Naberius

Hi, TI. Long time no post!

The (aftermarket, msi) 1070 in my M17x R4 is... dying, seemingly, at the start of its 4th year of service. The laptop will post and make it to Windows, but if the clock rises above say... the power-saving baseline, the screen will start locking up (though the machine is still operating behind the stale frames).

Naively, I would _guess_ that this is more of a power issue that anything else and that _theoretically_ a specialty shop could take on the repair work. That said, a bit of reading indicates that it could... just as easily be the core (given that it's still providing video out) and could be a total wash.

(I've reseated the card a few times - same/same - and a backup card I had on hand, a 970m, runs fine).

I'm at a bit of a loss on this one. Replacement parts seem to be incredibly difficult to source at this point; Eurocom promised me the last msi 1070 they had on the shelf then rescinded the offer after it failed tests... I'm currently sitting on one from Ascendtech that looked brand new but throws 8-beeps out of the box... so there's that also.

Looking for opinions - letting go is hard but I suspect the writing is on the wall here.

On ‎2016‎-‎08‎-‎04 at 9:44 PM, Gor3 said:

 

 

Beware of the update.

 

I just updated my R2 with 980m SLI and I can't play any game. Video games and videos run slow.  Nvidia control pannel crashes and I'm not able to change any settings.

 

 

Saw this today, immediately after applying the anniversary update (of course).

I nearly shit a brick... then I re-installed the video driver (using the normal method of disabling driver signing).

I was able to restart normally afterward, and the driver loaded correctly. A brief test of Overwatch looked normal. A brief test on a VR headset looked normal.

I'll post back if I see anything unusual, but it looks fine. Consider imaging your drive just in case.

(M17X R4 980m using @J95's 369.05 driver -- I'll try my M15X 680m later if I'm feeling brave)

Edit: Taking a moment to read, there are a number of caveats and exceptions to the new policy. Consider disabling Secure Boot if you've not done so all ready:

(from http://www.thewindowsclub.com/driver-signing-changes-windows-10)

Quote

The new signing policy, however, includes many exceptions and the major ones are:

• PCs upgraded to Windows 10 Build 1607 from a previous version of Windows (for instance Windows 10 version 1511) are not affected by the change.
• PCs without Secure Boot functionality, or Secure Boot off, are not affected either.
• All drivers signed with cross-signing certificates that were issued prior to July 29, 2015, will continue to work.
• Boot drivers won’t be blocked to prevent systems from failing to boot. They will be removed by the Program Compatibility Assistant, however.
• The change affects only Windows 10 Version 1607. All previous versions of Windows are not affected.

Does anyone know if Maxwell II BIOS Tweaker is compatible with the 980m? Though it can certainly read and change values, I'm not certain it creates a valid rom for mxm cards.

5 hours ago, phobos1984 said:

Hi Guys,

 

I already flashed once one of Prema's vBIOSes, but now can't remember if is it normal to receive this message right before flashing?

"warning firmware image pci subsystem id does not match adapter pci subsystem id" 

 

Whould really like to avoid bricking the card.

 

Thanks!

Hi, @phobos_1984 -- AFAIK that message is normal on the R4 when flashing Clevo vbios...s. 

On 2/18/2016 at 11:23 AM, vmt8 said:

How do you flash the VBIOS?

I upgraded on my Sager NP9150/Clevo P150EM from the NVidia 680M to the NVidia 980M

Currently running Eurocom BIOS version 1.02.17EC v3b

 

Will be using VBIOS from here

https://biosmods.wordpress.com/gtx9/

 

Any help is appreciated, thank you

Hi, @vmt8 - all vbios packages from Premamod come with a flashing utility and instructions. Just pull down the package you need and read the README.txt.

On 2/23/2016 at 2:22 AM, Freakel_Sneak said:

Better question, how can i tell if my 980m 8gb is MXM or soldered? seen a couple guys saying that all 8gb were mxm but i dont know how reliable that info was, on an alienware 17 (late 2015)

Hi, @Freakel_Sneak - AFAIK, all AW 15 and 17 units from 2014 onwards use soldered chips and gpus. If you're unsure, open up the bottom and look for a distinct card, separate from the motherboard, about the size of two playing cards side by side.

Hi. @Prema - Did you ever make a low-voltage version of your 980m vbios? I ask because I'm testing out a theory regarding the later nvidia drivers and the M17X R4. When I say low-voltage, I'm thinking something like 1035 @ 0.975v (if that would even run). PM me if you want to hear the story (as it's probably pretty far off topic).

Does anyone know if a low voltage version of the 980m vbios was ever released? I'm chasing a throttling issue on the M17X R4 and want to test a theory...

I think this would be @svl7 and @Klem if no one else chimes in.

@J95 Are you able to share at all what mods you did to the 353.06 peg_mod driver? I'm wondering if the same mods can be applied to a more recent driver like 359.06 (and beyond). Your 353.06 driver seems to be the only one that I can use without the 980m's clock bottoming out to 324mhz (and staying bottomed out) when it hits P1 with a high GPU load.

Hi, all. I'm currently using a 980m in an M17X R4 (w/Premamod vbios, card from Lee James Wood / Woodzstack). In testing, it seems like J95's 353 driver is the last one that can staunch the throttle issues (via p-state matching).

Drivers like 358.50, 359.06/359.12 etc all seem to come with incurable radical throttling (dipping and often staying at 324mhz on the clock when load is somewhere beyond 90%).

Is this about the shape of things now? Also, has anyone heard of another vbios on the horizon?

On 12/23/2015 at 3:16 PM, Naberius said:

Hi, @svl7 - can you check the secondary files attached to your post? (the prr tool and dos fpt). I'm getting 404s on them.

I'll answer this one for myself: the tools are still properly linked in: https://www.techinferno.com/index.php?/forums/topic/1870-flash-modified-biosuefi-which-are-digitally-signed-circumvent-secure-flash/. 

I completed this mod also. It's a significant boost to cooling power (at the expense of noise) and makes for much more comfortable overclocking on the 3920xm. I ended up using brass tabs (straightened picture hangers) as retention clips mounted to the original screw mounts. Note that I also used double-sided, heat-resistant foam tape on the underside of the fan, making for a very secure mount.

Hi, @svl7 - can you check the secondary files attached to your post? (the prr tool and dos fpt). I'm getting 404s on them.

I'm looking at flashing my 680m to an unlocked vbios and I noticed that there are two distinct variants - 80.04.33.00.32 and 80.04.5B.00.02.

Now, as far as I know, "5B" is based on a newer version of the vbios with proper UEFI protocols in place (such that you can use it in full UEFI in peg/dedicated mode without having to load the legacy option rom). Can this version be flashed onto a card that shipped with the older "33" vbios or was there an actual change in the card? This may be a question for @svl7

There can be a lot of attachment/emotion invested into a machine that you've used day in/out for years. That said, it can be hard to let go! Now, unless you're doing something incredibly CPU intensive, upgrading your GPUs will achieve what you're looking for - I hear a lot of m15x laptops are still in service with xm cpus and upgraded gpus.

That said, this should be weighed against what is happening in the desktop replacement segment... Eurocom is doing some crazy things with the Sky X9...

I'm very excited to try out one a new vBios. I spent the last couple of years catching up on my back-log (so I didn't notice anything lacking... until now). That said, Has anyone noticed any significant temperature changes on the m17x r4 with the minor vcore voltage bump?