Need Help with M17x R3 - Mobo/780m/Display Problem

Hello All,

I'm currently typing this post on my M17x R3 with a fresh windows 7 install (because I couldn't get the windows 10 driver to install). The problem is that when i have the 780m installed in the system I get no display on the built in monitor of the laptop and have to use an external display. I posted about this many months ago and didn't continue to troubleshoot because I got tired of fooling with it.

I've since come to not rely on this pc nearly as much but I want to get it working. I'm hoping that there is someone with wisdom to perhaps guide me to a solution or possible resolution (if it's a hardware replacement that I'd need).

Here is the summary
No 780m installed, using integrated graphics the laptop will display on the built in display using the intel gpu 2760qm.

Once 780m is installed, the bios hangs about 25% through bar (display still works at this point).

Removed the 780m and in the bios I disabled onboard sound, primary graphics set to peg, disabled integrated graphics. Also enabled the always enable peg.

Connect an external display via vga connection and quickly press fn F6 at boot will allow for display to switch to external monitor allowing for use of bios and windows. (this is required after every reboot as well).

Once windows 7 was fully installed, I successfully installed the eurocom 399.07 driver. GPU-z shows the 780m correctly as GK104, subvendor is Dell. Can provide picture if needed.
Installed steam and ran Far Cry 2 (smaller game but minor push to gpu) at ultra settings and ran great 140 - 160 fps.

So I believe GPU is ok. I'm thinking something in the motherboard has failed or is the cause, I've found replacement M17xR3 mobo on ebay so that could be an option. I've considered a re-flash of the bios in case it is corrupted somehow. I'm thinking the display is ok because even when the bios startup hangs, I can still see an image on it.

If thoughts are motherboard has failure, should I do straight replace with same mobo or upgrade to m17x r4 mobo.

I appreciate any feedback or help. This is a great machine and I'd like to keep it working. Thanks

 

So the TLDR is internal monitor doesn't work with the 780M?

Do you have any other MXM cards to test with, and could you try using optimus (iGPU) to drive the display and just use the dGPU?

 

Not sure if optimus works with the m17xr3 and 780m. Maybe with compatible gpu's like a 580m from what i've read in the past. My past mxm cards were a 6990m and 7970m and both died. Not sure what happened to them after we packed for moving

 

I bought a broken R4 that had a 7970M and it would only display on an external monitor (no beep codes). I tried another display (including cable), GPU and CPU without any luck. I could only put it down to the board. Shortly after, it started giving a 7 beep code so I tried switching CPU's again which didn't fix it. I'm not sure if the two problems were related and maybe some sort of controller on the board finally failed.
In my case, removing the card also didn't allow a display on the LCD so it may not be related to your issue but I thought I'd put my 2 cents in.

If you'd like to try a newer Windows 10 driver I can make one for you.

 

It could be one of the MUX chips on the board failing, I have no clue if thats a common occurence but it could be the culprit. Also, optimus is not GPU dependent, as long as you have a NV GPU and a iGPU present.

 

Well the motherboard is original since I bought the system and it's been through three different gpu's at this point, i'm not sure what the MUX is but I can look that up. So is there a specific setting I should look for regarding optimus in the bios?

 

MUX chips are what controls what display inputs going where, for instance in macbooks, the internal display runs to a mux chip which goes to the internal GPU and dedicated GPU, so when you switch between one or the other the display is "directly" connected to that GPU

 

If I remove the card and reset the bios to allow integrated graphics from the built in, it works and i can get to desktop bios etc. I might eventually need a windows 10 driver but for now i wanted to prove the gpu works.

 

So should I just bite the bullet and buy a replacement motherboard? And if so, would it be better to get an r4 motherboard and not the r3 again

 

Yes, the R4 is definitely better as it opens up more upgrade options (980M and 10 series). I don't think the R3 has mSATA either. I'm sure I've heard of people doing the board upgrade before but I'm not sure if there are any hurdles or it's a simple process.

 

Bout to bite the bullet on the r4 motherboard, but can anyone tell me if it allows for optimus with the 780m?

 

For anyone still watching this thread, I'm now the proud owner of an M17x R4 motherboard. However I am further removed from being able to even use the 780m with this laptop. I've installed modified drivers and the device manager shows the 780m however when I right click the desktop in windows 10 for the NVIDIA control panel, I get an error saying You are not currently using a display attached to an NVIDIA GPU.

So do I need to find an unlocked bios to force PEG vs SG or whatever R4's default to? Is something actually wrong with my display. I've even connected a the VGA monitor connection and I still get the message regarding the not using display connected to the NV GPU.

 

Is there any error on the 780M in the device manager? For example a yellow exclamation mark with a Code 43.

 

That means you need to disable iGPU, you can do it through the command center being installed and the hotkeys

 

Thanks @Mastermind5200 I hit Fn F7 and rebooted and at first the display was smaller resolution and defaulted back to the Basic Microsoft Adapter. I started the driver install process then remembered that I would need to disable driver signing, so after reboot I reinstalled the driver and I was able to get to the NV control panel. I've already tested running Far Cry 2 (quick download) and it's running and is showing on the primary laptop display. Thanks @Maxware79 and Mastermind for your help, I'm relieved that this is working. So being that i disabled the igpu, i'm assuming optimus isn't compatible with my config? Maybe it's the sandy bridge processor graphics?