Upgrading from 4870m CF to 5870m CF (m17xr2)

So I recently decided to upgrade to the 5870´s since I got a pretty decent deal on them from Dell.

I already had the newest drivers installed previously, as well as the newest bios; A09.

The problem I´m having is when I have both video cards installed, the laptop simply won´t post.
The funny thing is though, if I remove the secondary graphics card (the one with the crossfire cable) everything works fine?

I haven´t flashed the vbios yet and was wondering if I should simply flash the vbios on the primary card, and once I´ve done that, pop the second one in and hope for a miracle?

Any thoughts or suggestions would be awesome!

 

Sounds like wrong bios on the slave card. Does the laptop turn on and just stop there (can't turn it off by holding power button and need to pull out battery)?

 

Basically, yeah.

Both cards are new as far as I know. You think me flashing the primary first without the secondary installed, then installing the secondary and flashing it separately would work?

Thanks!

Oh yeah, sometimes I need to take the battery out, sometimes I don´t... it varies

 

AFAIK (I might be wrong) you need to get a replacement slave card from Dell (one that doesn't have the primary bios flashed into the slave card).

 

aww nuts...

 

I would not recommend this, but if you are really adventurous you could try swapping the slave into the master slot. I heard that they are identicle except you will have to switch the heat sinks around. Maybe someone can confirm or correct this though since I am not positive.

 

Swapping it doesn't change the fact that you need a slave bios in that card to make it work in dual GPU.

 

So in other words, the vbios that dell provides is only intended to flash the primary video card?

And lets say I´m the adventurous type and go out of my way and flip the heat sinks around, would me flashing the secondary card with the new vbios update work?

 

No but it would confirm your theory or if it is a dead card.

No it flashes them both, one at a time.

I don't know. Until I read this thread I didn't even know the BIOS was different between the two cards.

 

Regardless if it's the wrong BIOS or a dead card, he will need a replacement in both situations.

Flashes both, one at a time like dajohu said.

It will just flash it with another master bios, unless it already has an existing slave bios in there.

 

Ok, I checked to see if the other card was dead. It´s not, works by itself. What I dont understand is, both of these cards were brand spankin new.

I tried flashing it, still didnt work... same problem. I don´t understand why dell would send me a bogus video card? This is the second time too, had a techie try to figure it out but he couldn´t even get one to work, I did.

As of now, Dell isn´t responding to my emails as in what to do next. I seriously hope they don´t screw me and leave me in the dark...

EDIT: Would it be possible for someone to send me the vbios from their slave 5870, and then have me flash the vbios of the slave 5870 while running it in the primary slot? I know it sounds a bit outlandish, but it´s worth a shot right?

 

they wont just call them, emails take for ever to get responded to. make sure you call Alienware, not the Dell CS line.

 

firmware is the problem,they have basically the same bios and physical structure.I bet both of your cards are REVISION A00.there are 5870 cards with REV 01 that work in eighter slots(dell figured this out pretty late). Good luck

 

Same issue here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/536626-i-some-how-ended-up-3-5870-master-cards.html