Error 43 - GTX 1070 upgrade in Alienware M18x R2

Hello all,
I have a number of years experience with tearing down machines and upgrading parts but this one is stumping me.
I have been attempting to upgrade my old M18x R2 with a standard black PCB MXM GTX 1070 (not the MSI variant) that I purchased from one of the guys on here. My problem is that once I install the modded driver, I'm getting the Error 43 code in Device Manager.
I will run through some of what I have found in my turmoil thus far. Hopefully you can follow my ramblings.
I have tried a clean WIN 10 installation in Legacy mode and also UEFI with the same results. I had originally modded my own driver with the latest Nvidia 441.xx driver and then tried one that others had success with in the Alienware forum but no change. I believe this one was a 436.15 driver.
Without installing the driver, GPU-Z lists the current vBIOS as 86.04.56.00.3A but once the driver is installed, this information disappears from GPU-Z.
Another guy on the forum has his card working fine on 86.04.42.00.03 and the 436.15 modded driver
There is a g-sync and non g-sync version of the card and I believe the Hardware ID for the non g-sync card is 1BA1 compared to 1BE1. GPU-Z shows mine as 1BA1 but TechPowerUp lists my current vBIOS as being for the 1BE1 card. I'm not sure if this affects anything but I read somewhere that you can't flash a BIOS for the wrong card version but I know F-all about vBIOS'. The other vBIOS is listed as being for 1BA1.
I have tried reseating the card.
I am running Windows 1903 and I do all available updates before trying to install the driver.
Is there anyone that can help shed some light on this or do I have a dead GPU?
Should I try different driver versions or should I try a new vBIOS? Is there something simple that I have overlooked?

Thanks for any help.

 

Error 43 indicates bad/faulty GPU...
Are you sure the card was OK when you bought it?

 

It also indicates corrupt vBIOS, may be able to save via programming a known working vBIOS.

 

Well I can only take the word from the seller on here. It was shipped from the US to Australia so it's possible something happened on the way over. He is an active seller with decent rep so I would lean towards believing him but this is the internet

 

This was my first hope and it seems weird that the vBIOS seems to be for the wrong card type, just as long we can believe what TechPowerUp says. I read that the card is bricked if the g-sync BIOS is flashed on the non g-sync and vica-vera which concerns me

 

Here is a pic of what my GPU-z says without a driver and then what TechPowerUp says.

 

Oh I mean more like something within the vbios could be corrupted or not properly written to the vbios chip.

I mean its quite likely it died whilst in transport (have had it happen before) but I'm not one to rain on a parade without giving another viable scenario in play.

I flashed my 1070 and it gave error 43, this was because I simply wrote over the existing vbios instead of clearing it. So I cleared it and reprogrammed (because I got backup first) and was good to go.

I still have it on my 13 r3 even though I plan to sell soon.

 

It's 40 deg Celsius here today (104F) but my parade is definitely being rained on.

As I'm a vBIOS noob, what would the steps be? Just download NVFlash and go from there?

Apparently it was previously in an MSI Vortex and an Alienware Ranger before then. Not sure what it's vBIOS history has been.

 

@Falkentyne is the resident expert on the 1070 I believe.

Brother would you be able to point this kind sir in the right direction (assuming there is one)

 

Error 43 can mean a lot of things.

I run an eGPU and for me it's common with nvidia 10/20 series graphic cards. You can try the fix that i use:

https://egpu.io/nvidia-error43-fixer

If it doesn't work, simply uninstall nvidia drivers using DDU.

 

Thanks for that! I'll give anything a try at this stage. Once I get home I'll give it a go. Does this allow you to use recent drivers? I've heard that I may have to go back to a 375.70 driver to possibly get the error cleared.

 

You can use recent drivers too. No need for older drivers.

 

Unfortunately it didn’t work. It said that the driver was working but still error 43 in device manager. Thanks anyway


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Have you already try flashing the VBIOS?

 

Not yet. I was holding off on it but I'm just about to download the file now and try it. I'm not experienced and flashing vBIOS' though

 

Ok, I've just flashed it to the same version that someone else is running successfully and I'm happy to say that it solved the problem!!!!

I'm not sure what happened with the previous vBIOS or why it was installed on the card but this one seems to have worked.

 

Which version is the working one?

 

I used 86.04.42.00.03

 

I guess I'm too late.
Was going to say error 43 is either a bad vbios TDP mod or a wrong vbios being used or another type of modded card not using modded drivers.

 

All roads lead back to Programmer generally. Best method really for Pascal.

I have my MSI 1070 vBIOS on my 13 R3, stock and modified versions. If you get a programmer let me know and ill see about getting it to you as I also have the MSI 1070.

 

You have a 1070 vBIOS on you 1060?

This is the second vBIOS I have flashed over the past 9 years of messing with PC's so I really don't know much about them

 

Sorry I should've been more clear, I have it backed up on my 13 r3

 

Ahhhhhhhhh. That makes more sense.

 

All seems to be working well.

 

A bit low graphic scores, should be around 17K by default. How is the temperature?

 

Hitting around the 80-85 degree mark


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80-85C just after completing 3DM tests?
Or after heavy gaming?
85C is too much for this GPU

 

Was getting that temp during benchmarking. It actually got to 90 briefly while trying a game last night. I’ll look at some better compound and I may need to lap the heatsink as it’s a little stained/discoloured after al these years.


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Do it because you will kill your GPU.

 

After grabbing a nice clean heatsink from another machine and getting the thermal pads right I’ve brought the temps down by at least 10degs. It hit 77 briefly during Fire Strike but usually sat in the low 70’s when getting pushed. Nowhere near the 85 I was getting before.


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77C burning stability test in FS, or just the default benchmark? Because mine doesn’t hit 60C during the test, and if you hit 77C just on the bench, you will definitely go past 85C for prolonged gaming.