M18x R2, Nvidia SLI fail, black screens

Question

Hi all so to give you an understanding of my issue I’ll have to start from the start so please bare with me in this explanation.

ive got an Alienware m18x r2 with the extreme cpu 32gb ram 675m sli. I started experiencing black screens. I originally tried searching it specifically for this laptop and couldn’t get much info on it. After doing lots of research I found out graphics cards do this when there’s an overheating issue. I found a video explaining that he fixed this issue by just repasting the thermal paste. So I did this and just to be safe I swapped the cards around too. After completion I tested it and it seemed to have completely fixed the issue where it originally ran at over 75-80 degrees C down to an average of 60-65.
my FPS also increased where I use to get 40-60 FPS on Fortnite to up to 120fps and a consistent of 80. I don’t play Fortnite I use it as a test game and get my brother to play it and test performance just FYI.
anyways after 2 weeks my pc started freezing up out of no where. As this happened the fans would ramp up. I researched this and most people claimed that it’s the cpu running hot. Checked the temps and nothing would go over 70C where this was the maximum temperature of anything. I got a notification where it said sli isn’t configured correctly and although it was checked In nvidia it wasn’t working. I did click it again and did the reboot as required but same issue. Eventually the freezing up got that bad that the operating system got corrupted and I had to format it. I installed windows again started the updates everything seemed to be working good until I installed the current version of nvidia and during installation it crashed. I then thought it might be an issue with the hard drive so I had an external ssd where I installed windows and booted it through USB. Seemed to be very fast. Same thing happened with nvidia where sli wouldn’t activate then the crashing/freezing occurred. I can’t find a fix for this anywhere. I thought I might have done something wrong with the service but it lasted over 2 weeks working better than before. If I had done something wrong surely it would of happened immediately after the service?
if anyone has experience this issue please help and give me advice I’ve bought an ssd now which I’ll be installing soon as I got the laptop with a hdd as ssd’s back then were very expensive

mattyb3 · Accepted Answer

It sounds to me like one of the GPU's is faulty. If SLI will not enable then this is a symptom of a failed card (or possibly one of the MXM slots). It can be hard to know which card is faulty so I would remove the card from the slave slot and try running off one card in the master slot. If it fails again then remove that card and put the second card in the master slot. If both cards work fine on their own in the master slot then it could be that your slave MXM port is faulty or possibly the SLI cable.

The master slot is on the left side when the palmrest is removed. It has the short stubby heatsink.

Also, if you run the laptop on iGFX mode (intel Graphics) and it runs fine then it's safe to say that it's a GPU issue. From memory you press Function F5 to swap but I don't have my M18x with me right now. If you're on Windows 10 and the Function key graphics swap doesn't work then try reinstalling the Alienware OSD driver. The other way to force iGFX is to remove both GPU's from the laptop.

mattyb3 · Accepted Answer

Don't go to Eurocom unless you have to. They are always overpriced. Try eBay or the Marketplace at NotebookReview.

Yes you will have to use the unlocked BIOS but you can go back to the Dell A11 BIOS and then flash the A11 unlocked BIOS. If you want to go for a 780M-980M then a guy at NotebookReview modded the unlocked BIOS to add support for these cards so a modded driver is not required. You can find it here;

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/release-improved-m18x-r2-maxwell-legacy-bios.800447/page-11

Also, the Quadro P5000 has been tested to work but it sits between the 1060 and 1070 and tends to cost more than the 1070 so it isn't really work it. The Quadro RTX 5000 has also been tested to work and it is very similar to the RTX 2080.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/m18x-r2-with-quadro-p5000-gtx-1070-is-a-success.813082/

https://www.3dmark.com/fs/22352828

A51-06 · Answer

Like what @mattyb3 said about the card or the slot being faulty, You're going to have to replace the cards with something Thats cost efficient but speedy so that would be using dual 770 or 780m as those are good cards.

Ck13 · Answer

I recently Installed an internal ssd and installed windows freshly again. Didn’t need to transfer os as it was already formatted. Seemed to be working fine got the nvidia driver installed and worked great during windows updates. Once they were complete I clicked enable sli and restarted it. Sli worked and activated. During driver updates it crashed but this time I got a blue screen. Windows automatically restarted. Sli wasn’t enabled after restart. I re enabled it and worked fine again. Got another blue screen and then gave up.
I was hoping it wasn’t gpu related as it took me a few hours to service the thing. Not exactly service friendly.
ive checked on eurocom for new gpu’s and they are the same price as they were when released. Was thinking of going a 1060 but you need to get the bios unlocked apparently. I looked for unlocked bios and the only latest one they have is a11 but mines a14 and I’m not sure if you can go backwards.
there was a guy on another post claiming people are testing 30 series cards. Dunno know if it’s been done yet but if they have done it a 3070 would probably be best for performance to dollar.
I was hoping it wasn’t another graphics issue and maybe I could fix the issue with a quick bios setting change but I guess I’m up for another card.
mid I go for a 1060 or if there’s anything better that would work could you please let me know and also where I would get an unlocked bios if I need one that’s trustworthy?
according to eurocom these laptops can take a quadro p5000 card but have not seen anyone do it yet. As it’s an old pc if I could even get a refurbished card for cheaper id still be happy

A51-06 · Answer

Well you see thats the thing, the 3000 series from my hearing has not yet been released for mobile and even if it did why would they charge the same price as the desktop variant when they took a full on desktop card and cut the pc by 2/3's.

crimsom · Answer

Hi @Ck13   your posts mention HDD and SSD many times. If the drives' health is degraded and data is being lost on the OS C drive, this can give device driver integrity problems. To check Drive health, try using the free Crystal Disk Info application from Crystal Mark. Just a suggestion.

A51-06 · Answer

Or install Speedfan and click the S.M.A.R.T Tab to see the fitness and performance of your drives. It also mentions the cycles and failure times its already had.

Ck13 · Answer

Thank you I’ll definitely be looking into your suggestions. I didn’t know you had to get a flashed bios for those cards thought it was only for anything over 10 series. And thank you for the links too

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M18x R2, Nvidia SLI fail, black screens

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