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    Some of you may remember my past issues..

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by Lolinternets, Nov 11, 2010.

  1. Lolinternets

    Lolinternets Notebook Geek

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    Long story short I've had two visits by two different reps and both times I had my video cards replaced. First visit was one card and then the second visit he replaced both cards. Following the second installation I have to say that the cards seem to be both working properly now and am pleased with their performance overall. But one problem fixed was the cause of another. Now whenever I run the power on battery mode (no A/C plug connected) the computer crashes to a blue screen every single time. If i'm at my desktop and I unplug the power cord about 2-3 minutes later the system crashes. If I boot the computer without the power cord plugged in as Windows tries to load itself to the login screen it immediately crashes to a blue screen. Each time it crashes I get the same error as before: "A clock interval was interrupted on the second processor...etc".

    Anyone have any ideas as to what could be going on here?

    I'm running the latest Dell video drivers and vbios and after both visits from the techs I reinstalled the video drivers following all the necessary steps.

    Thanks guys,
    Derek
     
    Lolinternets, Nov 11, 2010
    #1
  2. Harryboiyeye

    Harryboiyeye Notebook Deity

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    Did you make sure to reflash the vbios? When the tech installed a new GPU (secondary) I got that seem problem and it was because one card was flashed to the latest and the other wasn't. I had to uninstall drivers and then reinstall dell ones, get a Cd to flash the GPUs and then my issue was fixed.
     
    Harryboiyeye, Nov 11, 2010
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  3. Lolinternets

    Lolinternets Notebook Geek

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    Even if I wanted to my computer won't let me install the bios again. Everytime I try booting up the Vbios loader it says that "This program is only inteded for Radeon 5870" and then closes the program itself. If I installed the vbios once then there could be no reason for me to have to do it again I presume?
     
    Lolinternets, Nov 12, 2010
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  4. Harryboiyeye

    Harryboiyeye Notebook Deity

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    What does CCC say on Graphics Hardware? 5800 series or 5870?
     
    Harryboiyeye, Nov 12, 2010
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  5. Lolinternets

    Lolinternets Notebook Geek

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    Primary Adapter:
    (Vista) ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870

    Linked Adapter:
    (Vista) ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870
     
    Lolinternets, Nov 12, 2010
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  6. Harryboiyeye

    Harryboiyeye Notebook Deity

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    What does it say about the Vbios version?
     
    Harryboiyeye, Nov 12, 2010
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  7. Lolinternets

    Lolinternets Notebook Geek

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    This is what is says for the primary:
    BIOS Version 012.020.000.029

    And this is what it says for the secondary
    BIOS Version 012.019.000.006

    Interesting...
     
    Lolinternets, Nov 12, 2010
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  8. Harryboiyeye

    Harryboiyeye Notebook Deity

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    Yup, just as I thought. They have different BIOSes. You need to flash again.

    BIOS Version: 0.12.020.000.027 for both cards.
     
    Harryboiyeye, Nov 12, 2010
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  9. Lolinternets

    Lolinternets Notebook Geek

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    How can I flash again if the program won't even let me flash to begin with? It automatically shuts itself down because it detects my primary card with having the recent vbios version.
     
    Lolinternets, Nov 13, 2010
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  10. Sean50

    Sean50 Notebook Guru

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    What you need to do is use the Dos method of flashing the vbios. Use the following link and follow the Dos method in the first post for flashing each card separately. Use the atiflash command for your second card and after that your BSOD will stop.

    M17x-R2 Wikia Forum • View topic - New 5870m Xfire vbios beta
     
    Sean50, Nov 13, 2010
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  11. Lolinternets

    Lolinternets Notebook Geek

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    Yeah I figured that's what I would have to do but for some reason I never really thought about actually doing it. I gave it a shot and sure enough it seemed to have worked. Though I only flashed the secondary card from Dos as the first one seemed fine and didn't need to be re-flashed.

    So now in CCC it looks like this:

    Primary
    BIOS Version 012.020.000.029

    Secondary
    BIOS Version 012.020.000.027
     
    Lolinternets, Nov 13, 2010
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  12. Sean50

    Sean50 Notebook Guru

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    You should flash both cards to have the exact same bios to avoid any problems.
     
    Sean50, Nov 13, 2010
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  13. Lolinternets

    Lolinternets Notebook Geek

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    Alright I finally got it all to work. Thanks a lot for your helps guys I really appreciate it. Now if we can just get some new video drivers we'll be set :D
     
    Lolinternets, Nov 14, 2010
    #13