** MSI GE62 Apache (and Pro) Owner's Lounge**

Basically we are always all on our own for getting the latest / correct updates for our PC hardware.

What comes installed is a good list to build a guideline for what to search for on OEM component maker sites, and other laptop / motherboard builder support pages.

Each laptop vendor does a slightly better / worse job keeping each and every support page for every single product up to date with the latest drivers - and all fail to a lessor or greater extent.

Each of us can do a better job on our own finding the latest versions - but the vendor site offers tested updates based on the shipping OS image that came with the laptop.

It's not always necessary to jump into the OCD deep end and find every little update that comes along, some cause problems rather than fix them.

It's something you get a feel for as you push into the deep end by gathering newer and newer release / beta software - some are beneficial, some aren't.

I build up my own little cache of drivers on the restore USB drive, adding new tested ones as I find their usefulness.

So, long story short, the support page for your make / model device downloads is just one more resource toward getting the latest up to date non generic drivers.

Intel drivers I get at Intel, Killer wireless at their site, Realtek/Nahimic at MSI - either from my support page or a newer laptop, or a search in the MSI support forums.

Windows installer packages often bundle multiple OS release driver versions. If you can find a specific 8.1 driver, try installing the Windows 10 package version, same for Windows 7 packages.

Have fun

 

I have a MSI GE-62, purchased July 2015. This morning it won't power on fully. It turns on, shows the MSI screen, and then powers off. I can get into BIOS briefly, but then it powers off. I tried resetting the CMOS through the bottom by holding it for 10 seconds, but no change. It encountered a Machine Check Exception a couple months ago but then never showed anything again, and I thought/hoped it might be a fluke.

I have the MSI warranty on it, however they say it'll take four weeks. As I use this for business, I figured I'd see if I could find a resolution on here first.

Any ideas?

 

Correction: It will stay on when I enter BIOS, but will not boot and stay on. I tried resetting the BIOS to default settings, and now it won't exit BIOS and only boots to BIOS.

 

It's possibly a bad OS or hard drive. Try disconnecting the hard drive and see if you get any error message during boot.

 

Turns out one of the raid arrays went bad (Texas thunderstorms) and knocked one of the drives out. Did a fresh install of the OS and it's back up and running, without a trace of RAID0 this time around.

 

Great, you've resolved the issue.

 

Hey guys! I'm thinking of buying a GE62 2QF used for a friend who needs a new gaming machine.
I'm looking at the following config:
i7-6700HQ
GTX 970M 3GB
8GB DDR3
1TB 7200RPM HDD
15.6" FHD screen

The seller has also installed a 250GB Samsung SSD.

I was wondering what should I look for when I go see the laptop? What are some known issues these units usually have? And also, is the screen TN or IPS? (Full model - 2QF-273XPT)

Thanks!

 

Check screen for dead pixels, for type of screen used it's best to check with your vendor directly since spec may not be the same by region.

 

Guys, I'm having a problem with my msi ge62 2qf which I bought last May. The laptop is indeed superb and it does fulfill my every expectation from it. The only problem now is the laptop will often freeze and crash when I try to run demanding games. So far the games that often affected badly by this issue are Dying Light, Far Cry 4 and the latest, Mafia 3. Weirdly enough, some other games like Fallout 4, Sniper Elite 3, Wolfenstein The New Order and even GTA V dont have this issue & can be played with no problem. The games that I mentioned affected often freeze & crash like after 10 min of playing or sometimes 30 min, or if I'm lucky, after 1 hour or more something. (The pattern is inconsistent) But I notice the crash will often occur during the day when the ambient temp is high ( I live in tropical weather country) and it will occur less at night when the ambient temp is low. FYI, I always switch on the max fan (cooler boost) when gaming since my room is not air-conditioned. The max cpu and gpu temp is 90 and 87 degree respectively and I dont think this is a sign of overheating since other games can play straight 3 hours with no issue.

I also notice some kind of graphical artifacts when playing those affected games (some kind of weird blue-ish, purple-ish pixel popping out on the screen), but these artifacts dont appear all the time though, but when they appear that often, the game will freeze and crash to the desktop. Another thing to point out, when the crash happens, there is no error message appear on the desktop. However when I check the Event viewer, I got nearly the same error message every single time, almost consistently: Event 13, nvlddmkm. The error message always written like this:

"The description for Event ID 13 from source nvlddmkm cannot be found. Either the component that raises this event is not installed on your local computer or the installation is corrupted. You can install or repair the component on the local computer.

If the event originated on another computer, the display information had to be saved with the event"

At first, I thought this issue might have been related to driver issue, so I tried like countless time of graphics driver install & uninstallation using DDU to test which version of Nvidia driver that might solve the issue. Unfortunately, same thing happening. Those games still crashing.. Not only that, I also did windows reformat to factory setting countless time but that only minimizes the frequency of crashing before it becoming worse again after a week or so. I also did some kind of tweak via windows registry (which I found on youtube) to fix the issue but to no avail..

So, I did send my laptop to Msi service centre but unfortunately my warranty is invalid and had already expired ( I live in Malaysia, and I bought US model set at bargain price from third party seller). The MSI staff said I have to pay USD 72 for service checking ALONE (replacement part will add more to the total repair cost) to determine what exactly is wrong with my laptop. That is expensive as hell for me & I just went off.. Later, I brought my laptop to a nearby local IT repair shop to help with my issue. The IT guy instructed me to test the laptop memory and run some usual benchmarks (unigine, prime and furmark). So I did those tests and miraculously, there is no problem at all and those tests went well. Thus, the IT guy concluded that my GPU must be faulty since the graphical artifacts are clearly a sign of dying or broken gpu.. He told me the only way to fix the issue without buying a whole new motherboard is to send my laptop for reballing service. However, at the moment I'm a bit reluctant to send my laptop for reballing becoz I'm afraid it will cause even more problem to my laptop.

What should I do now? I'm totally clueless.. I hope anybody here can enlighten me with some advice though. I feel regret now for buying the laptop at cheap price. I thought I got a very good deal but now that's the catch of the so called "good deal"....

 

Downclock the GPU a little to see if it helps.

 

How to stop dGPU from being on all the time? I did 2 fresh installs of 8.1 Pro on 2 SSD's and installed all drivers in order recommended by MSI and still orange light is on all the time after windows is fully booted up. Nvidia control panel does nothing, even though I tell it oi use CPU graphics only. Power options are in balanced mode but all modes are the same.

Problem Solved: It is the fault of Nahimic V2.3.7 when it runs it would use dGPU and nvidia CTLR Panel settings would not change that. Running Nahimic V2.3.4 did not cause this issue, blue light stays on all the time now. This could just be a compatibility issue with Win 8.1 though .

 

Try updating your BIOS, i had the same problem and updating my bios fixed it

 

I just checked and I already updated bios, ec firmware & vbios. Yet still, the problem persists but the frequency of its occurrence has reduced lately due to recent rainy weather at my place, which drastically lower the ambient temperature..

 

If GPU is faulty the whole board has to be replaced, and unfortunately it does cost a lot to replace the whole mainboard ($300+ USD) if the repair is being performed in the US.

 

Besides what kevin said...i would also make sure nvidia drivers are at latest. Reball may do the trick too since it will basically reseat the chip but is no guarantee if it ends up being faulty chip itself not just contact point stress which actually can happen during shipping even.

There are ways to do it at home but ide not recommend it for your situation.

Sent from my ZTE A2017U

 

Yeah, I'm well aware of the high cost though.. That's why I'm thinking of sending my laptop for reballing but yet I'm still undecided about this.

I always update my nvidia driver to the latest but the problem still persist... Actually, the IT guy that I consulted suggested me to send my laptop to his friend for reballing since his friend is expert in this reballing stuff.

My only concern now is, do u guys think it is a good idea to send my laptop for reballing? I'm a bit worried that my laptop will be spoiled (since my laptop is nearly perfect in other regard (screen, sound, keyboard etc.. )).

 

They basically will remove the motherboard and put it on a machine that will soften the solder and reseat whats broken so none of the other stuff will be effected with that unless he is incompetent

Its how they got the BGA on there in the first place really..

If the guy doesn't know what he is doing though he can accidently lift traces or damage the pad which is even worse.

Sent from my ZTE A2017U

 

All good day, new here so been looking through the posts as a lurker for a bit but finally jumped in the group. I picked up the GE72 6QF Apache Pro last year and have not had much time to mess with it until now due to work and moving with work. To the question enough life stories. I've purchased a mini display port to HDMI cable and plugged it into the laptop in an attempt to have 3 screens but it doesn't seem to be working. Is there something I need to activate? I have recently updated the drivers on the Laptop so any help or suggestions besides buying a USB Hub (Kingston or other) that allows for 2 more screens out of the USB 3 port would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

Which adapter did you purchase? Can you share the link to it here?
I assume that you are setting up 3 screens using internal, and 2x HDMI (1 DP-to-HDMI)?

 

Yes I wanted to use the Laptop and 2 X HDMI monitors. I picked up the insignia 6ft mini display port to HDMI cable from Best Buy link below. Geek squad said it would be plug and play though I asked about the fact that the cable was identified for MacBook / IMac.


http://www.bestbuy.com/site/insignia-6-mini-displayport-to-hdmi-cable-black/5813166.p?skuId=5813166

thanks

 

Try this instead.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AY4DBBQ/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Hey all,
I just recently upgraded my system with 2 new ssd and a 8GB ram. And I followed the this video and i did exactly what the video says.
In Recovery Mode (F11), I select system partition recovery and luckily i backup'd all files on my hdd before hand since that option every time only recover and reformat my HDD. And in BIOS, while under UEFI mode, system couldnt identify my SSD
Could anyone help id the problem? How do I use my recovery USB to install OS on my SSD?
System: Win 10 Home
Laptop: GE62 2QD, 960M, 5700HQ, 1TB HDD, *2x Sandisk X400 128GB M.2 2280 SATA 3* + 1 stock ram + *1 G Skill F3 1600C11S 8GSL 1x8GB ram*
USB: 32GB Kingston

Double check:
1. In CTRL+I, Volume 1 status showing normal, ID0: Sandisk SSD, ID1: Sandisk SSD, ID4 HDD
2. Legacy mode for entering CTRL+I, then change back to UEFI

 

Hey guys, how are your Apaches doing?

i am having a weird, problem lately. Technically, it is not a problem, yet, but it is weird. When i launch a game, i hear a weird noise coming from beneath the right side of the keyboard. It is probably the GPU. I thought it could be the fan, but when i press the dedicated fan button, the sound isn't there. It sounds a bit like electricity flowing thru partially shorted circuit or like when you connect a cable to a power outlet and the current skips and makes a spark. Sometimes i even noticed halved performance, but it is probably software related, because restart usually solves it. Any idea, what could be the cause? @Kevin@GenTechPC

Other thing, that could have something to do with it is crash on boot since W10 upgrade. Sometimes when i hibernate my PC, it boots to MSI logo and then silently turns itself off. I have to manually boot to the UEFI and from there restart, but i always loose all the data. The problem seems similar to what @Charles Malolo experienced, but i can boot to Windows after entering and exiting UEFI and all my disks seem to be working fine.

 

Hey Kevin@GenTechPC,

Thanks I found something similar at the local Best Buy and it worked great. Thanks for the suggestion now it all works.

 

That's good to know, enjoy it!

 

There is no official name for it, but any electrical noise/buzzing/squealing is a very common issue most often referred to as coil whine.

I was just at Best Buy and Fry's today seeing if other models produced the same coil whine my GS73VR does. I tried two GE62's and a GE72. All three produced the most coil whine of any of the laptops I looked at except for the XPS 15. The XPS 15 sounded like sizzling bacon when I tried to play a 4K video. The display on the Apaches also showed a lot of flex. Honestly, this laptop should be the same price or cheaper than the generic Clevo systems, and I would still choose a Clevo.

 

Top Clevo models should be compared with MSI GT series since GE should be out of question.

 

I did consider a Sager/Clevo before getting my GE62 but it wasn't hard to find many dissatisfied customers with horror stories, thus the BBB rating of D-. I'm glad I stayed away.

 

Do you have it on a cooler? Have you repasted the CPU yet? My 6700hq (no cooling mods) does run several deg C cooler than my 4700hq at idle and max and so it should. You have a 4720hq correct? What are your max temps?

 

Even after repaste my Haswell my would run at 90c before doing any other cooling mods but the GE60 only has 1 fan and has poor ventilation underneath. I had to add copper shims & heatsinks, cut a 80mm whole and put in a wire mesh fan grill in the back cover and drill holes around the intake fan so it could suck in more air. After all that it will max out at low 80's (stock V and O/C'd) which is still a little higher than my Skylake. That's why I went with the Skylake, cooler, faster and more energy efficient.

 

Haswell tend to run a bit hotter than Skylake for sure, there's only that much you can do.

 

Do you have pics of your mod?

 

This thread is for GE62 so I won't post pics of my GE60.

 

Thanks man i should have guessed that. I just always expect this notebook to be more refined then it is and in the end i get disappointed lets just hope it will work few more years

 

Update to my issue; The same IT guy who suggested me to send my laptop for reballing did suggest another option which is to replace the faulty gpu chip with a new one. He said this method is also viable and way better than reballing. Is this really true? I heard that the gpu and cpu are soldered on msi ge62 series laptop. I'm confused now...

Actually, I plan to save up money and buy a new motherboard instead but then the IT guy suggested me the gpu chip replacement which seems to be cheaper. So, I'm torn between the two options; either buy a new motherboard or replace the gpu chip.. Plus, can somebody clarify how can gpu chip even possible to be replaced on soldered motherboard? Is that some kind of unsupported modding??

 

Try putting a good cooler under it. The GE62 has good ventilation underneath and would benefit from cooler air blowing in.

 

Hi guys,
I have just brought a Apache pro ge62 I think it's brilliant but I have found a weird issue with it.

I am playing total war warhammer it runs amazingly. But if I am charging my laptop and take the charger out it lags the game and makes a weird buzzing nose. If I plug it back in it keeps happing. Then I have to restart it to stop. It happens on any game I am playing. But also happens if I plug the charger in while playing. All my settings are on max performance.

I have already swapped the laptop for another one but it's happing to that as well. Any suggestion?

All I have download is
.steam
.google chrome
.eve
.company of heros
.total war warhammer

 

That's normal behavior as the system lacks sufficient power when you disconnected the charger. You have to leave the power alone and avoid doing such.

 

See I just load my game up and adaptor in and it's buzzing and laggin already. I have no idea why.

 

Is the adapter getting warm, and is your battery charging? Also, is the system using the NVidia graphics, or still running on Intel?

 

The adapter is normal tempt. The battery is charging. The orange light is on so I'm guessing navida.

 

Hi guys, anyone notice PWM screen flickering on the full hd model ?
And also, is the max amount of ram 16 or 32gb ?

thanks

 

What's the PWM screen? I haven't noticed any flickering on mine anywhere.
Max ram is 32gb.

 

The model is GE62 Apache Pro-254
Unfortunately, I haven't found the screen manufacturer/model on the internet.
I am thinking of buying one, just want to be sure there is no PWM. Did you do a pen test and did it succeed on your ge62 model ?

The test is: set screen brigthness to 20-40%, take a pencil/pen in your hand, put it in front of the notebook and wave it. If the screen does not have PWM you'll see something like on the right in the picture. If it does have PWM you'll see something like on the left of the picture:


full video test:

 

Well my monitor is a 1920x1080 pixel @60hz 141 PPI, LG Philips LP156WF6 IPS. I still don't know what PWM is so i can't help you there. OK it doesn't look like the pic on the left that's all I can say.

 

I explained what it is in the previous post, please take a look
Thanks !

also, do all GE62 models come with this LP156WF6 display ?

 

I don't know for sure but I haven't seen any evidence that they come with anything else. Models for sale outside the N.A market may be different though.

 

I have the 2QF-056 Pro and bought early 2015. I'm having some major ghosting problems starting this month and cant seem to find a fix. (If there is) It only happens when I play a more power hungry game. If I play something like Paladins, Overwatch, League, or any easy to run games i get smooth gameplay. But if I try to boot BF1,4, Battlefront, bigger fps games then I get heavy ghosting and screen tears... I'm not sure if its a monitor or gpu problem. Maybe the cpu idk. I do know i have heat problems with my cpu and my keyboard is fire to the touch. Never higher than 90c via Dragon Gaming Center. (I need a repaste) GPU temps are always normal. Also since the Anniversary update on W10 I've had an average of 2 minute boot times and my laptop resets whenever I boot from sleep or just normal boot up. Anybody have an idea that I haven't thought of?

 

Have you performed BIOS & EC firmware update?
Also, try reducing visual quality setting on the power hungry titles.
What kind of drive do you have for the OS drive? HDD or SSD?

 

I have updated both in the past. I've tried reducing quality and they still ghost badly. Black ops 3 was one of the first AAA games I bought and it ran 1080p60 at high settings. Now i put them all on low and even ran 1600x900 and i still had really bad ghosting and a massive amount of screen tear. My fps showed 60 and it felt it. But it looked choppier that 30.
I have the m.2 ssd for my OS but i run all my games off the HDD. I've ran tests on both and they are still up to speed. There's a new update for the bios, it says it fixes something for raid but I don't run raid.

EDIT: The BIOS update mentioned is incorrect. I think I remembered the raid part from my friends Lenovo.

EDIT: I'm on BIOS version E16J1IMS.113
I can't find where the firmware versions are.
VBIOS v 84.04.26.00.29 and EC v 16J1EMS1.506
These are on the product page. I'm not sure if they help and i'm also not sure if they are already installed.