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BIF
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Joined: Tue May 25, 2004 7:41 pm

Laptop's RTX 2080 not working

Thu Dec 12, 2019 3:12 am

I have an Alienware Area 51M gaming laptop. The discrete RTX 2080 isn't showing up in device manager; well it shows up as disconnected. Right now the laptop is usable via the built-in Intel UHD 630, but it can't really game or anything. And Geforce Experience won't install the latest driver for the RTX card, probably because it doesn't detect the card.

This first started happening after a reboot. I couldn't figure out why my game Galactic Civilization 3 was running with herky-jerky visuals. Well now I know...

I do have both AC power supplies plugged in, so the RTX shouldn't be getting disabled by lack of power.

I did update the BIOS with the December 3rd update, thinking "what the hell". The update applied successfully, but that hasn't revealed the RTX yet. The BIOS/setup screens offer no way to enable or disable the GPU at the hardware level and I'm not sure if I should try "uninstall/reinstall" in Windows Device Manager.

The machine is still under warranty, so I'm going to phone this one in. I suspect the cause to be the power supply, motherboard, or the GPU itself. I'm also considering reseating the GPU, but I'll wait for Dell to tell me to do that.

Any ideas?
 
BIF
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Joined: Tue May 25, 2004 7:41 pm

Re: Laptop's RTX 2080 not working

Sun Dec 15, 2019 11:36 am

I bought the laptop from HID Evolution. So I called them, and their support person guided me through the steps to reset the CMOS. On that laptop, you have to power down, remove the back and both batteries (the main battery and button cell), press and hold the power button, then put it all back together.

Removing the button cell battery required the removal of one M.2 SSD, and the tech also had me remove the memory sticks for the power button step.

Upon powerup, the card was recognized by Windows and was automatically used when I went into the game again. So it's all fixed.

He said he saw this behavior in one other Area 51M within the last year (I think).

We also went to Intel's site for their version of the RTX graphic drivers, but I have since re-installed them via Geforce Experience.

So far so good, although we don't really know the root cause.
 
Igor_Kavinski
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Re: Laptop's RTX 2080 not working

Sun Dec 15, 2019 1:35 pm

Congrats. Though it must suck to spend $$$ and then have to follow a procedure like that just to be able to play games. If it happens again, better to return it or you might be stuck with it once the warranty runs out.
 
BIF
Minister of Gerbil Affairs
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Posts: 2458
Joined: Tue May 25, 2004 7:41 pm

Re: Laptop's RTX 2080 not working

Sun Dec 15, 2019 3:29 pm

I'd just be happy if we could figure out root cause.

The warranty goes thru Q1 2021, so there's plenty of time.

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