Alienware M18x: Oh crap, one of my GPU's is croaking

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edifyingkarma

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Mar 8, 2008
Messages
1,464
Hello all,

Unfortunately, I was cranking along the other day with my Alienware M18x just fine and dandy when all of a sudden, my video artifacted out BADLY and crashed.

Afterwards, I would not post no matter how much I tried. So unfortunately was led to the conclusion that it likely was hardware failure of the GPU variety. So after tearing it apart and testing each GPU, I discovered that the problem was one of my 6970m's.

I partially remedied the problem by switching the card orientation, reseating everything, and manipulating it to where it would acknowledge the second card in CF.

However..... when CF kicks in the slightest to utilize the second card, it artifacts constantly and the system locks up randomly under normal conditions. This is resolved by disabling CF and operating on the one card.

I am under the impression that the card is seemingly "going" bad as it is easily recognized, connected to CF with normal temps. Seeing as it is out of warranty, I am hoping to try the old "GPU Bake" method that has proven successful for some people.

I was wondering if anyone had any tips or suggestions for this process? Has anyone successfully revived one of their mobile GPUs? Mainly, should the process be any different from the on utilized for full blown desktop cards mentioned in a previous thread.

Thanks for any suggestions.
 
Shouldn't be any different. Still a temp fix and you can probably pick up a 6970m for pretty cheap on ebay.
 
69xx cards seem to be dying a lot recently :/
 
yea its bumming me out. I vastly prefer desktops but I needed a mobile platform that with enough ass to do what I need while traveling. Only reason I decided to get this one was because they offered me a tremendous deal on it. I'll try the oven thing after I secure some compound and pads and report back.
 
You can probably pick up a single 7970M for a reasonable price that would give you your performance back.
 
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