Upgrading my Ranger

The obvious culprit to check here is the MXM slot, I would remove the 880m and thoroughly inspect it. If you can get some clean pictures of the slot in its entirety that would be a good start.

While I have advised to steel your heart for a dead board, its important to note that 880m's were highly pone to failure, they are basically 780m's pushed to a new unstable baseline.

If you cant get either to boot, there is a really cheap quadro card iirc that is eDP and LVDS essentially only needs to be 6xx and up iirc (or its quadro equivalent of course)

Get us some clean pictures looking over every conceivable angle of the MXM slot that would be a good start, and remember, until that replacement ribbon cable shows up you probably cant turn it on, so take your time make sure you are going in with a clear head. I've taken apart my Ranger before moving on at least 50 times and while I could put it together almost as quickly as tying my shoes even I on occasion would forget things that I would scold others for lol


Another method of testing if the slot is truly to blame, you can hook up the LVDS panel and remove the 880m. The machine still boot or give you a 5 beep code and the display should be driven by the Intel HD.

 

I'll get some pics tomorrow, but my original plan I had set up for was taking the 880m out, using the 60hz panel, taking all RAM and storage devices out, and see if i would get a beep code, but I never went through as I accidentally damaged the ribbon cable.

 

Thats a good line of inquiry

 

Alright, I got some pics of the MXM slot, I also have a bunch of MOBO pics, but I will post those if needed. I apologize for the glare, but it was nearly impossible to see inside of the slot without flash on.

Entire MXM slot:


Left side of MXM slot:


Right side of MXM slot:

 

Also, this is the exact replacement cable I got, it has the same dimensions and amount of pins, but looks different and the tabs look shorter, do you think it will work?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Alienware-...&brand=Unbranded&_trksid=p2047675.c100623.m-1

 

Another one of those questions that come up from time to time, but where did the RX 480 MXM come from? They all look the same so I'm guessing they all came from the same laptop/mini PC model, but I can't find where they came from.

 

Alright, the new ribbon cable came. I am going to tear-down the Ranger and start with just the CPU in, and then add RAM, storage devices, and then the GPU.

 

UPDATE:
Upon pressing the power button, I got 2 beeps (no RAM detected.) I inserted a RAM stick and upon pressing the power button I got 5 beeps (CMOS battery faliure.) I'm going to wait about 20-30 minutes with the CMOS battery out of the MOBO and will keep testing after I put it back in. I'm starting to think that the MOBO isn't dead, but something else may be the issue.

 

5 beeps used to be the code stating its been reset and should reboot iirc

 

Oh, alright, I'll put it back in and test.

 

Okay, it endlessly beeps 5 times. I'm going to try to boot without it.

Edit: Without the CMOS battery in, it also endlessly beeps 5 times. I'll do some more troubleshooting, and if nothing works, I'll run to the store and get some more batteries.

 

5 beeps means CMOS battery failure. You'll need to replace it.

Here is a guide to the error codes: https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000132041/understanding-beep-codes-on-a-dell-notebook-pc

 

I'm a total clown. I forgot that the RAM stick needed to be in the first or third slot (it was in the second.) It got into the BIOS, now time to test if the 880m still works.

 

That'll do it too

 

Yeah after getting other beep codes getting the 5 beep code is heaven compared to all the other beep codes lol

 

Just installed the 880m, and there is no signal (what originally happened.) I'm starting to think that the 880m may be fried somehow. I'll keep troubleshooting though.

Edit: Heat is generated and everything else seems fine too. I think its either the 880m or the eDP cable, I'll trying the LVDS display next.

 

Alright, the laptop works with the 880m with the LVDS cable. So i'm guessing the eDP cable is damaged.

 

Did you use the Fn+F5 keyboard combination within Windows to switch to dGPU only mode? I think the laptop is supposed to auto-detect the display output being used and adjust the primary display output GPU based on that, but I'd say give the manual switch a try.

 

Oh yeah, you're right. I'll try that.

 

I can't install drivers. It may actually be the 880m. The laptop only detects the Intel graphics despite being in SG mode, and when I try to install the drivers, it says the drivers cant find a compatible graphics card. The BIOS doesn't even detect the 880m.

 

BIOS not being able to detect it is more telling than software not willing to install.

 

Yeah, I just said that because I could have swore that the BIOS detected it earlier. I dunno though, you think its a dead card?

Edit: I'm kind of in a weird situation. I don't know if the GPU or MXM slot is dead. I'd like to throw my 1070 in the laptop and just put a desktop heatsink over the core, but if the MXM slot is dead, do I risk frying the thing or am I in uncharted territory. I'm thinking of buying this 20 dollar M4000 just as a dummy card to test if the MXM slot or GPU is dead. Would it be compatible right out of the box or would I have to mod drivers to get it to work.

Link: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-M4600...047650?hash=item1f0b81e262:g:j~4AAOSwYPJeStlF

Edit 2: I'm running the Dell diagnostics to make sure the GPU is okay. I'll edit this post when its done.

The Dell diagnostics can only test the iGPU, not the 880m. I'm just going to say its dead. I'm just going to make a thread to see what GPU's support eDP

 

Get anything that is both eDP and LVDS compatible w/e is cheapest that fills that criteria

 

Would this be good for testing my 1070? I have a spare rig thats quite outdated, but would be able to support this. My main questions are if PCIE is limited to 75 watts, how does this thing work, and is it even safe?

Link:
https://www.amazon.com/MXM3-0-Graph...cie+to+mxm&qid=1611793043&s=industrial&sr=1-1

(Said rig has a 2600, 16gb of DDR3 RAM, and some meh dell optiplex MOBO.)

 

I wouldnt mostly because the 1070 is 115w

 

Most likely the 880m is dead. If the MXM slot is dead, there shouldn't even be any power going through the slot, so there wouldn't be any risk to putting the 1070 in.

In optimus mode, you won't get a 6 beep error code indicating the dGPU is dead since the iGPU is driving the display. I don't think you can switch to dedicated only mode when the BIOS doesn't detect the dGPU though.

I'd say go ahead and put the 1070 in. I understand your hesitance since these parts are expensive. If you're really paranoid, you can get a GTX 765m and put it in your laptop to test the MXM slot.

 

I don't know, I'm still debating if I should get a K1100m or if I should just test the 1070.

If I do test the 1070, I would need to use a desktop heatsink (I have plenty so no issue,) but would I have to worry about something shorting out if the aluminum touches something that isn't the die?

 

As long as the heatsink is only touching the die, memory, and VRMs, you'll be golden. Don't let it touch anything else though.

 

Just tested 3 heatsinks, and they all seem to touch somewhere they shouldn't. Do you think putting a thermal pad on the die and aiming a fans at it will be enough to get it through driver installation?

 

Sorry for the reply spam (new idea,) but would putting enough thermal pads on the die and then putting the heatsink on top of said pads work so that the heatsink isn't touching anything but the thermal pads?

 

It's all good. This forum is here to help you, so don't feel bad about asking a lot of questions. We're here to help.

Regarding the thermal pads, that seems like a bad idea because it will seriously impede heat transfer from the GPU core to the heatsink. It'd be better to get some thin, squishy thermal pads and put them on the surfaces being touched by the heatsink that should not come in contact with it.

 

Agreed. Thermal pads are not the best way to transfer heat. They are more for stopping board components from touching the heatsink and the thermal transfer is just a bonus.

Thermal paste is really just for filling the microscopic gaps between surfaces that can trap heat. In a perfect world each surface would be completely flat with no microscopic voids and no thermal compound would be required.

 

Alright, I'll be tearing down the thing tommorow and will be testing the 1070. I'll let you know if I have any questions. Thank you!

 

If I do manage to get into the BIOS, what will the GPU show up as and can I switch to the dedicated GPU without drivers installed?

 

I never could get into the BIOS after installing the 1070, so I made any changes I needed before installation.

Without the drivers installed it will show up as Microsoft display adapter or something, cant install the drivers without the GPU in as far as I know but could be wrong.

 

Alright, thanks, i'll keep everyone updated as I go on.

 

Interesting. I can get into the BIOS fine with my 1060.

The GPU should show up as a GTX 1070. My 1060 shows up as a GTX 1060 in the BIOS.

No, you must have the Alienware OSD installed plus the drivers in order to use the Fn+F5 keyboard combination for the MUX switch (if you're not using the unlocked BIOS, but this is the safest way to do the switch anyway).

 

I despise the MOBO not being able to be powered on without the palm-rest piece, its very annoying.

 

Really? It has to be actually screwed in to power on?

 

No, the power button and indicator LED’s are plugged into a PCB on the palmrest and then said PCB plugs into the SD card reader which plugs into the MOBO, it’s a bit annoying when i’m going bare motherboard without the chassis.

 

Oh gotcha. Yeah unfortunately the power button is attached to the keyboard cover/palmrest piece.

 

I was not the first to have that issue, nor the last. I guess it happens with the MSI 1070

 

Alright I'm kind of an idiot. The day I took a dremel to the chassis, I forgot to shave a bit of the screw on the CPU heatsink as it was getting late and my back was killing me. How exactly should I go about cutting down the side of the screw area? (Is it screw number 3 I have to shave off?)

Note: I am using a towel that is on a wood desk that is on a wooden floor.

 

I don't think you need to file down the screw socket or anything, I'm pretty sure the MSI 1070 only requires you to cut some partitions off on the chassis, most notably the one separating the GPU section from the optical drive connector.

 

The side of the 1070 juts out enough where the 3rd screw holder touches the card.
(Sorry that the image is sideways!)

 

Oh oof.

To avoid compromising the structural integrity of the screw and socket, I'd recommend putting electrical tape over it instead.

 

Alright, though, Receiver has said that you need to shave a bit of it off, I just don't know how to go about doing so as my dremel is quite weak. I had to use a hacksaw for like 80% of my chassis modding.

 

****, I can't find my electrical tape, any good substitutes? I'm thinking thin thermal pads, which I understand seems to be my go-to for everything, but I have tons of them.

 

Just get a coarse sanding tip and shave it down until it clears.

It will not ruin the integrity to the point of actual concern, this has been done before and after I had underwent the same upgrade

 

If my heatsink is touching the top of the MXM slot, will I be good?