at 260w constantly during 3 or 4 hours and it was really hot. And the 7970m shutdown at 85° too. 80 ° Is a bit high but the 8970m run a bit faster than the 7970m, it's ok i think.

 

I redid the paste/ bent the clamp legs up a little bit for a hair more pressure, and maxed now at 78c. And pay ain't even hot.

 

Last thing I'm trying to figure out is what kind of card this actually is. The Bios doesn't match any brand on the tech power up website. It supposedly is a Dell brand card and is 4gb. Stock clocks are 950 and 1250 with 1.075 V and that only matched the MSI card. And it does have the crossfire connector.

 

And I know that the 8970m and R9 290x are pretty much identical cards, but vbios on mine that's working is what came on the card when I got it, and nervous to flash something different. I'd like to tweak the voltage a hair lower or unlock it so afterburner or trixx can lower it there. Any tips or pointers?

 

At least make some dump of the vbios before starting anything, contact slv7 on techinferno forum, he often do some modded vbios, he might be able to answer.

 

Man... Another forum???? Lol

 

Yep, it's worth it, all or near of the dell 7970m modded bios has been made by him if i am right.

 

Well I tweaked the stock bios with VBE7 and made 2 vbios, one 1.050v and one 1.025v to test out from the stock 1.075. Will report back my findings. So far this card is a beast tho. Solid 60fps on dying light with every setting maxed. Who woulda thought this R2 could still hang with the best, 5 years later!

 

After much delay i finally flashed the bios with excellent success! doing drivers etc now. wanted to say thanks to all the links and files, took three or four different sites.

 

Hello guys, I joined the forum, because I need your help! I want to buy hd8970m for my m17xr2, which I have to buy Clevo or Dell ?? Which VBIOS change, Clevo or Dell? Which driver should be used? Normal or modified? Thanks a lot !!

 

The Clevo vbios got the 8970m working with no problems in a single setup everything works.(sleep mode etc) I think the dell vbios also works but never tried. i actually got an MXM card or what ever that company is no one likes and flashed it. so a Clevo card should be plug and play. the new official AMD drivers seem to work really well so id just go with those.

 

Looking to do the same on my M17x-R2 and wondered if the Clevo would be preferable to the Dell. Is the Clevo plug and play?

 

.....also, how well does this card work on Halo Wars 2, Homeworld Remastered & Deserts of Kharak, and lastly, Hawken?....if anyone has tested it out already....Please?

 

1) Where are you guys getting these 'working' 8970m cards ?

2) What is actually working on them? fans, hdmi etc?

My 7970M card died the other day (just shows white screen on bootup...can't seem to get around it even with external display) i switched to my original card (4870) to just boot up the laptop.

 

Hi everybody

My name is George and i would like to upgrade my video card to 8970m, m290x, etc. i know you have a lot of experience about it and that's why im looking for your support to select the best option to my project, which option do you recomend?:

1.- The Cross fire option but without i have to do the PSU MOD
2.- The best single card option support for my m17x R2 (as yours)
3.- Can you share me some examples from ebay

I'm new in this topic i've read a lot here and in other forums ando also a see the scene has advance on this.

 

I am building a pretty much new M17x R2 I will post my results here when it is finished. Just waiting on secondary heatsink, secondary fan, and battery.

 

If you need anything, maybe this will help: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/fs-m17x-r2-parts.788814/