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91385
problems upgrading GPU from nvidia 660m to 980m- 8 beep error code on startup
Alienware m17x R4
intel i7-3740QM CPU @2.70GHz (overclocked 3.49GHz)
memory 32GB corsair vengence 4x8GB
current GPU Nvidia Geforce GTX 660m
Ive been upgrading my laptop and upgraded my ram and hard drives and purchased an Nvidia Geforce GTX 980m upgrade kit. I know how to change video cards and installed it pretty easily (grounding myself to prevent electrostatic discharge and protect the card). switched to the intel card before upgrading and in device manager after first bootup it read it as standard VGA adapter and its status was it wouldnt start. I updated my bios and updated the driver to the nvidia 980m driver and switched the graphics card to the new one using the fn-f7 command and restarted my computer.
on boot up it gave me a blank screen and 8 beep error code. Looked it up and I think its a defective card or bad memory on the card. have been contacting eurocom support and they think that theres a way to get it to work but Im not so sure. its the weekend so they wont get back to me till monday. anyone have experience with this or know of anything I can do now? Im currently back on my 660m card.
Game7a1
727 Posts
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April 25th, 2015 18:00
Everything you did before but no FN + F7 at the end. However, I would install Dell's Nvidia drivers this time. The latest Dell has is either 347.52 (WHQL-quality; you can obtain this driver from the Alienware 13/15/17 R2 support page on Dell's support site) or 350.12 (beta for Dell). There's also 347.90, but finding a complete driver set for this driver is kind of hard.
When you uninstall GPU drivers, use DDU. It's just a more ensuring way to uninstall drivers.
Game7a1
727 Posts
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April 25th, 2015 17:00
I don't think eurocom told you this, but the 980m has to work under Optimus. In other words, it can't be the display GPU. So I would stay on switchable mode.
If I also recall from people installing 900m series GPUs in the m17xR4/m18xR2/17 R1/18, they don't perform to their fullest. I don't remember why, but it may have been a BIOS issue. Either that, or I'm mixing this with dual 980ms.
bootsmyler
14 Posts
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April 25th, 2015 17:00
Eurocom did not tell me that. What is optimus and how would i get it so the 980m works In my computer?
Game7a1
727 Posts
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April 25th, 2015 17:00
Optimus is the switchable graphics thet Nvidia implements in the driver for iGPU and dGPU computers (might have messed on explanation here). You said the laptop beeped 8 times after the FN + F7, but you didn't say that after the driver installed. Well, you'll have to deal with switchable mode. You won't be able to use discrete mode (using only the Nvidia GPU).
If the 980m still makes the computer beep 8 times, I think you may have damaged the 980m. Or ti came defective.
bootsmyler
14 Posts
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April 25th, 2015 18:00
Okay so I currently am back to my old video card. How would I go about properly installing the 980m? By that I mean what do I need to do beforehand to prep my laptop for the new card and/or after to accept the card? What I originally did was switch to the intel card, swap out my nvidia cards and install drivers for the new card then use Fn+F7 to reboot using the new one (and on boot up received the 8 beep code).
Game7a1
727 Posts
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April 26th, 2015 10:00
No, you did not. I told you to not do FN + F7 after you installed the Nvidia driver because when you did that, you got the 8 beeps. Nothing else would cause this problem other than that specific command at that timing. Do you understand why this is?
Yes, Optimus uses both GPUs. The iGPU acts as a display GPU while the Nvidia GPU acts as the render GPU, or the GPU that does the legwork. So you're still using the Nvidia GPU even though it's not doing any display work. The iGPU is almost irrelevant.
bootsmyler
14 Posts
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April 26th, 2015 10:00
Wait a second.. i did all of that and thought i was in the same place with a bad videocard.. but from what i understand optimus uses both video cards (intel and nvidia). So im playing battlefield 4 on ultra settings without problems with lag or framedrop.. would that be possible with the intel card and 32gb ram?
bootsmyler
14 Posts
0
April 26th, 2015 10:00
This is the second time i installed it without using the fn-f7 command. The first time i didnt know how optimus worked and assumed the card was not working. well this was much more confusing than when i installed the first card, but i guess everythings working so thank you for your help!