P170HM BSOD 0x000000a5 on fresh Windows 7 install.

Howdy,

I recently installed a GT 130m card from an Acer laptop and I was shocked to see the Clevo was able to get past the boot screen with it! It's a very old and underpowered card for such a powerful machine.

I then attempted to install windows which went supposedly well until it needed to restart to complete the installation. It presents me with a STOP 0x000000a5 error which indicates that the BIOS is not ACPI compliant which makes zero sense to me at all. I've tried several new RAM's and HDD's but to no avail. The BIOS is set to ACPI mode as well.

Help would be highly appreciated. I don't suppose it could be the video card?

 

Updated the BIOS and Firmware but still giving me this annoying error. Also tried another GPU, a 425m same results. I'm going to try installing Windows 8.1 right now as many people are claiming that it cannot get the STOP 0x000000a5 error because it ignores whether the system is ACPI compliant or not.

 

wow that is some pretty interesting stuff right there, trying those gpu models in the HM series. even though im not able to help u at this point, ill keep an eye out on this thread u might wanna hit up our resident bio/vbios wizard @Prema concerning this issue

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I gladly present a weak, underpowered and unfitting card in the P170HM

As we all know, the cooling system in the P170x is designed for 100w cards. This little 130m has zero thermal paste on it, and it's getting idle temps between 40-60. 15W TDP I believe. It was taken out of an old Acer laptop. No BIOS mods were performed. The card still has it's original Acer BIOS. 60 is when it revs up it's fans more which quickly reduces it back to 40 in under 5 seconds. This card will probably work in the others too. I've gotta try the 425m next! It will probably work also, stay tuned.

I installed Windows 8.1 which eliminated the ACPI error completely, then I installed Drivermax and that somehow found a working modded driver. ForceWare 340.72 if anyone wants to know. The Nvidia control panel loads the preview and everything normally. I now need to test a game, Psi Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy obviously as I've been wanting to play that game for years now and it will be no trouble for this card!

Also I have another question:

Are the fans supposed to be this loud? I'm idling and they sound like they're on full power like a heavy load or something which is odd. Is this normal? The temps are icy cold.

 

Here's some more proof

 

Triple post, sorry guys

Okay, I fixed the fan control thanks to LightningPL's firmware mod in this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/high-fanspeed-noise-clevo-p170hm.652388/page-5 (Awesome mod man, Thanks!) Temps are a little higher, but when it heats up to 55 degrees centigrade, the GPU fan kicks in and brings it all the way down to 40. It's much quieter than it was and it is kinda tolerable CPU is in a similar range but lower. It has some thermal paste on, but not enough to warrant long time usage. Keep in mind that the 130m has zero thermal paste nor does it's heatsink. I need to get some on there stat, but I have none at all. Ran out of Deepcool Z5 the other day. That stuff worked great on my m15x r2.

 

have u put some paste on the gpu yet? might prevent the fans from kicking on at all with paste applied

that is just SO funny, running both cpu and gpu with barely any paste whatsoever *lol* what cpu do u have installed (nvm, just saw it on ur last screenie)? btw u can just use toothpaste or mayonnaise if u dont have regular TIM lying around

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

I'll have to get to it ASAP. I don't want it having the same scenario as my M15X did when it had dried thermal paste. Even though the cooling system seems to have no trouble cooling down the card, I can't take the risk of it dying. 100 degrees centigrade is horrifying.

 

75% non grit toothpaste mixed thoroughly with 25% vaseline actually makes a decent temporary (2 or 3 months) thermal paste. It is better than a bare die. Thermal paste is so easily accessible though, it seems silly. A tube of IC Diamond is 8 bucks shipped on Amazon.

 

The temps are not seeming like a problem anymore.
I originally had the Acer X bracket installed for some reason which gave idle temps at around 45-60 because it was kinda loose and the heatsink wasn't touching the GPU at all. This is now fixed as I have put the original 6990m X bracket on, and it fits very tightly and the GPU is touching the heatsink still with zero thermal paste. I managed to get it in, and all is well. It's much better than before and the fan does not spin up anywhere near as much as it did. It's very quiet and so is the CPU fan even under load. I've finished the first 3 levels of Psi Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy and so far everything has worked like a charm! I'm really enjoying the game even though it's super old. No BSOD's no nothing. Resolution for Windows 8.1 is at it's maximum, 1080p. Runs very smoothly. I've been using it for around 8 hours now non-stop and I'm posting from it right now! It only heats up to 50 now and that's under load. Everything in the game is maxxed out. When idling, it hovers in the 38-50 range.

I think it would be safe to say that the GT 130M is fully compatible with a P170HM. I think the same would apply for the EM/SM also. I'll have to try more demanding games like GRID to really see how well it works. I'm starting to think that the P170xx can take any MXM-A card as long as it has a ROM chip. I would love to know if someone could integrate the VBIOS of the 6770m into the P170's System BIOS. Who knows? It would probably work too! This 130m is olddd!

 

HM systems are confirmed to not be compatible with newer nVidia cards. It seems like Clevo machines play nice with older cards for whatever reason. When I soft bricked my 880Ms and the system would turn itself on and then back off I discovered my Alienware's 260M worked (as in the computer didn't shut itself down anymore) but of course had no display due to my 120hz screen.

As for you not having heat issues, that card doesn't output any real heat to begin with. I certainly wouldn't put a Fermi card in there and expect the same!

 

My thoughts exactly! It could also be because the P170HM dislikes UEFI cards. That would imply that it could take any older card that predates UEFI ones easily! I'm going to try a 6770m next if Prema can integrate the VBIOS of the card into the system BIOS like he did with the 680M. Who knows? It might work too!

 

I think you might have more of an issue with AMD cards, especially since it doesn't look like Clevo released a system using that card and thus no Clevo vbios exists for it. There seem to be a lot more incompatibilities with AMD cards than nVidia cards as far as Clevo is concerned.

 

Yeah, I know. Prema told me a few minutes ago that AMD cards are a no go due to the thermal sensors. It's pretty ridiculous as to why Clevo would do this. My P170HM originally came with a 6990m, but that's dead and I intend on getting a replacement, or having this one reballed. Must a replacement AMD card have a Clevo BIOS?

 

Its quite likely that it will need a Clevo vbios, I don't think we would have the blind flashing instructions for AMD cards in various posts if that wasn't the case but Prema would know better than I do.

The temperature sensor thing is annoying from a compatibility standpoint but from a card safety standpoint it makes sense to protect the system from damage. I don't really think Clevo is doing it to prevent people from upgrading cards.

 

Would a baked card be able to get a reball done? I'm just curious. I've never baked my 6990m, but the previous owner may have. It's really hard to tell if this one has been baked or not. The GPU has no wear on the chip, but the base is almost a jet black color.

 

I watched a video on reballing to see how it was done a few weeks ago and I fail to see how baking the card would interfere with a reballing unless the GPU core itself or another part of the video card is damaged.

 

So it should be all good then? The die has zero wear on it and the AMD logo is completely visible with no marks. It's only the chip that surrounds it.

 

As long as nothing else failed, I don't see an issue but I'm not an expert. I would definitely check with the company doing the reball first to make sure.