The Official MSI GT60/70 970m/980m Upgrade Thread

are the blue highlighted areas in the pictures the exact location that I'm suppose to change?

 

What have you done?
In which stage are you?

 

Let's go to that thread...

 

It would be much better if you give him the ready made file

 

I've already got this sorted out. The only problem I have is I'm only getting about 6500 in fire strike. That's 970M performance not 980M. My CPU is throttling and throttlestop isn't helping.

 

go to msi website. look for modded ec firmware for ivy bridge nb (MSI GT60/70) it solves the throttling issue

 

I will help a friend attempt a Barebones based on the GT70 ivy bridge upgrade to 970m. I don't have the full model but the current specs are Core i7 3610qm and 680m GPU with 16GB of RAM, 17 inch screen. It's the barebones model, I believe 1762.

As I understand, I need the BIOS first for the machine right? Would the 51x ones that are on the opening post work? do these BIOS also address the CPU throttling or is Throttlestop still mandatory?

The next step would be to flash the vbios with the modified hardware id to ensure driver compatibility?

 

1. Update the bios to 51/71X (GT60/70) so that the maxwell gpu's can be read by the bios properly
2. EC firmware mod ( go to msi forums. There's an ec firmware modded by msi programmers there to avoid the throttling issues for ivy bridge nb)
3 Flash Vbios with proper detected hardware ID to ensure proper PnP compatibility for nvidia drivers update.

 

If it's barebone model the BIOS & EC are different than the ones posted on MSI's website.
If you have the version number then I can get the right version to you.

 

Can you provide a link to that page with the EC firmware? I searched for it for hours with no success

 

Thanks for the help.

I will try to get the info ASAP to get the proper BIOS/EC (hopefully the modified EC to avoid the CPU issue) so we can revive my friend's laptop

 

What's your existing version? Best to flash it through its proper version name and sequence to avoid bricking. Please email me the information so I can provide the correct version of BIOS & EC firmware to you.

 

Does anyone here run into an issue with screen brightness? I just realized that mine is unchangeable, its either 100% or 90% but I can't move it up\down, not sure when it started or what caused it, I sort of think it started after I upgraded to 980m but I am not sure, thoughts?

 

I do not know your email info so I posted this

 

Just uninstall and reinstall the "SCM installer". the application just got a hiccup or something. I had that issue before and I just uninstall and reinstall the app and all went fine. If worst scenario is that this didn't solve your problem then make a fresh install of your windows.

 

You've got the T18 firmware already. That firmware is throttle free. There are other problems to check like does the gpu heatsink lapped properly with the thermal pads? I used to get stutters and heat issue before when I didn't properly looked the gap though. This brought a decrease in performance for the GPU.

Btw.. you've got an xm processor plus a 980m gpu and you've got a 180watts to supply those two power hungry hardware parts for your nb... Try asking DM or post him a message. He's got a 3610qm and is waiting for a 3840qm partial unlock processor. that is less 10watts compared to the power hungry xm proc.

 

Yes, you have everything up-to-date.
Ask Svet to mod your VBIOS if you want the best result.

 

hi guys.i've a problem
i've upgraded my gt70 dominator from the 870m to the 980m.and it's doing great except for one problem: the high temps
i've posted here at the end of last summer about this problem.i live in egypt which is hot as hell in summer.and now summer has began and i'm running my cpu at 55-60 celsius while browsing and writing this post right now.which gets to 80-85-88 celsius for the 980m and 75-80 for the cpu when gaming with turbo fan is on and the cpu maximum power is set to 99% ONLY AND NOT 100% from the power settings.otherwise the cpu hit 90 easily!!
so something is clearly wrong.
i've tried to repaste my cpu/gpu severlal times.i've bought nice thermal pads and the ic diamond thermal paste ( which were really really expensive to get to egypt due to customs regulations ) .but the problem has surfaced now
so i guess there are three solutions left :
1 - usnig a modded VBIOS made by svet .which is designed to reduce my temps and make my gt70 performance better.so i need someone to tell me how to contact svet about that.
2 - undervolt my cpu.which i don't know anything about and need someone to guide me to the 1st steps to do it.and explain to me whether it would work or not
3 - to check the whole cooling circuit . the fan , the cpu heatsink and the gpu heatsink . so i would buy a whole lot of things.and i guess i will need to buy those when the upper suggestions have failed to solve the problem.and on that case i need someone to provide me a link for these parts to get.and god knows how expensive this will be for me to get
please guys if anyone has something to help me with regarding this issue, don't hesitate.i am really getting frustrated and thinking of selling the whole damn thing and getting a gt72. but i've invested too much in the gt70 that i can't handle the idea of letting it go yet.

 

1. Contact Svet at MSI forum, below is his contact info.
https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=148273.0

2. You can use Intel XTU to do it, but it is risky as you can end up with a non-responsive system if the system fails to boot and a CMOS reset will be required (which is a hassle).

3. You can replace thermal paste with IC diamond which can help to reduce about 2~3 Celsius.
Additionally, you can go about getting the thermal pads upgraded to help to reduce the temp.
0.5mm is the recommended thickness for thermal pads.

 

So, we upgraded the GPU on a barebones 1762 unit with ivy bridge CPU from a dead 680m to a 970m, and a device did appear on device manager with the corresponding hardware ID. I performed the clevo bios flashing and now 112D appears as the hardware id.

The issue we have is that installing any video drivers, even the basic microsoft ones, causes windows 10 to hang on a black screen before logging in. Computer boots but windows basically won't load. You can enter windows on safe mode. We haven't been able to install the nvidia drivers, the issues happen even with the normal intel hd 4000 drivers.

Is the GPU causing issues? Maybe I need other BIOS. Current bios are E1762IG62.30U and firmware is 1762EG62.401. vbios are GTX 970M vBIOS (84.04.22.00.11) Clevo (ID 112D).

Think it might be the BIOS causing problems? Bad GPU? We had to reinstall windows (friend only had a win10 disc) maybe windows 10 is causing all of this?

 

@ryzeki

Check my signature, I have this exact laptop.

Few lessons that I learned over the past few years:
1. only Windows 7 is fully supported, Windows 8 "works" only because Windows 7's drivers are somewhat compatible with it, but it doesn't work well.
2. All the drivers for this machine are out of date and only "sort of" function properly, you can check this by running Latency Mon (available here: http://www.resplendence.com/latencymon) and seeing how it measures up to a laptop with proper drivers.
3. The drivers you want to be using for everything EXCEPT the geforce card are from MSI's website, unfortunately this exact module of laptop that have (as seen here: http://www.msiwhitebook.com/product_spec.asp?model=MS-17626 or here as a mirror: https://webcache.googleusercontent.....asp?model=MS-17626+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us) doesn't actually have a product page on MSI's website, thus you want to be using the MSI GT70-0NC product drivers, make sure to choose the right OS (driver page is available here: https://www.msi.com/Notebook/support/GT70_0NC.html#down-driver)
4. Support for GeForce series 900 is not native for this laptop, series 600, 700 and 800 are native, to use a series 900 GeForce GPU you must upgrade the bios to one of two versions, either .51x or .71x, I personally uses the .71x that was unlocked by Svet over MSI forums (you can contact Svet at MSI forums here: https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=148273.0 He will also help you update to the latest EC version, roughly $10 usd is required for this and its worth every penny).
5. Regarding 3, don't use drivers not from MSI website, people will tell you to go to Intel's website and grab their latest drivers, to go to killer_network website and grab their latest drivers and to do the same from Realtek, don't, it causes issues, stick to what MSI gave us (well they didn't give us anything, they barely even gave retail owners of GT70-0NC anything, their drivers are out of date, some of them are from 2012, but thats what we have, unfortunately).
6. After all of the above is done, as far as vbios for the gpu goes, if your GPU is made by clevo (as mine is): from my experience its really easy not to do the INF modding of the drivers properly, its also easy to run into issues where antivirus, without any messages will silently sabotage the driver install, furthermore many people seem not to get the memo on needing to run Windows in "Test Mode" / "disable driver signature check" mode at all times with modded INF drivers. The best solution to this is to apply DMTwo (available here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...-and-play-drivers-gt60-70-ivy-bridges.789799/ look for attached files, dont bother manually editing vbios files) special vBios that changes the hardware ID to that of same card that is made by MSI, thus removing the need to do INF driver modding / running windows in test mode / disabling driver signature, note that Perma says that DMTwo work is not the best, if you can (thanks to your moderator status) get a hold of Perma and ask him for his version of hardware ID changing vbios that would be awesome, otherwise you can use DMTwo's version, note that this vbioses are essentially stock MSI vbios, unlike Perma's unlocked versions this only allow minimal OC, Perma's version does provide huge advantage as far as OC'ing is concerned but anything except hardware ID changing vbios = needing to inf mod, I personally got tired of INF modding and went for a DMTwo vbios version, ever since then everything works flawless on my 980M, Perma stated that he made and even sent DMTwo a version of hardware ID changed vBios for the 980m and 970m but that DMTwo refused to post it on his thread, I tried asking Perma for that file but he never responded...
However if you have an MSI GPU than theres no need for any of this, no need to flash diffrent than stock vBios, no need to INF mod, everything should work awesome\plug and play, out of the box, just make sure to disable the antivirus while installing drivers.

p.s.
Svet was able to help me make one extra change to my pc's bios: I wanted the right Ctrl button to be rebinded as "context menu" button, I find that button super usefall and I hate not having it on my keyboard, you can ask for the same if you like, I am sure that he will be willing to help.


TLDR:
1. use windows 7
2. use drivers from msi website (GT7-0NC page)
3. upgrade bios to .71x with Svet's help from offical forums of MSI, also upgrade to latest EC.
4. disable AV while installing nvidia drivers, and if issue still presist use DDU to remove them and reapply them.
5. if you have MSI GPU than you are done, if you have Clevo GPU make sure you aren't massing up the INF modding (you can ask people here for help with INF File, I have seen Omega help people with it) and that you aren't by mistake out side of windows test mode / driver signature is disabled OR flash hardware id changing vbios by DMTwo to avoid needing to INF change.

 

I have the 51X & 71X BIOS but you have to use Svet's tool to do a full conversion otherwise it's risky to update the main segment only.

 

Thanks to both of you! Then It seems we need proper BIOS. I will try to contact Svet to see how to make the conversion thingy. I already went ahead and flashed DMTwo's Clevo moddified vbios so that part should be covered. Now I need to update the BIOS and hope for the best.

thanks for the help!

smaXLR if you have the same machine as the one I talk about, does that mean that the BIOS you have are compatible with my friend's? It seems he does have a 176262-033. Do you have the BIOS available so that I can flash them? I have already a bootable USB to perform the flashing.

 

Please inform Svet about the VBIOS so he can give you a more proper flash on it as well.

 

Already on it Thanks Kevin!

 

Happy to inform that current testing shows a success thank you everyone for your excellent research and support.

The machine required a crossflash to 71x bios to work correctly. After applying DMTwos idea of hardware id change, my friend was able to install new nvidia drivers from their site.

I shall update with more info later on as I will be busy with work, but a 176262-033 has joined the rank of successful maxwell upgrades

 

@ryzeki Good job
Are you still on Windows 10? and which drivers are you using for everything? + did you try running Latency Mon? If you haven't, please do and let it work for +- 10min, mine shows all red all bad even on windows 7 :\

For any future reader of this post:
Svet disallow sharing of his bios files, so while in theory you could back-stab him and PM\Email his files... the decent thing to do is to go trough the appropriate channel which is contacting him personally via the official forums. He always response in timely manner and while his help isn't free in some cases, he does know really well what he is doing and its much better to follow his instructions than to risk biking your laptop.
I mean really, your laptop costed you anywhere from $1400 to $2500 with gpu\ram\ssd upgardes and what not, for $10 you are going to risk that someone either accidentally or maliciously provide you with the wrong bios file and you wreck your laptop? its the best $10 you will ever spend, if you need this above mentioned bios upgrade to gain support of 900 series, contact Svet.

 

Well it's not my laptop, and yeah my friend is still on windows 10. Most of his drivers were auto updated by microsoft automatically except for the video ones. Well even those did auto update but to older versions. I don't have latency mon sorry. Do you want me to test it on the GT80?

As for Svet's comment, It's perfectly understandable, and extremely recommendable that you contact him directly as you said. Thanks for pointing me in the direction

 

Sure thing buddy =)

I would love that!
I .. I just want to believe that whatever bad deeds MSI did to the gt70 ... that they at least speared their lurxy model from it...

Also two questions to you:
1) How much would you pay to have your laptop modded to feature height adjustable/detachable screen? the one thing that always kills me is ... well, my neck, the only solution I found for long duration use (I sometimes work 14 hours a day on my laptop) is to use a laptop stand that allows the screen to sit good 12 inch above the table, otherwise the posture is just murder... but with that angle of the laptop... I am forced to use external keyboard, something which not even the GT80 can get around...
now if they made the screen able to slide up....that would allow proper posture .. I'd literally be Apple style sleep in a tent during the pre-release outside of their store if they released such a laptop.... is it just me? do you all have rubber necks? lol
2) How would you rate your GT80 experience so far? are the drivers fine? system works as expected? no strange issues of any kind?
3) Have you considered going Clevo for desktop CPU or are you under the impression that the gain is minimal but losing that screen size and yet picking up some more dead weight from the 2nd wall brick is simply not practical for you?
4) Do you commute to work with your laptop or is it at home all the time?

 

The Clevo VBIOS is not allowing the driver to install which is the reason why you needed MSI VBIOS.
This is because Clevo most likely did not join Nvidia's Verde program, and Microsoft on the other hand.
Hopefully this can be improved in the future by Clevo because their PM needs to reach out to NV & MS guys more.

 

Just installed SCM (+restarted), this is far more advanced than the old version of SCM that I was running (that one was released in mid 2012...)
So a few things changed:
I can actually eject the dvd drive using the touch button on top of laptop, instead of just the button on actual dvd.
this app has new UI that looks real nice....

but no matter what I do my lcd's brightness is stuck and wont change :|

oh and the webcam button also disable\enables webcam without suing the FN+F6 and speaking of FN... now when I change vol via FN+arrow keys, there is on screen indication of the vol level.
works awesome
but
when I do FN + arrow keys for brightness... the on screen thing pops, and I can change level in jump of 20 from 0 to 100, yet the screen stays just as bright.

Maybe I need new drivers for the screen? my monitor shows up as "generic PnP Monitor) in device manager

 

Do you want to try a newer version of EC firmware?
1762EG62.401 = Win7 (Currently in use)
1762EG62.502 = Win8 (Available)

 

Hi all. I think my GT60 is beginning to die. I replaced the factory 780m with a 980m and I'm looking for a replacement laptop which let me switch the GPU and I was wondering:

Which laptop would let me do this?
All GT72s are GPU upgradeable? I've seen one in my country that has 12Gb on RAM and a 970m card with 3Gb. How can I know if it useS MXM GPU?

 

Hi @adriano_banano !

The GT72 does indeed use an MXM form factor. (You get a better view of the card at 1:30, at the start of the disassembly process.)

 

But ... I am using windows 7, wouldn't upgrading to the new EC be bad for me?

 

We have both versions available, so I think it's worth a try to see if those options can become compatible with the new utility. Otherwise, you may have to use older version of utility.

 

It (the newer EC version) should be backwards compatible with Win 7.

 

Cool, just checked again, my version isn't 1762EG62.401 its actually 1762EG62.402, still sounds older than your 1762EG62.502, any idea on how can I Get this 1762EG62.502?

Also, if Svet modded my system to have the right Ctrl button to act as context menu button ( this button) would that feature be now lost? or is this something done in the BIOS level?

 

I think it is best to consult Svet, because I don't know what was modified.

 

Just wanted to add something regarding driver installation. I had upgraded my GT60 dominator (Haswell) from 870m to 980m. Recently, I think since nVidia started using WDDM 2.0, I was unable to install new nVidia drivers on windows 10 64 bit. During installation it always crashes to BSOD. I tried many tactics but nothing worked. Now, thanks again to this forum I realized that it may be the vBios of the GPU. This GPU is Clevo 980m bought from RJTech but I had flashed it with Prema version 1 vBios. Today, finally I flashed it with Prema Version 2. Then I installed the latest nVidia driver 364.72 and no crashes during installation or afterwards. Optimus is also also working fine. So, whoever is having same trouble should also either change vBios back to MSI or Prema v2. Thanks to all who highlighted this issue.

 

You are probably right, I'll do that, thanks!

 

If you want, I can send it to you, it's only for the good for the system.

 

Hmm yeah! sure! Please do

 

For this request, please email me directly, thank you.

 

Just a question guys. Can the MSI laptops use the NVIDIA Quadro series? They have the same MXM 3.0 b connector like the regular cards. There is a new Quadro M5500 on the horizon and I’m interested

 

They do work but there's no guarantee if you use other manufacturer's MXM cards.
They work because MSI has workstation class of the same product, with better screen etc.

 

It will be available in the MSI WT72 Workstation (Check it out). I want to know about its compatibility in my MSI GT60. It would be good to get because it’s going to be as good as the GeForce GTX 980 (Notebook). The only downfall I see is the power consumption which is at 150 watts. You said it can work but does that mean there would need to be a new bios for my system to gain compatibility? This new card is Maxwell just like the Nvida GTX 980M

 

Hmm, ok, the GPU is going to starve by not having enough juice so the result of that is throttling. However this would only happen if you truly use up the GPU completely. The other thing is, you probably can clock down a little bit to compensate for that missing wattage.

 

Given the fact that it will be Maxwell just like the 980M, do you think that it will be able to work with the current 51x bios in the MSI GT60?

 

Yes, because the system can detect any GPU given if compatibility issue does not exist, but since these components are recent so it's very likely to work.