P-7811FX still locking up with 177.92 drivers

Noobie here just got my P-7811FX. Have about a dozen games. ALL would lock up within 10-20 minutes on the factory driver.

Tried using the 177.92, 176.37, 176.15 drivers but they are no help - laptop still locks up under any game.

I'm running out of ideas. Spent the last 3 days reading through the posts here and testing but I just can't get this **** thing to work. Gotta take this one back to Best Buy.

For those that have a WORKING UNIT (out of the box) that does NOT lock up, could you please post your driver version here.

Hope somebody out there can help me out!!!

 

What are your temps? And I'm running 177.92 IIRC. I'll check it when I get home.

 

I'm using xFaster Drivers, those from that Japanese guy/page, and a modified INF. I can play Gears (which is the only game I have ATM) with all settings on HIGH, except the resolution, which I have it at 720p if I recall right.

I can play for 1 hr straight with no lock ups, the lock ups only has happen when I have the game running and then I start sending voice messages throught Windows Live service to 360 owners. Besides that I can play with no problem.

 

sorry if im wrong, but shouldnt you be able to play for longer then that without lockups?

 

This is just a stab in the dark, but everyone that has done a full system restore, temporaraly relieved the lock up problems immediately after the restore. My guess is that the problem is either a software installation glitch or one of those nasty litltle programs that likes to update itself regardless of what you are doing at the time and is trying to install updates while you are playing a game , thus causing the gateway to lockup. Make sure windows automatic updates are off and Norton or Mcaffee updates are off, ect. ect... After you have done a full system restore load ONE and only ONE game( being disconnected from the internet thru this entire process) and see if a game still locks up.

 

P.S. I have screwed up 5 different laptops on a regular basis over the last 3 years, and found that by doing full sytem restore operations in conjuction with carefully retracing all sofware installation procedures, AND using Task Manager to try to see what programs are running silently in the background, you can usually pinpiont the source of your problems. Dont forget to re-boot your laptop after each and every software or game installation (one at a time) and check to see that everything is running as smoothly as it did prior to the installation. If there is a particular application that is suspect, you can create a pre-installation restore point prior to installing that program and would therfore only have to do a partial microsoft system restore instead of a full restore if it became apparent that program was the cause of your problems.

 

Once again (third time is the charm?) I'll suggest that anyone who can tell the business end from the handle of a screwdriver is competent to check the memory in the 7811 by simply removing one stick, seeing if it still locks up, then swapping sticks and testing again. 2GB is more than enough memory for most games on Vista, and these lockups sound suspiciously like memory errors to me.

Fulltilt makes good points on the software side, but if it ain't the software then it's the hardware and memory is the first place (and the easiest) to check.

 

Can you try down clocking your gpu to say 8800mgts speeds (or even lower) and gaming?

 

Also, there was a MS Update for Vista SP1 that was supposed to improve performance and stability with nvidia based cards. I posted it in one of the 7811 threads and now I'm too lazy to find it. Good luck...

 

Folks, I purchased one of these laptop last Friday (9-19-08) from Bestbuy in Carolton, TX. I took it home - loaded up Supreme Commander on it - and it froze after about an hour of gameplay. Loaded World of Warcarft - froze after about 30 minutes. Reloaded the Vista 64-bit OS - same result. Reloaded the Vista 64-bit OS using the drivers off of Gateway's web site - same result. Re-seated RAM - same result. Installed Vista 32-bit with drivers from Gateway's web site - same result. Ran 3DMark Vantage with Hotfix 1.01 - locked up after about 15 minutes consistently. Ran 3dMark 05 (which is DirectX 9) - same result after 15 minutes. I even tried disabling hibernation (which makes no sense at all to do - but I tried it anyway - hibernation would only make sense if somehow the system was thinking that the system was dormant and was to go into hibernation mode - which of course would be a but in Vista if that were to happen while you were in a game) and it did not help. I also witnessed a lockup while running the default Vista screensaver after I walked away for a bit. So - I called Gateway. (Actually chatted with them on-line first and wasn't told anything other than to re-load the Nvidia driver - the chat was not helpful at all) and made my way to level 2 support. I can not believe what they told me. They stated that they had NO record of ANY issue with the P-7811FX notebook at all. They claim that NO-ONE has contacted Gateway to complain of this issue, nor have they seen ANY notebook returns for this model where the issue was a full lockup. The ONLY thing they could do was to replace my notebook - which I refused since this issue is systemic and so there is no confidence that replacing it will fix it. The chances are high that a replacement will exhibit the same issue. (And in fact this was reported in this forum that some people had to replace their notebooks numerous times before they got one that worked.)

Folks - it is very important to understand these lock-ups and to also make sure we are all talking about the same kind of lock-up. When my laptop freezes, the CPU itself is halted. I know this because the num-lock and caps-lock keys don't change the status lights on the keyboard. The interupt to handle those lights is usually able to run even if the OS is somehow frozen. This is a great test to do when overclocking to see just how far you are pushing your hardware. If the computer freezes but you can turn off and on the status lights for num-lock and caps-lock, then your CPU is actually still running. If you can't turn those lights on and off, then the chances are 99.9% that the CPU itself is halted - which can mean a much more serious issue - usually heat related.

Now - in order to try and figure out which component is faulty, I ran Prime95 to see if the CPU working hard would cause a freeze. It ran fine for over four hours before I killed it. This points the gun right at the 9800 GT GPU. My guess is that there is a bios updated required of the 9800 GT, or that there is more work to do on the driver - but since there are at least two known version of the driver that I tested that had the same issue, I have to say the issue is bios related - and if not then it's a systemic issue with the 9800 GT.

It is interesting to note that running the notebook doing things like Web Browsing, emails, etc. for hours don't cause the notebook to freeze - only when the GPU is stressed at all does it freeze. I never got around to putting a temperature reporting tool on the notebook, but I can tell you that when the notebook froze I was able to touch the bottom of the notebook with no problems - it was only warm.

I really don't want to return this notebook - and if I do return it I don't think I will take the chance on another one - not after reading the stories in this forum (or the reviews posted at BestBuy.com). But I do want to make one more stab and trouble-shooting this issue.

If people that HAVE running notebooks that can happily play for hours on end could please answer the following questions, it would help a lot:

Which Nvidia Forceware version are you running?
Which Video BIOS version is your GPU at? (Nvidia control panel, bottom left click 'System Information', under the Components section you should see all this information.)

It would be great if people that ARE having this issue will also respond.

I am running Vista-32 bit right now, and for me:
ForceWare version: 176.15 (<-- from Gateway's web site)
Video BIOS version: 62.94.37.00.13

The bottom line here is that there are WAY to many people reporting the exact same issue with this notebook - if Gateway is really shipping these things out the door with this many defects it would be another reason for me to return it. It amazes me that Gateway claims that no-one else is reporting these issues.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated! I am going to try and contact Nvidia directly on this . . . . .

 

Where do you get the Video Bios version info from? I will post my findings, and see if I can help.

 

Hope it helps.

 

Where do you get the Video BIOS Version from? I will post my findings and let you know. I am still in the testing phase on mine and will report back more as I continue to test. Running Vista 64 with the loaded video driver from the factory and it's running bios ver 9C.08.00 .

 

Appreciate the feedback man!

I went through 5 out of 5 Gateway P-7811FX units from two different BB stores in my area - ALL HAD THE SAME PROBLEM and all needed to be returned because they would lock up 5-20 minutes into any game I tried. I've been looking around at other stores but have yet to get my hands on a unit that works!!!

This model is nothing more than a lemon. I'm amazed at folks who supposedly have working units out-of-the-box. But I'm even more surprised Gateway has failed to admit that SO MANY of these are being RMA'd.

 

Did you monitor heat with software? It's hard to believe 5/5 without being something specific to what you are doing. You know ... first blame the user.

Maybe you got into the Chinese New Year batch.

 

It wasn't the temperature because I would start the unit up cold - the bottom never even got warm after only 5 minutes. Drivers failed to cure the problem even though I tried many different versions. Reinstalling the OS didn't help either.

I've got about a dozen games, old and new - NOT ONE would work on either of the 5 units I had tested.

Yeah, it's nice to blame the c/k interface, but when a dozen games fail to run on 5 units with 3 different video drivers the blame falls squarely on HARDWARE.

I would be inclined to write a nice letter to the CEO of Gateway. The P-7811FX is an enticing product with cool specs and a bargain price. What you end up taking home though is a d@mn lemon.

 

@Luscious - if you still have a unit and are willing to fool around, someone claimed good experience not installing the Intel chipset drivers. You might want to give that a shot. Why this would be the case on one machine and not others is mysterious.

 

Running Win XP 32 bit
Vid drivers 177.92
Vid bios 62.94.37.00.13
IRQ 16
Bus PCI Express x1 Link Width <--- does this sound right?
BIOS 9C.05 7/10/08


No crashes running Counterstrike Source. Haven't tried other games except maybe Diablo II (I doubt this would freeze the machine).

 

You went through FIVE!!!! Wow - so I am on one and about ready to call it quits. I even contacted my Visa card issuer and made sure they knew about this - if BestBuy tries to charge me the 15% restocking fee I they are ready to back me up - or so they claimed. Hope I don't have to find out.

I am able to successfully reproduce the issue running 3DMark-Vantage. It costs $19.95 ( www.futuremark.com) but is WELL worth it not only to save yourself a 15% restocking fee, but it's sure pretty to show - might even get me a new girlfriend! I haven't been able to get 3DMark-Vantage to run for more than 15 minutes even just after booting after letting the laptop get to room temp.

3DMark-05 has a 'free' version that is also purty to look at - but the free version only does up to 1024x768 tests - and my poor sick little lappy did make it through two runs of that. 3DMark-Vantage set to 'extreme' mode is what tips it over all the time.

I also wanted to make another little observation - with Vista especially - if it WAS a driver version, shouldn't we get the blue screen of death or some other managed error message rather than a freeze?

And in all honesty, I think it not too much to expect from ANY hardware that unless you have a bunch of cat fur stuck to the fans that it just shouldn't 'freeze' from too much work.

Thanks to everyone for your replies!!!

 

Thanks for the reply! I also show the PCI Express x1 - not sure it that is good or bad. I have gotten it to freeze playing World of Warcraft (and yes - turned all the way up to 1920x1200 with all the bells and whistles). I have also run WoW on an IBM laptop with a peice of crap Intel 950 embedded graphics controller - and it's turned all the way up to 1440x900 and guess what - it DOESN'T FREEZE!!!!

Anyway - off to do more research . . .

 

Some "free" items I carry on my USB thumbdrive now to "test" the units:

1. Download GRID demo, run game at 1920x1200, set details all on max and play the Mustang race (3 laps). When the race is done and the replay is going, machine will lock up. It did on my 5 units EVERY TIME.

2. Download CRYSIS demo. It didn't even get past the video before mine crashed. Then it would crash at several stages through the demo. Settings were on HIGH at 1920x1200. Had some decent framerates and looked good though.

 

It's a GPU heat issue. I'm on my second Gateway laptop (first one had a n LCD issue) and ran 3DVantage for 12 hours straight (yes, I actually paid $20 for this horrible benchmark IMHO). No lock ups. To fix the "lock ups", prop the back of the notebook up with a book or something (at least give it an inch of clearance) and see if it still locks up. I have never bothered playing a game with the laptop sitting flat on the surface just because I know it won't last long. It's a good laptop. I'm tired of people pointing fingers left and right instead of using their brains to think about propping the back of the notebook up. IMHO, it's a minor design flaw as well as you're trying to cool an "enthusiast" (pulled from NVIDIA's website: http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_m_series.html) card with a single small fan. As well as remember, majority of NVIDIA GPUs run hot to begin with!

 

I am a bit taken back by your post. You are basically saying that the notebook is flawed - and that it's OK because it's an 'entheusiast' notebook - and we all should go ahead and prop up the back to allow proper cooling so that it doesn't lock up. Wow.

I really appreciate the fact that this notebook has a lot of power - that is why I am doing my darndest to get around this issue. However, if what you say is actually true - then it's definately not acceptabile to me. I bought a laptop to be a laptop - not be be an experimental enthusiast unit that I have to prop up to run properly. If I wanted something that high end it would definately be a desktop - but that is just my humble opinion.

I don't understand why are you tired of people 'pointing fingers left and right' as you say - I myself am tired of people settling for something that they ought not to - and that would be a notebook that has to be propped up in the back to run correctly.

With all that said, there isn't any evidence to show that this is heat related - when my laptop freezes it is only warm to the touch - if it's heat related then it would have to be an improper mounting of the cooling system to the GPU. That is another issue alltogether - and something that there is a solution for that doesn't involve carrying around a special prop-up thingy with me just so my laptop won't lock up.

There are a lot of posts that state they have fixed the issues through driver upgrades or downgrades, and a lot of people have stated that replacing the notebook fixed their lockup issue - and you are the first to suggest that propping up the back of the notebook will allow it to run without halting. I am in fact trying your solution right now. If the notebook runs fine propped up then it's definately going back.

The P-7811FX is a great deal - but in my humble opinion, no deal is worth having to deal with cooling issues that Gateway should have treated for. Maybe some of you are willing to look the other way on these kinds of issues - but to me $1250-1500 is too much to pay for that kind of flaw.

 

Let's face it laptops are hot and difficult to cool in such a compact space. This one is cooler than most, especially when one considers the high performance.

All laptops need to be handled appropriately to allow venting of heat. This is not a flaw ... it is common sense. That is my reading of what Eurasianman is saying.

 

First of all, my notebook has been running 3DMark-Vantage for about 2 hours now with no issues. In a bit I am going to remove the prop and lay it back down flush with the desk it is on - which seems to show that heat is at least a factor in what is going on.

However, I have to strongly disagree with the sentiment that any notebook should require it to be propped up to work. Common sense would dictate that colling would be an issue sitting on a carpet or maybee on a bed where the cooling system wouldn't vent well - and this would be something common to all notebooks. Sitting on a flat desk with no obvious obstructions to the airflow in and out of the cooling system on any notebook should be sufficient for any computing task. If it's not, it's a flaw. I don't believe there is any common sense notion that would expect anything different here - and again this is my humble opinion.

 

You're right DuVader. Noone should settle for something that requires a user to perform an action beyond "normal use". I personally believe that one should not "have to" purchase a laptop cooler just to have it function normally. Nor would I put up with having to prop up the rear of the notebook just so that it wouldn't overheat. If you bought a new car and it lists to the right would you deal with it and compensate by constantly having to steer to the left? I don't think so. I would bring it back and have them fix it. Fortunately for laptops, you can bring it back for an even exchange if there's a defect. And I definitely would say there's a defect if you can't run a number of games without it freezing.

Oh btw: I always wondered why the fan air intake is so close to the exhaust...

 

LOL I'm not saying it is right, I'm just saying that's the way it is. Poverty is not right, murder is not right and propping up your laptop is not right. But that's life.

 

Well, after running for over four hours (almost five really) 3dMark-Vantage with the laptop propped up (by the huge power brick ) the laptop never froze. I started another round of tests (I can't get 3dMark-Vantage to do more than three cycles - anyone know how to get it to do more?) I laid it back down on the desk and it froze in about 15 minutes.

So, heat is at least one contributing factor. The question is now, how to fix it? I am pretty certain this is the cause of most of these failures for not only me, but for most if not all of the people that have reported this issue. I pinged Gateway via phone, and was told simply 'There has been no reported issue with the cooling of the P-7811FX' and that I should send it back in to get replaced. So, Gateway is no help - and again there is absolutely no faith on my part that getting another laptop will fix this issue unless Gateway can tell me that in fact they did harden up the coolling system - thereby making some of the laptops out there trouble free. Unless that happens, I can't take the risk of replacing it - might work fine for a month and then crap out - which could happen if there is an issue with the heat exchanger on the GPU and the cooling system's heat pipes.

So - anyone out there know if there is a utility to control the fan speed on the P-7811FX? I am going to try Speedfan . . . any other ideas? Any thoughts at all at maybe putting in a healthier fan on the gpu cooling system to get around this? It can't need a huge tweak here - if proping it up about 1.5 inches from the desk allows the gpu to cool sufficiently, then this just might be something trivial to fix.

This is still a LOT of work to have had to go through for a laptop from a vendor that really should have done this work for me. More news and findings as I get them - and I greatly appreciate ALL feedback.

 

Can you run HWMonitor to find your max temp at lockup?

This might be due to some of the units cooling system not being installed as well as others. In your case it may be worthwhile cleaning the CPU and GPU and installing A5. Do not remove the pad from the NB. It may even be uneven pressure or inadequate contact of the heat sinks.

Others have claimed the lockups were not heat related but your experience makes me believe our heat suspicions were well founded in some cases.

 

Acronym check!!!!!

A5? NB?? I think I know what CPU and GPU means . . . . . - out finding HWMonitor right now . . .

 

Arctic Silver 5 is a thermal interface material used by a majority of overclockers for improved heat transfer. Be sure to apply it according to instructions on the Arctic Silver site.

NB is the North Bridge Chipset. The 7811 uses a pad and if removed the rigid structure of the Heat Pipe construction will not allow using A5 and maintain sufficient contact (the space left by the pad it too great). Keeping the pad in place and doing nothing with the NB is preferred. Both CPU and GPU would benefit from A5. Mine runs cool from factory so I have not yet bothered with improvements.

One thing I like about HWMonitor is it keep track of the max temp a component reaches for those times a benchmark is running and temp tracking can not be observed. Once a GPU stops the temps drop drastically and immediately so this max temp tracking is important.

 

The max temp tracking will work even in the event of a lockup? I am running a run of 3DMark-Vantage right now - the HWMonitor appears between benchmarks - I can get a peek at the screen - it shows temps at 145 F for the GPU. This is propped up. After this series is done, I will lay the laptop down, make sure max temp tracking is enabled, and re-run. Thanks for the help!

 

Yea if it locks and you can't get to HWM you are out of luck but still you will have enough non locked runs to get an idea of heat.

63 C is cool for GPU at load.

 

K - this is totally weird - laid down flat on a desk it is at 72C/161F. How does that temp stack up? A few other things I observed - the GPU fan did not run full tilt during the test - it kept cycling up and down - and - it appears that the airflow out of the left side of the laptop (I am pretty sure the GPU is vented out the left side and the cpu is to the right rear - please correct me if I am wrong) is directed a bit downwards. The intake for the fan is directly under the left side of the exhaust port and about an inch in. I wonder if the thing is sucking hot air back into the intake. Propped up the exhaust air is allowed to flow away from the laptop and maybe the intake is able to pull in cooler air. I am going to re-test after this by taping some paper to the bottom of the laptop to ensure that the exhaust airflow is directed away from the intake. I am re-running again propped up at the rear just a a check.

 

With a peice of paper taped to the bottom, I was able to lower the temp of the GPU down to 69C. I repeated the test twice, and re-tested without the paper - and it shot back up to 73C. This means that it is definately pulling in hot air from the exaust to try and cool itself. Now I am only doing one run through 3dMark-Vantage - and only the two first GPU tests - so I am not pushing it up to the point of failure - so I am not sure what the max temp actually gets to. Regardless, this is definately a design flaw. I have to determine if I am going to live with some kind of vent to ensure exhaust air stays away from the intake, along with some kind of prop up to get the bottom of the laptop away from the bottom of the desk it is sitting on. Obviously, propping up the back lowers the temp more than 10 degrees - so there is something also wrong with the way they designed the clearence of the intake ports off of a flat surface. I am thinking that finding some thicker rubber feet and replacing the stock ones might do the trick - along wiht a guide to re-direct air flow. I still haven't made up my mind yet if I am keeping this thing or not - it seems that it is turning into something that I really didn't want to buy in the first place.

Props to Eurasianman who turned me onto this line of thinking in the first place. I don't agree that this is something that I should have had to deal with, or spend this much effort to figure out - but it does appear that heat is the root cause of my issue. I have not had ONE lockup with the laptop propped up - and I have had lockups with the laptop laying flat on a desk surface. It would be interesting to see if this helps anyone else, or if anyone out there still gets a lockup even after doing the prop-up trick.

I really want to be an owner of this thing - but I travel for a living and I need a laptop that is good for work and play. This laptop might not be the one for me - but let's see how I feel Saturday when I get back home and I can replace it. Hey - anyone see the HP dv7 for $1499 at BestBuy???????

 

There have been 2 different "stick on removable" feet mentioned somewhere here that were cheap and effective.

You won't beat the spec. for price on this unit if you can live with it. Don't kid yourself, the others will not be perfect either.

 

As of right now, after playing cs: source for about 2 1/2 hours and letting the laptop sit idle for about 30 mins then check email and surf a little my temps with HWMonitor are:

Core 0: 33C
Core 1: 36C
GPU: 39C
HD: 52C

Right after playing cs source
Max CPU was in the lower 60C
Max GPU was 71C
Max HD was 55C

Hope that helps...

 

Another note I would like to make is this.

Gateway is part to blame for these lock ups (quality control issues) for not developing a more effective way of removing the heat from the GPU. Then again, this would explain how the laptop is "cheap" when compared to other gaming notebooks.

NVIDIA has been having GPU heat issues since the mobile GeForce 8 series for laptops. NVIDIA should have done a better job on developing a more efficient GPU for mobile notebooks. In a sense, I can see why ATi has yet to release a power GPU for the notebook segments. As it stands, IMHO, GPUs are the biggest heat sources in notebooks.

So, to DuVader, I understand you paid for a laptop to be able to perform without user modifications, but sometimes, it's not possible. My work computer that is a year old Dell Precision M90 has an GeForce FX 1500M (equivalent to the GeForce Go 7900GS) and I've been able to game on that notebook on a flat surface for hours. The GPU gets relatively warm, however, Dell did a good job designing the chassis (as well as heatpipes) that the notebook hardly ever freezes. But then again, the notebook costs $5K. Like mother always said, you get what you pay for. But in no way am I saying that the P-7811FX is a POS. It's a great notebook for a great price with great potential. If you bought your dream car and it had a minor flaw that required you to do something about it, would you take it back? I mean, let's say you got an extremely great deal on the vehicle. What would you do?

 

Under your tag line, it says you are running Window XP on your P-7811FX - is that true? Your temps are two degrees cooler than I was able to measure - and I am sure that mine gets hotter. If I were to push it to failure than I wouldn't be able to see the temps - kinda a catch-22. And just to be clear - you are setting your laptop flush with the surface it is sitting on, or are you proping it up a bit? Thanks for the reply!

 

Settling for defects means that the manufacturers will never improve their products. Absolutely in no way, shape or form would I ever accept a 'dream car' that had a flaw. In fact, I would be MORE critical of the perfection of my dream car - not matter what the price. If I were to buy a 'dream car' with the preset expectation that it was a fixer-upper then that's a different story. This notebook is not THAT much of a better deal than others when you consider dealing with these issues, and in now way did I expect that it would be a fixer-upper. By not returning the notebook I am in effect telling Gateway that they don't have any issues - which means they won't fix them - which is not good for anyone. And I am being totally selfesh here - I should not have had to deal with troubleshooting this issue in the first place - Gateway STILL claims there is no issue. That is completely absurd and amazing to me that they think nothing is wrong.

I have never stated that the P-7811FX is a POS in any way - I have stated over and over that I wanted to find a way to keep the notebook. It is an awesome deal, but at the end of the day, the issues make the notebook an unattractive deal for me.

 

I played R6: Vegas 2 last night on a flat surface @ 1920x1200 with max settings (for the most part) and 35 minutes later, the GPU reached 98C, but the laptop never locked up. And this was playing it on a flat surface. Not sure if it would have gotten hotter had I played the game longer. It is possible that applying some better thermal paste between the GPU and heatsink might help the heat issue. I haven't tried yet and see no need to.

 

Ok - so I exchanged my unit. And this one IS different that the other one. The underside of this model is made in a way to allow air to flow into the intakes much better - and the GPU cooling system fan blows air at a much greater rate. Also, the DVD drive is a different model - and this one doesn't eject falsely just by grabbing the side of the notebook. The keyboard is also different - there is a raised circle on the Windows key - and the font used on the keys is different. Starting the testing now - but I would assume with the ability to pull in air at the bottom of the machine will fix the cooling issue - along with the seemingly more beefy GPU fan. Will keep you all posted.

 

Can you give us details on the serial number, bios version, driver version and GPU bios version? It seems you got a newer-built system than the ones I was working with.

 

Ran 3DMark-Vantage for about 1.5 hours - never got the GPU above 75C - and it never froze. There is definately a difference between this laptop and the one I returned. The biggest difference is the redesign of the bottom of the laptop allowing it to cool better. I would bet there are changes inside of the laptop as well. The fan doesn't spin up and down a lot as well.

 

Board: Gateway
Serial Number: P2888 010 05004
Bus Clock: 266 megahertz
BIOS: Phoenix Technologies LTD 9C.08.00 07/29/2008
HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-T50F [CD-ROM drive] (This is a different DVD drive than the other unit.)

The Nvidia BIOS is 62.94.37.00.13
I am running the 177.98 driver that I got from Laptop2go.com.

The highest temp I have recorded after hours of plaing (using HWMonitor from the folks at CPUID.com) is 75C. That is without propping up the unit, or my little paper trick to make sure that the GPU exhaust air doens't get pulled back into the GPU cold-air intake.

 

i have 177.98 and the weirdest thing is happening the game cut off only once at around an hour of playing(hopefully that was a one time thing because this never happened before) and it doesnt connect to my tv via HDMI anymore!!!

 

Did u uninstall the old nvidia driver using device manager and then make sure you completely removed the old drivers using Driver Sweeper?

Then u can install the newer drivers.

 

My serial is P2887 xx

 

Thanks man! Rep to you

One last question - the box inside that has the adapter and battery, what's the date on the white sticker?

 

I am traveling right now - I will check this as soon as I get back home for you.