Blackhawk XR5, 8800m gtx not working, Error Code 43. Help!

I have the Blackhawk XR-5 with SLI 8800m GTX's, theyve been working fine ever since I had the laptop. Just noticed PC Microworks seems to be out of business so I can't really get any tech support there.

I'm fairly capable at changing hardware on PCs but don't have much experience with laptops. I have some pics where I unscrewed the back, was going to try and re-seat the vid cards but they look nothing like PC vid cards so I didn't take anything out just checked to make sure everything was secure and looked right.

Before that I uninstalled all the drivers, reinstalled them, disabled / enabled each video card and it still has the same issue. When windows boots up it has some funky lines across the screen, then gets into windows and looks fine but has the yellow exclamation marks next to both vid cards.

Pictures attached, any ideas on what I should do?

Thanks

system error: http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a171/SethDrone/Blackhawk8880merror.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a171/SethDrone/Blackhawk003.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a171/SethDrone/Blackhawk002.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a171/SethDrone/Blackhawk001.jpg

4 pieces of hardware, wasn't sure which 2 were the video cards

 

Had a friend that had the same problem and I believe he said it ended up being bad VRAM. It's not good from what I've seen and cheaper to buy new cards. But, don't quote me. There are people here that know Waaaaay more than I do and I'm sure they will let you know if I am wrong. Some guru out there may have a fix I know nothing about. Good luck!!!!

 

That sounds nasty, is there way to determine if one or both cards are dead?

 

I......have no idea. From what he was telling me, I don't think you can change just one. From what I understand it is 'A' card with 2 gpu's built in running SLI(2-512Mb). But, as stated earlier, I coud be wrong.

Look here http://www.notebookforums.com/thread230277.html and do a search in the forums here at NBR for baking. I haven't tried it, but several people have said that it works. What do you have to lose right?

And look here. Post #8 XPS m1730 video card problems... uh oh ... Both m8800gtx have an error code 43 in hardware device manager (vista32).Well, here is what is going on. I have ...

 

It IS 2 separate cards, and you can test them separately to try and see which one is giving you the problem. The service manual is in my sig for disassembly instructions.

 

The 8800m gtx is 2 cards, or one card and 2 GPUs as I stated earlier?

 

The D900C has 2 separate 8800M GTX's running in SLI. They can be run independantly of each other quite happily.

You were correct that the Dell XPS M1730's implementation was a single card dual gpu, but that was only dell.

 

Ahhhhhh! Had it stuck in my head after reading that other info, and was thinking the OP has an M1730. Duh? My bad. And that's why I always put a disclaimer when not sure. OK. You win.

 

Looks like that guy had bad cards, once they were replaced he was good.

That would lead me to the question, with PCMW being no-more, where could I get "the right" replacement card for the XR5 or where should I go for tech support to have them replace it?

Second question, is there a better card than the 8800m gtx I should consider replacing it with?

Thanks for the help folks.

 

When I had problems with my 8800s (first 1 and later the other). I took the offending card out and ran just fine with 1 card.

I purchased from PCMW also and my machine was from Eurocom. I contacted them to get replacement cards. It cost a ton but that was the only way to get replacements. Sager would not help me since the machine did not originally come from them.

 

As Daikyu suggested, I would pull one of the cards out (I believe the right one is the "daughter card" in your picture you posted) and see what happens. I also have a 9262 with twin 8800GTXs. When I got my Sager it came with one card and the second came in the mail a couple weeks later. It was fun installing it. Attaching the SLi cable between the two cards is kind of a challenge.

If your problem persists with the card you leave in, then swap em out. Hopefully one of them should still be good.

Edit: I had to re-look at your posted pictures, the last picture you posted, from left to right: mother vid card, daughter vid card, ram cooler, cpu cooler.

 

Great info, I will try that tonight and see if one is still good. Is it normal for both to showup as faulty in device manager when only one is bad?

 

If the primary card is messed up it may interfere with driver loading/initialization. My guess is if you are seeing corruption in windows that the primary card is the culprit. Usually the 2nd card only causes problems with SLI in games.


Take both cards out and test them 1 at a time in the primary slot (I forget which one it is). It took me a couple of times to get good at taking the cards out but you will get the hang of it. Also, after you figure out which card is defective, that is a perfect time to clean and reapply arctic silver to the GPU.

 

I have a tube of the arctic silver but wasn't sure which parts to apply it to, that is a good idea though I'll google for a guide. Thanks.

 

There is only 1 part that the heat sink directly touches, that is the GPU. Everything else has a thermal pad on it.

 

Update: Parent card was bad, second card was good. Thanks for the help everyone, problem fixed.