Alienware M18x R1 AMD GPU not working

[Busta Bloodnut]

I purchased an Alienware M18x R1 about 2 months ago. It was from Mercari and the guy said he only checked to see if it booted to BIOS and forgot about most of the other stuff about it, including what model GPU, other than it being dual AMDs and from what he remembered it (he said its been a minute since last use lol) had graphics issues loading games. I planned on restoring the machine (getting newer outer shell, parts etc) and seeing for myself what exactly the issue was with the GPU while pulling them out. So after getting all the stuff i needed, I eventually got to pulling out the GPUs and the cards looked like they were in good shape. Didnt see any noticable damage. Alot of dust which i suspected mightve been the cultprit for the issues. Thermal paste was very hard and dry lol also suspected that. Crossfire cable looked good too. So i took some pics of the GPU itself in hopes that a google image search would tell me the exact model. I got mixed results but i kept seeing the "AMD Radeon 6990m" pop up the most and it did match the dp/n number. So after putting laptop back together, i install windows 10 and downloaded the AMD drivers. One driver was called Catalyst and Radeon Crimson. Keep in mind i know jack about AMD (first experience believe it or not) lol so i downloaded both. I had no issues with the installations as it said there were no issues or wrong model or w/e, but i didnt see any screen flickering like usual with NVIDIA (which im used to) and it installed rather fast. After restarting and checking Device Manager, it still was the Intel HD graphics. I checked BIOS, says nothing, checked GPU-Z and it just shows the intel HD. The only AMD related thing on my start menu is "AMD report wizard". Nothing else AMD related is in my system. So what am i doing wrong here exactly? How do i find out the exact model of this GPU? If its even that? How do i know if they even work? Should I remove the Crossfire cable? Maybe thats it? (Also first experience with Crossfire). Is there some settings checked or unchecked that im unaware of? Im probably going to get the best GPU for this model anyway, but im just checking to see how good this AMD works, (if i even can lol).

[ssj92]

Press FN+F7 (once all other drivers are installed) to switch from iGPU mode to dGPU mode. 

[Busta Bloodnut]

17 minutes ago, ssj92 said:

Press FN+F7 (once all other drivers are installed) to switch from iGPU mode to dGPU mode. 

Ok so i did that, it restarted and then i install the AMD drivers again and it did the flickering but now its just a black screen no mouse or anything.

[Busta Bloodnut]

Alright, so I restarted because i didnt know what else to do and when it booted to windows i still got that black screen. So then I shutdown and then did the Fn+Powerkey for the disgnostic test and it showed that there was a video card error: 2000-0332 Video Memory Discrepency test. Everyhting else was fine. There was also a band of vertical yellow lines 3/4 of the way to the left of the screen from top to bottom during that whole test. BIOS says that there is ATI GFX cards now. Not sure what that means lol. 

[Jerryzago]

My original setup in my M18x R2 had 7970m in crossfire. One of them went out in two months of ownership. I remember this error when one of them went out. I purchased a replacement and that one went out too. Not long after, the third one was on its way out too. 

 

I bought two new 980m, because that time the unlocked BIOS and legacy support was available for the R2.

 

Your best bet will be to find out which one is bad.

[ssj92]

One or both of your GPUs are bad. Personally I put 880m SLI in my M18xR1 because I got them for cheap. 

 

But I recommend getting nVidia GPUs. Unless you can find 8970M Crossfire for cheap to replace. 

[Busta Bloodnut]

14 hours ago, Jerryzago said:

Your best bet will be to find out which one is bad.

Thats what it turnnd out to be lol. The primary one. Had to switch. For now its working. After i had to reinstall windows because after i switched them and put the machine back together windows wouldnt boot. No clue why. I actually didnt have to install the driver after reinstalling windows. The windows update did the driver for me.

 

4 hours ago, ssj92 said:

One or both of your GPUs are bad. Personally I put 880m SLI in my M18xR1 because I got them for cheap. 

 

But I recommend getting nVidia GPUs. Unless you can find 8970M Crossfire for cheap to replace. 

I dont even know why one of them was even bad. It looked good! I guess something internally. Or perhaps maybe it ran its course. I dont know how long the seller had it for, sorta implied it was ahwile so. Sufficed to say im probably never getting an AMD again after this lol. I heard the 880m's arent good though? That the 780s are better?

[ssj92]

On 4/4/2024 at 1:53 PM, Busta Bloodnut said:

Thats what it turnnd out to be lol. The primary one. Had to switch. For now its working. After i had to reinstall windows because after i switched them and put the machine back together windows wouldnt boot. No clue why. I actually didnt have to install the driver after reinstalling windows. The windows update did the driver for me.

 

I dont even know why one of them was even bad. It looked good! I guess something internally. Or perhaps maybe it ran its course. I dont know how long the seller had it for, sorta implied it was ahwile so. Sufficed to say im probably never getting an AMD again after this lol. I heard the 880m's arent good though? That the 780s are better?

I have 880m SLI in M18xR1 and 880m in M17xR3 all working fine.

get whichever GPU is cheaper. I got mine for $110-130 shipped each so for me was better to get 880m. As long as you run them stock and not overclock and overvolt they work fine. 

[Busta Bloodnut]

14 hours ago, ssj92 said:

I have 880m SLI in M18xR1 and 880m in M17xR3 all working fine.

get whichever GPU is cheaper. I got mine for $110-130 shipped each so for me was better to get 880m. As long as you run them stock and not overclock and overvolt they work fine. 

Maybe i'll get an 880m then. But for now that will have to be put on the back burner because I just snagged a good deal for a p5000 for my R2 🙂. Ahhh the stuff you can find on Ebay at 4am before bed lol.