Dead 980m and either cpu/mobo ideas? Precision M6700

Hi I've posted about this in a couple other places with not much feedback thought I'd try here.
1. Was playing a game and the laptop m6700 just cut out.
2. Got some visual codes of I think the volume bezel buttons and the power button lights all flashing continuously once I plugged it in again. Suspected the 980m.
3. Took out the 980m, looks like it had some resistors go out. I've not opened this thing for almost a year so I don't think it was no contact to the thermal pads, has worked fine.
4. Rebooted and it started up but the dates were from 2018 but it ran fine.
5. Mistake 1, took it apart again to look at it, put it back together. Upon bootup the gpu fan whizzed then I smelled some burnt, oh ship.
6. Upon trying to get it open, I noticed the sound of a stray screw inside the case, in my haste I must have dropped one or one got lodged in there while I was operating and had the bottom open.
7. Boot up, only thing that would turn on is the caps lock little light indicator. The power adapter light would go off and wouldn't come back on until I unplugged. It works fine with my lower end m4600.
8. Today I totally tore it down including io board and cpu, cpu looks immaculate, I can't find any indication of a burnout on the top of the mobo, I didn't take it all the way out to check the bottom though. I cleaned whatever looked dirty with alcohol, repasted, back together. Nothing, not even the caps lock indicator light goes on anymore. Power adapter little ring light goes off when I plug it into the laptop.
9. So it's either the mobo or cpu I can't think of what else would cause that. I don't have any other similar lying around, not even my m4600 cpu would work since it's the previous generation and I can't risk it anyways it's the only other computer I have and I'm not at home for a while.


10. Does anybody have any experience or ideas as to what's next as far as trying to fix it or diagnose it? I don't have access to any special tools.

-I can't even find a mobo for sale for this model atm, cpu I probably could but is it worth it? I've got everything for this exact model so it might be better to get the cheapest working one on ebay and move the superior parts over right? That would be $500 bucks cheaper than a new equivalent gaming laptop say 1060/70 even with getting another 980/970m.

 

As an update I tore down, took out the 980m again and started up, the power adapter light stays on now but the power button etc lights don't come on. The GPU fan runs for a few seconds then stops then sometimes get a buzzing/whine from what I think is the area where the gpu was, all in a loop. I put the gpu heatsink back in and covered all the surfaces where their was gpu contact, with electrical tape. I don't have another gpu to put in there. CPU fan doesn't come on. Sometimes the caps lock light comes on though.

 

....

 

LOL yeah this forum is more about opinions now than real help, when I first came here it was a lot better for this kind of help but of course the older the system the less people own it so less experience to be shared.

At least I can part it out and get almost all what the whole thing eventually cost me back from the cpu alone.

 

From my own experience it's very difficult to find the exact issue on those board, they are really complex, I once tried to fix a M4700 motherboard with no sucess, same for M6800 that ended up in a lot of hours and a new chipset (10$) to not be able to fix it, same thing a Latitude 3450... unless it's a burned component or something else that is "very early" in the power chain, you will loose your time (and your mind)

 

Yeah it's confirmed the gpu burned out since it had some crispy marks around the large resistors but it sucks the whole board or cpu going. I'm assuming the board. But once I sold old parts and got good deals on new used parts, like the 980m, it really didn't cost me more than about 300$ for the things that I can't just move to any other computer like hard drives. If everything else worked would have just thrown in a 970m.

So it's a wash once everything I can part out gets sold, or an appropriately priced barebones m6700 comes up on ebay to move everything over. For what people are asking for them and after buying and installing a lower tier gpu like a 970m it wouldn't be much more for a 1060 laptop and if you look hard and don't mind some defects a 1070 laptop.

 

I'm not complaining that's all I was really asking for was an opinion by someone who has had similar problems before, these things are not too common now anyways. Was looking at a alienware 17 R4 but wow only 2 regular usb ports etc these 17" precisions have 4 and I can mount 3, 2.5 ssd/hdd internally and an msata ssd as well. They are beasts for options/upgrades.

 

the ge 62 was similar 3 m.2 one hdd

 

usb most important for me as I have a few sata ssd's/hdd connect through sata2usb3.

 

by chance did you overclock your 980m? curious as I suspect overclocking is not harmless

 

no I didn't feel it was warranted I was totally fine stock on that card. I did heavily oc the previous card in there a k4000m never had problems. Really probably the vents could have used a cleaning is my guess since I had played top level games at med/high for a long time no problems.Game it died on was doom eternal lol, cpu or board was the unfortunate short from the stray screw :/

Edit: I forgot to put on msiab when I started the game for temp/perf monitoring, expensive lesson.

 

I got a used HP Omen 17.3", 7700hq, gtx 1070, 32 gb, 120hz 72% ntsc, 256gb ssd, 1tb hdd laptop as a replacement for my beloved m6700. $678 shipped. This time I'm damn well going to watch temps with msiab and make sure the vents are clean, repaste, lift the back of the laptop up when heavy gaming, in short be paranoid so this doesn't happen again.

I'm not too big a fan of the onboard gpu but mxm seems to be dying or the existing ones cost way too much for the performance you get out of them Vs cost. Getting a replacement m6700 would cost at least 300 bucks then a 970m around 200 bucks so 550$ with taxes and shipping for that level of performance, 980m when they are even available are even more. Or pay $128 more and get 1070 performance and i7-7700hq performance, 120hz 1080p screen, no brainer tbh. I think a 1070 laptop version is like 70% or more performance than a 970m and it's not the max-q version from what I gather over at notebookchecks review. https://www.notebookcheck.net/HP-Om...D-Laptop-Review.240856.0.html#toc-performance

 

Sold the cpu and paid for a good chunk of the m6700 from it since it was an extreme version which is still competitive with newer lower level cpus as far as passmark is concerned. Another thing that's great about replaceable component laptops, if that had happened on modern soldered on stuff almost the whole investment would have been lost. But that's what the greedsters want, buy another one and another one etc.

My new used omen 17, 7700hq/1070 was too good to be true, upon picking my user name, which is always some generic variation of "user" lol; I discovered that under normal typing pressure about 15 keys do not work. If I push really really hard almost banging, a lot of them will work but for the cost that's not acceptable. I play with only wired xbone controller on laptop gaming so I was able to work around it to get it gaming while I waited to get the return authorization. On the other hand I'm totally amazed by how good it looks at just 1080p high 120hz, mesmerizingly beautiful in HZD, RDR2, theHunter COW etc It's jaw dropping to me how amazing 1440p and 4k would be, never had anything like that or played at those resolutions, but it's in the future budget for sure lol

 

Not worth it to buy a new keyboard?

 

From this yt video in the comments, (he doesn't actually show it in the video), I'd actually have to break rivets, use glue etc just to replace the keyboard since it's not meant to be replaced, ridiculous on such an expensive machine! Of course I'd have to take out a lot of what's below it too. My guess is this was used for competitive gaming since the guy left most of his documents folder intact with wow and other such online games folders. The LAN input is well worn.
No way for what I paid, there's too much chance to screw it up for a total loss, so it's going back. Going to be more patient and find another m67/68 barebones then just accept lower spec gaming with the included card which is likely a quadro kxxxxm look for good deals on 970/80, mxxxxm cards later.

 

Yeah I'm in the same boat. Bought a gs63vr 8re and it has fans that commonly go on the GPU side...and after owning it for 2 weeks the fan went bye bye. Then after getting one of the GPU fans fixed the cpu fan went a week later...just hoping it will not happen again with the generic fans replacement.

Very frustrating also after buy an oculus quest that I still love...two months later a vastly superior quest 2 came out...also my mini van seems to have a 900 dollar repair waiting every month..last three months spent 2700 on it...very frustrating indeed

 

Wow sounds like you have a lot more to deal with then I do, at least it was just the fans and not something more serious like my m6700. At least I can just return the Omen bc I don't buy junk, I went through this with at least 2 other precisions last year, how hard is it for the seller to check normal use of a $xxx machine they are selling? sheesh it's not brain surgery! If the seller is upfront about problems, prices accordingly then I'd have no problems at all but seems to be hard for some. Fans couldn't really be predicted though if they were working when you got it. My m4600 is a jewel but just not for gaming and heavy CPU tasks. But normal CAD, light gaming and normal use it's fine. VR yeah you need a good machine, not my thing I'm old enough that I need to be moving away from gaming not deeper into it lol Good luck with all that dude.

 

Look, tell me if I'm crazy but I'm actually thinking of keeping this omen, a way around the keyboard is an external one. Some keys do work as well. It also has a failing battery but a huge beast like this I would never use unless it's plugged in, it's really all about the gaming and some cad but that's mostly my m4600. But for the full 1070 mobile version, 32gb ram,17" 120hz screen, 256gb nvme, 2 TB hdd I really just can't beat that price anywhere $678 all taxes and shipping paid. There's the risk it could die and be a total loss though. I've got til the 27th to put the return label on and ship it back.

I was looking at a brand new hp pavilion with a 1650 4gb card, 15.6", i5-9750h, 8gb ram for currently able to pickup in local walmart for 589$+tax. Return period of 15 days only starts, since it's near xmas, dec 26, so I could use it for over a month before deciding to take it back to walmart for a full refund too. A 1650 is equivalent, +10% to a 980m afa games per notebookcheck in games benchmarks. But a 1650 is way below a 1070 and that's what I really needed a large screen for is games.

Currently m6700's are around 400$ and a 980m would be over 200$ so there's $600 right there without shipping and taxes. I could sell the quadro they come with get back maybe 60 but that's it on scavenging return.

So far I've had no gaming problems with the omen on hzd, rdr2 etc it's just the keyboard and the bad battery per hp diagnostics. Thoughts?

 

i say keep the 1070 laptop and use a external keyboard..look over it though, i suspect water was spilled on it and you could have a damaged motherboard...if your thinking a 980m or 1650 is enough it might be worth it to go for a new 1650 laptop depends on how many old games you will be playing vs new and i dont know that yet.

 

Yeah it's really the screen size/specs and the 1070, the rest I don't need really or could get much cheaper. My plan is to keep it right up until a couple of days before I have to ship it back, on the 27th, and see how it goes. I play everyday for a couple hours or more. I play a mix of new and old games but I'm totally fine with medium or mixed settings on new games, 60fps vsync would be fine but with adaptive vsync even lower is ok. That's what the 980m could push out close to 60fps in the AC games/RDR2 etc anyways. I'm still playing AC origins and odyssey but don't have plans for valhalla or any new far cry tripe.

With this new system I got into HZD and it looks amazing, but I keep it and rdr2 etc at adaptive 60fps as to not push the hardware too much. WRC/Dirt Rally games here and there. theHunter COW is very beautiful and relaxing and scales amazingly, while still looking great. It would be awesome to go back to older games and max them out for a replay like Fallout 4, TW3, Arkham Knight, Dark Souls 3, Sekiro, INFRA, GTAV etc. I replayed all the GTA games since Vice City last summer and had a blast. I still play Alan Wake here and there tool. The only plans for new games are Death Stranding, Cyberpunk and the Resident Evil series. RE is pretty scalable looking pretty good on the 980m, no idea about Death Stranding. I expect cyberpunk to be a mess to begin with like TW3 was, it would crash every 30 mins for me until the 1.08 patch and still has to be turned down for the final battle to not crash last time I played that part of the game. CDPR isn't really good at optimization/scalability imo.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/GeFor...-GTX-1650-Mobile_7364_5964_9828.247598.0.html

 

i mean if your ok with 40 vs 60 i say go for the new laptop

 

Hm I'll think about that over the next couple weeks while I'm using the omen,thx

 

I actually think this was appropriately priced at 600$ bc from ebay research most of these with 1070 gpu's go for 800-1000. For what I paid what I am seeing is a 15.6" omen with a 1050ti which is below a 980m perf wise and 45% lower than a 1070 lol. It's just that the seller never mentioned the bad keyboard, bad battery, not good. Battery if I wanted to do it would be 56$, wireless kbm $20, 76$+600=$676. Tax and shipping is common to all things on eb so not counted here. Still a good deal if I work around the problems. Battery I don't care about, kbm fine. 620$.

 

As an update I actually went and got the hp pavilion with an i5-9300h, 1650 15.6" at walmart, with the nov1-dec26 holiday returns the 2 weeks for laptops only starts on dec 26 so I can open it try it out and benchmark it in comfort. I can compare side by side with the omen until next week when I have to make a decision on the Omen or stick the return label on it and send it back. I like 17" for gaming though. The games I play that are benchmarked on notebookcheck it looks fps med/high settings will be slightly better on the 1650 than the 980m. I mean the wireless kbm is fine but I'm just not sure about longevity and if anything else will fail besides the keyboard and the battery on this thing. Could end up returning both and in the meantime looking for another m6700 barebones at decent pricing then sticking an $80 Tesla M6 in there for the same performance as a 980m per passmark. I'm playing only heavy games on the Omen so as to put it through it's paces, no problems so far. The upgradeability of the m6700 is a major point for me, if one major component fails I can just replace it, not the whole computer like the modern soldered on stuff. Or if I want to move on it makes sense to sell the working components like the CPU, GPU and get pretty much the whole price back.

 

1650 card is nice for high 1080p....afterall we play the game with the graphics not the graphics in a game

 

well said. Like most games once I tweak it it would get near 60 on newer games. FYI passmark 1650 was 6207 6515 second run, for 1070 it was 11,500 lol 7700hq was 6367, i5-9300h was 8470. Since cpu is so important for fps it's a plus. Will be testing in game the pavilion later.

 

What's the refresh rate of your screen

 

60hz, but the brightness is very low on this compared to omen, 1650 gets 6615 max perf setting ncp, close to the 6970 of passmark. 1070 gets 11904 3rd run.That's a whopping 80% more performance wow. But the omen has a 120hz screen but I limit to 60fps vsync so higher is irrelevant.

 

1650 is decent for med-high 1080p settings. I downgrade to 900p for better fps not too noticeable on 15" screen though. Had a difficult time getting RDR2 to go fullscreen on vulkan but dx12 more buggy can't change the graphics settings without a weird slowdown that pretty much forces a task manager quit. Nice little computer very small compared to m4600 and tiny to omen. Cleaned with alcohol a couple of omen keys but not much luck, still have to bash them, read somewhere it's most likely corroded contacts underneath not fixable really. 1660ti laptops not too bad compared for price, 1060 even less but 25% less perf than 1070 on 1060. Target was roughly same as 980m or better if the same price to get that back, around $500 w m6700/980m. Will test all weekend then either keep or ship back omen. Pavilion I have until Jan 10 but I'd take it back earlier if I do so.

 

Gonna clean more keys today on the omen, really helped with the M key. Alcohol swabbing, blow out, toothbrush etc worth a shot, otherwise I need to get it to the post office early this week before thanksgiving. Pavilion is most likely going back, I can live with a k4000m(765m perf) or k5000m(880m perf) at 200 bucks less in an m6700/6800 for a while. I played for hours on the omen yesterday RDR2/HZD/thehunter and I've had this since early November with no problems gaming. So if I can improve the keyboard so it's more usable then I'll probably keep it. If a lot of typing the wireless kbm is fine just have to lug it around w the laptop.
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Got some improvement for sure after cleaning more keys but I'm just not convinced this is worth almost 300$ more than an m6700 to me. Gaming is the only huge improvement that this offers, about 4x what your typical m6700 comes with stock. 120hz screen is irrelevant since the 1070 can't push out close to that on aaa newer and even older games. Games I don't play sure like online based low spec stuff. I don't mind mid to low range 1080p or 900p or even 720p playing at 60fps or close to it. It's going back along with the wireless kbm I bought just for it.
Gonna use the pavilion until I can get a used m6700 I want. Then pavilion is going back as well.

 

update just got an m6700 i7-3940xm, 32gb ram, k4000m, 500gb hdd and charger. It's in mint condition like my last m6700. The quadro k4000m I could get back about 65$ total from a resale. $412 all sh/tx paid. 412-65=347. Add in a tesla m6 for 90 total for 437$ total. Omen with the wireless kbm was 698$ total. $261 saved. Passmark of the gtx 1070 was ~11,600, passmark for tesla m6 about 7300. Close enough for my needs.

resell old spare charger for m6700 35$ back, then sell two of the 8gb sticks in new one for 47$ total back, stick in 2x of the 4gb sticks in new one for 24gb installed. Also sell 1080p screen from old m6700 for 35$ back. Resell last two 4gb sticks I have for about 30$ back. other odds and ends from old m6700 $50 total back. total back of around 150$. total cost w tesla m6 would be 437-150=287$. or wait til 980m comes up for total of $250 then total with 980m would be 347+250-150=447$ for m6700, 3940xm, 980m, 24gb ram. $251 saved for 980m level over 1070 level.

 

now thats what I call frugal. the 980m is still a beast and there really is no need for anything higher if your gaming mixed settings like a smart person and aiming for a 60fps

 

Lol yeah I can get into a state like that sometimes, should have been an accountant rather than engineer. I'm in a precarious position atm bc, well 2020, so I'm being a lot more frugal than usual. Next year when I'm in a better situation I'll see about getting a 980m but for the time being an oc'd k4000m like I had a in 2018 would work.

 

yeah sometimes its funner pushing a lesser part than simply hitting max setting on a top end part and for that reason I never buy the best and as far as money goes I blew 20 000 on nothing and could have easily bought a 2080 super max p laptop instead I settled with a 1060 laptop which is equal to your 980m

 

Yeah I've seen some pretty good deals if you're willing to compromise or don't have crazy expectations like 120fps+ on modern AAA games. I saw a gtx 1080 laptop for around 1200$ buy it now, which is a really good deal, sure no ray tracing but everything else it would kill. Auctions are even lower. This Omen is a good deal it's just that I need to compromise for a while, I've seen what I can run on my ancient Firepro M4000 and the K4000m OC would double or triple that so I'd be ok.

 

I sent back the omen today, I have to admit I had to think about it even now that my m6700 has shipped to me. Keyboard got better after cleaning but was still hard to use when typing a lot, bad battery, noticeable screen light bleed, etc was just too much. Saving a week and halfs rent also helped in the decision lol I've got the pavilion for over a month before I have to take it back for a full refund and that gives me pretty good mid-high mixed settings for 1080p good enough for the time being. It will frankly suck to game on the k4000m but if I wanted I could sell it and get about 65 back and then try out a tesla m6 for 90, so only about 25$ to go from 2109 passmark to 7300 passmark lol I was able to get close to 870m ~3400 perf when OCing the k4000m in 2018 probably try it again.

Next year when hopefully things are better I could get a higher end system or the same system, with a working keyboard etc, for same or cheaper price. With the rtx 30xx series hitting laptops next year there should be even more downward price pressure on 10xx gaming laptops. Auctions are usually pretty good too. From what I saw a 1070 laptop would do just fine for me for a long time.

The m6700 is not designed as a heavy gaming laptop and this was a factor in the 980m dying out because I always dialed it down from what games selected automatically. So a dedicated gaming laptop would be better. I can see as a mechanical engineer who's done some thermal cfd work on server systems, that the thermal solution of gpu/cpu soldered on the same board is most likely proven better for longevity. I see a lot are using it now, alienware, hp and others.

 

games dont get funner with higher graphics settings, you will be just fine it sucks your old laptop died but be glad at least you have something. I have a 1060 laptop that has fan bearing that keep going....the model should be recalled but msi is greedy...I hope someone sues them...crooked business practices of releasing flawed systems with no solution.

 

Wow that's surprising MSI is pretty respected in gaming everyone uses afterburner. Aren't replacement fans pretty cheap used on ebay? Just grab another one unless you got it fixed already. I know you're into VR and I'm surprised you would go for a 1060 though, seems low for VR, but I don't have any experience with that. You could sell it and probably get most of your money back once fixed I would think. From what I've seen cruising ebay for gaming laptops lately it seems that people pay crazy prices for some specs they get. I've seen 1060 laptops for 6-700 bucks or more so depending on how much you paid for it it might be a good resell.

 

im not interested in the latest and greatest but I have a oculus quest and it does everything I want without a laptop. half life alyx is why a bought it and that game looks the same on all low vs ultra litterally. so the 1060 was good enough.. if I went for the gs66 2080mq laptop I would be happy but I dont see the need.. I just about bought a alienware m15 with the 2070 and changed my mind I was seconds from buying it from bestbuy but thought what do I need that for. what games look and play better with the 2070 (all games) but am I happy with a 1060 and 8th gen i7. Its a really hard sell when all games well alot of the good aaa games are all ports its kinda depressing tbh. I remember games coming out for pc and looking like 10 times better than anything on kiddy consoles and well times have changed...

 

Ah that makes sense it works for what you want to play at the settings you want. Best buy only gives you 2 weeks to try it, Walmart the same but the holiday extended returns really give you a chance to try it out between nov1 and jan8 so there's little risk if you're careful not to damage it. Yeah seems like all top games are console ports lately and the indie games on steam don't require much usually. My first dedicated card was the 8800gt back in the day lol, last console was xbox360 just for GTA4.

 

I think my first true gaming card was a 7800gtx but I returned the laptop after a week(it was for half life)...the first laptop I kept was a hd 2600

 

I forgot that another cheapy way to bring down cost would be to sell the 3940xm cpu and get like a 3740qm for about $100 turnaround. Sold my old 3940xm cpu and got back about $160. From the dell service tag the seller gave me it looks like it's a 3d vision screen so that's a bit rare and exotic as well so we'll see. May be more feasible to sell the m6700 for way more than what I paid for it. A lot of sellers just don't know what they are selling really. Arrives Monday.

The Pavilion does pretty much what I'm fine with for 1080p gaming. RDR2 if I set the slider to the middle level "focus on performance" setting gives me 60fps almost all the time and it looks great. HZD is a pretty noticeable visual downgrade from the 1070 though, not a very well optimized game but not one I'm going to play much more of if at all after campaign and dlc. I'm hoping cyberpunk is well optimized and scalable.

 

Yeah I'm going to take a step back from gaming as prices are just crazy for what you get, hate to say it but I made a mistake with the omen 17. Gaming is important to me as a hobby right now and was worth the money, other than having to use an external keyboard it was a great deal 600+tx+sh for a 1070 17" etc is just unbeatable from looking on ebay. People pay more than that for 1050ti/1650/1060 laptops. Prices are crazy on ebay for laptops, better buying new when there's a good deal like holidays, warranty, new equipment etc Pavilion 1650 plays fine and I'm just going to finish cyberpunk on it and then take it back. For the price and specs brand new it's also a really good deal, I've seen the same computer on ebay go for MORE than I paid new at walmart. There's an omen 15 with the same cpu, gpu, ram, ssd for 200 more on ebay, crazy. I plan on OC'ing the k4000m that comes with the m6700 up to 870m level, like I did a couple years ago before getting a steal on a 980m, and getting by with that until things are better for me financially.

 

dude get a 1060 laptop for 500

 

can you point me to where that is though? This 1650 laptop new was 589.

 

if thats the case i say not bad...but im positive you can find a 1060 1650ti laptop under 600

ASUS TUF Gaming 15.6" Laptop Intel Core i5 8GB Memory NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti 256GB SSD Black FX506LI-BI5N5 - Best Buy

little more

ASUS TUF FA506IU-MS73 15.6" FHD IPS 144Hz Gaming Laptop - Newegg.com

 

Personally you should stay away from the ASUS TUF because they're known to have bad thermals as ASUS made some cutbacks to keep the price low

A 1660ti will have similar performance as the GTX 1070 and since its the holiday season you can easily get a good deal for one, even ones with the RTX 2060.

 

his budget is around 700 though\

i5 and amd should not thermal throttle

 

I see

I still think he should increase his budget a bit. His current 1650 laptop will have similar performance as a GTX 1060.