Clevo P170EM AMD 7970M

[Jamie Legends]

You mean I provide the batch file and standard vBIOS? Yeah sure mate! I'm going to upload it tomorrow morning

I've send a PM with the information and a link to this thread, I'm home now so I'm going to try it now

EDIT: The flash was a succes but the drivers are doing difficult. That's more Windows 10's fault (auto driver update crap) so I'm going to download win7

Well I tried it again with Win10 and it says ''can't load detection program'' So the issue is not entirely fixed

 

[Jamie Legends]

Hi there!

After a long night of fixing there may be or may be not a solution to this problem. I forgot some information, here are some new photos of the process.

At first he says succeeded!

Then after a reboot I checked if the vBIOS was really flashed. Then on the 2nd picture it still says no vBIOS.

Extra INFO: Someone mentioned that it may be also due to incompability between the BIOS and vBIOS.

EDIT 25/12

 

[Jamie Legends]

Okay so I've done a clean install with Win7 x64.

Here are my steps in order:

1. Installed clean Win7 x64
2. Installed the Intel chipset driver, sound (Realtek), USB, Cardreader, Hotkey, LAN and WLAN
3. I updated Windows 7 fully till there where no updates left.
4. Originally you should install the HD Graphics driver by now BUT I skipped it on purpose just to see how the laptop would react to it.
5. Then finally I went to AMD and downloaded the autodetect utility. It said ''your graphic card is ready'' well that went better than with Win10. Then after all the dowmnloading and installation it said ''restart'' and I rebooted
6. After the reboot there was no black screen BUT when I tried to open the AMD software it gives me an error.
7. Just to be sure I went to Device Manager and searched the 7970m, clicked on properties and it said ''Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43)''

Then GPU-Z had some progress over Win10 because now I've installed Win7 it actually KNOWS my vBIOS!

Here I have a total summary, I've also the error Radeon Settings gave me and make a screenshot of my programs so you guys can see which drivers I installed. (sorry I'm bad with Paint)

Conclusion:

I've make some progress by installing a clean Win7, I'm now downloading the driver again to be sure the Display driver is included

I hope to hear what you guys think why Windows is giving me this kind of error?

 

[Solaris17]

Because that card is still broken.

You can try and rule some things out of course.

Install the AMD drivers FROM clevo after you reinstall windows.

Install directX redistributable.

 

[Jamie Legends]

Because that card is still broken.

You can try and rule some things out of course.

Install the AMD drivers FROM clevo after you reinstall windows.

Install directX redistributable.

1. I've installed the drivers from Eurocom/Clevo, still after the installation of AMD it succeeded but when rebooted it still gives a black screen with blinking cursor in the left upper corner (the already known issue)
2. Then after uninstalling everything with DDU I make the weird choice to go with a total other drivers. I downloaded the Unified Leshcat drivers. After the installation of the Unified drivers it seemed that everything worked. Even the Radeon Settings could display my card it the proper way. But my hopes flew away at the reboot the laptop gives a sign ''Radeon Settings has stopped working, recovering was succesfull'' and when I started Battle.net and wanted to play WoW. Then everything freezes and I got a bluescreen.
3. Then I tried reinstalling the drivers from Unified because I had really my hopes on that. I uninstalled everything with DDU in safe mode and reinstalled the drivers from Unified Leshcat. Again a bluescreen after starting Battle.net.
4. So my conclusion is that the card isn't really dead ( it accept drivers) but it needs a really big push. I guess maybe should start baking the card in the oven xD (just kidding)
5. I'm providing the link that contains the Unified drivers for users that have the same (switchable graphics) option and maybe it will help them. Link: http://leshcatlabs.net/unifl-unified-leshcat-drivers/
6. I also tried the FN + F7 key combination but that did nothing.


Here are some screens:

Bluescreen:

Here is the well known black screen issue after reboot:

(do not panic he stands on a laptop cooler)


So I've made a list with possible further solution for me, I hope this thread has helped people or will help people. I try to give as much information as possible.

Here is my possible to do list

1. Rolling back Clevo BIOS to a earlier version. ( it is somewhere mentioned that can fix this problem)
2. Download a modded vBIOS, maybe it has still something to do with the vBIOS
3. Hardware issue, pull the card out and look for failures.
4. Heatgun/Oven on 385F, I really don't like this possible solution because well yeah it's unethical.
5. Download all the released drivers for this card and see if one works
6. Pull the card out, throw it to Santa and hope he throws a 1070 back.

Despite all the problems after the failed flash, I've learned much more that I expected from you guys! I've learned how to properly flash a card. I learned how to flash a BIOS. So even if the card would be totally bricked I'm still happy I learned all these new things and got more information about the problem.

I've also learned to never ever buy an AMD card or a laptop with an AMD card. Maybe they give the bang for the buck but these driver issues is getting me crazy, I never had any issues in the past 5 years with my nvidia cards and those also had switchable graphics options with Intel.

And last but not least, I hope you guys can still help me, any idea is welcome because I still not giving up on this card till I'm sure it's bricked.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL

 

[Solaris17]

No the card really is dead. This is not a driver problem. You seem to be under the assumption that because the laptop gets display and because you were able to flash it once that the laptops primary issue is that it cannot take device drivers.

Let me try to be clear. The card does not function.

The BIOS flash did not go properly, even after flashing the secondary ROM did not take. You can literally see that in the picture. This is probably because your friend "Tried overclocking it." It looks like he damaged the ROM or attempted to write a data stream that was too large for the space. This is NOT a normal VGA bios.

I think the big problem is that you don't understand how this subsystem works, or why they are different. That is fine. You should however make an attempt to listen to the people attempting to help you.

The card is not working. There's NOTHING wrong with the drivers. You have installed what 5 or so versions? Do you really think AMD incorrectly coded ALL of those revisions and pushed them to the public? The drivers re not functioning correctly because communication with the physical device is malfunctioning.

In my opinion you should send it to a repair center. Try contacting Clevo again. To be completely candid any other possible steps to fix it would I fear be far too advanced for you to perform on your own.

Since someone at Clevo seemed to understand the issue and the laptop does have basic video output, I recommend sending the unit in before it stops displaying totally from further attempts to correct it. Furthermore understand the display you are getting now is likely being provided by the internal intel chip since that unit appears to have switchable graphics and is controlled by the main BIOS block and not the extended GPU block reserved for the add-on card. Which by all means the AMD card is in fact already beyond what you have the skill to do.

 

[Papahyooie]

Have you flashes the entire laptop's BIOS yet? (I may have missed that part.) Don't start baking things until you've tried that. From the circumstances, I doubt there's any reason to start baking things until the extreme last resort, as I doubt it's a hardware issue.

 

[Jamie Legends]

No the card really is dead. This is not a driver problem. You seem to be under the assumption that because the laptop gets display and because you were able to flash it once that the laptops primary issue is that it cannot take device drivers.

Let me try to be clear. The card does not function.

The BIOS flash did not go properly, even after flashing the secondary ROM did not take. You can literally see that in the picture. This is probably because your friend "Tried overclocking it." It looks like he damaged the ROM or attempted to write a data stream that was too large for the space. This is NOT a normal VGA bios.

I think the big problem is that you don't understand how this subsystem works, or why they are different. That is fine. You should however make an attempt to listen to the people attempting to help you.

The card is not working. There's NOTHING wrong with the drivers. You have installed what 5 or so versions? Do you really think AMD incorrectly coded ALL of those revisions and pushed them to the public? The drivers re not functioning correctly because communication with the physical device is malfunctioning.

In my opinion you should send it to a repair center. Try contacting Clevo again. To be completely candid any other possible steps to fix it would I fear be far too advanced for you to perform on your own.

Since someone at Clevo seemed to understand the issue and the laptop does have basic video output, I recommend sending the unit in before it stops displaying totally from further attempts to correct it. Furthermore understand the display you are getting now is likely being provided by the internal intel chip since that unit appears to have switchable graphics and is controlled by the main BIOS block and not the extended GPU block reserved for the add-on card. Which by all means the AMD card is in fact already beyond what you have the skill to do.

Oh haha well I tried everything that is in my power so I guess it's better for the laptop to send it for repair.

Still I thank you for the help and information, I'm still learning!

But still remains a question, how does it come that the modified drivers seemed to worked for a bit?

And if I buy an other card (for example the 970m) then that card just works when I insert it? (Maybe some bios updates but nothing more?)

Greetz

 

[Papahyooie]

Have you tried updating the laptop's main BIOS?

 

[Jamie Legends]

Have you tried updating the laptop's main BIOS?

I believe I've the last BIOS (1.02.17) if there is a new BIOS then I would be happy to flash it. But as I recall Clevo don't update their BIOS for these laptops anymore.

And Solaris you talk about 2 Roms, are there 2 kind of BIOS in the card?

 

[eidairaman1]

Read my signature.

 

[Jamie Legends]

Read my signature.

Latest driver did not the trick, don't know if I'll send it because the laptop is already 3 years old so it probably would be better just to buy a new gpu or laptop.

EDIT: if I knew that before he tried to flash it then there would be no problem now xD

 

[Papahyooie]

I believe I've the last BIOS (1.02.17) if there is a new BIOS then I would be happy to flash it. But as I recall Clevo don't update their BIOS for these laptops anymore.

And Solaris you talk about 2 Roms, are there 2 kind of BIOS in the card?

As solaris said, it is probably the case that the BIOS for the video card is contained in the main BIOS. Reflash your main BIOS with the newest version (even if you already have the newest version) and see if that does the trick.

 

[Jamie Legends]

As solaris said, it is probably the case that the BIOS for the video card is contained in the main BIOS. Reflash your main BIOS with the newest version (even if you already have the newest version) and see if that does the trick.

Okay then I will try that and if that doesn't work I'll just use intel graphics for everything, save some money and build a pc.

 

[Davehillbo]

Huh. I always had problems installing the 7970m on my p170em. Never had a bios issue, but ive had driver issues, and you have to install them in a certain way.

Windows 10:
Before you do ANYTHING, install the latest 7970m drivers from AMD.com, then run windows updates, they will install the latest version of the Intel HD driver. This always works for me, otherwise I get lockups.

Hope this helps for you.

 

[Davehillbo]

Oh and btw, if you do need a bios dump of my card, give me a shout.

 

[Jamie Legends]

Huh. I always had problems installing the 7970m on my p170em. Never had a bios issue, but ive had driver issues, and you have to install them in a certain way.

Windows 10:
Before you do ANYTHING, install the latest 7970m drivers from AMD.com, then run windows updates, they will install the latest version of the Intel HD driver. This always works for me, otherwise I get lockups.

Hope this helps for you.

With lockups you mean a black screen or freeze? Well the funny thing is I had Win10 but had already a lockup after 2 min because it persist to download the amd drivers. I already disabled auto driver download in Advanced System Settings but that wouldn't help because Stubborn10 goes install the graphic driver anyway.

I'm on Win7 now and not going to change it anymore, I guess my card is more f*cked up than yours. Clevo or amd did a pretty wasted job in the past years with their wonderful enduro laptops. I believe nvidia handles it much better.

And thanks I'll try flashing bios and vbios again and then download latest drivers. Report back when it's done

 

[Davehillbo]

Basically, if you let windows download the 7970m and intel gfx before manual install of latest amd drivers, the laptop would just lock, no bluescreen or anything, complete lock. I would personally try win10 again, I have 0 problems with enduro on my games, seems to work perfectly well!

 

[Jamie Legends]

Basically, if you let windows download the 7970m and intel gfx before manual install of latest amd drivers, the laptop would just lock, no bluescreen or anything, complete lock. I would personally try win10 again, I have 0 problems with enduro on my games, seems to work perfectly well!

Hmm I've not tried that yet, but still my problem is a bit different than yours I think. Someone tried to flash my card or overclock to be exactly and apparently he screwed up the BIOS and vBIOS. the repair company could only repair my bios but they didn't know how to handle the amd card. that is on my own they said

And as Solaris said, The problem is probably above my paycheck so I'll try the bios flash but if that doesn't help then I just going to leave it as it is. (or just bake that thing because it's already dead)

 

[Davehillbo]

Hmm I've not tried that yet, but still my problem is a bit different than yours I think. Someone tried to flash my card or overclock to be exactly and apparently he screwed up the BIOS and vBIOS. the repair company could only repair my bios but they didn't know how to handle the amd card. that is on my own they said

I can send you my vbios , its the original clevo one and works perfectly, it should flash no problem.

 

[Jamie Legends]

I can send you my vbios , its the original clevo one and works perfectly, it should flash no problem.

Well that could maaay be the issue because they totally flashed an other bios than before, I had American Megatrends as logo and now I've Intel Style Note (<< maybe important info)

From which manufacturer do you the bios have, if it's Sagar I doubt it fits on my laptop. (Read somewhere that you can't flash Sagar bios on normal clevo

@Solaris17 mentioned something about the BIOS that is important and I missed it somehow, he said ''If it truly is a corruption of the vBIOS block you will need to flash the entire BIOS using the methods the manufacturer specifies on the products support page. In which case you are also stuck with the BIOS provided by the manufacturer because the GPUs will not take stock ROMs''

If I read correctly that means I need a bios that is not stock? English is not my main language so sometimes I get things wrong

EDIT: After a good search on Google I found my reseller that has the BIOS (my reseller is BTO/Xnotebooks) so maybe is it a good idea to flash that BIOS. plus I found out that they also have all the drivers sorted, how did I missed this xD. I feel like I'm getting close to a possible solution.

I already emailed them with the info and my problem

Link: https://www.btodownloads.nl/index.php?dir=Notebooks (Drivers)/1. VORIGE MODELLEN - PREVIOUS MODELS/17CL46 - 17CL47 (P170EM)/17CL46 (P170EM) BIOS + EC/

 

[Davehillbo]

My system bios is Prema v2 bios mod, excellent bios with all the trimmings.
https://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/details/adac8 shows my vbios details.

The Prema bios mod link is: https://biosmods.wordpress.com/p170em/

Let me know how you get on, add me to facebook if you wish (David Peach-Hill), we can swap ideas.

David.

 

[Jamie Legends]

My system bios is Prema v2 bios mod, excellent bios with all the trimmings.
https://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/details/adac8 shows my vbios details.

The Prema bios mod link is: https://biosmods.wordpress.com/p170em/


Let me know how you get on, add me to facebook if you wish (David Peach-Hill), we can swap ideas.

David.

So you have a modded bios for the p170em?
Oh you have vBIOS 018? I have 024 btw

 

[Davehillbo]

Yes the bios is a modded bios for the p170em, I really recommend it, ads quite a few features (including overclocking for 3730qm and above).
The 018vbios works perfectly for me, I have not seen a need to update it, not sure what the 024 brings to the table.

David.

 

[Jamie Legends]

Yes the bios is a modded bios for the p170em, I really recommend it, ads quite a few features (including overclocking for 3730qm and above).
The 018vbios works perfectly for me, I have not seen a need to update it, not sure what the 024 brings to the table.

David.

Well I just downloaded 024 because that's the bios that Eurocom gave me in my email. Don't know what features it has because well yeah can't use the card xD

I first download the BIOS from my reseller and if that doens't work then I download the BIOS from Premamod. Report back when I finished! Happy holidays

EDIT: @Davehillbo @Papahyooie In the readme file from BTO they give the following instructions:



1. Make sure plugin AC adaptor.
2. Run MeSet.EXE under pure DOS, the system will auto cold boot.
3. Run FlashMe.bat under pure DOS.
4. The system display flash complete message after flash success.
5. Press power button override 4 seconds, and then re-plugin AC adaptor

Do I need to remove my battery? because it says ''re-plugin AC''
And do I need to set the BIOS to first usb boot order?

And they mentioned a warning:

IMPORTANT INFORMATION BEFORE YOU UPDATE YOUR BIOS!

During the BIOS update always remember to have
the laptop connected to a working
AC-adapter/Powersupply during the whole process.
Resetting bios settings to default before the
update is CRITICAL to avoid any issues during
flashing.

so resetting to defaults is also a must