refurb m17xr3 Bluescreen using 3D Graphics Apps

Just joined the forums, lots of really great feedback and people helping each other thought maybe you may have encountered something like this, before I call Dell and use the warranty i have on it.

This m17x is a r3, with the 1080p display, 460m/intel graphics card, Killer NIC

At random it bluescreens. I've updated the bios on the motherboard and the video card. All the drivers are latest from Dell. I bought this machine to do work on, I use Unreal Development Kit for hobby stuff, 3dsmax, Zbrush etc. All these apps are video intensive. Starcraft 2 looks amazing on this laptop, as does MW2 and BFBC2.

I'm about ready to call Dell and deal with them but I wondered if anyone had encountered this problem with 3d apps also.

Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.768.3
Locale ID: 1033

Additional information about the problem:
BCCode: 9f
BCP1: 0000000000000003
BCP2: FFFFFA8007F9DA10
BCP3: FFFFF80000B9C3D8
BCP4: FFFFFA800CF7E480
OS Version: 6_1_7601
Service Pack: 1_0
Product: 768_1

Its a really nice laptop, that I paid a really good price for when they had the 25% off sale. Its just turning into an annoyance. Wondering if I should upgrade the video card, maybe thats the problem. Switch to ATI board, maybe the nvidia and intel is having a conflict.

Anyways, thanks for any feedback that you can give.
-Lee

ps. should I need to call Dell about a new video card, what do you recommend? and is there an item number? because i didn't see it on the site.

 

Do you have the 60hz screen or the 120hz 3D screen?

 

60Hz screen.

 

In all honesty, I've personally experienced this problem before. There's two paths you can take, one which is call Dell, and sit through a few hours of them wasting your time because they probably haven't figured out the 460m + Optimus = Bsod problem, OR, you can try using a unlocked bios (A04/A08) as a temporary solution.

This is the temporary/long term(Depending on how long you use it) solution. Read through it and decide if its worth the risk.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...-m17x-r3-bsod-start-till-now.html#post7903069
This will allow you to disable optimus, and update to any newer driver.
You can just install another of the a04 or a08 bios to override the settings, but you'll have to go back to the dell drivers before you do.
Just remember using any modified bios can and probably sometimes occasionally will brick your computer.

Or, you can sit through dell's tech once or twice, and after they severely fail both times, you can email michael dell, say the tech support was useless(Which they will be) and ask for a upgrade due to trouble caused by dell's end. It's what I did for my 2nd R3 that had another 460m in it. I got a 6970m as a replacement because they sad the 580 and 6990 arent compatible with my R3 Pretty sure that's a lie though.

Good luck.

 

Thanks zoolian982!

I have a friend with a 6970m who's going to let me try his. I'm going to call Dell, even though they are moron's on the phone, mainly because I have a warranty. I expect it will take a few hours of frustration.

 

+1

You pretty much hit it on the head here.