p-7805u Recommended Power Supply

Hey everyone,

I have started getting the black screen problem with my p-7805u more frequently, and it happens randomly now, even when I'm not gaming. If I am gaming, it happens in like 10-20 minutes. This has been an ongoing problem for years now, but never this often and this quickly and I think the main culprit might be the piece of crap power supply I bought off of ebay. I think it was just a cheap generic that I bought, and not too long ago it overheated so badly that the plastic casing warped. I think since my laptop has so many external accessories hooked up to the usb ports and now has an overclocked x9100 chip, the charger cannot handle it.

I have noticed that most people on the forum, especially TANWare, have said that the Targus 180w is a good way to go, but since it no longer seems to be available anywhere, I was wondering if anyone knew of any other comparable power supply's compatible with the p-7805u.

Thanks in advance

 

Can I ask why you bought another power supply?

I'm not an expert in power supplies, but 120W should be the minimum, which comes with the laptop as default.

 

Sure. The original 120w power supply that came with the laptop ended up dying on me after a couple of years and I was forced to buy another one. The little green light on brick would flicker on and off, and the unit would work for a couple minutes, then stop, then start working again, then stop, and so on.

I've never really thought about what effect the psu has on a laptop, all I cared about was whether or not it was compatible with the p-7805u and ended buying a cheap $15 unit off of ebay, which in hindsight was probably a mistake. The brick is very small and becomes incredibly hot during heavy cpu use, and I'm starting to think it may be the reason my system keeps black screening. Based on comments made on the forum, I'm also starting to worry that it may end up frying some of my laptop's components.

 

I really doubt you would end up frying the components, a power supply only supplies the power needed by the equipment, if it cannot supply enough power then it will just fall dead (which i mean by it will try hard to but fail to), another lesson I learnt in life (yeah i'm doing this often now), you pay for what you get...mostly.

 

I have solved my black screen crashes during gaming by lowering my clocks: use your preferred overclocking tool (I use MSI Afterburner) and set your core clock lower than default. I would use MSI Afterburner especially since it has the "force constant voltage" option that has actually improved my overall stability over using Ntune or nothing at all.

For me I have found that Dota 2 only stops crashing on 400 core/ 500 mem / 1000 shader.

Skyrim on the other hand runs fine @ 550 core / 915 mem/ 1500 shader.

I never get black screen while browsing etc. so I would advise using the clocks for Dota 2 all the time.

Try it and let me know how it goes for you

 

Andros, so you have an X9100 but you aren't using Throttlestop to overclock it, instead you are using MSI Afterburner to underclock (is that a word?) the cpu?

Also, I read somewhere that you bought a 150w power supply. Can you tell me what it is and if you recommend getting it?

 

Targus Universal AC Power Notebook Adapter APA05US PA 1181 08 3 Connecting Tip | eBay

 

Thanks TANWare, just bought one. Hopefully the fact that it's used won't make any difference.

Also, do any of you have any tips on the steps I should take to keep my laptop from black screening? It seems to be happening now even when it's idling. I installed MSI Afterburner like Andros said, so should I uninstall Riva Tuner since the afterburner program says that it's powered by Riva Tuner? Should I stop using Throttlestop completely and just use MSI to lower the clock setting like Andros said? I just want to find the right mix of what will work.

Thanks guys

 

TS is for the CPU not GPU. Afterburner is a newer version of Riva Tuner, so you need not install that. Be sure though force constant voltage is checked.

 

I have an X9100 and I am using Throttlestop to undervolt it, running at stock clocks. Like TANWARE said, MSI afterburner is for the GPU. Try what I said in my above post and let me know if it worked for you. Buying a new Power Supply did not stop black screens for me, however it might for you.

 

I think once you get to the "black screens" a new brick is likely not to stop it. Even if it does the system is on its way out. if memory serves for some the brick stopped the problem but it did erturn after a while. What these systems need is the Targus 180w from the get go but even then there is no garenty you eventually will not end up with a problem system just that nit may come later than sooner.

 

Thanks guys. Hopefully the laptop isn't on it's last legs since I just spent about 200 bucks on the X9100 a few months ago, hoping to squeeze a couple more years out of the system. I don't remember if I flashed my bios to the one Andros had posted a while back but I'll try doing that, uninstalling Riva Tuner, using MSI Afterburner for the gpu, and see if the addition of the new power supply will stop the black screens.

Also, are you guys using the most recent nvidia drivers? I had updated to the most recent drivers but started getting the black screen minutes after turning on my laptop so I rolled them back to the drivers I was using before.

Thanks for all the help so far.

 

Right now I am using 310.90 drivers and loving them so far. I tried reverting to older drivers to see if the black screen issue would stop and it didn't work for me. Only thing that did it for me was lowering the clocks with MSI afterburner on the Core/Shader clocks. Still runs amazingly smooth, having a blast with DmC @1920x1200 ultra settings and Black ops 2 running on 1280x800 on a mix of ultra/high and low on after effects no AA.

 

So I tried using MSI Afterburner, and that didn't help. Also tried updating to the most recent nvidia drivers and that caused my laptop to start blackscreening immediately at the login screen. I was finally able to roll it back to the version I was using before.

I've now realized that the main culprit probably is the power supply. I keep my laptop plugged in at all times because the battery is drained in about an hour, but I noticed that when I'm using the battery, no black screen. When the power supply is plugged in, black screen within minutes.

Also, I just got the new Targus power supply, and I'm having the same issue. When I plug it into my laptop I hear a buzzing sound from the power supply brick, and then my laptop black screens within a couple of minutes. I don't know if I got a bad psu or if there is something wrong with my laptop. Should I try to exchange?

 

are you using a grounded plug outlet? if so also is the ground functioning properly?

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...langId=-1&keyword=outlet+tester&storeId=10051

 

I'm not sure. I'm using the electrical outlet next to my desk at home that I've always used. I'll try other outlets around the house and see if that makes a difference.

 

if the plug is a 3 prong from the wall it SHOULD be grounded. Does not mean it is, the best bet is get a tester as I've linked to. If the ground is ok and you still get a buzz I'd say there is an issue somewhere. I know mine has no issue, that is with or without load.................

 

bea0004a did you try lowering your clocks extensively through MSI afterburner? Try 400 core/ 500 mem and see if the black screens stop.

 

TANWare, I switched to using another outlet in the room and have (knock on wood) had no issues for the past couple of hours. The Targus adapter is no longer buzzing and my laptop is running fine and charging fine. I feel like an idiot because the outlet would have never occurred to me, since like most people with the p-7805u, I've been dealing with the black screen issue with varying severity since I bought the laptop a few years ago. I'll get a tester to verify, but I'm pretty sure that was the problem.

Andros, I ended up uninstalling MSI and reinstalling Riva Tuner because I thought making the change from one program to the other was contributing to the problem, but it looks like that wasn't the case. I'll reinstall MSI, but I kept having an issue where it won't let me save and keep the settings you posted. Whenever I try to change to 400 core/1000 shader/500 mem, it won't let me save and keep those settings and will change to 400 core/1500 shader/799 mem automatically. I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong but it happened every time I would try to make the change.

Hopefully the wall outlet was the issue, because I love this laptop and plan on using it for a few more years before getting another one. Thanks for your help guys.

 

Usually the house circuitry is the last issue. When it is usually a plug in the same room is not recomended as usually it is on the same circuit as well. Definately get the wirign checked out as if the groudn is bad in that one socket it could be bad elsewheer and actually can be very dangerous............

 

Strange, I never had issues with applying my clock settings. If you can't resolve the issue try doing a vbios flash, I wrote a guide on how to do that here http://forum.notebookreview.com/gat...-solution-nvlddmkm-video-crash-p-7805u-9.html

Just change the .rom clocks to 400core/500mem/1000 shader without touching anything else and flash the vbios.

 

So I flashed to the Bios you created Andros, and I tried to use the settings you posted for MSI, but every time I change them to 400 core/1000 shader/ 500 mem and hit apply, they change back to 600 core/ 1500 shader / 799 mem. Not sure what's going on.

I am also now thoroughly confused. My laptop lasts about 1 - 1.5 hours on battery, and while on battery I have no issues. But when I connect the power supply unit, I get a black screen within a few minutes. I have changed the electrical outlets I am using, but am having the same problem, and that's with the Targus 180 I just got. So either I got a bad unit from ebay (which I'm doubting) or there is some issue that causes my laptop to black screen when it is being charged. I have no idea what that issue may be.

 

When using battery the system will nto run the GPU at 3D timings or voltages. This causes a consistent underclock and undervolt situation. This is what is attempted by getting MSI to underclock the GPU. If you still get black screens you are at the point where between the power supply and more likely the bad ground you have too much trace voltage leakage within the chip. In other words it is now electronically worn out.

Now all hope is not lost but pretty well damaged. It COULD be the leak is also within the solder media of the packaging. In this case a reball may help by eliminating some of the leakage, This will not help leakage in the traces within the silicon though. If that is damaged too much then there is little to no hope and a reball will be a waste of time.

The only 100% garrenty of a fix is the P79 main board or another new P78 board. That is alot of work and can be expensive for the results. If you are to go this route though stay away from the P78 boards. You would only get back what you have with the 9800m and with a P79 you get the 260m. The 260m is 10-15% more of a GPU so being the one generation up you are at least getting a bit more life from the system.

 

Since replacing the motherboard with a p-79xx would cost several hundred dollars, I think that at this point it wouldn't be worth it, especially since the laptop is nearly four years old and pretty banged up and it would be smarter to just put that money towards a new machine.

I checked my outlets with a tester and they are all grounded, so that's not the issue.

As I mentioned before, the laptop runs perfectly fine on battery but since the battery is several years old it only lasts just over an hour before it has to be recharged. Do you know of a way I can can get the laptop to run on battery type settings while the adapter is plugged in? You and Andros have mentioned using MSI, but for some reason I am unable to changed my clocks from 600 core/ 1500 shader / 799 mem. Do you think Powermizer would help?

 

OT, does the Targus Brick have the AC ground and the outside return on the DC side connected? Only my original FX bricks have this while none of my other bricks do this. My 180 watt four pin brick does not have this as well. Scratches head wondering why this was done in the first place?

 

$700.00?
Gateway P 7908U FX MB WEU01 001 MBWEU01001 Motherboard | eBay

 

"several hundred". I just think it would be better to put the $263 that a p-79xx board costs towards a new laptop, which would be about 25% of the way there since I'll probably end up buying something around $1,000.

I'm trying to find out ways to extend the life of the p-7805u in the interim until I buy a new laptop. As I mentioned above, do you think Powermizer would be able to help my situation with the voltage leak? And if so, what settings should I use?

Thanks TANWare

 

Powermizer keeps the system running at 3D if you turn it off. This can help by preventing memory timing changes. So it is something to try. You ahve to look at how far you plan to go. The 263, or a few hundred, could be a wise investment if upgrading the video will get you 2 years or so. If it doesn't then you are correct in staying away from the change.

At "Several Hundred" I probably wouldn't be able to recomend anyone do the upgrade. That is unless there were some exceptional reason. As it is now it is an option for those on an extreme budget. With windows 7 my old P79 would have lasted till support for the OS died. I only upgraded because I could.

 

Hi, Im having a problem, 3 bricks got spoil't within 2 weeks. What to do ? My original which has been working for ever and i order 1 from amazon which got spoilt and they sent a replacement one which again got spoilt with 4-5 hours of using it. Should i buy the targus 180w brick or its some other issue with my laptop?

 

If they are original replacements then know there were a few good bricks but most wefre junk. You may be getting the rest of the junk. The advantage of the Targus 180w is few if any are junk.................