Hi. So I ordered a Vortex IV laptop from PCSpecialist however when it arrived it had some problems. At first it seemed brilliant and it was playing all the games I threw at it with great results. However I started to notice frequent crashes in high intensity ones. 8970m card and I was using the newest beta mobility drivers from AMD. Tried rolling back drivers a couple of times. Still worked fine graphically but crashes were growing more frequent and into BSOD. Contacted PCSpecialist and sent them some logfiles. In the time they were trying to analyse the problem the machine eventually just stopped even coming on and had to be returned for an RMA.
Came back in quick time with a new RAM stick which was apparently the failure. I got it back with Windows still installed and all my files intact. The machine had no AMD drivers however as I was in the process of trying a new version. So with the problem seemingly fixed I put back on the 13.10 mobility drivers which worked before however now they do not seem to be working. I could tell they were working before as whenever I played a game the fan would whirr at the highest setting, now it only does that during the installation process for AMD drivers briefly when detecting hardware, otherwise I never hear it. The results in different games are as follows:
Rome 2 crashes at title screen(worries me that it might still be RAM problems as no graphics are loaded however I am running a beta patch on the game and it is hellishly unstable)
Crysis 2 loads a mission, you see the gun, wave the gun and the game crashes.
Medal of Honour, the same.
Battlefield 3, loads a level and you can actually move, however laggy to the point of unplayable.
Command & Conquer 3, loads up, plays but very slow and laggy.
These games all worked on their respective graphic settings before with the AMD card coming into play. The change makes me think the RAM problem is fixed however it's strange that I've lost all graphics card functionality.
I have tried the following: installing newest AMD driver. Installing newest Intel driver and AMD driver. Rolling back a version on AMD. Using the AMD and Intel drivers found on the drivers disc that came with the machine. (Keep in mind all these driver combinations worked before the RMA). To uninstall drivers I have been using the windows remove programs feature and then going into my program files and user settings and deleting any AMD folders, I've shown hidden folders, feel like I'm being thorough. Also use CCleaner to fix errors in registry and it's other function quite frequently if that could actually be causing a problem. I have configured the switchable graphics in the Catalyst Control Centre each time with no improvement and again it worked fine before without even having to use that function.
Thank you for any help, also it would be good to know if this is just a bizarre software error rather than a hardware one requiring another RMA as it's getting a bit tedious the wait to actually be able to use this machine.
Came back in quick time with a new RAM stick which was apparently the failure. I got it back with Windows still installed and all my files intact. The machine had no AMD drivers however as I was in the process of trying a new version. So with the problem seemingly fixed I put back on the 13.10 mobility drivers which worked before however now they do not seem to be working. I could tell they were working before as whenever I played a game the fan would whirr at the highest setting, now it only does that during the installation process for AMD drivers briefly when detecting hardware, otherwise I never hear it. The results in different games are as follows:
Rome 2 crashes at title screen(worries me that it might still be RAM problems as no graphics are loaded however I am running a beta patch on the game and it is hellishly unstable)
Crysis 2 loads a mission, you see the gun, wave the gun and the game crashes.
Medal of Honour, the same.
Battlefield 3, loads a level and you can actually move, however laggy to the point of unplayable.
Command & Conquer 3, loads up, plays but very slow and laggy.
These games all worked on their respective graphic settings before with the AMD card coming into play. The change makes me think the RAM problem is fixed however it's strange that I've lost all graphics card functionality.
I have tried the following: installing newest AMD driver. Installing newest Intel driver and AMD driver. Rolling back a version on AMD. Using the AMD and Intel drivers found on the drivers disc that came with the machine. (Keep in mind all these driver combinations worked before the RMA). To uninstall drivers I have been using the windows remove programs feature and then going into my program files and user settings and deleting any AMD folders, I've shown hidden folders, feel like I'm being thorough. Also use CCleaner to fix errors in registry and it's other function quite frequently if that could actually be causing a problem. I have configured the switchable graphics in the Catalyst Control Centre each time with no improvement and again it worked fine before without even having to use that function.
Thank you for any help, also it would be good to know if this is just a bizarre software error rather than a hardware one requiring another RMA as it's getting a bit tedious the wait to actually be able to use this machine.