Problems after upgrading to i7-840qm

[monsterdog]

I am the owner of an m15x. Original configuration with an i5-540m and gtx-260m.

I recently bought an i7-840qm processor and 8Gb of memory and installed both.

After upgrading the CPU, windows 7 x64 started crashing at login, I got a few BSODs ("A clock interrupt was not received on a secondary processor within the allocated time interval") but mostly just freezes at the "welcome" sign after logging in. With a high power profile I did get one crash while booting windows before getting to the login prompt.

This error sounds like the CPU, but I found that without the Nvidia driver running this does not happen. I tried to reinstall windows 7 and I tried an older Nvidia driver as well as the current and the latest beta drivers. All results in the same problem, but safe mode or running on the microsoft VGA driver works just fine.

Linux (Ubuntu 11.04 x64) also starts up just fine, but the Nvidia driver seems to be locked to performance level 1 (0 lowest, 4 highest). I can play games under Linux but adaptive or maximum performance mode never goes beyond 1, but I don't get crashes or glitches.

Also the CPU seems to be able to take a lot of abuse, I tried rendering a scene in Blender under Linux and it performed admirably, kept going at 100% on all cores for an hour without anything going wrong. Cores were sitting at around 75-80C temperature while this was going on, they idle at just under 50C.

All in all the hardware seems stable enough, except for the odd Nvidia driver issue.

I tried resetting the bios and I tried turning off everything that I could in the bios (sound, network, etc.) to see if it was power related, same issue. I haven't ruled out power yet, but it seems unlikely. In any event I've ordered the 240watt power supply to see if it will make any difference.

I wonder if reseating the graphics card would help.

I could really use some pointers on what to look for in troubleshooting this.

Possibly more information in my thread on the Dell forum: Re: CPU + memory upgrade for Alienware m15x - Alienware Forum - Alienware Club - Dell Community

[Mexic00ls]

i had the same problem and the same bsod error when i first got my m15x from dell. so i shipped it back to dell and they replace the ram, which i thought was weird because it passed the mem tests. But i had a 5850m, so im not sure about the nvidia drivers.
have you tried swapping your ram back?

[Fersknen]

Well that's strange. I don't know if there is any such thing as a graphics card that works "half". I'd imagine that a piece of hardware as complex as that, would be all or nothing.

I'd also try to swap back to the old RAM just to make sure. Try the old CPU as well. If you reach the conclusion that it must be the GPU that is dead, and you're out of warranty, you can order something like a GTX 560M (or one of the more powerful AMD GPUs). The 560M cost around 250 USD on ebay.

[monsterdog]

Hi, I did try to swap the RAM back with the same results.

I agree its hard to believe the gfx card is half dead, but it does seem a lot of people with Nvidia GPUs (notebook and desktop alike) have had this problem and it was the card. I am going to try windows XP and see if I get a similar problem with that.

Swapping back the CPU is a last resort for me, but one I've considered. I want to try reseating my gfx card first and apply some better thermal paste.

The thing I don't understand is the gfx card acting weird in both windows and Linux, while the CPU happily keeps trucking on both no matter what I throw after it. With the RAM possibility out of the way it seems more likely to be GPU than CPU to me.

Also in the past my gfx card has been slightly unstable, often crashing in games and especially when playing flash videos.

Will the laptop be able to run both the i7-840qm and a gtx-560m on its power circuit? Because in that case I'll do that.

I do have a PSU rated for more watts coming (the m17x r3 one, which is supposed to fit the m15x), but I understand that the internal power supply is also limiting how much it can draw, at best the new psu would just run cooler and better be able to keep up with demand.

[Mexic00ls]

it should be fine the 560m uses the same power as a 5870m which is about 50-75w.
im running an xm cpu that uses more power than yours and also the 6990m which runs 75-100w, and while playing BF3 it consumes about 145-152w total, also if i do an overclocked bench run of say 3dm 11, it consumes over 180w, so with your setup you should be fine (well under 150w mark)

[monsterdog]

How do you feed it 180w on the 150w power supply? Or are the last 30w simply lost in heat from the power brick?

I'm trying to figure out how I can measure the reliability of single components in any reasonable way other than what I've been doing.

I really appreciate everybody's help on this.

[Mexic00ls]

sorry forgot to mention that im currently on a 240w psu, but i was able to pull over 150w on the old psu which i still have around here somewhere but it gets extremely hot and the 240w is at worst warm
and other more legendary benchers around here have proven that the 150w psu can provide over the 150w mark

[Fersknen]

Originally Posted by monsterdog

Will the laptop be able to run both the i7-840qm and a gtx-560m on its power circuit? Because in that case I'll do that.

According to Intel's spec sheet, the 740QM and 840QM use the same amount of power. I'm running 560M together with a 740QM, and it's no problem.

There is a thread on this forum dedicated to the installation procedure (there is a few things you need to be aware of - like the driver inf mod and the x bracket that needs to be reused from the old card)

[monsterdog]

Just got my new power supply, which I hope will fit the laptop, but at this point I don't expect it to help.

Fersknen: If the 560M requires modifications to the driver, will this card work in Linux with the nvidia drivers for that OS? I spend most of my time in Linux and I need graphics performance there as well since I do a fair amount of 3D modelling. I only use windows for games.

[Fersknen]

Originally Posted by monsterdog

Just got my new power supply, which I hope will fit the laptop, but at this point I don't expect it to help.

Fersknen: If the 560M requires modifications to the driver, will this card work in Linux with the nvidia drivers for that OS? I spend most of my time in Linux and I need graphics performance there as well since I do a fair amount of 3D modelling. I only use windows for games.

I have no idea how Linux' kernel mod thing is put together. The driver mod is simply that you need to add Eurocoms GTX560m cards hardware id to the inf file, so windows will accept the driver as being valid for the card.

I have no idea what-so-ever if that is needed on Linux.