m15x graphics card prob - gray screen

Hello all... posting b/c im having a problem w/ my gfx card (8800). basically if I load up a game (pretty much any game), it starts running and 2 min later, the screen goes gray and the computer freezes.

at 1st, i though it was b/c of overheating, so just now i upgraded from x32 to x36 bios. i loaded up left4dead (w/ rivatuner on) and 2 min later, i got a gray screen and it froze (at around 75c, so not overheating).

not quite sure whats going on... for a while things were running fine... it seems like this problem came up out of the blue.

anyone know what the problem might be? im especially befuddled b/c it was working fine before and all of a sudden it is not working.

fyi, im running win7 rc1 and running stock aw nvidia drivers 176.37 (never upgraded b/c never modified inf files and such... dont even really know what that means).

any help would be great... thanx!

btw, what happened to the subforum search feature that used to be next to 'thread tools'?

 

What kind of temps are you seeing when you are gaming ?? If you do not know, try downloading and installing a program named HWMONITOR. Let us know. God Bless

 

i mentioned it in the op... around 70 to 75 (using rivatuner)

 

Sorry I missed the temps in your original post. Almost sounds like the graphics card is bad. You can try updating your video drivers to the latest one and see if that helps. I am guessing your laptop is out of warranty ??? Let us know. God Bless

 

put your graphics card in the oven, lol

 

Try the 182.50 drivers or the nvidia 179.48x64, 179.48x86(no moddifed inf to mess with, just run the installer). They may say vista x64 but it will work for win7x64.
Just to let you know the 185 and the 186 drivers for some reason do not work with the m15x(I am starting to think it has to do something with the intel chip and it trys to install a hybrid driver).

 

Not sure if it'll help you, but I'm having a similar problem (only much more advanced) and I've been trying to work it out in this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=386761

I hope some of the advice I got will help you somehow. Basically I'm to the point where I need to install a new driver, but my machine won't even stay unfrozen for long enough when using the 8800m gtx to do that anymore. So if that doesn't work I don't know what else to do.

Also a friend suggested that it might be a memory clock issue in the gfx card and that would explain the temp. (as temp is monitored from the gpu core, not the memory).

*Edit: Haven't seen a post here in a while, have you managed to make any headway on your problem yet?

 

Thanx for the help everyone!

Im going to try the following in this order... if anyone has any feedback on what else I can try, I'm all ears!

1. downgrade and upgrade video drivers
2. unseat and reseat the gpu... make sure nothing looks 'off'
3. bake it

If this doesn't work... well im all out of luck i guess... i'll probably have to buy a new card... anyone selling a 280M? =)

 

Only place I know (though my knowledge is quite limited) to get a gtx 280 is rjtech. http://mivasecure.abac.com/rjtech/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=R&Category_Code=OTHER

 

well, looks like updating the drivers worked (to 179.48 nvidia drivers). ran furmark for 20 min w/ temps maxing at 100 to 101. played tf2 for 30 min, l4d for 15 min and everything was ok.

played crysis for lie 2 min and the thing crashed but in a different way... i think it might be something else.

anyways, thanks for the help guys!

 

Good to hear you might have gotten it fixed - keep us updated though if it wasn't a long term fix. 100-101 o C seems too hot to me. Are these temps that you ever experienced before you started having your problem as well?

I suppose I'm just a bit concerned because when I originally started having a similar problem, it got better for a bit after changing drivers, then started getting worse again - I hope you have a different experience than me.

 

oh really? hmmm....

while the 100 to 101 also seemed high to me, i don't know if there is anything that can be done about it... i ran thermofan at the same time, and with the fans at full blast (around 5600 rpms or whatever) it only cooled to 100. if the fans ran faster, it could probably have dropped.

now that you mention it, maybe this is a bit weird. back in the day when the m15x 1st came out, a lot of us were having gpu downclocking issues that subsequent bios updates helped with (adjusting fan timing). when i ran furmark back then, i would see temps climb to around 95 and then the fans would kick in and drop the temps. this would happen in a cycle, so the graph kind of looked like a 'wave.'

how fast are the fans supposed to go?

 

Didymus, you were right... after about a week of usage, i started having the same problems again.

At this point, I've tried 3 different sets of drivers, unseated the gfx card, tested memory, gpu, etc. It really looks like I have a dead gfx card.

I'm gonna try the oven trick... if this doesnt work, i guess i'll have to purchase something new. =(

 

You had better be sure that your graphics card is faulty before you try the
oven technique becuase more likely than not this will permanently damage your card and of course void any warranty if you are still covered by one.

 

Hey, not sure if you ever tried the oven trick but if not, I'd still recommend it (I've been travelling for more than a month and have fallen behind). I got my 8800m gtx working again by doing it. It runs a bit hot now, but with a laptop cooler it's not an issue, and it hasn't had any other problems since.

 

ive had a similar problem. figured its over heating. replacement is 500 plus bucks. gonna try to use new arctic silver paste, doesnt look like there is any damage to the gpu.

 

This is what I did to my 8800 three months back and it brought it back to life!

Good luck, let us know how it goes...

 

My Thinkpad had these symptoms. lenovo replaced the LCD for me.

The thread is a bit old. Hopefully it's resolved by now.

 

thanx guys. since this thread, i figured out that the prob was the gfx card all along. Since then, i've baked it twice and both times it has worked. unfortunately, the baking is a temporary solution (as i have to bake it a 3rd time now...)

its the old g93/g94 nvidia bad solder issue on the 8800m gtx'es. at this point, im probably going to buy an ati gfx card as didymus has done. i see 8800m gtxes on sale on ebay and stuff, however, i do not want to go through all this again. thanx again everyone!

 

so,,, we have to bake the gfx card? seemz like i can run the onboard just fine, but right when im instaling the dedicated gpu drivers. BAM. black screen. . cant do nothing reboot/safemode uninstall drivers revert to onboard. should i do