So Here's Whats happening
My drivers weren't working right (couldn't play any game) and whenever i tried to update them the computer would boot into a black screen.
I booted into safe mode just fine, cleaned out my drivers (uninstall through amd cleanup utility [works in safe mode], Driver fusion, ccleaner) and was able to boot back into windows just fine. attempted to reinstall drivers and everything finished successfully, restart, and black screen.
so i decided it might be time for a fresh windows install, seeing how it was past my usual 6 month wipe.
fresh install, its all working, installing drivers and such, and then when i get to the video driver, it installs fine, requires a reboot and the exact same problem.
i've tried various versions of the drivers, including the one my laptop shipped with (still same problem) and the newest beta driver and many in-between that were working for me prior to the black screening
I've tried just about every recommendation i've come across from editing the registry to disable crossfirex, installing the drivers through the hardware manager, then installing the software, old versions, beta versions, updating the bios. At this point the only thing i haven't tried is actually opening up my laptop and taking the cards out and plugging them back in
Specs
Alienware m18x R2
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
i7-3610QM 2.3GHz
8g RAM
2x RadeonHD 7970m
The device manager lists it as Standard VGA Graphics Adapter, and when I update the driver through there (updating, then selecting where the driver has been extracted to) it recognises it as Radeon 7970m x2 and requires a reboot when the drivers are installed, and black screen on boot.
Thank you for any help
Edit 1: this is probably just me being paranoid /tinfoil, but i'm starting to think that dell intentionally makes these computers to last only a certain length of time before "something" happens to them. My paranoid reasoning is that there was nothing wrong with the card or my os or the drivers, and after a restart one day it just stopped being functional. it wasn't overheating, my games weren't performing any worse than when the card was new, it just stopped working. and refused to work even after a fresh install.
My drivers weren't working right (couldn't play any game) and whenever i tried to update them the computer would boot into a black screen.
I booted into safe mode just fine, cleaned out my drivers (uninstall through amd cleanup utility [works in safe mode], Driver fusion, ccleaner) and was able to boot back into windows just fine. attempted to reinstall drivers and everything finished successfully, restart, and black screen.
so i decided it might be time for a fresh windows install, seeing how it was past my usual 6 month wipe.
fresh install, its all working, installing drivers and such, and then when i get to the video driver, it installs fine, requires a reboot and the exact same problem.
i've tried various versions of the drivers, including the one my laptop shipped with (still same problem) and the newest beta driver and many in-between that were working for me prior to the black screening
I've tried just about every recommendation i've come across from editing the registry to disable crossfirex, installing the drivers through the hardware manager, then installing the software, old versions, beta versions, updating the bios. At this point the only thing i haven't tried is actually opening up my laptop and taking the cards out and plugging them back in
Specs
Alienware m18x R2
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
i7-3610QM 2.3GHz
8g RAM
2x RadeonHD 7970m
The device manager lists it as Standard VGA Graphics Adapter, and when I update the driver through there (updating, then selecting where the driver has been extracted to) it recognises it as Radeon 7970m x2 and requires a reboot when the drivers are installed, and black screen on boot.
Thank you for any help
Edit 1: this is probably just me being paranoid /tinfoil, but i'm starting to think that dell intentionally makes these computers to last only a certain length of time before "something" happens to them. My paranoid reasoning is that there was nothing wrong with the card or my os or the drivers, and after a restart one day it just stopped being functional. it wasn't overheating, my games weren't performing any worse than when the card was new, it just stopped working. and refused to work even after a fresh install.