M15x & 6970M / 6990M - What you need to know - upgrading, problems, solutions

[xeroxide]

a09 is the bios im using. when booting the moniter blacks out and the caps, num, scroll led flickers.what kind of is this? is it because my m15x can't use the 6970m? should i get a refund?

all three lights flashing?
according to the error codes, a system component on the mainboard is faulty

it might be a long shot, but i remember some people had to install the dell official drivers for the DP out to work. i don't know the steps but it was something along the lines of
install dell drivers
install new drivers (custom - do not install new hdmi/dp driver)

maybe someone who had this issue could enlighten.

[spidert622]

What drivers do I need to download when installing the 6990m?

[memoire]

all three lights flashing?
according to the error codes, a system component on the mainboard is faulty

it might be a long shot, but i remember some people had to install the dell official drivers for the DP out to work. i don't know the steps but it was something along the lines of
install dell drivers
install new drivers (custom - do not install new hdmi/dp driver)

maybe someone who had this issue could enlighten.

when swiching to the 6970m monitor blacks out, and the the LED for scroll and NUM flicker while the CAPS LED is constantly on. i can't check the error code on the DELL site because the image breaks up. when using the 260m, which i was using before, there seems to be no problem. i think the 6970m is failure. what do you think?

[IrateMike]

Thanks will this work?
ATI Mobility Radeon? HD 6990m GPU MXM 3.0 Type B | eBay

The prices are less money for 6990m then they are for 5850m in some markets.

That card is the same card Eurocom sent me as my warranty replacement for my 6970m. It works fine, but you need to use hwinfo for fan control. Also you need to flash the bios if you want sound over display port.

[The Revelator]

when swiching to the 6970m monitor blacks out, and the the LED for scroll and NUM flicker while the CAPS LED is constantly on. i can't check the error code on the DELL site because the image breaks up. when using the 260m, which i was using before, there seems to be no problem. i think the 6970m is failure. what do you think?

That LED error code indicates an LCD problem during initialization. Try reseating the LCD cable.

[MaikelJ94]

Is it necessary to flash the vbios if you don't use DP/HDMI?
Because that's the only thing that keeps me from buying a 6970m. I'm new to these things, so i'm kinda scared to start flashing things.

[Allawi]

no, a vbios flash is not needed is you dont use audio through dp/hdmi.

[Ninefingers]

ES 6970m arrived today! going to get cracking with the install tonight after work.

[nafism]

great thread

[Ninefingers]

ES 6970m installed and running...sorta. Tried benchmarking with vantage and laptop restarted towards the end of the first scene.

Checked temp log and maxed at 86 before shutdown.

Going to check the paste, the heatsink also didn't seem to tighten up, I think people have an trouble with the stubby screws before, need to get longer ones maybe!

EDIT: checked the paste and it is fine, heatsink still doesn't feel tight enough so i bent the wings on the heatsink out slightly to make it tighter.
Ran vantage again but got a restart towards the end of the 2nd scene, max temp was 78.5. Going to try different drivers.

EDIT2: tried to run bf3 on ultra and temps hit 79 before shutdown. These temps don't seem that high...so i dunno what is causing the shutdowns, currently on 11.10 drivers