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Alienware-51M 7700 Upgrades & Questions!

post #1 of 11
1/4/09 at 11:11pm
Thread Starter 
Hello Folks!

I'm new to the forum and stumbled on it. I attempted to search for information, so I'm sorry if the information I'm about to ask has already been explained.

I have a Alienware-51M 7700 5.2B. I bought it before I went to Irag in July 2005 and it's been working great since then - not even issues in Iraq with severe dusty conditions.

I'm looking into upgrading or maxing the computer out to the max to extend the life a bit longer prior to buying a new one. I've already upgraded the memory to 4GB's, but looking at getting the max video card (if feasible) and/or getting the latest and greatest video driver for my: AREA-51M 7700 D900T NVIDIA DDR3 6800FXGO WITH 256MB MODULE. I here there are modded drivers and went to the site in the sticky, but couldn't figure it out. My latest driver or forceware version is: 84.26. I attempted to get other drivers from the sticky for this laptop, but some of the sites report link errors (want to get the latest and greatest drivers). Also looking into what laptop HD's work the best.

I'm also running into a commonly wide problem with the DVD+/-RW/DL ND-6500A 8X drive. It does write on certain DVDs. I currently have firmware version 2.25 on there. I did have success this evening, after dusting off my computer skills this evening with: Memorex 8X DVD+R DL @ 2.4X burn; Verbatim 16X DVD+R (Lightscribe type) @ 8X burn; and Memorex 16X DVD-R (Printable) @ 8X burn. Wondering if you all have experiences on other DVD's that work as well.

Any help would be appreciated. I'm still sifting through the search on various threads - thanks!
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post #2 of 11
1/5/09 at 9:43am
The vid cards you can use depends on the revision of the motherboard you have. Since you've got a 6800 go in there, it may be that you have one of the early revisions that can't supply enough juice to the vid card slot to upgrade.

The revision number for the mobo is on the memory slot, should say something like rev. 5.3...

Also unfortunate is that they're no longer making motherboards for the Clevo d900t, so if you really want to upgrade and you've got an early revision, it may be difficult to find the parts necessary.

Here is AW's knowledge base article on the motherboard revision for the m7700.

While you're there, you can search the knowledge base for other info regarding the m7700.

Alienware will handle warranty claims on the m7700, but unfortunately they can't source some parts so it might be difficult to get help. There are companies out there that sell Alienware pulled parts, and ztronics.com does repairs on the systems still, so they may be able to source a newer motherboard if necessary for you to move up to a more powerful video card.
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post #3 of 11
1/5/09 at 9:36pm
Thread Starter 
Hammerhead - Thanks for the reply. Pulled the cover off and I have a motherboard revision of 5.2B, just to double check it against "my hive" at Alienware.

Hmmm...so you think that a video card upgrade would run too hot, eh? This Alienware ran in a pretty hot environment with no problems, then again I was also using a laptop cooling pad with 2 fans - kept it cool.

So I guess a upgraded video card is out of the question, plus I couldn't find for sale...upgraded the RAM, which helped - running from 2 to 4 now (Intel board - 4 slots), do have 2 HD's in it now, but having trouble getting updated drivers.

Let me know if you or anyone else has any thoughts...I guess I might sell it since it's pretty much in good condition or just may keep it for the kids. Thanks again!

Jimbo



Quote:
Originally Posted by Hammerhead View Post
The vid cards you can use depends on the revision of the motherboard you have. Since you've got a 6800 go in there, it may be that you have one of the early revisions that can't supply enough juice to the vid card slot to upgrade.

The revision number for the mobo is on the memory slot, should say something like rev. 5.3...

Also unfortunate is that they're no longer making motherboards for the Clevo d900t, so if you really want to upgrade and you've got an early revision, it may be difficult to find the parts necessary.

Here is AW's knowledge base article on the motherboard revision for the m7700.

While you're there, you can search the knowledge base for other info regarding the m7700.

Alienware will handle warranty claims on the m7700, but unfortunately they can't source some parts so it might be difficult to get help. There are companies out there that sell Alienware pulled parts, and ztronics.com does repairs on the systems still, so they may be able to source a newer motherboard if necessary for you to move up to a more powerful video card.
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post #4 of 11
1/6/09 at 6:46am
The heat isn't the issue, the amount of power is...

Unfortunately, when nVidia introduced the 6800 ultra go, one step up from the 6800 go, it required something like 50% more power than the original card, and the motherboard wasn't able to do that, so they revised it for the 6800 ultra. Then the 7800 came out, and I think it worked, but for the 7900gtx, they revised the board again to supply even more power to the vid card slot.

I'm not sure about the revision numbers and what exactly they support, but someone at ztronics.com should be able to help you out. They sell parts, both used AW parts and new if they're available, and they work on 7700's as well. Might want to send them an email just to get accurate info on what you can do.

If you can locate one of the newer mobos, you can put in up to a 7950gtx vid card, and that would be a major improvement over your current card. ztronics would be the best for that info as well.

I know the 7700 can handle a 3.8G P4, but they get pretty hot. You've probably not had any issues due to your 3.2G processor running cooler and not cooking internal parts. I'm not sure at this point whether I'd sink a lot of money into the platform as they're not making them anymore and parts are getting hard to locate.
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post #5 of 11
1/6/09 at 11:00pm
Thread Starter 
Hammerhead - first of - thanks for the help - appreciate it.

Power issue huh? Ok...understand that one. With cost of MOBO and video card, if I could find both, would not be worth it as you mentioned. Well..I'll just stick to trying to get the latest and greatest drivers. This has become a task in itself.

I did download NBF_Mobileforce, both 174.31 and 175.16. Have to read the instructions, but it listed the 6800 as a workable card for it. Plus AW was not very good at keeping up on the updates on their site. You have any thoughts about this? As well as any other updated drivers?

I think that is the final mission for the computer - update drivers to the latest and greatest and then just use it till I find something I can't do on it...still debating how much i could sell it for if I go that route.

Thanks again!

MAJ_Jimbo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hammerhead View Post
The heat isn't the issue, the amount of power is...

Unfortunately, when nVidia introduced the 6800 ultra go, one step up from the 6800 go, it required something like 50% more power than the original card, and the motherboard wasn't able to do that, so they revised it for the 6800 ultra. Then the 7800 came out, and I think it worked, but for the 7900gtx, they revised the board again to supply even more power to the vid card slot.

I'm not sure about the revision numbers and what exactly they support, but someone at ztronics.com should be able to help you out. They sell parts, both used AW parts and new if they're available, and they work on 7700's as well. Might want to send them an email just to get accurate info on what you can do.

If you can locate one of the newer mobos, you can put in up to a 7950gtx vid card, and that would be a major improvement over your current card. ztronics would be the best for that info as well.

I know the 7700 can handle a 3.8G P4, but they get pretty hot. You've probably not had any issues due to your 3.2G processor running cooler and not cooking internal parts. I'm not sure at this point whether I'd sink a lot of money into the platform as they're not making them anymore and parts are getting hard to locate.
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post #6 of 11
1/7/09 at 12:26pm
You might want to consider a SSD Hard drive. Very reliable and when you do upgrade put it in the new machine. From what I've read Intel makes the best available right now.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820167005
Bring an extra level of performance and reliability to your PC with Intel's X-25M Solid State Drive. Unlike regular hard disks, the Intel solid-state drives have no moving parts, giving you a cool, rugged storage alternative.
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post #7 of 11
1/7/09 at 5:02pm
I think if I owned a 7700, I'd just use it as is until it's done. Hard to justify investing the kind of money it would likely take to upgrade the mobo/vid card in a platform that's at end of life as far as new parts are concerned.

Again, I've never had a 7700, but you might try the drivers at Laptopvideo2go.com. I've used them in my m9700 with good luck.

You need to download the driver, and the modified INF file for that driver. Then you unzip the driver, and put the mofidied INF file into the driver folder to replace the standard INF file, then install the drivers.

Hope it works for you.
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post #8 of 11
1/7/09 at 5:09pm
Since you have ddr3 in the 6800, I believe that is the 6800 ultra version. I used to have the 6800 w/ ddr2 and Alienware upgrade to the 7900gtx a few years ago. I guess I am one of those rare cases that have had almost no problems with this system (even though I run it constantly while overclocking both components for gaming). Although that may be due to me adjusting the fan trip points to provide proper cooling. The 7900gtx actually runs significantly cooler than my old 6800 due to the improved heat sink.

I would check around an see what video cards your motherboard supports. You may be able to take the 7800 as hammerhead suggested.

As far as drivers, I use laptopvideo2go.com. Go to the drivers page and type in your DEV and SUBSYS ID's (found in device manager -> properties) to search for drivers designed for that card. I have had issues with drivers causing instability / memory leaks but if you keep at it, you will eventually find the perfect driver.

BTW, you can google getthermal if you are interested changing fan trip points. Also, I have had a free site up for a few years that hosts a few 7700 utilities (i.e. getthermal and CPU overclocking/underclocking). I actually get a few hits so apparently somebody finds it useful. http://www.Tokamak7700.com/

Good Luck!


Edit: Hammerhead beat me to it. ^_^

One more note, because you system is nearly as old as mine, you may have the IDE hard drive cable. Keep that in mind if you are thinking about upgrading hard drives. The hard drive controller is capable of upgrading to SATA, but that requires a $35 cable.
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post #9 of 11
1/12/09 at 11:37pm
sorry to hijack this thread, but I also have the 5.2b MB and was wondering if anyone knew if it was possible to install a SATA cable instead of an IDE cable for the hard drives?
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post #10 of 11
1/13/09 at 1:39am
I'm not sure if there is a motherboard revision requirement, but you can buy either cable from: http://mivasecure.abac.com/rjtech/me...Code=HDCB-D900
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post #11 of 11
1/13/09 at 1:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tokamak7700 View Post
I'm not sure if there is a motherboard revision requirement, but you can buy either cable from: http://mivasecure.abac.com/rjtech/me...Code=HDCB-D900
Great! Thank you!
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