M17x R2 + GTX780M - safemode boot OK, Normall boot NOT

[svl7]

Try disabling the High Definition Sound option in the BIOS.

[flingin]

Try disabling the High Definition Sound option in the BIOS.

Hi bro, thank you for yet another the hint

If this fails, do you think there is anything else that could be done to get this card working in R2 ?

I think there is something in the vbios of this card that does this maybe, if so, would you be able to have a look into it please ?

I have spent so much time trying to install this card, not to mention what I've went trough when i bought it ( first card was stolen from my letterbox lol )

Thank you very much in advance SLV7

PEACE

[tucksha]

Hi everyone,

Just thought that I'd bump this thread.

I too decided to take the plunge and chose to upgrade my m17x R2's GPU, and have successfully installed a GTX 770M into my machine; and alas, I have the exact same problems as flingin above.

The problem is definitely to do with with the hardware, or firmware of either the Alienware base system, or the GPU itself.

I know this due to several things, firstly the machine works in software rendering mode, (safe mode), which uses the device VGASAVE to render the screen, and the GPU is not active. Secondly, it's not due to drivers, for two reasons, as the card fails using either the standard VGA driver, and the specific Nvidia One, I've tried four different driver versions so far, not one of them has made a difference. Furthermore, my windows boot log shows that the VGA driver loads successfully, in fact windows loads successfully, just the display isn't rendered correctly.

I have had some progress however, in that my screen isnt always white, or black, it changes colour to whatever it feels like, and it sometimes even has black and dashed lines periodically.

It seems like it wants to work, but there may be a protocol error or something....

I believe that a fix will come from a Vbios, therefore leading me to my next question, is there a stock Vbios that anyone can upload for me, or is there a way to download the Vbios from the card in safe mode?

As I would really like to look at it in detail.

Moreover, would anyone know how to flash my mobo bios without using the WinPhlash tool in safemode, maybe a dos boot disk.

Thanks

Ash

[svl7]

Go to your bios and try disabling the High Definition Sound option (you might need the unlocked bios for this). I'm inclined to say that it has to work somehow since it works in the M15x which is very similar after all.

You can save your vbios from DOS using nvflash and you can also flash the BIOS from DOS using phlash16 (it's included in the Dell BIOS update package).

[tucksha]

Go to your bios and try disabling the High Definition Sound option (you might need the unlocked bios for this). I'm inclined to say that it has to work somehow since it works in the M15x which is very similar after all.

You can save your vbios from DOS using nvflash and you can also flash the BIOS from DOS using phlash16 (it's included in the Dell BIOS update package).

[svl7]

I guess you're talking about eurocom... those are clueless idiots when it comes to this. No need to role back, stick with the latest bios.

[tucksha]

By Joe I think he's got it....

I have sucessufully managed to boot into windows normal mode.

I have Onboard HD Audio OFF

I have IDT DISABLED

Currently using the standard VGA controller, but I am going to reboot into standard (not diagnostic) mode and try to install the Nvidia Drivers.

Incidently I found that this is the only version of Phlash that works with my R2, for those that are stuck in safe mode: PHLASH16.EXE

I will confirm it in a minute, but for now, I can kind of semi-confirm that my GTX 770M is fully compattible with the M17X R2 under the above settings, I will upload a GPU-z Screen soon.

Thanks a lot for your help slv7, this thread has been awesome!

Ash

[tucksha]

100% Confirmed working GTX 770M on Alienware M17x R2

Just done a quick WEI test, and though its by no means a benchmark, the 770M has achieved a 7.7, which is pretty darn good.

Furthermore, after trying a quick game of Planetary Annihilation, my temps didn't exceed 80 degrees, thanks to the cooling mods around the web, which I think is a pretty good bonus.

Just follow the above settings on my post and everything should work.

A few last things, below is a copy of my current VBIOS, and a link to the driver I am using.

Cant wait to see an 780M working.

VBIOS: Zippyshare.com - GTX770M.ROM

DRIVER: v326.29 Windows 8 64bit | NVIDIA Mobile OEM - 32x Series GeForce Driver release - LaptopVideo2Go Forums

Again, thanks to slv7 for all of your great hints, tips, and software, and of course everyone else that has contributed to this thread.

It's been a pleasure.

Ash

P.s. If anyone is interested this is the card that I bought: Nvidia GeForce GTX 770M 3GB DDR5 for clevo alienware upgrademonkey pre order | eBay

[pau1ow]

That must give some high hopes to flingins ! Well done tucksha.

[flingin]

YOLO !

CONGRATS ON THE RESULTS BRO !

Yes Pau1ow that just made my day !

When i will come back home, i will install 780m yet again to fully unleash the power of my R2

So just to confirm, i have to use Unlocked R2 BIOS - which i am already ON.

Then have Onboard HD Audio OFF

AND have IDT DISABLED

and it should work Plug&Play ?

Doing the operation at usually extreame time after work, TODAY 11PM London Time

THIS IS SPARTA !

Also, quick request, all of the sites selling the cards for the R2 say that R2 users must have the unlocked A08 bios, yet I cant seem to find it anywhere, the earliest one I can get is the A10, will this make a difference? If it will, is there any chance you could provide me with a link to the A08 bios if any of you know where it is...

Thanks

Ash

They were referring to R3 BIOS but yet thinking about R2

[flingin]

OK so...on both stock vbios and OC version vbios

I will now no longer get white screen or a random color screen just after windows logo. Now the screen will just go black.

Issues mentioned before like ''i have to plug off the power adapter if i want to reboot'' still exists even after disabling HD audio and disabling IDT.

Can't install the drivers as well, had to modify .INF file myself and installed OK in safemode but can't go into normal mode AGAIN.

this SUCKS all the way...........i am tired of swapping this gpu....

[flingin]

Booted ok into normal mode but in 640x480 and then changer resolution to normal. GPU Z shows weird info look 2999mb ram on GPU ?

EDIT i installed and booted into windows OK but only on EXTERNAL SCREEN - HDMI, Drivers look ok only thing i messed up is the device name

Any idea why main screen is not showing anything ?

MAIN SCREEN IS BLACK - NO DISPLAY

ANOTHER UPDATE, can run games on external screen - have a look

Can't run 3dmark as it is telling me i have an unsupported device

OK AT THIS POINT - HOW TO GET MY MAIN LAPPY SCREEN TO WORK ??

Is this possible that because of the device name is wrong ?

I will try to perma OFF the Driver signature enforcement, maybe it is because of this....later tonight as i am at work ...

[flingin]

Bump with Generic VGA video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-950 Processor,Alienware 014M8C

and....

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/1080854

[DR650SE]

Did you get it working on the laptop screen? Nice! Long live the R2!

Sent from my Samsung Captivate/JB CM 10.1 via Tapatalk.

[flingin]

Did you get it working on the laptop screen? Nice! Long live the R2!

Sent from my Samsung Captivate/JB CM 10.1 via Tapatalk.

hi bro

i would love to, this was on external 42 inch screen via HDMI, my screen is sw-off and i do not know why

[flingin]

OK. SO.....

I came to a conclusion where i think this is no longer a hardware issue. At least i think so....i may be wrong

Laptop boots normally into windows without any drivers. (generic vga adapter)

As soon as i install the driver (any driver) and reboot, my screen goes black just before logon screen, it is not just going black, it is actually turned off.....

HDMI, Display Port, VGA port are working (HDMi both Video and Audio are OK)

I am in a situation where i can't afford to stay without a laptop for longer than just for testing purposes, and every 7970m->780M swap costs me time, and thermal paste, plus a headache, so i ordered additional primary heatsink for GPU.

I will have two cards with heatsinks attached so i can swap them anytime i want, it will be quick and easy. As soon as i swap the card back i am receiving a hint and then i feel like OMG i need to swap it again yolo....

It came to my attention that R2 looses it's fame, most of the users moved to plastic R3, R4 or got new 17, this creates a situation where i am here alone, the only flingin in the world who was stupid enough to get the card worth $800 just to play around with it....i was actually thinking i can do something good for the community, and not about 10 more FPS in Crysis.....

During the time i have done some mistakes, or forgot to check something etc, i apologize for any inconvenience caused.

I did not gave up yet.....

[tucksha]

EDIT:

I think I may have found your problem, enter your BIOS, go to the Advanced tab, and then enter Performance Options, then go in to the IGD - LCD Control Sub Menu, then press space to change the property from Auto, to Disabled, prss F10, save and exit, then reboot, it should work fine now, fingers crossed, i'm gonna try with it turned on and see what happens!

Sorry I haven't been around to help, it's a shame you can't get it to work, but it seems to me like one of two things, either power, or hardware, do you by chance have the upgraded WLED display for the R2? Because I have the standard 1440x900 one which works fine, which makes me think that the GPU really doesn't like your display.

Make sure you are running the stock VBIOS, as that will change your Hardware ID's, and really mess up your device name if it's not the right one.

Also make sure that you have no silly power save options turned on.

It may hard to come to face with it, but you may have bricked your GPU, if it will only display on external monitors, it makes me think that something is really wrong with the card interface.

It might be worth a making sure that you are running BIOS A10 Unlocked, then try resetting it all to the default settings, and then work from there, changing everything manually to see if you can get it to go.

As I said above though, it may be an interface issue with your display, and not the card, but I would imagine a card that works with a standard display would work equally well with the upgraded one, but who really knows.

Best of luck, keep us updated.

Ash

[flingin]

EDIT:

I think I may have found your problem, enter your BIOS, go to the Advanced tab, and then enter Performance Options, then go in to the IGD - LCD Control Sub Menu, then press space to change the property from Auto, to Disabled, prss F10, save and exit, then reboot, it should work fine now, fingers crossed, i'm gonna try with it turned on and see what happens!

Sorry I haven't been around to help, it's a shame you can't get it to work, but it seems to me like one of two things, either power, or hardware, do you by chance have the upgraded WLED display for the R2? Because I have the standard 1440x900 one which works fine, which makes me think that the GPU really doesn't like your display.

Make sure you are running the stock VBIOS, as that will change your Hardware ID's, and really mess up your device name if it's not the right one.

Also make sure that you have no silly power save options turned on.

It may hard to come to face with it, but you may have bricked your GPU, if it will only display on external monitors, it makes me think that something is really wrong with the card interface.

It might be worth a making sure that you are running BIOS A10 Unlocked, then try resetting it all to the default settings, and then work from there, changing everything manually to see if you can get it to go.

As I said above though, it may be an interface issue with your display, and not the card, but I would imagine a card that works with a standard display would work equally well with the upgraded one, but who really knows.

Best of luck, keep us updated.

Ash

Hi bro nice to see you around

The thing in red, is disabling the onboard Internal Graphics Device (IGD), which i disabled already.

I doubt my screen is not supported....even if this would be 4263x1567 resolution it should work

I ordered second heatsink, because i have enough of switching, and wasting thermal paste, so i should start testing again next week, till then, i will gather info, as usually.

LaptopMonkey on ebay claims that they have done the upgrade and it is working super-duper, it may be as well a bite for me to buy a card from them, i dont know....i said to them ''screenshot or it did not happen'' and all they had to say that it is working and thats it, no reassurance or whatever.

They may also see this post, so, i would say, again, ''screenshot or it did not happen''

Why i feel like i am the only guy in the world who is putting 780m into R2 ?

Stupid me...

[Talon]

Have you tried to remove both battery, power supply, and let the laptop sit for a few minutes? What about what others have suggested about resetting bios to default and then selecting one option at a time to try and get it to work? I just feel like its a driver or bios issue holding you back here. The card surely works if you're able to game and bench while using HDMI, display port etc. I'd say you're just missing something, and it's probably something stupid.

[tucksha]

It comes to a point now where I think that it's not compatibility, and it's something to do with your card. Firstly, if it was a power draw issue, the computer would simply just switch off, if it was a clash you'd see the funky coloured screens. I can't see the gpu-z screens above, but what do they say the sub-vendor is, mine does actually say Dell, which leads me to think that it's a bios problem, if yours is flashed for a Clevo or other make would this make it incompatible with your computer?

There are a few things you need to check/try now to eliminate most problems.

1. Is your card actually an Nvidia GeForce GTX780M? You can tell by the size if the die, and the amount if ram chips, the card should be blue, also it 'should' have it printed on it somewhere.

2. Are you running the stock VBIOS for your card, 2999Mb of ram doesn't sound right, it sounds as though its configured as a 770M or a 680M. If you're not, and you don't have it, I think [email protected] can get you it.

3. Uninstall all of your Nvidia drivers in safe mode. Or with your other GPU in.

4. Reset your BIOS to default settings then set it back up.

5. Get your card working plug and play first before you reinstall any drivers.

It's also bugging me that you have to unplug your power supply before you can turn the machine back on after a crash, instead try just waiting a minute for the computer to shut down completely, fast power cycles are not a forte for my R2, so I think it's more of a case that it won't come on immediately, rather than at all, if it really won't come on at all after a crash, then you possibly have a power issue, I think when windows starts it performs a quick kinda POST but in a windows environment, which seems to push the frequency and voltage of everything to its max for a few seconds, which consumes a bit of power, I you are running a 100-120W GPU and a 55w Processor such as the 920XM or better, there is a small chance that you are overloading the power supply when the monitor comes on, resulting in a crash and you to have to perform a complete cold shutdown and restart. The reason that an external monitor or TV might work is that they are externally powered. But this is clutching at straws a bit, as I said before I would expect an over powered laptop to just turn off like a desktop.

It's more likely though something to do with your screen explicitly, as it seems to work on an external ok, bar the freaky gpu-z screens. It sounds a bit silly, but have you tried just leaving it for five minutes, sometimes when my raid volumes are rebuilding for some reason my screen will go black, like its off, and not come back on for ages, maybee if you just leave it for a min and come back it might just come on.

Something is really not right here, as you can probably guess yourself.

If I had the spare cash I would buy a 780M just to see if I can get it to work, but it's a £500 card that I don't really want, and would mean that it would push my upgrade cost well into the new desktop computer price range so really not an option for me, unless laptop monkey want to send me a free one for experimental purposes ;-) haha.

AFIK, I am the only person to get this working on an R2, which makes me think that my computer is a special exception to the does not work rule. If it's any help I did use a fresh windows installation to install this card, which may also point out a possible driver clash. Have little look at your hidden old drivers and delete anything that says NVidia on it.

Laptop monkey will probably just send you my screens, as they are emailing me asking for proof that it works, so I'm not sure that they're telling complete truth in that they have got one to work, I think it's more one of their customers have got it to work somehow. If you're lucky you may get my crudely written instruction document from them, written by me haha.

Sorry if this post is a little all over the place, I'm just racking my brains for every possible cause and solution.

Best of luck when you try it again.

Ash

[58elrond]

bios reseting should work, try going into bios and hitting defualt settings, other than this, it might not be cards problem you might of tweaked or hit something in the motherboard, i would get it checked out at a store , sometimes being able to log in on safe mode may mean virus or malware is on you computer, hope you get it fixed soon

[flingin]

so this is what upgradeyourmonkey says:

Hello there, where did you buy the card from?, we need to find out the version, we have just made a complete guide with pics.

Kind Regards

upgrademonkey team

Skype ID:upgrademonkey

[tucksha]

so this is what upgradeyourmonkey says:

If the BIOS pics have a pink Aleinware logo, it's my guide, hahaha, nice to see it getting out there!

Ash

[flingin]

I'd say you're just missing something, and it's probably something stupid.

Yep, i also feel like this is the case....however......

.

in the response, they did not confirmed it is actually working just gave ma a guide, which everybody knows.

I assume they did not succeed in installation, if they would do, it would be all over the internet would it.....

A very big BS, all the way, i can't believe it.....yolo

[Fred1977]

Can you say me if the 780M works on M17Xr2 ? I can try with a Dell 780M from my M17X R5, but i am afraid to remove the card from my new alienware