TheSin

The best way to check if the problem is caused by corrupted BIOS is to re-flash it (ideally using hardware programmer like CH341A and other BIOS chips). If it won't help - I guess the problem is caused by faulty hardware (for example, EC IT8518E - this IC is responsible for a lot of functions such keyboard keys processing and power states management)

Yes, the BIOS should help you to switch on integrated graphics. However I'd recommend you to check GPU fan before switching to iGPU. Press Fn+1 (not Fn+F1) to run both fans at maximum speed. If GPU fan works - check temperatures of HD8970. If the temperatures are fine but your notebook keeps beeping, it looks like you have problems with thermal sensor (are you sure you bought card from Clevo laptop? AMD cards for Dell\Alienware has another thermal sensor, however, we can deal with it). If your card vendor is Clevo, then most likely it has broken thermal sensor (a small TSOP8 chip on the bottom of the card) and EC is not able to see actual temperature (and adjust fan speed accordingly).

"Oh, the amd card I can get is from dell. So it won't work, right?" - yes, your laptop will start beeping after power on. Also you will probably need to flash the correct Clevo vbios to make the card work in Windows, but I don't know if such vbios exists for this card. So, for diagnosis I recommend you to find nvidia MXM card. Perhaps you should contact the other owners of P1xxEM in your location to temporarily insert a 100% working card into your laptop.

In case of AMD cards, you can easily get problems with beeping because different vendors use different thermal sensors. For example, AMD cards from Dell are not compatible with Clevo laptops. Of course, this also can be patched in the firmware, but it's better to use Nvidia cards instead. But if you don't need a discrete GPU, just flash the BIOS from the previous post and enjoy. Less power consumption, less heat, more battery life and no problems with card incompatibility . Create a bootable DOS flash drive (for example, using Rufus), copy the files from the link to the root of flash and boot. Execute "step1.exe", notebook should reboot with activating full speed of fans. Don't worry, in this mode boot from the flash drive once again and execute 'step2.bat', then press any key to start flashing. After the 1st stage of flashing you will be asked about your keyboard type. So, if you have a keyboard with Win key in the left - enter L and press Enter. If your keyboard has right Win key - enter R and press enter. After flashing is completed, the notebook will turn off. Disconnect power adapter, remove the battery, wait 30 seconds - and turn the notebook on.

Removing MXM GPU will lead to beeping and emergency shutdown after a minute or two. The problem is in firmware of EC controller, which periodically requests temperature of discrete GPU. If MXM card is not installed, EC can't get data from SMBus thermal sensor and enables 'emergency mode'. To fix this problem you need to flash a specially patched BIOS. This BIOS is based on the latest Eurocom one, if you prefer Sager BIOS - please PM me with your firmware, I'll apply patch to it.

I don't know if it will be useful to anyone, however the secret of working Dell cards is very easy - another SMBus thermal monitor chip. It's a 8-pin IC located on the bottom side of the card near one of the holes for GPU radiator on the photos from the 1st post. Clevo's cards use monitors with SMBus address 0x4D, but Dell's cards use monitors with address 0x4C, that's why P150EM can't get temperature of Dell card and starts beeping. So, to get a working Dell card in Clevo you just need to replace thermal monitor IC... or patch SMBus address in EC firmware. I guess this IC was also replaced on the topicstarter's card because area near this IC looks slightly "baked" - probably, after overheating when soldering.