P170HM3 GPU Upgrade or Fix

Hello, I've been done a lot of reading through the forums before deciding to post.
I have an issue with my current GPU. It has been crashing a whole lot (Windows kernal failed and restarted, or something like that). If it doesn't do that my screen just goes completely black and I have to hit the power button to.
I've did a clean driver install, etc, cleaned out the laptop all of that stuff. Still does it. It happens so often now that I'm thinking I am going to have to get a new GPU. Is there a fix to this?

Here's my next issue, if I need to get a new GPU what can I throw in this?
I've read a few threads on the GTX680m being thrown into a P170HM3 but I never saw any confirmation that it actually worked.
My question is what GPU's will work in this laptop? Wondering if I will be forced to get a 580m. I have not seen anything about a 675m working in this model either.

Keep in mind that this is a HM3 model not HM. I'd also like to know if any of the AMD cards would work in here, thanks a lot.

 

Hey,

I believe that you can get a 680m for the model and have the 3D work, however, you'll need Prema's special HM3 BIOS, but we would be more than happy to sell you the card Also none of the AMD's will work because the vBIOS can't talk to the eDP port on the motherboard, so you have to go nVIDIA.

 

Do you have the crashing problem with the default Windows driver for the card? If it's not a driver issue, you can try refreshing the circuitry by removing the battery and any external components (including the AC adapter), leaving it like that for 1 minute, and then reconnect your battery and/or charger, and see if that helps. You can also try a CMOS reset by removing the CMOS battery for a minute, then place it back in and start it up (tread carefully if you decide to open the laptop to access the motherboard!).

If the poor thing is on it's last leg though, hopefully a new GPU will revive it. Not sure on compatibility though.

 

Well that's good to know that I may have that option. I don't think I'm comfortable with spending $600-700 on a GPU atm though, if I have to though I will.

@Prostar Computer, I'm not using default Windows drivers, using the latest nvidia drivers. This has been happening with many different drivers too. I have not tried refreshing the circuitry. I'll give that a try and see how long it lasts. This has been happening for probably a year now but usually it happens maybe once a week. Last few days it has been happening pretty much every few hours, sometimes happening multiple times within 30 minutes. I also noticed yesterday when I plugged a USB stick in it did the whole black screen things, this happened a few times when I put the USB stick in so perhaps maybe it is a circuitry thing.

 

Tried the first thing you suggested, still happens. I suppose I can give the CMOS battery reset a try.

 

An Update:
Ran memtest with no errors.
I noticed that while not even gaming the temperature randomly spikes up to like 60-70. Idles around 35-40.
Currently the card is crashing about every 3 minutes with Microsoft Excel open. If I have things like google chrome open same thing. Constantly crashes. When it crashes I don't get my screen back but everything is still running, for example i can still control the laptop it's not frozen I just have no screen. To get my screen back I've been pressing Fn-F4 to put it to sleep and then turn back on.
Any suggestions? Still haven't tried the cmos thing yet.

Also want to point out that if I'm in a game it doesn't really crash if it does it's rare.

 

thats weird, it doesnt crash when u put load on the gpu? hm....

 

It does but not often, it's pretty rare that it happens. I will occasionally get artifacts while gaming but I think that is from heat, sometimes the fans don't kick on all the way and I'll have a graphically intensive game going.
I just took out a stick of ram and will see how long it will go. then I'll try another stick. Just read from another forum some guy having a similar issue had ran memtest and had no errors but when replaced the ram everything was fixed.

 

Just want to further update incase this happens to anyone else.
So, I tried with only 1 ram stick. Didn't make a difference was crashing with the same frequency.
BUT I've been running a game for awhile and havent crashed once. If I leave the game then I probably will.