I think my GPU (7970m) died....

I have a NP9170 from Sager, with a 7970m GPU from ATI.

Yesterday while I was gaming my game froze and I couldn't close it. A few months before I had the same issue, so blamed it on the game and just turned off PC by holding the power button down.

I proceeded to restart, and when I was supposed to get into Windows Login I was received by a black screen instead. I guessed I had a boot issue and just restarted again, went into the game, and it froze yet again. Same steps as before, but now took longer to get a successful windows login. Game once again, and froze once again.

After that I only got black screens after getting into the windows login screen. I formatted and reinstalled, blaming it on a damaged boot file, caused by the improper turning off of the PC. When I reinstalled the AMD drivers, all hell broke loose again. After 3 more attempts I came to the conclusion that my GPU was dead

Now, I need info on which card I can put into my laptop, and also a guide on how to replace (plus any tips you can give to me that might prevent any huge expense).

 

I think a 970m or 980m will work with a p170em (your laptop). I'm sure Prema got one working in his.

As for your card, yep. It's on it's way to meet the reaper.

 

@ayylmao, those would be Nvidia cards no? Wouldn't I need to modify the BIOS for that? (I'm really a noob with GPU replacing in a laptop). Could you link me to more information (pretty, please, I tried googling, but most results I get are Alienware ¬.¬')

 

Yes, they are Nvidia cards, but they will not work without a BIOS mod.

You can download pre-modded BIOS' from here.

If you do not want to do BIOS modding, you can always opt for a 680m. It's plug and play. Another 7970m would require the correct version, a clevo one in this case.

 

@ayylmao Thanks for the clarification. Just one thing, it seems the link to the modded BIOS wasn't posted.

I'll have to research which one would be convenient for me then. I might attempt to bake the gpu. I mean, its lost already, no?

 

I wouldn't bake the GPU if I were you. I'd get it reballed by professionals so it will be as good as new. A baking can permanently damage the pcb making all repairs futile.

 

That's even possible .-.?

 

Anything is possible

There's some people on ebay who are willing to do it for 50 euros. I had my MXM Nvidia 425m reballed by these guys, and it works awesome. They'll repair any MXM card as long as it hasn't been baked.

http://www.ebay.com/usr/www.computer-systems.gr?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2754

Just message them the problem of your card, and they'll give you a quote. The support is really zippy also, and I always get responses from them within 10 hours. You have to send the card to them so they can repair it. They take worldwide orders too, so don't worry. They'll give you instructions.

 

I had that same model that came with a 7970M. If you are happy with it, you can simply swap out a new one. If you want to go to NVidia, you can install a 680M with no bios change, just uninstall the AMD driver then install an NVidia driver and you're're good to go.

If you stay with the 7970M, you simply swap out the GPU after cleaning the old paste off the heat sink and repasting. If you go with NVidia, you need to get a different heat sink that matches.

When I got my P170EM (same as yours, different reseller), the 7970M was having issues with Enduro so I asked Mythlogic to send me a 680M with the correct heat sink and a tube of paste. I made the swap quickly and easily and it worked perfectly.

If you go back to 2012 or search in the P170EM/NP9170 lounge, you'll see pictures and descriptions on how to do it. I followed those instructions to do mine and it was easy.

Hope this helps you.

Bobby

 

Bios flashing is pretty easy, Prema makes it a painless process and a 970m would he a SIGNIFICANT upgrade.

 

GTX 965/970M/980M works with stock bios without problems. Only what you need this is only MOD driver.

 

I agree was really easy as long as you follow his directions. And the 970 is a real nice jump . I had a 8970m .

 

It's a lot cooler running too.

 

Yes it is with a small oc of 50+ on the core it never got hotter than 81c. Where as the 8970 would run 85c on stock clocks. Cooler and faster nice upgrade.

 

Thanks for all your input. Currently I'm no position to buy one of the new cards, so I'll have it reballed, hopefully it will solve the problem.

I have installed Prema's BIOS in case I suddenly become rich (or the card turns out to be a lost cause...)

 

Hopefully the former.

 

Hey man! Saw your post.
I basically ran into the same problem as you a couple o weeks ago.
Buying a new card seemed too steep so I bought a 970g1 instead(desktop).
Today I ran into a repairshop that specialized in reballing.
I got my 7970m reballed for around $45 and it started working again (windows boots, drivers install). Games are running as well as before.
temps are a bit high but I am hoping a little tweaking should fix that.
I would definitely recommend reballing it compared to baking it(I was considering that as well).

 

Baking is sort of a crude way of going about "fixing" it, but it does occasionally work, even if only for the short term.

Very glad to hear the reballing helped yours!

 

Yes. However, I feel anyone considering baking the card should definitely get it reballed instead because it addresses the problem more specifically/safely.

In this case specifically, I feel the situation described by the OP is exactly the one I faced. As such, I have a gut feeling reballing would work for him too.

 

That's unless the solder balls in my diagram are the ones with issues:



In which case reballing the ones you did (the layer between package and PCB) is basically baking the ones above.

 

Lol, I did not know there were two layers to this thing.

But, yea, you have a point there.

 

There are always more layers in electronics