Alienware 17 R1 vs 980m. Going to need help on this one.

Might also be worth you post a picture here of what the screen looks like running PEG, someone else may recognise the problem such as a bad vram chip etc.

Javers

 

Here are two pictures from right after booting in PEG.

 

I believe the problem is with 980m

 

he is correct. GPU Dying.....slowly...

 

Well, I took it to the workshop today and the tech there said the same thing: The GPU is broken.

Now I need a new gfx card... one that WILL work. I assume my laptop is now basically set up to accept a working 980m @javers?

 

Yes you should be good to go, I'll finish the work on the unlocked A17 and send you a copy as well to test.

Javers

 

Hey is it mandatory to have unlocked bios to make the gpu work or i can use moded drivers

 

FYI I did not require unlocked BIOS to install the 980m (Dell version, bought on Ebay) on my Ranger. I'm using the A17 BIOS with 60Hz screen (Optimus mode), Windows 10, UEFI mode..

 

Thanks 4 that info I'm planning on getting a 980m form ebay as well since my 880m just died on me, and baking didnt help.

I'd love to test an unlocked bios buim afraid to do the NVRESET thing (inserting a ram stick pre-post sequence seems risky)...

Anyway, Im getting off track. So what i wanted to ask you is it enough for me to get the clevo 980m from ebay, take my heatsink off the broken 880m (I already took it outside to try and bake it to no avail).

Disable legacy and quickboot in the stock A14 bios, put the 980m with the heatsink inside, mod the drivers (windows automatic download and installation of drivers is already disabled in the system) ... and it should be good to go?

EDIT: I was wrong when i said I'd get a clevo card, Ieant this one: https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-DELL-Alienware-GTX-980M-Graphics-Video-Card-N16E-GX-A1-8GB-GDDR5/373017704670?hash=item56d99678de:g:Ar8AAOSw99ddPVUW&LH_BIN=1

 

The 100w 3-pipe heatsink from your 880m would be sufficient. Just make sure your BIOS is in UEFI with Legacy boot disabled. Also, i did not require driver modding for my 980m as on my research previously, i found that there has been official NVIDIA driver support for Maxwell cards on the Ranger since end of 2017 (since driver 388.xx), so its basically plug and play.