Hello. You have the 17 R1 or M17x R5 in some countries.
It could be a number of things causing the issue but my guess would be the 880M since you keep losing your Nvidia driver. These cards are prone to failures. I have a good stack of faulty 880M's sitting on my bench.
Fortunately the R1 was the last of the truly upgradeable Alienware laptops so the 880M can be replaced with a stronger card like the 980M, 1060 or 1070.
If you have the 60Hz display then you can just pull the card out and run on the integrated graphics until you can replace your card but if you have the 120Hz 3D LCD then you have to have a dedicated Nvidia card to run the display.
You can also try running the pre-boot diagnostic. Press F12 while booting to enter the boot menu and select the diagnostic from there. It will test all you hardware for errors. It doesn't always pick up possible faults though.
EDIT: When you reinstall the Nvidia driver go to Device Manager - Display adapters and open the 880M. Just check to see if you have a Code 43 error.
It depends what LCD you have. You can't unplug it if you have the 120Hz LCD as you won't get a display and you'll get an 8 beep code. If you have an Nvidia 3D sticker on your laptop somewhere then its 120Hz. This display is also glossy compared to the matte look of the 60Hz LCD.
To remove the GPU you have to remove the 2 screws on the bottom panel (not the nameplate screws) and then loosen the 3 GPU fan screws and remove the fan. Then you loosen the 4 GPU heatsink screws and gently wiggle the heatsink off. Then there are two screws holding the GPU card down. There is usually a strip of thermal pad on the rear side of the card that protect the vRAM chips and you'll probably find that this pad will keep the card from popping up for you to take it out. You sometimes have to use a plastic pry tool to GENTLY pull the card up so you can remove it.
If you do decide to remove the GPU then make sure you watch a video so you don't do it incorrectly. Do it at your own risk though. In the video below they remove the card and heatsink together. I find that it can be tricky and easier to damage the card.
'The driver for this device has been blocked from starting because it is known to have problems with Windows. Contact the hardware vendor for a new driver. (Code 48)'
even after i installed the driver and clicked the file , it said " drivers are found but it has problems with windows"
i did run the diagnose from the boot menu it didn't pick any faults other than my dead battery ,but when i ran dell's diagnoses from this site it usually freezes on GPU 99% stress test almost 9 outta 10 times on 50-55 degrees and sometimes nvidia drivers do give me code 48
if it is the GPU that is dead does it mean that i have to open the laptop and unplug it ? or i can just ignore its somehow
Have you tried going direct to Nvidia? The 425.31 driver is the latest one that is compatible with your card. If it still has issues then it's probably the card.
It could also be a thermal issue if it is crashing after a certain amount of time. If you have never repasted your GPU and CPU then it's definitely overdue after 6 years. You'll just need to get yourself some decent thermal compound, remove the heatsinks, carefully remove the old paste (a soft tissue will do) and reapply a small amount of paste.
thats the ver. ive been using i dont know bout overheating since the heat nvr really went above 55ish degrees but why not ill make sure to change the paste if i fix the card or replace it
A51-06
5 Practitioner
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3.1K Posts
0
July 9th, 2020 14:00
Delete the Realtek PCIe card reader using the Device manager and install this:
https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=0gf02&oscode=wt64a&productcode=alienware-17-r3
mattyb3
5 Practitioner
•
1.7K Posts
1
July 9th, 2020 14:00
Hello. You have the 17 R1 or M17x R5 in some countries.
It could be a number of things causing the issue but my guess would be the 880M since you keep losing your Nvidia driver. These cards are prone to failures. I have a good stack of faulty 880M's sitting on my bench.
Fortunately the R1 was the last of the truly upgradeable Alienware laptops so the 880M can be replaced with a stronger card like the 980M, 1060 or 1070.
If you have the 60Hz display then you can just pull the card out and run on the integrated graphics until you can replace your card but if you have the 120Hz 3D LCD then you have to have a dedicated Nvidia card to run the display.
You can also try running the pre-boot diagnostic. Press F12 while booting to enter the boot menu and select the diagnostic from there. It will test all you hardware for errors. It doesn't always pick up possible faults though.
EDIT: When you reinstall the Nvidia driver go to Device Manager - Display adapters and open the 880M. Just check to see if you have a Code 43 error.
mattyb3
5 Practitioner
•
1.7K Posts
1
July 9th, 2020 16:00
It depends what LCD you have. You can't unplug it if you have the 120Hz LCD as you won't get a display and you'll get an 8 beep code. If you have an Nvidia 3D sticker on your laptop somewhere then its 120Hz. This display is also glossy compared to the matte look of the 60Hz LCD.
To remove the GPU you have to remove the 2 screws on the bottom panel (not the nameplate screws) and then loosen the 3 GPU fan screws and remove the fan. Then you loosen the 4 GPU heatsink screws and gently wiggle the heatsink off. Then there are two screws holding the GPU card down. There is usually a strip of thermal pad on the rear side of the card that protect the vRAM chips and you'll probably find that this pad will keep the card from popping up for you to take it out. You sometimes have to use a plastic pry tool to GENTLY pull the card up so you can remove it.
If you do decide to remove the GPU then make sure you watch a video so you don't do it incorrectly. Do it at your own risk though. In the video below they remove the card and heatsink together. I find that it can be tricky and easier to damage the card.
https://www.google.com/search?q=alienware+17+remove+gpu&rlz=1C1GCEU_enAU821AU821&oq=alienware+17+remove+gpu&aqs=chrome..69i57j33l4.5154j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#kpvalbx=_Wa4HX6irFYHd9QOFy734BA23
xanfreezes
6 Posts
0
July 9th, 2020 16:00
hey thnx for the reply but it didnt work
'The driver for this device has been blocked from starting because it is known to have problems with Windows. Contact the hardware vendor for a new driver. (Code 48)'
even after i installed the driver and clicked the file , it said " drivers are found but it has problems with windows"
xanfreezes
6 Posts
0
July 9th, 2020 16:00
Hallo, thnx for answering
i did run the diagnose from the boot menu it didn't pick any faults other than my dead battery ,but when i ran dell's diagnoses from this site it usually freezes on GPU 99% stress test almost 9 outta 10 times on 50-55 degrees and sometimes nvidia drivers do give me code 48
if it is the GPU that is dead does it mean that i have to open the laptop and unplug it ? or i can just ignore its somehow
am sorry am not very tech smart ..
mattyb3
5 Practitioner
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1.7K Posts
0
July 9th, 2020 17:00
Also, where are you downloading the Nvidia driver from and what version driver is it? It's possible that it's just a driver issue and not hardware.
Are you going straight to the Nvidia website and entering in your 880M and Windows 10 to get the latest driver for your card?
xanfreezes
6 Posts
0
July 9th, 2020 17:00
hey thnxs again
fortunately (?) my laptop is 60hz so i guess ill be trying to attempt what you told me to do and hope for the best
xanfreezes
6 Posts
0
July 9th, 2020 17:00
Before the clean Win10 install that i did today i used to update from Geforce experience still facin same issue even after
mattyb3
5 Practitioner
•
1.7K Posts
1
July 9th, 2020 18:00
Have you tried going direct to Nvidia? The 425.31 driver is the latest one that is compatible with your card. If it still has issues then it's probably the card.
https://www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/145874/en-us
It could also be a thermal issue if it is crashing after a certain amount of time. If you have never repasted your GPU and CPU then it's definitely overdue after 6 years. You'll just need to get yourself some decent thermal compound, remove the heatsinks, carefully remove the old paste (a soft tissue will do) and reapply a small amount of paste.
A51-06
5 Practitioner
•
3.1K Posts
0
July 9th, 2020 20:00
Hope you get it fixed.
xanfreezes
6 Posts
0
July 10th, 2020 11:00
sorry for the late reply
thats the ver. ive been using i dont know bout overheating since the heat nvr really went above 55ish degrees but why not ill make sure to change the paste if i fix the card or replace it
A51-06
5 Practitioner
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3.1K Posts
0
July 10th, 2020 12:00
This GPU can beat a GTX 970M.
A51-06
5 Practitioner
•
3.1K Posts
0
July 10th, 2020 12:00
Here, You should buy this instead of wasting your time on fixing a broken card.
https://www.amazon.com/Graphics-Replacement-Alienware-MS-16F1-MS-16F2/dp/B0868S1JVL/ref=sr_1_16?dchild=1&keywords=GTX+780M&qid=1594407935&sr=8-16
This is a reliable GeForce GTX 780M with 4Gb of VRAM