MXM M2000M upgrade in Elite 8300 USDT seems to boot but no video

[Justin-ZA]

Hi everyone,

I'm another person trying to install a 55-Watt MXM graphics card in an 8300 USDT.The card is a M2000M marked on the back with sticker "D/C: 7H1680  72A05232077  822509-003", and no stickers on the front.

I've followed instructions on bios settings in this thread and this thread, carefully setting each, and finally upgraded to the latest BIOS 3.08. It seems to boot up all the way, but there's no video on either DP or the VGA.

I've been successfully running a FirePro S4000X AMD card for a while, and an AMD 7650 works fine too, but I'm having trouble with this Nvidia Quadro M2000M card. I'm using a 230W power supply, and I've custom machined a large heatsink (I plan to improve the cooler once I get a successful boot-up, I have a PWM fan controlled by thermistor).

I'm considering buying a M2200M card but my patience is wearing very thin. Is that card more likely to work than the M2000M? I know that these cards are released by both HP and Dell, so I'm wondering if there's a dependency on the Vbios that it be an HP-specific card. Do I need to flash the Vbios?

If the EliteDesk 800 G1 is more compatible with the 55-Watt cards then I'll switch (I have two 8300s, and a 8200, extra HDD carriers, parts, etc., so just sticking with this format for the sake of nostalgia -- btw, is the 800 G1 motherboard physically swapable to the 8300 case?).

Is there another MXM card on par with these Quadro's or better that will work?

[Justin-ZA]

Since I posted this I've added to the cards I tried -- HP versions of M2000M, M2200, and M1200. I've followed all of the recommendations on BIOS/setup settings, yet I get no video when I boot these cards. The system is obviously booting, as I can see/hear the hard drive doing it's thing in the typical hdd access boot-up pattern, but Nothing on either DP or VGA.

This has all been to get [slightly] better graphics level than the Fire Pro S4000X, which is only 2GB vram. I've put so much effort into this darn little guy... buying and reselling various MXM cards on eBay (4 cards), custom machined a heatsink and then found a vapor-chamber cooler, OS installs, > 100 build/config/boot attempts... For the effort I've put in I could have built a miniITX small-format with a GTX 1650, or even a sandwich layout with a full size card. Lot's of time for zero results.

I would have tried the 800 series G1, but since there's no help here maybe best to throw in the towel.

Frankly, this vendor-specific MXM VBIOS is a shame, not sure if I'll ever touch these HP USDTs again.