MattyB

Wow $100 is a great deal! I got mine for $220AUD which is about $150USD but they are very rare down here so they are usually worth around the $400AUD mark. I used to have the small briefcase for it. I remember it being a really tight fit. I will try to keep mine but if I get a good offer I will let it go. You have 6 posts so you should be able to download the file once they see it and upgrade your account. Hit them up.

You need to mod the inf before you can install the driver. You will keep getting an error if you try to install directly from Nvidia. Modding the inf is a little tricky the first time but it isn't too hard if you find a good guide. Also, your machine is the 17 R1 (or sometimes called the M17x R5 in some countries). The 17 R4 was released with the 1000 series cards and they are soldered to the motherboard and cannot be swapped out. You don't really have a 'strange set-up' as many people have upgraded these machines but the 970M is only slightly stronger than the 780M so most go for the 980M or 1060/1070 these days.

I used to have a few M11x's but sold them all a few years ago. I only just managed to get my hands on one again but a few bills have come up so I'm probably going to have to sell it. The wife wasn't happy when she found it in the cupboard last week. Apparently I'm not good at hiding things. I never got a chance to swap the HDD out for an SSD or install the unlocked BIOS. I may run out and put a cheap 240gb SSD in her before selling. It's still running A04 I believe. It's in perfect condition. It's the Nebula Red with i7 2617M and 2GB 540M. I did install the unlocked A05 on one of my old machines years ago but I never messed around with it. They are great machines but limited to how much power you can unleash from them. The bigger machines with extreme CPU's are better with the unlocked BIOS'.

I have an i7 R3 with Windows 10 installed. It doesn't seem to have an issue so far. Unfortunately I'll have to sell it soon though. Also, yes, you will need a new motherboard to upgrade to the i7. The good thing is you should also get the 2GB 540M. I can't remember exactly but I think the i5 usually came with the 1GB card.

Remove the power, battery and CMOS battery and then bridge the CMOS battery pins on the motherboard with a screwdriver. This will reset the BIOS. If you still have a problem then you have a bigger issue. Also, try the forum at Notebookreview.com as it's still very active over there.

I bridged the CMOS pins and reset the BIOS so I'm all good now. The 880M looks to be dead unfortunately, unless there's another reason I'm only getting beep codes when switching to PEG.

Hey guys. I know there aren't many of us around still using the M18x but I'll give it a try here anyway. I've had my old girl for a long time and 5-6 years ago I put dual 780M's in it without an issue. Earlier this year I got a cheapish 880M off eBay and I was going to put it in my old M17x R3 but couldn't get it to work so tonight I decided to try it in the M18x. I flashed the unlocked BIOS, removed my 780s and shoved the single 880 in there. I set it to PEG and restarted but now I'm just getting 5 beeps. I've tried to do a few power drains with and without the CMOS battery and holding down the FN key but no dice. I have also tried booting with no card and also with one of the 780s. I'm just wondering what to do now so I can get back into the BIOS and if I ever do, what can I do to get this 880M working. Cheers. EDIT: It's still running Windows 7

It may be a motherboard issue then. It's hard to say. Are you running the latest BIOS?

Decided to dust off the old R3 and give it a new paint job for the wife.

A 7 beep code points to a CPU error. If it is booting slowly as well then it sounds like the CPU is failing. You can try to run a Pre-boot assessment which runs through and tests all your hardware. I think you press F12 while booting and it should take you to the boot menu where you can select the assessment. Other than that you can try to grab a cheap compatible CPU and see how you go. Even though 7 beeps is a CPU error, it could be another part.

Thanks for that. Once I pull the trigger I will definitely be looking for some help. I have upgraded a few machines but this one looks to be the most complicated and I have never done a vBios before and I hear it needs to be done with the SLI 980M's.

Hey G.R.A.M.P.S, probably a silly question but does the original SLI cable fit fine with the 980M's? I'm assuming the sockets are in the same place on the cards. Thinking of upgrading my 780M's to 980M's. Also, how easy (or hard) was it to get the 2133mhz memory to run properly? I was under the impression that 1866 was the most they could squeeze out. Cheers.

I was just pulling my M17x R3 apart today actually and it's still in pieces next to me. My heatsink also seems to have the extra copper for the memory. Maybe it has something to do with yours being AMD but I don't see why tbh. I would have thought you'd need the Nvidia heatsink for the 980M as they are set up differently on the card.

Well I flashed the unlocked BIOS, DDU’d my drivers in safe mode, made all the required changes in the BIOS, slipped the 880M in there and got 6 beeps. I’m hoping it just wasn’t seated properly but I’m expecting a dead card. I’ll try again tomorrow.

I'm just about to give this upgrade a go. I know the 880M wasn't a great card but I got one for about $200AU and my mate is going to give me his old M17x R3 for a carton of beer so it's worth a crack. This exact machine was my first ever AW but I had sold it to him about 5 years ago so it's coming home. Hopefully I can get this upgrade to work with all the great information on here.

Hey. How did you go with this? I have a beautiful Nebula Red R2 sitting in a box in the garage and I'd love to do this same upgrade. It's got dual 675M's in it. I have another R2 with dual 780M's but they were pretty easy to install. The 980's seem a little daunting with all these steps but I want to get this girl rolling again. Also, where did you get the unlocked BIOS? From here?

It's great to see people still rocking these machines. I wish I could get them to work in my M18x R2. My 780M's are getting a little long in the tooth and I hate to let the old girl go. Awesome job!

Can't wait to give this a try. Since both my M11x's are out of warranty I may as well play around with one of them to see what I can do. Cheers!

Thanks svlV and others for sharing your wealth of information. It was a little overwhelming and frightening reading through these 36 pages. I currently have A10 on my R2 with a 3920XM. I would like to get the A10 Unlocked. Just need to get the posts and more importantly the balls to give it a go. I will definitely help you in your quest to get a new laptop once I've got it sorted.

Hi guys and girls! Just upgraded my M18x R2 from a 3820QM to the 3920XM so I could try my hand at some notebook overclocking. I know Mr Fox from another forum and told me that I could get some great info and an unlocked A10 BIOS from you guys. I also have 2 new 780M's waiting for me at home which I will install next week when I get back. Upgrading them from my severely outdated 675M's. Anyway, looking forward to learning plenty from you guys and getting the most out of this beast.

Hi. I went through this same process with my M15x and a 570M last night with success. I removed all traces of other Nvidia drivers on my M15x then I went to the same link for laptopvideos2go as mentioned earlier. Go into the Drivers section and filter the ones for your operating system. Select the driver version you want. Then download the driver and also save the .inf file to your desktop. Once the driver has downloaded, install it and a folder for this driver should appear on your desktop. Go into the Display.Driver folder in there and look for a file which has the same description and the .inf file you saved on your desktop earlier. Remove this from the folder and replace it with the one you saved. Then press the back arrow and open up the Setup application. Your driver should now recognize your 570M and install the driver!