D900F/NP9280 Freezing, Flashing, HELP!!!

Hi, I still use a Clevo D900F as my main laptop

Recently it has begun to freeze prompting a forced restart, it doesn't make any sense to me because it occurs when NOT under load. I can play games non stop, but if I do something as simple as use event viewer or browse files(not even opening them), it'll have an episode. The next odd thing... IT NEVER CRASHES WITH A SECOND MONITOR CONNECTED. Only when using a single monitor... I don't get why this is happening...


I thought it was GPU down clocking causing crashing but when I try to install windows, sometimes it freezes too causing the installation to hang BUT all it does is stop any I/O's, the ...'s keep animating but it never moves percentage wise.

I thought maybe there was a ground loop that the second monitor corrected but leaving my second LCD connected and in windows disabling the display it still crashes.

I thought maybe the CPU was bad, I swapped CPU's but still crashed

Swapped the Ram, no change

Tried a different HDD, no change

Tried the GPU in another laptop, no crash but I didn't test long

I only have the motherboard, and the GPU left to replace and I am just worried I still won't fix it

Going to try reinstalling windows again and seeing if it fixes the issue.

I never noticed it crash on battery but the battery obviously doesn't last long

All crashes so far
1. Was just on the desktop, suddenly froze with massive artificats(only special case)
2. Was just changing Skype Options and settings, suddenly, flashing red screen
3. Was just opening IBT and it froze, nothing else, just froze
4. Was just starting up
5. Was installing Riva Tuner Statistics server, all the sudden the text looked like russian, all crazy and stuff, then everything froze, screen went black, required hard restart
6. Opened the start menu, screen went solid white
7. Went to a strobing screen while viewing event log





All thermal paste is new
Memtest86 passes
Furmark works for half an hour
IBT succeeds 10 passes maximum
Prime95 Passes for half an hour
Vram is Good
Nothing from CHKdsk
Tried a known good HDD
Tried improving X58 northbridge cooling(suspected failure point)

Configuration
CPU: i7 920(Tested with Xeon W3520)
Mem: 3x2 GB of Spacer(tested with 3x2gb of ASint known good)
HDD: OS Intel 520 SSD, storage 2x Seagate ST9500420AS(Tested with Western Digital Scorpio Blue 160GB)
GPU: Nvidia GTX 285m
LCD: 1920x1200
WLAN: Intel 6150
Bluetooth: Has it
Camera: 3M Camera
Battery is good




sounds like a new MB to me I/o errors? Doesn't make sense to me at all

 

Having been through the same recently, I'm 99% sure your GPU is about to die. If the crashes get worse, you might consider baking/reflowing the GPU before buying a new one. In my case it only fixed the problem for a week, but in some cases it can be as long as months.

All you need is an oven not used for cooking food or a heatgun.

It might be a failing motherboard, but it's not likely based on your description.

 

Would that cause it to happen with my exact symptoms? It's perfectly fine under load, just suffers when it's not under load. Also it's fine with a second monitor(not down clocking) but suffers on single(down clocking), considering it's fine under load but not at idle(down clocking again) it would point towards GPU but the only two that made me reconsider were these

5. Was installing Riva Tuner Statistics server, all the sudden the text looked like russian, all crazy and stuff, then everything froze, screen went black, required hard restart(i mean it was loading wrong characters, it wasn't artifacting)

and

I thought it was GPU down clocking causing crashing but when I try to install windows, sometimes it freezes too causing the installation to hang BUT all it does is stop any I/O's, the ...'s keep animating but it never moves percentage wise.


I wanted to upgrade from a 285m to the 680m from Eurocom so if it's the GPU i could care less but a motherboard would break the bank. I can buy a 280m(basically the sameish) for 50$ hence i thought maybe trying a new GPU would be best first.

I would reflow it but i don't have anything to do so with yet(otherwise i would have reflowed it )

I'm jealous of your x7200

 

A heatgun is like 15$ on amazon!

Yeah, basically if you regularly experience screen artifacts regardless of activity you pretty much know it's the GPU dying. You might want to try to install Windows on some spare space of your drive (partition it) to rule out a driver/software conflict before upgrading/reflowing anything. If you encounter any artifacts on a fresh install with fresh drivers, you know it's time to reflow or upgrade the card altogether. My 680m only lasted 4 years, so I'm jealous of your D900F

 

I have mentioned in the OP I'm reinstalling windows to make sure. I am using a entirely different drive to rule anything out. However it doesn't occur regardless of load, it always seems to occur if down clocking is allowed for idle time. If I have the second screen its fine. I can play games for a week straight, no crash. Within an hour of disabling the second monitor, I got it to freeze. When it froze the display driver crashed so I assume that's a sign of the GPU. Also would the strobing crashes be GPU as well? I just wanna make sure cause all of this is so unusual to me, especially since it leaves absolutely no trace

You seem to be sure so I'm trying to get myself to feel as sure as you.

I wanna buy an x7200 one day for the extra fun stuff cause its a nice laptop. I have 16:10 vs 16:9 but the SLI and USB 3.0 and stuff just makes me want it more.

 

Could you possibly try a fitting mxm card of a friend? That it reliably doesn't crash during games with 2 screens active is strange, but all symptoms point towards the GPU anyway.

Also did you try forcing P states with nvidia inspector?

While I'm indeed pretty sure it's a dying GPU I may be wrong, so try to rule out a motherboard failure by running a friend's card and try to force the symptoms of your 285m.

 

I'll try forcing pstates, my friend only has a 580m, unsupported GPU

So far I agree GPU. I'll try and get one to test with. Alternatively I do have a spare laptop with an mxm slot, I could put the 285m in it and see if it also occurs I guess. That laptop has no GPU right now.

 

Yup, if you swap the 285 into your second notebook and it artifacts/freezes even once you have the confirmation.

For forcing p states I'd simple open nvidia inspector, show the "over clocking" window, select the lowest p state, click on the button create shortcut on desktop and then simply click the shortcut. This way I reduced the freezes of my 680m initially by forcing idle clocks (freezes came more frequently with higher clocks) until it also froze in 2D environment with idle clocks.

 

So I reinstalled windows, installed only my WiFi drivers and the nvidia drivers... It worked for a bit. I recalled it crashing in Skype, so I tried installing Skype, and it froze while setting my settings BUT my mouse isn't frozen. I can move my mouse. The hard drive light is just pulsing once every second, I cannot Ctrl alt delete. Caps lock and num lock still work. I can get windows error sounds if I slam all the keys, but nothing else works. Just the mouse moves(and changes from ankosue to loading icon every now and then), been like this an hour. No BSOD, no change, I can't tell what happened... Keeps making me believe its the motherboard cause THAT shouldn't happen from a GPU right?


EDIT: First time ever the event log has traces, a TON of errors, referring to Schannel, event ID 36888 error code 10

 

Interesting... that you can still use capslock etc. points out it didn't crash as my notebook crashed when the 680M was dying. Strange either way, but doesn't point towards the GPU if you can reproduce these crashes involving skype reliably. Does your GPU change clocks if you open Skype?


SChannel refers to secure channel... a guy on the microsoft page wrote

Another guy writes

Of course, both solutions are rather undesireable... you would have to uninstall Skype, maybe Outlook and turn off TLS in the internet options.

On a side note, are you running Windows 7, 8 or 10? If anything else than W7, I would suggest installing w7 as all the drivers of both our x7200 and D900F are optimised for it, might be that a newer driver that windows update automatically downloads in W10 screws with your notebook.

 

I am running windows 7

I just find it strange, the crashes occur anytime there's a lot of I/O on the system bus, and ONLY with the second monitor connected. I didn't run the GPU very long in my other laptop but I couldn't get it to crash within an hour, like the D900F which will crash/freeze very oddly(usually within 20-30 minutes), and the crashes change every time. Sometimes screen goes out, sometimes it is a strobing single color, sometimes it loads stuff incorrectly second before, such as text, or sound. Sometimes drivers crash right before. And sometimes it just halts outright. Other times it goes solid colors, and this last one everything froze but the mouse could move and caps lock and NumLock worked... I font get what is happening, which is why I believe it to be my main board

I don't get why it never crashes using a second screen *sigh* gonna try forcing pstates again, last time I did the laptop didn't do it. I tried forcing pstates via vbios but all I got was super artifacting(I assume because of it was using the wrong memory timings or something)

I just have eliminated everything I think but the main board, I just fear I'll replace it and it still doesn't go away and that this is some problem with all d900f's

I caused the crash opening Skype before. But I've also caused the crash browsing event log, caused it running rainmeter, caused it just opening the start menu... I tried watching the GPU clocks but because I loose the screen a lot I cannot see what happens. And without logs being left behind, there's no telling

EDIT: if ur in the USA would you mind testing my 285m? I wish I knew another D900F owner to test with their board.

 

I wish I was, unfortunately I'm in Europe, Austria.

What's left for you to try is put the card in your other notebook and keep using it for a whole day. If you encounter no anomalies it's most likely your mainboard. Yet, even in that case you could bake/reflow the mainboard, I've seen people do it before as a last attempt to squeeze some more time out of their beloved notebook.

 

I just fear turning my only working laptop(next to my Dell C840) into a brick, although seriously... I may oven bake reflow it now that I've repaired this dang oven today(busted heater element)

Dang wish you weren't in Europe. Thanks though for the help so far, you're awesome. I'll pull the card and do a full day test. See what it does. I just worry because doesn't MXM have other supporting hardware on the main board hence some GPU issues can be present on one board and not another but the GPU is still bad, hence best to test on Identical boards?

Also, I mentioned S channel last time because the errors all occurred(10 in a row, fatal state 10, error code 10) exactly 1 second before the crash

 

As much as it hurts, if your laptop is unstable/unreliable and crashes all too often it is not much better than a brick, unless you're willing to have the mainboard be repaired by a professional which can be quite costly.

I will post here if I find other solutions. You could try the following, taken from this thread:

Also, you mentioned you swapped the RAM around, did you try booting with only 1 RAM stick and that one in all the possible slots?

Hope we figure it out eventually.

*Edit: Are you familliar with flashing VBIOS's? It's fairly easy if you follow a step by step guide.

Plus, maybe an obsolete question, but did you try rolling back to an older nvidia driver?

 

That all points to a GPU issue in my opinion as well.

 

Perhaps getting a cheap new GPU is the best you can do to save yourself time. Chances are still high that it will solve everything, and if it doesn't you could possibly return the card.

 

[again="sirana, post: 10305654, member: 502678"]As much as it hurts, if your laptop is unstable/unreliable and crashes all too often it is not much better than a brick, unless you're willing to have the mainboard be repaired by a professional which can be quite costly.

I will post here if I find other solutions. You could try the following, taken from this thread:


Also, you mentioned you swapped the RAM around, did you try booting with only 1 RAM stick and that one in all the possible slots?

Hope we figure it out eventually.

*Edit: Are you familliar with flashing VBIOS's? It's fairly easy if you follow a step by step guide.

Plus, maybe an obsolete question, but did you try rolling back to an older nvidia driver?[/QUOTE]

I have popped the GTX 285m into another laptop and am giving it the go. I already raised the voltage in nibitor because I was thinking the same thing about the crashing. It didn't help, I even raised the voltage in all the Pstates eventually and it didn't help, so prolong card life I dropped the voltages back to stock, now I have my GTX 285m in the other laptop, next going to install the nvidia drivers and start installing Skype, rainmeter, steam, ect and try and force it to crash again. If I can't crash it in my current laptop, would that mean the GPU is good or not?

Also is a 280m as good basically is the 285m, if so, I can pickup a 280m for 50$

 

285m has been in my second parts laptop for a full day with zero crashes(one crash but my fault, decided to over clock the CPU like a moron cause this i3 mobile feels SLOW)

 

Damn, it seems like you gotta bake some mainboard... Get a second opinion though (maybe @jclausius or @Tanner@XoticPC ?) as baking/reflowing is truly the last and most risky option to go for. In your case it looks like you did everything to single out the cause of the crashes/freezes, though.

When you overclocked the second notebook and it crashed, did it show artifacts or just plainly shut down?

 

Second notebook over clocked only the CPU, GPU is on stock clocks, when it crashed the screen went out and came back to the bios screen on its own within half a second, so I assume I overloaded the PSU or did something else. I just know over clocking 20% cannot be good for it. It also crashed while running Linpack.

I want to avoid baking it, especially since the one piece of evidence e that bugs me

If its running a game for a week straight(which I did) it won't freeze, and if I connect a second screen... It also won't freeze... So what part could possibly fail, especially to cause the failure I'm seeing? Power supply section? I thought maybe it had to do with the L0S or L1 idle states but I swear I switched them off and still crashed



Just in case gonna clean the mxm socket, maybe its got a bad connection to a pin or something. I have a 560m and 580m lying around, if I use the prema bios for the 680m, does it have microcode for the 5xx as well? I shouldn't test them without the 100w heatsink or? Just trying to add options.

 

Making a separate reply because this doesn't look right... I spent hours on google... Isn't there supposed to be a part here, the solder joints look busted and on google, all the D900F's have one...

 

I think you could try both cards, given that the 680M also works. Just make sure you have the latest BIOS *and* EC flashed. I don't think you need to flash a vbios though, modifying the driver inf should be enough! I could help you with that, also wrote a quick guide on that. As long as you don't stress it in games it should not exceed your PSU capacity I guess!

Also, for that soldered connection I'm not sure how it's supposed to look like as my x7200 is slightly different.

Edit: According to Eurocom you just need the latest bios for the 680m to work, so this counts probably also for the 580m, while I couldn't find information on people who did that before (in contrast to quite a few people who ran a 680M).

 

I have the latest bios and EC from Prema, but I have only the 75W heatsink.

Also I can mod the driver inf its how I made it work in the other laptop.

I do have a uhhh... Problem.... My D900F is... Not working now. I took the 285m out of my other laptop, popped it back in the D900F, pressed power and now I have no image... Is it dead now? I can't even think of what went wrong. I reseated the ram, and CPU, and GPU with Jo change, no beeps, no flashing lights, just the Bluetooth/WiFi light is lit orange(Bluetooth)

 

Does the card still boot in your other laptop?

When my 680m was 100% dead it also showed me a black screen without beeps.

 

It could be a static charge or a solder joint finally giving way, it's hard to say.

 

Card posts in the other laptop perfectly fine

The D900F doesn't react to anything, just power light comes on, fans go to normal speed, FN+1 still maxes the fans, but it never posts, the CPU isn't even producing heat, popped the W3520 back in, no change, swapped ram, no change, idk what else to test... I think the main board died... I smell burned electronics now too... I think something shorted

Prior to all of this happening, my D900F wouldn't power up on battery unless I held power down, pushing power momentarily would cause the powerlight to come on for a 1/10th of a second and then turn back off... I assume something shorted or something on the board... I mean I kinda have to replace it now right?

I only see eurocom carrying it for a nice affordable 595 USD... Ouch...

 

Bake/reflow it, no harm done if it's already dead, you can't make it 'deader'. Preheat an oven to 385F (close to 200°C) and leave the board in there for around 8-10 minutes, remove all plastic before and mount the card on some crumbled tin foil pillars. I believe in your baking skills

All is not lost yet.

 

I've reflowed before, I'm doing it as we speak, will post results when done!!!

I was supposed to add olive oil and some salt n basil leaves right?

 

Baked the board, no changes at all. System won't post. I'm digging my mPCI-E post card out maybe it will say something but I am 100% sure the motherboard is shot... Now need help sourcing one, I was gonna buy it from eurocom seeing they are the only ones carrying it but the price is unreal...

 

For that outrageous price it's already worth saving for a new Pascal based Laptop... Sorry you couldn't make it work, maybe try again? Some said it took them three turns of baking/reflowing, you might try turning the board upside down.

 

Its tough because I love my D900F and don't want to stop using it. I loved the whole D900 Line and own each laptop made in it. If I got another laptop, it'd likely be an x7200, or the newer p870DM but I don't have that kind of cash

 

I know where you're coming from, I also love the heck out of my x7200 and probably spent far too much money and time on upgrading/repairing it, but for me it's worth every penny... Let me know what you end up doing with that mainboard.

 

Gonna end up junking my current board and probably contacting RJtech for a lower price. RJ tech has a board for 480$, see if I can't bring them down

 

I would try a new GPU first tbh.. Much less cost and more likely the issue!

 

The mainboard is unfortunately pretty much toast...
I mean there is no harm in trying to insert a 580M or 560M if Flame has one lying around, but chances are they won't boot either (since the card itself seems to boot fine in the other laptop).

 

Definitely bad board in my opinion as well.

 

Considering my GPU posts in every other laptop but my D900F, I'd say its the motherboard, unless I also got two bad CPUs >.> Unlikely, since one CPU I know worked

Sadly I fear main board is dead. I got eurocom down to 450$(waaaaaay better than 595) but now I gotta budget. I'll update whenever I get a new board. I miss my powerful laptop already

Side question while everyone is here, I want to do the 680m upgrade, and I think I have a 680m from Clevo(4gb) around somewhere. Do I NEED the 100w heatsink and nodded CPU heatsink from eurocom to do this or can I use my 75w 285m heatsink? Physically is should fit with minor copper shims

 

I came from HD6970M's so I definitely needed the heatsink which came with the eurocom upgrade kit (only the gpu heatsink, I didn't install the cpu one as my fans didn't fit it). In your case, if you rearrange the heatpads it should be fine. The 680m is an awesome card, hope you can bring your notebook back to life!

 

Awesome! I'm gonna go for just buying the GPU then since the eurocom upgrade kit is very costly. I assume I should get the 300w Delta/Chicony PSU for the x7200 as well as I only have the 220w FSP psu

EDIT: I am looking at grabbing a GTX 680m branded by PNY for the HP Z1 workstation, its still just an MXM card so are far as I'm concerned, I just remove it from the silly heatsink and then put an x bracket on, and in to the clevo it goes. Maybe flash the clevo vbios first but they are 280$ a pop for the 4GB version(unlike all the 2GB versions I see)

 

Sorry to bump and bring everyone back but I'm about to cry

I got a second D900F board(Ver 3.0 with the older 220w jack) and a 280M. I put my parts on it and it worked fine for a few minutes. I put it away. Recently I got a battery and then took my 285 and put it back in and then sold the 280m. I had it working for 30 minutes. But i had an awful 5400RPM HDD in it and i was like my D901C is faster. So a few months down the line i bought 24GB of ram and a 240GB ssd and put it together. WOW it's fast, but... the issue is back. Flashing screens and freezing, followed by a blue screen next boot(referencing wdf01000.sys) and some graphical issues... Like the smart person I am i sold the 280m so I can't verify it but i think everyone was right... my 285m probably failed...

Anyone have a GPU i can test with OR anyone willing to take my 285m and try it out and see if they can recreate my issue? Because after getting anew board which already requires me to solder the new v3.1 DC jack on to take the 680m, I'm semi broke. Theres no way i got 2 bad boards in a row with the same issue is there? I've seen only one other post similar to mine but a mainboard fixed his issue... for me it has not and considering i've tried

2 different ssd's, different ram, 2 motherboards, 4 different cpu's, 2 differen't PSU's... and also theres some graphicla issues and if the card is locked to 3d clocks and isn't allowed to downclock the issue goes away... I think my problem is exactly that.... the GPU has an issue

any other input, I'm beyond stressed with this nonsense

 

Or the power draw is too much for the board to handle. Could try ditching some of the ram, dim screen and remove or turn off peripherals.

As for baking; reflowed 7970Ms, 8970Ms and a 260M all with good results. Only thing is that I'm using a temperature-accurate hot air station whereas household ovens are grossly inaccurate when measured; dozens of degrees C above and below the preset value (cookies care less, presumably). The reflow windows starts at 217°C, so set oven to something like 200°C, wait for it to 'ping' and try the card. Failing that, add another 5°C, retry and so on.

 

the board factory for the lowest model had a 280m(285m is same card basically) and a core i7 920. I have one stick of ram and a W3520(920 equiv) with an SSD and 2 HDD's. Clevo sold the system with a 480m and 990x which pulls alot more power in this config... I have my doubts of a power load issue. Especially since the issue vanishes when the card isn't allowed to downlock.

i also lack an oven

 

Yes, that would pretty much rule out a power issue.

Hmm ... borrow one, check the 'free used items' sites or offer to take care of someone's plants and/or cat while they're on vacation? All the non-food use is rubbish; it's all unleaded solder these days and keeping it open for a while would see any lingering fumes quickly dispersed (not much smell anyway). When placing it inside, make sure to have it die-up and add a little weight on top if it, putting a bit of downward force on the bga when it is reflowing.

Might also flash a non-low-clock vbios; the lower voltage used with those clocks may be unstable.

 

I think there was a historic issue with that IIRC. Connecting a higher result external monitor would likely force the clocks higher too.

 

it's funny actually, if i put the GPU into another laptop it works fine. Maybe it has to due with the D900F's voltage regulation being subpar for the sensitive G92 chip? Lets be honest, G92 was a disaster. in my D901C I have GPU issues as well but it's more random driver crashes and random games or software bug out. So with that said I'm going to get a 680m and hope I'm not wasting my time & money

I previously tried to force performance states but with the D900F if it is switched to battery it would forcibly downclock and also forcing via vbios caused the card to brick.

My best bet right now I guess is going to be trying a different GPU, i just wish i had kept that 280m.

Nice to see you again meaker.

Also the machine now has 24GB of ram and shortly is getting a W3690. I'm maxing that laptop out. It's still a good machine in my honest opinion

 

Any updates? Interested to see if you got it going or not.

 

My laptop currently works and I haven't had another issue but I don't often use it. I have yet to change my GPU and CPU but it has the old 220W connection. My D901C, is a 220W with 2 GTX 280m and it runs a Xeon x3380, which should pull more than a single 680m and w3690 so I think I can get away with a 220w, I'm gonna buy a 680m and see what happens.

I should test for issues again and see if it has an issue

 

220W should be enough for single GTX 680m, even with that xeon CPU.

 

Unless you go ham on the VBIOS and clock the snot out of then yes.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/bios-mod-needed.809790/page-3#post-10615851

He had a similair notebook, no issues on upgrade. Sounds like either dead GPU or trouble with vBios, which version are you using? Also what notebook did you test it on, did you stresstest it?

Do you have discord? If so write me your add or something, I'll see what I can do to fix this for you.