M18XR1 Unlocked A05 780m Not detected in bios

Just like the title says. went from 6970m's in XFire to one 780m, wiped all drivers, booted in IGFX only. shut down, installed 780m with proper heatsink booted to bios (had to clear BIOS which was a pain) card will not detect in BIOS. I bought an MSI card, and after purchasing I read that it may have a vBios locked to MSI. Would that cause it to not show up in BIOS?

I've tried re-installing 4 times now, same result. I would absolutely love any insight as I love this beast of a laptop and want it to work with this beast of a GPU!

 

Have you already changed the BIOS to PEG? If not, it may be set to IGFX (which will disable the PCIe port and make the discrete graphics invisible and inaccessible).

You can try pressing FN+F7 in Windows first. If that does not work, reboot and change it to PEG in the BIOS.

 

Yes I have. When I do this I get the black screen and beeps (don't remember how many, I think 1).

 

I've not seen an example of an MSI GPU being used in an Alienware. Usually Dell and Clevo GPUs work fine. If changing it to PEG does not work, then it may be the fact that it is an MSI GPU. Or, there may be actually something wrong with the GPU.

 

that's what I'm worried about. Bought it used from a reputable seller on eBay but I have no way of knowing if it works. I will try it again and switch back to PEG tonight. If it doesn't work then maybe I'll try the secondary GPU slot. otherwise I just have no idea where to go from here short of getting another card from a Clevo/AW

 

If the MSI GPU has a UEFI vBIOS it may be that causing your problems. The M18xR1 does not have UEFI/GOP support. It only works in Legacy/VGA mode. You might not be able to correct the problem, since you cannot flash the vBIOS if the GPU is not visible.

If you haven't already done so, try reseating the GPU in the PCIe slot. Use an external USB keyboard and leave the machine apart while you are working on it. If you can get it to boot correctly and run fine, wait until then to reassemble it.

Using the secondary GPU slot will not work with a single GPU. The secondary slot is only usable with SLI/CrossFire configuration.

 

Only other thing I can think of is that I don't have any tape on the X-Bracket. I don't know if it would cause this. I've heard of x-bracket problems but in my searching was unable to find out any info on what it is.

 

I reseated it 4 times the other night, only hooked up the monitor and keyboard to test it, nothing changed .

 

Not likely. Machine should still show the GPU in the BIOS and be bootable. The X-bracket being grounded out can cause big problems, but not what you are experiencing.

Edit: external monitor or the native LCD? You must have the native LCD and LVDS cable connected to avoid problems with the machine not booting correctly. (That may be what you meant, just asking for clarification.)

 

Well nuts I'll try again tonight, I know the slots in the board are fine, never had a problem with them. I'll at least rule out having switched it back to PEG and I'll try in windows as well.

Thanks for the info Mr.Fox!

 

Native LCD. I had both cables coming from the LCD assembly plugged in. Not sure which is which lol

 

hmm, I wonder if I could buy a new vBios chip and install it? They do sell a Dell chip for cheap and I'm sure I could handle the install process.

 

huh, I actually just noticed something very interesting, the vBios chip on the MSI card looks entirely different from the Dell/Clevo cards. That could explain why the cards are not interchangeable..

 

Are you sure You handle unsoldering bios chip using machine like this



Then cleaning it from old balls. Insert new balls and resolder it using proper temperature? I doubt so.

I did it in my friend's company using this machine but you have to know how to solder and solder BGA chips properly and have such a machine to do it.

If you can then unsolder the chip and reprogram it to dell bios. Don't solder other bios chip because it could not work with MSI card as the bios chip is different. Resolder reprogrammed chip to the GPU and see if it works. I can give you 780M bios if you want.

 

I have not seen an example of anyone using an MSI GPU in an Alienware or Clevo with success. Might be possible, but I think you would be better off sending it back and buying a Dell or Clevo GPU because compatibility is known to not present any kind of issues in the M18xR1/R2 and Alienware 18. I have Clevo 780M cards in my M18xR2 and I have tested them in the Alienware 18 and M18xR1... The Clevo 780M cards work perfectly in all three machines.

 

Godlike: I do not have a machine like that but it's a moot point as the bios chips are entirely different from what I can tell. Thanks for the offer on the BIOS but I most likely won't need it

Mr. Fox: I'm just gonna return it and get a Clevo/Dell one. My only concern is that everyone who lists them on eBay says they are MSI, Dell, Clevo cards. I think I found a way to determine whether they are Dell/Clevo or MSI, it really looks like the BIOS chip is entirely different. So I'll go with that. And if it works I'll post back.

Thank you for all your help, it's much appreciated.

 

Okay, thought I'd update here, I returned the MSI 780M and bought one removed from an Alienware 17. Installed it, switched to discrete graphics and thanks to Mr. Fox guide to modding .inf files I modded the latest driver and so far so good. Runs great and gets just over 5k 3dMark Firestrike score!

BTW I used Coollaboratories Liquid Ultra and it seems to work quiet well. May re-paste the CPU with that over the IC Diamond 7, though it does seem to work well.

Thanks for the help guys and I'm glad it finally works again!

 

Okay so one more problem in hoping I can sort out. It seems the 780m is always active wether I have the peg always enabled or set to auto. Anyone know what I'm missing here?
I found two options for video device to be set to always on, peg, igfx etc.. Changed both to auto and it still always has the 780m active. Even when I do the fn+f7 key press and reboot.


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"Auto" with a single GPU enables Optimus and that is why the GPU is always active. With two GPU installed the system will fail to POST with 8 beeps with the "Auto" configuration option. The only appropriate settings for the M18xR1 and M18xR2 are PEG and IGFX. Nothing else is officially supported on these models and there is no good reason to use "Auto" on the M18xR1/R2, as most of us despise Optimus and Enduro. At any rate, it appears your system is functioning as expected using the "Auto" setting with a single GPU. For best results, set it to PEG for discrete graphics, and use FN+F7 to switch to IGFX (or manually change it to IGFX in the BIOS) if you should ever have a reason to want to use the Intel HD Graphics.

 

I'll set both settings in bios to peg and see if I can switch between. Only reason I like to is for work. If I'm on integrated graphics I don't even need to pull the aptly named power "brick" out


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Mr Fox when will you be back permanently? Great seeing you around ... Been missing you wisdom