Hello again, blaisexen.
1) I repeat, that unlike everyone in this thread, I own and run FS Xi 1554.
This machine is physical CLONE of M5790.
I have same machine like you. The only things that differ are BIOS and STICKERS.
They are both actually made by some OEM, I forgot which exactly.
They are physically SAME, even in parts. Batteries are same. Motherboard is same. GPU is same. CPU is same. Display is same. Should I continue?..
In fact two days ago I reflashed Fujitsu Siemens own BIOS (not VGA BIOS, mainboard normal BIOS) with that of Alienware M5790.
Version 1.19 to be exactly. The reason being - to get better ACPI microcode for fan spinning sooner than 65 degree celcius and to get over 2GiB RAM limitation block, that is ariticially introduced in Fujitsu BIOS. Google "Xi 1554 M5790 BIOS" to get more information.
Now it boots with Alienware logo.
And it has HD4650 MXM II from Acer. Everything is fine.
2) This is why I want to tell you - what I typed is result of MY OWN RESEARCH on exactly THIS laptop.
I bought it and after two weeks I got green dots pattern on the screen. This is where it started.
I am not posting "random thoughts", my post is highly specific about your laptop, because I was exactly in same situation.
Please ignore posts from people who tell random things above that are not connected with exactly your laptop.
Either they KNOW 100% about our model AND dealt with it, or what they say is USELESS FUD.
This is what "onemoar" posted. Maybe some Alienware have protection somewhere etc whatever.
M5790 and Xi 1554 DONT.
Uh, that's bad.
So how would we noticed that the card is really compatible with the Video Card Slot that we have?
I posted you the exact way.
MXM I or II or III, not MXM HE, not MXM IV, not MXM A, not MXM B.
Brand - Not reversed ASUS, not Toshiba, not "slave" version.
A usual, normal MXM I, II or III VGA card.
For example, this one is
WRONG
This one is
RIGHT for you. When I say right, I mean it will 100% work.
GF 9700 will do fine if it is within specs I typed. I am not into nvidia, but make sure you get newer generation chip that does not have this BGA un-balling issue. I think Nvidia solved it in G98b, newer generation 9800 and up. This is Nvidia/AMD specific only. AMD had problem only in x1600-x1900 generation. The VGA chips that were weaker like mobility x300/x1300, didn't have this problem, because they
never reached critical temperatures because they were much simpler and their BGA surface was
small.
Buy card, remove old card, mark and adapt the heatsink, correctly insert card by puting thermal pads on the back side and thermal greese on the chip and pads on memory/resistors - exactly the same logical way it was on old GPU, then boot up the machine and enjoy.
There are only 3 things that can go wrong:
- you didn't ground yourself. ..
- you acted violently and damaged electronics. Dont.
- you picked wrong VGA or VGA was already damaged. It won't boot. Send it back.
I know if Video Card Slot System is MXM then I and II are compatible for it, III is not. III is only for Card Series that starts from ATI 4xxx generation, but there are also MXM II that are above 4xxx generation of ATI; for example the Mobility GF 9700GT.
Check my post above, look at card, compare it against it and purchase.
MXM II better because - it will guaranteed have
lesser TDP.
That means - the card will produce
less heat under same conditions. Its even true for more modern generation with 4-5 different speed profiles.
If you pick modern GPU of next generation, it might be wiser to get a cooler card, because it will perform faster than original x1900 anyway.
But if you want to game heavily on your notebook and every fps counts, then you can get MXM III. Just remember that original M5790 heatsink was already struggling with x1900, so if you are okay with heat under your palmwrists, then nothing holds you off.
The chance that you will have to cut your heatsink, to make it pass - is very high, unless its old x1900/1800. It does not play any role if its MXM II or III.
If you dont have dremel, then improvise - buy one (1) dremel or proxxon accessory
such as this and fit it on your 12, 14 or 18 volt cordless drill, set the rotation speed to low and you are all set. Just make sure no aluminium dust gets on your VGA card or inside your notebook, and that you mark the heatsink correctly and only drill out aluminium! Nothing else! And that edges are not sharp. Pretty logical things here.
I think this "own custom cards" can be unlocked using a reset of Video Bios and putting Alienware signature.
But I should remember what you said "mxm comparability" issue.
thanks
No, you don't have to remember what he said. Because this does not apply to your M5790 laptop. At all.
You wanted a professional response, you got it. I googled for Xi 1554 and M5790 differences, since they are virtually same. I found your post in google, and you are facing exactly same problem that I faced. I looked at the date and decided to respond to you - as a payback to the community posts that helped me in turn to upgrade my Xi 1554 VGA and now even reflesh Alienware 1.19 on it to work around the 4GB limit -
safely. I created a bootable FreeDOS usb image, extracted the 1.19 BIOS ROM from original alienware ISO, booted, flashed and it worked. And before that, I correctly disabled BIOS password (which is hideously turned on by default, read the post in the link I provided). You don't have to flash anything,
this is only for Fujitsu branded clones. Alienware branded versions of this model series have best BIOS already.