M15x & 6970M / 6990M - What you need to know - upgrading, problems, solutions

Not sure how to ask, but what do you mean that you cannot do anything in Safe Mode? Both CCleaner and Driver Sweeper should function normally in Safe Mode. You cannot uninstall drivers/programs though Control Panel while in Safe Mode because the Win7 Installer Service is not running. What happens when you try to run CCleaner or DS?

 

Generally when i install a new GPU especially from a new Vendor i will do a fresh OS install just to rule out any issues that might creep up from residual drivers etc being left there.

I know some people have so much stuff on the OS already installed that it is not always an option.

An alternative would be to back up your current OS with something like Acronis then do a fresh basic install to get everything up and running and do all your testing then go from there.

 

Hey guys cheers for the ideas, i have tried everything short of a fresh install and trying another vbios. I have a spare hdd so i will do a fresh install when i get home from work. I forgot to save the original vbios, flo did you save yours? Is there any other vbios i can try?

 

Yes i saved mine. I'll post it tomorrow. And I'll too make a fresh install(thank you acronis)

 

There is the Dell Vbios on the first page of this thread which should be fine to use unless thats what you guys are already using ?.

If these cards are from Dell Precision then i assume they are FireGL cards even though they are essentially the same cards they can have a couple different things about them.

Did you guys try running the stock Vbios first ? or did you jump right on the 6970 Vbios ?.

Either way good luck .

 

I used the original bios for a day but didnt do anything too stressful but also didnt have any issues. Then i flashed the one on the 1st page to get the auto fan control and started doing some testing to check the fan was working correctly and then i started having the issue. I think it may be the culprit to be honest, just cant figure out why though

 

Well there could/should be some slight differences in the hardware if it is a FireGL card and if you can use the original BIOS again + HWINFO to handle the fans then i would say go for it or atleast give it another try.

I could have sworn the part number they had listed for that card you guys are using was different then the Dell 6970m Card ?.

 

I have just been in contact with the supplier of the card and he indeed confirmed that it is a FireGL card. Once flo uploads the original vbios ill flash it and report back. Im really leaning towards it being the vbios now that i have learned this

 

I'll upload it in a few hours, i'm working now...However, I had problems with this vbios and that's why i've flashed the dell one

 

Oh dear, will try it anyway. The guy from waresphere recommended to try these drivers and see what happens ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/video/ATI_MULTI-DEVICE_A01_R307665.exe

I dont have my card installed atm as i need to do some work on my pc so i havent tried them.

 

So i'll flash the card with the original vbios and try these drivers (they are for the precision M6600). I think it should work

 

I have just put the card back in as well as a spare hard drive, doing a fresh install and once i get the bios from you i will flash mine and try it all from the beginning. If this doesnt work im guessing the card just isnt compatible

 

Fresh install was no good

 

Have you used original vbios?

 

Not yet, i dont have it and need to wait untl flo can upload it

 

@Dav: I'll upload the original vbios in 5 hours. Be patient!

 

Oh im not trying to rush you or anyhting, just trying things and reporting back so we can take them off the list

 

OK, no problem! So the M6600 drivers don't work?

 

They never detected the card, but i think that is cause the vbios is different, so i tried the catalyst drivers on the fresh install but it still shut down at 83 degrees

 

@Dav: upload error! invalid file. What the hell is this?

 

The extension is invalid, put it in a .zip, or rename it to filename.txt and the problem will be solved.

 

Thank you svl7
@Dav: here you go, buddy! Good luck!
View attachment original.zip

 

Waiting for results! )

 

The results are bad: I've flashed the original bios, installed the drivers for the precision M6600, runned crysis, shutdown after a few minutes. This card won't work with the M15X. Too bad!

 

Thats bad(
What about Dav?

 

I will contact the vendor, want my money back

 

No good for me either and i've covered everything. It seems for some reason that card just doesnt want to play nice with the m15x

 

But why doesn't it work? Never had such strange problems with my computer. It's just unintelligible.

 

Thats what i dont get, its a hot swappable pci-e card, it should just plug into anything that has a pci-e slot and work as intended providing you can supply sufficient power to it.

 

But that's not how it works with MXM, you still need minimum BIOS support. If the card's slightly different, that could be all that does it.

 

How can we know the critical temp failure? (look in the vbios?) It's possible with nvidia cards and nibitor, but ATI's?

 

To those looking for a proper one there's one in the market place
http://forum.notebookreview.com/computer-components/612551-fs-alienware-amd-radeon-6970m-gpu.html

 

I just bought the 6970 from him. Can't wait for it to arrive!

 

And I purchased a 6990m from him!

 

hope it works well

 

and it seems i got the 2nd one

 

Haha all three AMD cards went to M15x owners!

 

Good choices. Great cards .

 

Its cause I cant man up and buy a M17xR3 since in my house I now have an M11xR1,R3 M14x, and my M15x.

 

Hi guys,
You my have read that I had a few problems with my gpu backplate, but now everything is fine. Now that gonna test my card (6990m) and processor (940xm) do you guys know what would be the normal temps and clocks for those two things while on standby and under heavy usage (gaming).
Oh, also what do I need to use to see the clock and the temps of the CPU. I use GPUz to see the status of the GPU, but I don't know what to use to check the CPU (I'm fairly new about these kind of things).

Thanks guys

 

idle temp 54-55

max gaming (BF3 beta) temp 93

room temp 60-63

I'm guessing the temp goes too high?

BTW, does the gpu temp goes up whenever you use external monitor?

 

lower your voltage. I'm running mine at 1.0 volt (720/920) and the highest temp is 81C during the day and at night it 78C.

 

How do you lower voltage?

 

how do i get the gpu to idle at 100/150 instead of 250/900 when connected to an external?

 

You can't, unless you modify the VBIOS, but I assume it might be unstable or laggy at 100/150 and two screens. If you disable the internal display while you connect to an external then you should have the normal 100/150 at idling.

 

Well, i just turned off my my laptops monitor, the temps look like they're fine now, thanks.

just ran deus ex at highest everything, nothing has ever looked so good.

 

I recommend changing it to 250/150, saves some power and heat but still runs fine.

 

Umm, guys
do you know what would cause your card to show vertical lines, broken desktop or straight up stop when the card is used just a bit hard?
My card right now just works when I'm doing simple things. If I play a game it instantly locks up and shows vertical lines or screw up the display (left edge in the middle).
Is my card just dead?

 

Corruption is not good... what are your idle temps?

 

Here are my idle temps

obviously i couldn't get my temps during full usage

I'm really confused about what's happening, because there seems to be nothing wrong when it's under load.