Help! 8800 install.. missing MXM Structures, post beeps...

Just got my 8800gtx for my M570RU.

Installed pretty easily, hardware wise.

Flip the machine back over, pray, and fire it up.

Some text shows up, and very loud beeps; its counting down from 30 to 0 with one loud beep per second. Some comment about missing "MXM Structures", and BIOS, and "skipping post until countdown done" .. when the count hits 0, it proceeds to boot normally in 'balanced mode' (whatever that means.)

In effect, it boots, but is VERY SLOW video display right now; ie: scrolling the browser or other basic effects proceed very slowly; full res, so not safe mode.. just a crappy driver mode.

Said something about SBIOS I think; I'm afraid to reboot, since I'm near a sleeping baby whose kept us up all night every night for a year.. no way I can risk waking her

Is this just a driver install issue? or some more serious issue.. screwy 8800?

SBIOS update needed??! Thats not something we can reflash right?

jeff

 

BTW.. no CD came with the card; just a card and heatpipe attached.

(I had to separate the heatpipe from the card to get it into the case, but I assume thats no problem with the arctic silver.. but anyway.)

jeff

 

Put back in your old videocard, and check your BIOS version.

I believe that version that you need is at least 1.00.07 (2007/12/18).... for 8800M GTX recognition.

And which version board do you have? ver 3.x, 4.x, etc...

 

Looking for drivers, I head to sagernotebook.com; they have NP5791 and the NP5792/3 sections. In the 5791 the drivers are all back mid 2007, so obviously they've not posted drivers for the 8800.

I'm sucking down the video driver for the NP5793 now; I am hoping that is the right download, when given no CD..

(hoping nvidea drivers will fix up this horrid problem and its not a defective 8800 ..)

jeff

 

I can still operate under the new card, if suckily.

So reflash the BIOS? Thats relatively easy.. where do I get a BIOS update?

jeff

 

Probably on the manufacturer's download site?

 

here is BIOS:
http://www.eurocom.com/support/drivers/bios/m570ru_bios.htm

But if your system boots into Windows already:
- go to Safe Mode
- uninstall the previous Nvidia drivers
- restart the system
- then install the official Sager 8800M GTX drivers.

 

The system boots (afgter 30 seconds of loud beeps).

Any link to the Ssger 8800gtx drivers? I got no CD with my 8800gtx card, so flopping around guessing now

jeff

Much thanks for your help Gophn; this is mildly freaking me out (3/4 due to the serious sleep dep I'm under with the baby

 

That link goes to a zip file that contains 3 files. a batch file to run 'phlash', and presumably the rom bin file (.wph file.) In XP, run the bat, and it complains about EMM386y (!!) and exits with a few beeps. I wonder if its done anything.. afraid to reboot right now..

jeff

I have seen peopel mention a bot-CD .iso that you can boot to reflash, but this link doesn't go to such a beast.

 

Drivers:
http://64.208.175.44/pages/notebooks/download.cfm?ProductType=5792

 

Um... you do a BIOS update outside of Windows... usually in DOS.

Click here for a self-extracting bootable floppy disk (for USB floppy drive)

If you want to do it within Windows, here:
Click here to download WinPhlash Utility 1.5 build 55 ( ***Instructions on How To Use***)

 

Do I need to do both..

Download and
EC Firmware?

I presume just the Download link, but no idea what EC firmware is.

(ie: Both zip files include the 3 files.. bat, phlash and a wph file.)

jeff

 

EC firmware is for the Fan Toggle feature... huge thread here on it:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=219569

Its very useful to have, if you do not know about it.

The fan keys are toggle, when you start your laptop you are in Auto mode.

Press Fn+1 and you switch to Full Speed
Press Fn+1 again and you're back to Auto

Press Fn+3 and you switch to Medium Speed mode
Press Fn+3 again and you're back to Auto

 

winphlash gave me some error..-103; the text error was 'corrupt configuration' or something.. unknown machine type or something.(I tried rebooting, and it starte dbeeping like mad so I shut it down hard and came downstairs to another machine to post this, so Iv'e now forgotten the message. Sorry for that

I'd rather avoid buyinga usb floppy drive; any other ideas? or a workaround for winphlash?

jeff

 

OMG dude, please do not tell me that you have never did a BIOS or firmware update... because you seem lost.

This BIOS/firmware update is a breeze if you have any experience in doing it before.

I recommend to download the Sager drivers and install it first... after a clean uninstall of the old drivers (in Safe Mode).

If it does not get better, then I will walk you through how to do a BIOS update.
.... or you can contact your vendor to see if they have a burnable CD image for the BIOS update for you.

 

I've done a fair amount of hardware hacking among a great many platforms, but it hasbeen awhile for a PC.

But to be clear .. usually it is from DOS and a floppy; not applicable here. I was expecting an ISO I could burn, for the same effect. Not available.

So hence we're back to phlash .. and thus to winphlash.

Winphlash reports an error (perhaps thats an old or wrong version?)

So its not a lack of skill here; its a lack of knowloedge of current tools, and you're providing that (thanks!) ...and the tool no workey

(I _am_ a little scatterbrained, as we've gone a year with about 4h sleep per night max .. so if you want to walk me through it, fine by me. No shame

To wit -- the machine is not that old (Sept 2007 maybe.. Oct?), and I've left themore or less default install-- it works great. I decided not to push for updated 8700 drivers or the like, since it worked and.. with a newborn around, I've _very_ little time, so rather spend it playing or coding, than mucking with these sorts of issus.

So yeah.. I'm on a default XoticPC install. A bit of shame there, but can you blame me?

So any walk through would be appreciated; I'll even give you a baby pic, and screenies of Crysis

Post away!

(I'll likely be forced to sleep soon, but will check the board in a bit.. the baby will be up again soon *sigh*)

jeff

Ah, perhaps you mean that updating all the various drivers is needed before winphlash might work; that does sound possible. What order of things should I uninstall (in safe mode), and then install (also in safe mode, or after a reboot into normal..), then do winphlash, then lastly the GPU driver update from the NP5792/3?

 

If you know about bootable ISO's... you can make one and add the BIOS update files in it, then burn it.

Then let the CD auto boot and it should update your BIOS/firmware for you.

 

I would get a usb mem key and make that bootable. boot to that and flash away.

 

I have two ways that I usually do BIOS/firmware flashing (outside of windows):

1) - Use a Windows 98/ME bootable CD, and auto boot into DOS prompt.
- pop in a Data CD that I burned (using CD-RW) and run the batch file to flash.

2) - Use a USB pendrive that I made bootable using Bart's WinPE
- then in Command Prompt, run batch file to flash.

 

#2 is how I do it as well, and flash video cards as well, for overclocking or bio modding.

 

I´ve updated mine some days ago to v.1.00.08...

It´s very simple, I´ve done an bootable .img floppy 1.44MB emulated file wich contains the flashing files and the BIOS rom, with DOS build in.


I´ve already included the the flashing utility and the rom on the .img file, so you only need to dowload it from here: http://audigy.com.sapo.pt/M570RU/bios08.img


Just burn that .img file using Nero or Ashampoo Burning Studio, using the Bootable CD option. Make sure that you select 1.44MB floppy disk as Boot Image type.

I used Ashampoo Burning Studio in the process. There is some pics illustrating the process:


Then remenber to enter the BIOS and select your CD/DVD-ROM drive as the first boot device.

Save your changes(F10). On the next restart you will see the comand line A:\>.

Type "dir" on the comand prompt. Make sure that Refresh.bat, PHLASH16.exe and 57RU_108.WPH are listed.

Then just type "Refresh.bat" and press the enter key.

The update process will take somthing like 10/20sec, so don't be worried.

Then it will start beeping and showing a message to press any key to restart your machine or turn it off by pressing the power button. Don´t press anything, just wait a little, it will restart automaticaly.

Then you will see that on the POST BIOS screen it will show BIOS v. 1.00.08.

Any doubts just ask...

 

seems the vbios does not match your sbios, what is your manufacturer of gpu? check out bios on manucturer on techpowerup http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/

 

reiluke -- Its all from Sager (Clevo)..

Many thanks for the tips my friends; Iwill be attacking this later on, as soon as I get a moment. (We're packing for a move too .. *crazyness*)

Hopefully it is just a BIOS versionning issue

jeff

 

@skeezix:

Make sure that your motherboard is a new enough revision, too, as was mentioned earlier. If the motherboard is too old, the BIOS update may not help. The PCB should be stamped with a version number near the memory compartment (i.e., v 3.x, v 4.x, v 5.x, etc..)

 

Mobo version? Shouldn't be a factor since sager/xotic don't market that req (and my machine isn't even 6mo old yet)

jeff

 

Update -- took awhile, bloody MS!

Picked up a usb floppy drive ($19.99CDN!) -- so cheap, why not? Used the floppy image above (since I'd packed my own various DOS boot floppies and such in storage for moving.. doh!) and reflashed.

That did the trick .. boot without crazy beeping on POST.

Sadly, WinXP then needed to be reactivated, and being a wireless only house it wouldn't work direct, so I had to phone. The phone was busy for a very long time and of course it failed when I did get someone, so ended up having to call back and get someone with a clue and fusk around.. eventually, they generated a new key and authed XP.

So all told, a piece of cake.. except the rediculous DRM on the OS. Unfracking believable!

I'll see about putting in useful drivers now (the basic VGA driver is terrible , but at least I think I'm in the right boat now.

Many thanks!

jeff

 

Glad to have helped you out...

 

I should try to snap a pic of the baby holding up a "NBR FtW" sign

I am surprised that these issues exist (and should be quite common, since my machine is pretty recent and very normal), and yet go undocumented. ie: The card comes barebones with no paperwork atall, no drivers on CD, no notes about BIOS revisions, and so forth. S'okay, I'm pretty handy at this stuff, but was caught off guard.. flashing a BIOS on a PC is cake, but on a notebook is tiresome (especially when 0% of your stuiff is in storage at the time

ie: You get the card, and basicly could be screwed until Sager gets back to you with BIOS files; how many customers come to NBR for help?

Sager should include some documentation when they ship it out

(ie: The pre-POST message was highly cryptic -- it note SBIOS to VBIOS problems; IIRC, the SBIOS is not flashable and the VBIOS is on the GPU, so that sounded like _bad news_ to me. If it instead noted 'Maybe you just need to reflash your BIOS' that would alleviate fears...

Anyway, lesson learned!

Justin posted some pics in his how-to, but he almost needs to have a standard FAQ for people who've not opened their Sager before. (ie: Opening a Lenovo, Dell etc is challenging usually, due to hidden snaps and so forth.) The Sager was easy.. some 9 or 10 screws and poof, you're in.

It looked like you could just undo 3 GPU screws and be good to go, but turns out the heatpipe extends under a lip in the casing by 1-2mm, and so you need to undo the heatpipe to get the GPU off. (A real shame, had to break the arctic silver seal.. hope thats okay as I didn't reapply any more.. its in storage!) Still, after doing the 7 GPU screws, it was in with the new card..

.. an entire 5 mins of work.

Justin should've noted that.. this was something near anyone should be able to do, aside from those with fat fingers or high static environment..

jeff

The _Real_ shame of this? Turns our my Crysis DVD is in storage.. all I'm left with is WoW, which rns 60fps on a 3 year old machine.. and ORange Box (which runs on old hardware fine as well)... and at least CoD4.

Time to buy Crysis again, on Steam

PS; again, thanks all for being timely and so helpful.. even in the middle of the night Got a bit of sleep even (first time in two weeks), but last night I Was pretty wired, thinking I might be screwed with SBIOS issues or something.

 

Nice dude.

I believe you are the first to post a successful upgrade of the 8800M GTX on an older motherboard revision.

Give us some benchmarks if you can.

And remember to disable any Suspend/Sleep features in your Windows to avoid the stupid S3 issue.

 

I`m directly interested in this, since I may just get the 88M GTX cheaper and without a mobo upgrade...

I`m a hibernating freak user anyway

 

I never use suspand-to-ram; if I'm using it, I'm using it; if not, hibernate to disk. I Don't really 'get' suspend to RAM .. when I close the lid, log to disk damnit

I need to buy Crysis on Steam or head to storage for my DVDs.. as is, I at least haver CoD4 handy, and seems to run very good (stage 2, invading the city) at 1920x1200 with everything on max. Oblivion on Ultra High runs effortlessly. But Crysis will be the real test

If you have any specific questions, send me detailed how-tos and I'll execute 'em .. I should have some time Tues or Wed to screw around.

jeff

 

I did not realize that (shows how much short-term memory retention I have left ). In that case, my hat is definitely off to you, sir.

 

I should add..

Sager just got back to me; they've added a BIOS to the website for download:

Firmware KBC/EC Firmware 1.00.07Sf 20-Feb-08

Under the NP5792/93 driver part of the website.

Its a bootable image .iso, so easy to burn to a CD. That would've solved my problems (and doubly so were it documented somewhere that SBIOs/VBIOS/MXM-Structures issues meant BIOS.)

Good to know!

This should get added to the Owners Lounge post..

jeff

 

Isn`t that the firmware that gives manual control of the fans?

 

I've not isobusted the .iso to see whats in.. take a look

jeff

 

Well I have and that`s exactly what it does.
Gives you:
-Fn+1 full speed fans , pressing Fn+1 again will set it back to auto
-Fn+3 medium fan AT ALL TIME regardless of temps, FN+3 back to medium.

I seem to have developped an uncanny touch for these firmwares and I can just smell the right one around the corner