m18x r1 gtx 780m sli upgrade from 580m problem, help!

Hi all, i have recently bought 2 x gtx 780m sli from upgrade monkey in ebay to upgrade from 580m sli.

I have m18x r1 with i7 2920XM and 2 x 100 w heatsink. I have applied arctic cooling 1.0 mm as thermal pads on the gtx 780m. I have installed A05 unlocked from tech inferno and if i boot with igfx only it works fine to windows, but in bios no discrete graphics card detected. I am currently running windows 10, but i don't think this is an issue as bios doesnt even detected the cards.

my m18x r1 is currently on a restart loop when i installed the main gfx (left one) with either the 580m or 780m.

I have tried replacing both 580m and 780m from secondary to primary separately of course, but no luck.

I am out of ways to try this guys, any help would be appreciated

below are the current picture of the motherboard with the 780ms

 

Sorry to hear that you're having issues.

Was the laptop working with 580M SLI on Windows 10 prior to installing the 780M? If so, you say even the 580M doesn't work anymore?

An infinite reboot loop for me was usually caused by a driver issue. Go into Safe Mode and use Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) to get rid of the driver. You probably just removed it for your photo, but make sure that your SLI connector is installed. The computer won't work with a GPU installed in only the secondary slot, so you can eliminate that from your troubleshooting.

Also, if I'm not mistaken, the BIOS will only show whatever graphics adapter you're currently running on. The other is not recognized. This doesn't mean that something's wrong, just that the integrated graphics are what you're currently running on.

 

Hi TurbodTalon,

Thanks fore replying! I have tried as per your suggestion, although it only uninstall the intel graphic card with DDU. I have done the DDU uninstaller before, in safe mode, to uninstall the 580m driver.

For the sli cable I forgot to put it back on for the pic.

It is currently still stuck on reboot loop even only with one 780m

 

I have two 880m and they were plug'n'play and as they are basically the same chip with more Memory i suppose there is something wrong with your gpus. They are dell aren't they?

I don't know if you read but there is big windows 10 warning thread. You may already have display destroyed just not triggered yet...

 

Well, I have read the thread regarding the windows 10, and I have reinstall windows 7 clean, try to find f7 with 1 either gtx 580m and gtx780m still in reboot loop.



I am not sure if I should do the uefi reset as I could boot normally into windows with integrated graphics card.

Any suggestions?

 

Exactly how far do you get into the booting process? Does it reboot at the same spot every time?

 

How did you get the unlocked svl7 vBIOS on them if they are not visible in the BIOS or in Windows? Did they used to work and stopped working? There could be something wrong with one or both of those GPUs. Have you tried re-seating them in the PCIe slots? Sometimes you can have a bad connection and cause issues. The secondary card may not be recognized if the primary card is having issues or needs to be re-seated. Have you tried them one at a time in the primary PCIe slot to determine if one of them is messed up? The GTX 780M is 100% compatible and works flawlessly in the M18xR1. What does Upgrade Monkey have to say?

Edit: Never mind. If no GPUs work correctly when installed, you've potentially got a motherboard issue going on. Drivers are not needed for them to be visible in the BIOS and in Windows.

How did you get the svl7 vBIOS on them? They used to work fine and now have issues only after repasting and replacing pads? Is that correct? Have you checked the support plate (x-bracket) to be sure it is not grounded out on something on the back of the MXM PCB? You did not remove the support plates to replace the thermal pads on the heat spreaders, did you? If you did, that might be the problem. Something may have been damaged in the process or the support plates may not be not properly insulated. They must have an insulator gasket that extends beyond the metal bracket in the 4 corners where the heat sink screws attach to the stand-off pedestals. You can use small squares of electrical tape or small squares of thin plastic film for this purpose if the original gasket is damaged or missing.

 

Hi Mr.Fox,

Thanks for replying. I have tried what you suggested with both the original x bracket and the one i pulled off the 580m and put extra insulation tape, but no luck. It still goes on a reboot loop.

The reason I bought the 780m sli is that my gtx 580m already giving up on me. It throttles without reason, and sometimes it just crashed completely, and I think it is time to upgrade anyway.

However, this upgrade didn't work out as planned, and if there is a malfunction with the motherboard pcie slots then i would rather to upgrade to R2, but unfortunately prices are over 400 Eur in Europe, and none of them have more than 1 year warranty.

I have never gotten to flash any vbios, the A05 unlocked was the motherboard bios. I never got the alien splashscreen, just fans on, fans off.

Well, as unfortunate as it is, I have contacted upgrademonkey about it, and they cant figure out whats wrong as well, and i have requested a refund.

Well, i don't have any ideas anymore to try except getting a new mobo or just getting a new Alienware 18 with 4 years warranty and support, as i recalled within 2 years my m18xr1 has 3 x graphics card replacement, and 2 x motherboard replacement.
That few extra bucks does come back with more within 4 years.

Well guys, thank you for your help and support, if you still have any ideas for me to try please don't hesitate to share.

 

You need to buy a EUROCOM SKY X9 instead (if you can afford it). It's head and shoulders better than any Alienware laptop available.

 

Wow that is a costly beast!

 

Looks cool! but no HDMI in? That's a deciding factor for me...gotta have a mobile TV wherever I go, and the Alienware 18 is the only laptop that can do it..to my knowledge.

 

Im also using HDMI In with my xbox 360. Very good feature.

 

HDMI input has never been popular on anything other than Alienware laptops, but the people that use it are certainly glad to have it.

I've got no use for it personally. I don't do game consoles and only watch TV when I have nothing better to do. When I do, it is always on a TV. I also rarely ever connect an external display.

Man, am I ever a dull boy, LOL.

 

I love HDMI in, it was super useful to connect it on a road trip to my M18x! Definitely a nice to have, and quite a rare feature too.

 

I love the feature too. Only thing is, at least on my R1, anything I run through the HDMI-in is noticeably more dim. Messing with the brightness settings doesn't seem to have any effect on the HDMI-in either. I'm assuming that isn't an issue on the 18?

 

It's not an issue on my M18x R2 or my 18.