Not sure what's wrong. Help please

Hi, I'm new here and really need help/advice. I have an m17x r4. I switched it on today and the gpu started acting up, I have 2 graphics card. an intel one and an nvidia 660m. The nvidia one is not showing up in devices. and when it does (after clicking, show hidden devices) it says in the device status box
"Currently, this hardware device is not connected to the computer. (Code 45)
To fix this problem, reconnect this hardware device to the computer."
I don't understand what this could mean or how to fix it. I have tried updating the drivers from the device manager screen but it doesn't help. Any help would be much appreciated. thankyou so much

 

Hi, I've seen this a few times and hopefully it's an easy fix. Well maybe not easy but hopefully you can manage a fix .

This behaviour is often a bad connection between the GPU card and the motherboard. Taking it out, cleaning the edge connector and then re-seating it will hopefully get you back up and running.

There are two screws holding the lower panel on. Then three screws on the fan that cools the GPU card heatsink, and finally two screws on the card that will allow you to raise it around 15 degrees and pull out in one piece complete with the heatsink. As long as you don't undo the four screws holding the card to the heatsink you do not need to get involved with thermal paste and pads. It stays as a single component.Searching out an R4 teardown video is probably a good starting point.

Clean the edge connector with a high % alcohol (IPA) and use a can of compressed air to blow out the edge connector (and all the dust bunnies you'll probably see!). Reassemble and test. Hopefully the NV now shows up...

Good luck.

 

Thanks so much. I'll look on youtube for a video that could help

 

Could this just be an Optimus issue? Like hit the Fn + F5 and switch back to Muless mixed graphics solution/Optimus ? Are you running windows 10 ? (windows 10 LOVES to cause issues by deleting things)

 

Yeah I'm running windows 10. I tried pressing the FN + F5 and I just got a brightness control \:

 

Optimus switch on R4 should be Fn+F7. Optimus would disable Intel graphics card and leave the nvidia card on or when switched back, enable both cards. It should not be possible to disable nvidia card with Optimus switch. Still, might be worth a try. I would try re-seating the card physically first in this case though...

 

hahah it's one of those Fn+F* buttons
-Sorry - wasn't trying to fool ye, though was worth a laugh!

 

I know my m17X-R4 acted differently then everyone else's AW17 did when i would hit that button. (I never used that button / option on my AW17 when I had, too bad)

example. on my old m17X-R4, it was BOTH graphics or just the HD intel HD.

AFAIK, playing with that on the AW17 makes it BOTH graphics or just the Dedicated NV.

If I'm wrong someone say something, if anyone knows why it was different, I do not know, wouldn't mind knowing why mind you.

of course you can just REMOVE the dedicated card and get the HD intel only, on the AW17 without much issue/.

 

Take out the card. Try re-seating it with new paste etc. Clean out your heatsink and fans while its out (cpu one as well as its only 3 screws at this point). usually the problem you are describing is a dead graphics card, but you might get lucky.
If you try the Fn-F7 thing and it stops booting the laptop, you will have to remove the power connection, GPU, and battery, then hold the power button for 30 seconds. This will clear the bios and hopefully tell the laptop to boot from the intel graphics again. After this put it all back together without the GPU installed and this will give you a laptop you can use until you can buy a replacement. Quote me if you need more help so it reminds me to check this thread.

 

I tried a few of the options but it didn't work. I took it into a local repair shop and the guy thinks the card maybe dead after he removed it and re seated it etc. Looks like I'm needing a new gpu. Do any of you know which are the good ones that will work on my machine without and fiddling about with bios etc. Basically plug and play? Thankyou for all the help. Much appreciated

 

I'd say the 680M, it will give you decent power and is completely P&P no need to mod drivers. You could however get the 780M or the 880M both need modded INFs but the 880M is not recommended due to heat, instability & throttling issues. Another option is to go with Maxwell GPUs but it requires much more modification.

 

Just the one choice (no messing) for NV and that's the excellent 680m. I push mine to way beyond 780m performance and it soaks it up (+220mhz)! Might be difficult to track one down but both the Dell one (2gb) and the Clevo one (4gb) are fully interchangable without any driver or bios messing.

I believe the AMD 7970m is also an option but I've never used AMD in recent years so I don't know if it would be 'fuss free'?

Good luck.

EDIT: You will need a 580m/680m heatsink if yours is (as I suspect) only two pipe? Also you need the 240w PSU

 

Yeah, mine is only 2 pipes. Thankyou for the help