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M17x R3 GPU upgrade to gtx 780m


veer

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello. The Nvidia GTX 580m stopped working in my Alienware M17x R3 so I replaced it with a Nvidia GTX 780m. I did a lot of research about this upgrade and bought all the recommended supplies to properly install it. I also thoroughly researched on how to properly to install it with hopefully no issues. After installing the GPU and following all the instructions it still does not work properly. When you first boot up the computer it will go all the way to the Alienware logo screen before freezing with either a black or white screen. When it finally does log into Windows 7 everything appears to be working correctly. I downloaded Heaven Benchmark 4.0 and performed a test. The standing temperature is around 53-55 degrees celsius. The test appears to be going well until the system reached 70-73 degrees celsius. The computer crashes and leaves a different colored screen eveytime, the sound also crashes. I tried to play a game and after approximately five minutes the system crashes with a different color screen also. Can anyone provide some insight as to what I can do to repair this issue.

Alienware M17X R3 with A12 modified bios

Windows 7 Premium 64 bit

Intel I7 2860QM @ 2.50GHz

20 GB of system memory

Thanks...

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Hello. The Nvidia GTX 580m stopped working in my Alienware M17x R3 so I replaced it with a Nvidia GTX 780m. I did a lot of research about this upgrade and bought all the recommended supplies to properly install it. I also thoroughly researched on how to properly to install it with hopefully no issues. After installing the GPU and following all the instructions it still does not work properly. When you first boot up the computer it will go all the way to the Alienware logo screen before freezing with either a black or white screen. When it finally does log into Windows 7 everything appears to be working correctly. I downloaded Heaven Benchmark 4.0 and performed a test. The standing temperature is around 53-55 degrees celsius. The test appears to be going well until the system reached 70-73 degrees celsius. The computer crashes and leaves a different colored screen eveytime, the sound also crashes. I tried to play a game and after approximately five minutes the system crashes with a different color screen also. Can anyone provide some insight as to what I can do to repair this issue.

Alienware M17X R3 with A12 modified bios

Windows 7 Premium 64 bit

Intel I7 2860QM @ 2.50GHz

20 GB of system memory

Thanks...

Hi, it's strange to hear you say that it freezes when booting up, but then you say you can get into Windows, how can it do both? Does it sometimes freeze forever on that white screen unless you reboot, or does it just freeze for a while & then eventually continue to load into Windows?

The fact that you can run Heaven Benchmark, but then get these crashes with different colour screens - it sounds like a hardware problem to me, like the card is losing stability. I'm thinking that maybe the card is not padded up properly and some of the components on the card are overheating & then causing instability - I think this because your core temperatures are OK, the other components on the card such as the VRMs do not have temperature sensors so those components could be overheating. I suggest you double check your heatsink padding, making sure that all chips are contacted & covered.

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post-37050-14495000538948_thumb.png

The computer freezes on the white or black screen. After I reboot it usually logs into Windows with no issues. I noticed that if the computer crashes after running Heaven it wont reboot into Windows unless I wait a while. Regarding the padding, I followed the diagram exactly the way it is outlined. There are parts on the back of the GPU that are not covered. Could this be an issue? According to the diagram there are certain parts that are not covered with padding, should they be covered with padding? Thanks for the reply.

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[ATTACH=CONFIG]15541[/ATTACH]

The computer freezes on the white or black screen. After I reboot it usually logs into Windows with no issues. I noticed that if the computer crashes after running Heaven it wont reboot into Windows unless I wait a while. Regarding the padding, I followed the diagram exactly the way it is outlined. There are parts on the back of the GPU that are not covered. Could this be an issue? According to the diagram there are certain parts that are not covered with padding, should they be covered with padding? Thanks for the reply.

I'm not sure which diagram you're referring to, but the diagram is only going to be applicable for pad thickness & position if you've got the same heatsink as the person who created the diagram. I don't know if that's the case. The only parts on the back of the GPU that need to be covered are the VRAM chips that surround the core - I used an x-bracket which had a little padded heatsink sticking off from it to cover 1 bank of VRAM chips, then I re-used the thermal pad that is on the motherboard to contact the 2nd bank of VRAM chips. You might want to check everywhere is padded up properly, you might see little indentations in the pad which will help you verify that they're making contact.

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Okay, I checked all the padding and everything appears to be done correctly. I turned the GPU over and added padding to those chips also. I ran 3dMark and got the following results NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-2860QM Processor,Alienware M17xR3.

The diagram I used was http://forum.techinferno.com/alienware-m17x-aw-17/4132-alienware-m17x-r3-upgrading-gtx-780m.html on this page.

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Okay, I checked all the padding and everything appears to be done correctly. I turned the GPU over and added padding to those chips also. I ran 3dMark and got the following results NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-2860QM Processor,Alienware M17xR3.

The diagram I used was http://forum.techinferno.com/alienware-m17x-aw-17/4132-alienware-m17x-r3-upgrading-gtx-780m.html on this page.

SkyDiver seems ok when I compare it to my score. Padding up diagram is fine, although I also padded the red cross marked section (but apparently you don't have to pad that area - but I padded it anyway) - the thickness of the pads is not stipulated in that diagram, so you just have to work out the correct thicknesses yourself, which you probably did. So, are you saying you don't have an issue with your 780M anymore? Your SkyDiver score is fine as far as I can see. Are you still getting the strange freezes during Windows startup & occasional crashes when running games & benchmarks?

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  • 2 weeks later...

I finally got a chance to recheck the computer, but I am still having the same issue. I checked the padding, added more padding, andrepasted the GPU with different thermal paste. I can complete the Skydiver test with no issue. However, when I go to play a game I have approximately five minutes before it freezes. When I restart the computer it goes all the way to the alienware screen before windows and freezes. If I reboot the computer same issue. If I reboot the computer and go into the BIOS to disable the IDT then I have no problem. Today I reenabled the IDT and the computer is acting normal again. However, playing a game the computer freezes.

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I finally got a chance to recheck the computer, but I am still having the same issue. I checked the padding, added more padding, andrepasted the GPU with different thermal paste. I can complete the Skydiver test with no issue. However, when I go to play a game I have approximately five minutes before it freezes. When I restart the computer it goes all the way to the alienware screen before windows and freezes. If I reboot the computer same issue. If I reboot the computer and go into the BIOS to disable the IDT then I have no problem. Today I reenabled the IDT and the computer is acting normal again. However, playing a game the computer freezes.

You're supposed to have IDT disabled - that's the onboard Intel iGPU.

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You're supposed to have IDT disabled - that's the onboard Intel iGPU.

I don't know if I read the thread wrong, but isn't the IDT the High Definition Audio Driver.

I followed these directions:http://forum.techinferno.com/alienware-m17x-aw-17/4829-780m-gtx-m17xr3-integrated-soundcard-working-again-no-more-usb-soundcard.html

Still have the same issue.

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I don't know if I read the thread wrong, but isn't the IDT the High Definition Audio Driver.

I followed these directions:http://forum.techinferno.com/alienware-m17x-aw-17/4829-780m-gtx-m17xr3-integrated-soundcard-working-again-no-more-usb-soundcard.html

Still have the same issue.

Ah, you're right, my mistake, I got confused with IGD (that needs to be disabled in the BIOS - that turns off the Intel iGPU). This is the guide to follow for installing 780M in M17xR3 (post #92 at following thread):

Alienware M17x R3 460M to 780M - Questions/Concerns | Page 10 | NotebookReview

(Maybe you need to reinstall the IDT drivers if you're having strange problems with games freezing when IDT is enabled).

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I have followed the directions on that post. I have also uninstalled/reinstalled the IDT drivers. However, I am still having the same problem no matter what I try. I installed a program called WhoCrashed. It says:Error: CUSTOM_ERROR

A third party driver was identified as the probable root cause of this system error.

Google query: CUSTOM_ERROR

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I have followed the directions on that post. I have also uninstalled/reinstalled the IDT drivers. However, I am still having the same problem no matter what I try. I installed a program called WhoCrashed. It says:Error: CUSTOM_ERROR

A third party driver was identified as the probable root cause of this system error.

Google query: CUSTOM_ERROR

Right, that's a pity it's still not working after following those instructions. I don't know what else to suggest, I hope some other people reading this will be able to offer some ideas or help.

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Chahn did you try a clean install of Windows? I have had the 780m and a 2960xm running on my R3 with Windows 7 and 8.1 for a while now. Followed the instructions from this thread. On a side note... has anyone tried to do a clean install of Windows 10 yet with the 780m R3 combo? I'm little nervous about jumping in right away to a new OS.

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Chahn did you try a clean install of Windows? I have had the 780m and a 2960xm running on my R3 with Windows 7 and 8.1 for a while now. Followed the instructions from this thread. On a side note... has anyone tried to do a clean install of Windows 10 yet with the 780m R3 combo? I'm little nervous about jumping in right away to a new OS.

I don't have the 780M, but I do have a non-standard GPU in this laptop (the 670MX), and I managed to upgrade sucessfully to Windows 10 from Windows 7. It wasn't without issue though. The in-place upgrade only worked for me by running the setup.exe (from within Windows 7) from Windows 10 USB installation media created at the following link: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10. Even then, it wasn't without issue: I was greeted by a black screen after updating, and could only access the PC by Ctrl-Alt-Del, Windows Task Manager, and then right clicking on a Process to 'Open File Location' - the desktop was just a black screen & non-responsive. I managed to do a Reset though of the operating system by starting up with the USB Installation Media I had created - at which point I chose Reset and Retain Personal Data. So, that erased all my programs, but kept my data - meant I had to reinstall all my programs, but it's working flawlessly since then. Obviously I had to disable Driver Signing Enforcement & then install the NVidia driver with a modified inf, but it's working well now. So, I'm expecting that you'd be able to install Win 10, but you might have issues with an in-place upgrade.

Note also that I lost control of the Alienware lights, I haven't bothered to try to install Alienware Command Centre to see if I can control the lights - my keyboard lighting setup has remained from my previous install, so I don't want to change it anyway - quite possible that I could install Alienware Command Centre & regain control, but I'm not interested in that.

(Using drivers for all hardware components that Win 10 installed automatically, apart from NVidia driver, and I decided to install the latest Killer Wireless driver (now Win 10 approved)).

EDIT: Alienware Command Centre does work, but use the Win 8 version from the M17xR4. You can find the link at the following post: M17XR3 IDT Windows 8 Driver v.6.10.0.6421 Maxx Audio 3 + Quality | NotebookReview

You can also install the IDT drivers from that post too.

Also note that I was having cold boot issues with Windows 10, but I found out how to fix that, make sure you have Fast Start-Up disabled in the Power Options, see following screeshot for where you disable Fast Start-Up:

post-14345-14495000621103_thumb.jpg

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Wow thanks for the info Robbo! Maybe if I get time this week I may install it. If not I am pretty happy with 8.1. But defiantly want my free copy of 10. Do you disable driver signing the same way as in windows 8?

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Wow thanks for the info Robbo! Maybe if I get time this week I may install it. If not I am pretty happy with 8.1. But defiantly want my free copy of 10. Do you disable driver signing the same way as in windows 8?

Note I'm having some cold boot low GPU performance at the moment due to PCIex1 rather than PCIex16, which is fixed by a restart (warm boot). However, I've updated to the latest Windows 10 IMEI drivers and it seems that now only half the time I have Cold Boot Low GPU Performance. Will be experimenting with different intel chipset drivers to see if that improves the situation. Note that a restart solves the problem, so it's not a massive problem, but is an inconvenience.

Yes, I think you can disable driver signing enforcement the same as Windows 8 (although don't have Windows 8 to check). There is a good way though to get the legacy boot menu back - accessed by pressing the F8 key repeatedly during boot (which enables you to select Disable Driver Signing Enforcement quickly & easily for that particular one boot), you run an elevated command prompt and type the following which will bring back the legacy boot menu:

bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy

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Hey guys, I have a situation that I'd like some advice with if you can help. Basically I'm thinking about upgrading my M17xR3 to windows 10. Now, I was thinking that if I was to go about doing that, that the main problem would obviously be the sound card issues as before. Now, lol, I've gone through hell and back with this M17xR3 and I've vowed that I will not open up this computer again. The latest thing that I did was upgrade the secondary hard drive to a 2Tb hard drive so that I can store more media on it. The 500Gb wasn't cutting it, so the act of upgrading that was ridiculous, but I got it done. (Yes, I had to re-format and do a clean installation)

The latest nuisance with this computer was playing Black Ops 2 on it. Apparently this game has issues with the sound card as well while using the 780m GTX. Anyways, with the 2Tb upgrade solved, I thought that I could at least swap back to the 6990mHD back and forth (that was the worst idea). Long story short, I had a hell ride getting the 780m GTX working again, the computer even refused to boot with the 6990mHD.

I'm still running windows 7 on my M17x (back up and running) and I have windows 10 installed in my netbook, which really looks promising, hence why I'm thinking about upgrading my 17". Has anyone even thought about upgrading to windows 10 or has anyone even tried with all the upgraded hard drives and gymnastics that needs to be done to get the hardware running? I've been really out-of-date with this forum, so please excuse me if this has been discussed before. Can it be done without issue with the M17xR3 with the hardware upgrades or is it too much stress to manage?

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Hey guys, I have a situation that I'd like some advice with if you can help. Basically I'm thinking about upgrading my M17xR3 to windows 10. Now, I was thinking that if I was to go about doing that, that the main problem would obviously be the sound card issues as before. Now, lol, I've gone through hell and back with this M17xR3 and I've vowed that I will not open up this computer again. The latest thing that I did was upgrade the secondary hard drive to a 2Tb hard drive so that I can store more media on it. The 500Gb wasn't cutting it, so the act of upgrading that was ridiculous, but I got it done. (Yes, I had to re-format and do a clean installation)

The latest nuisance with this computer was playing Black Ops 2 on it. Apparently this game has issues with the sound card as well while using the 780m GTX. Anyways, with the 2Tb upgrade solved, I thought that I could at least swap back to the 6990mHD back and forth (that was the worst idea). Long story short, I had a hell ride getting the 780m GTX working again, the computer even refused to boot with the 6990mHD.

I'm still running windows 7 on my M17x (back up and running) and I have windows 10 installed in my netbook, which really looks promising, hence why I'm thinking about upgrading my 17". Has anyone even thought about upgrading to windows 10 or has anyone even tried with all the upgraded hard drives and gymnastics that needs to be done to get the hardware running? I've been really out-of-date with this forum, so please excuse me if this has been discussed before. Can it be done without issue with the M17xR3 with the hardware upgrades or is it too much stress to manage?

I found it a bit of a headache upgrading to Windows 10 from Win 7. The in-place upgrade didn't work properly - black screen - had to do a Reset using the USB Windows 10 installation media. I did a backup image of my Win 7 OS partition using Macrium Reflect before upgrading to Win 10, so I could put everything back to how it was without any fuss if I wanted to. After the Reset Windows 10 worked ok but still needed some tweaking to sort various cold boot issues - see post #440 & post #442.

If you're not willing to have to tinker with your laptop again, then I wouldn't recommend upgrading to Window 10 - for gaming DX12 games probably aren't going to start coming out till sometime next year, and I think I read there's only 2 DX12 games slated for 2016.

EDIT: your sound issues, you might have to do the same installation process on Win 10 to get it to work - I don't know.

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(Using drivers for all hardware components that Win 10 installed automatically, apart from NVidia driver, and I decided to install the latest Killer Wireless driver (now Win 10 approved)).

EDIT: Alienware Command Centre does work, but use the Win 8 version from the M17xR4. You can find the link at the following post: M17XR3 IDT Windows 8 Driver v.6.10.0.6421 Maxx Audio 3 + Quality | NotebookReview

You can also install the IDT drivers from that post too.

Also note that I was having cold boot issues with Windows 10, but I found out how to fix that, make sure you have Fast Start-Up disabled in the Power Options, see following screeshot for where you disable Fast Start-Up:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]15679[/ATTACH]

I found it a bit of a headache upgrading to Windows 10 from Win 7. The in-place upgrade didn't work properly - black screen - had to do a Reset using the USB Windows 10 installation media. I did a backup image of my Win 7 OS partition using Macrium Reflect before upgrading to Win 10, so I could put everything back to how it was without any fuss if I wanted to. After the Reset Windows 10 worked ok but still needed some tweaking to sort various cold boot issues - see post #440 & post #442.

If you're not willing to have to tinker with your laptop again, then I wouldn't recommend upgrading to Window 10 - for gaming DX12 games probably aren't going to start coming out till sometime next year, and I think I read there's only 2 DX12 games slated for 2016.

EDIT: your sound issues, you might have to do the same installation process on Win 10 to get it to work - I don't know.

Thanks for the reply Robbo. So, what happened to me when I tried to upgrade my secondary hard drive to a 2Tb was that I took the page filing option to the secondary drive instead of the main SSD. When I switched out the hard drive, it refused to start. After I switched it back, it worked. So, after figuring out how to get it running, and I reinstalled EVERYTHING, (like (800Gb of programs/ games) I realized that every 30 secs to 5 mins, the computer would freeze for like 5-10 secs, then go back to normal. (lol, I know, just my luck right) The issue was that the a bios setting was incorrect. I can't remember if I had RAID or AHCI, but whichever one it was, I had the wrong one and I couldn't just switch it, so I had to do a clean install and the only way to reinstall the audio drivers to get the computer working without the external sound card is to have the soundcard drivers installed!!!

I had to swap back to the 6990mHD and install the drivers. It worked fine. I installed everything and all was go.

A few months later, I decided to play a game that was incompatible with the soundcard and the 780mGTX installed. Anyway, long story short, it was a disaster. Sometimes, the computer would refuse to boot with the 6990mHD installed. I literally did the exact thing for 4 hours straight; CHANGING NO DETAIL with what I did, and only 4 hours later it worked. It was PURELY hit or miss. There were 4 beeps or 5 beeps or 6 beeps sometimes and the way around them was different all the time. Imagine that for one of the scenarios, the GPU had to be removed, sometimes it wouldn't need to. Then I had to put bios settings back whenever I removed the GPU, when it wasn't, I'll have to hold down the function button, then try again. Then when it does start, it will start with the screen flickering in green or red or something. Then I would have to re-seat the card, then go into bios and re-set stuff. Sometimes, i forgot to change it, AHHHHHHH!!!! it was a nightmare and a half, seriously.

Seeing that you had to go through all that and you have no sound card issue, I think I'm good with windows 7.

Like they say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. In my 2Tb data drive, I have like 1.4Tb filled with movies, games and programs. I might seriously get a stroke this time around. I'll think I'll just have Windows 10 on my netbook and have my m17x run windows 7. I use it like a desktop anyways and i use the M11x when I'm mobile.

A couple questions; the driver you linked above, do you think it'll work with the 780m GTX installed on a windows 7 machine? I think it will be the same procedure as usual :(

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Thanks for the reply Robbo. So, what happened to me when I tried to upgrade my secondary hard drive to a 2Tb was that I took the page filing option to the secondary drive instead of the main SSD. When I switched out the hard drive, it refused to start. After I switched it back, it worked. So, after figuring out how to get it running, and I reinstalled EVERYTHING, (like (800Gb of programs/ games) I realized that every 30 secs to 5 mins, the computer would freeze for like 5-10 secs, then go back to normal. (lol, I know, just my luck right) The issue was that the a bios setting was incorrect. I can't remember if I had RAID or AHCI, but whichever one it was, I had the wrong one and I couldn't just switch it, so I had to do a clean install and the only way to reinstall the audio drivers to get the computer working without the external sound card is to have the soundcard drivers installed!!!

I had to swap back to the 6990mHD and install the drivers. It worked fine. I installed everything and all was go.

A few months later, I decided to play a game that was incompatible with the soundcard and the 780mGTX installed. Anyway, long story short, it was a disaster. Sometimes, the computer would refuse to boot with the 6990mHD installed. I literally did the exact thing for 4 hours straight; CHANGING NO DETAIL with what I did, and only 4 hours later it worked. It was PURELY hit or miss. There were 4 beeps or 5 beeps or 6 beeps sometimes and the way around them was different all the time. Imagine that for one of the scenarios, the GPU had to be removed, sometimes it wouldn't need to. Then I had to put bios settings back whenever I removed the GPU, when it wasn't, I'll have to hold down the function button, then try again. Then when it does start, it will start with the screen flickering in green or red or something. Then I would have to re-seat the card, then go into bios and re-set stuff. Sometimes, i forgot to change it, AHHHHHHH!!!! it was a nightmare and a half, seriously.

Seeing that you had to go through all that and you have no sound card issue, I think I'm good with windows 7.

Like they say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. In my 2Tb data drive, I have like 1.4Tb filled with movies, games and programs. I might seriously get a stroke this time around. I'll think I'll just have Windows 10 on my netbook and have my m17x run windows 7. I use it like a desktop anyways and i use the M11x when I'm mobile.

A couple questions; the driver you linked above, do you think it'll work with the 780m GTX installed on a windows 7 machine? I think it will be the same procedure as usual :(

What a nightmare you had! Yep, if it ain't broke don't fix it, stay with what you've got - you've had too many issues to bother getting Windows 10 to work for no real benefit! I don't know if the sound driver I linked will work with Windows 7 - it's a Windows 8 driver - but as you say, if it ain't broke don't fix it so I'd leave your sound drivers alone if they're working as you want.

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Hey guys i have a problem. I have AW M17X R4 and i upgraded it to GTX 780M and i tryed to play Lichdom Battlemage, everything was good on very high settings until temp reach 86c and it drops down Mhz to 324 and temp by 10-15c after 5 min of gameplay. Then i bought 100w heatsink for GTX 680m and i installed it today with IC7 Diamond paste and i tryed to play the same game again. After maybe 15-20 min temp reach 77c and Mhz drop down to 324 and temp to 65c and it goes high as 77c and down to 65c over and over again. What i did wrong? Whats the problem? Is it maybe the new driver? I have 353.62 installed? Before with 75w heatsink it went to 86c and now with 100w it goes to 77c. Any help will be great, thanks.

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