Alienware m17x can't detect dedicated gpu in windows OS

Hi there, i will explain my problem, since in two days i couldn't find any solution.
So, i was playing on my Alienware m17x R1 like always, when suddenly my computer starting to freeze, i couldn't do anything else than shut it off with the power botton, so i boot it again, open the game and after 20 second's it freezed again till a blue screen with strange artefact.


I reboot the pc one more tme and after the windows desktop home i got this:




Note: i play games with only the Dedicated graphic: nvidia 260M 1gb, for doing this i went into the BIOS and choose:
Hybrid Graphic: DISABLED
Integrated Graphic: DISABLED

Like this i'm able to play games with only the Dedicated graphic.
So for the first thing, i though the problem was a conflict drivers, i disinstalled the driver from the control panel, re boot in safe mode and used driver sweeper and CCleaner for clean the driver residue. After that i re installed the driver 314.22 ( i use those with .inf mode and since now worked like a charm) The procedure for install them in the correct way those drivers is the following:
For installing the mod driver i went into the BIOS and setted this setting:

Hybrid Graphic: ENABLED
Integrated Graphic: ENABLED
PCIe Gen2: DISABLED

IMPORTANT: I do this for let the system recognize both graphics cards.
The strange fact for me is, once i cleaned the pc with driver sweeper and rebooted, it auto-install vga standard video card for the 9400M (integrated) with the green check and vga standard (with yellow triagle and the rex cross) for the 260M of course both displayed like this:

VGA standard - this is the 9400M
VGA standard (with triagle) error 10 - this is the 260M

I reboot and press F8 for disable Driver Signing > Install the unsupported nvidia drivers and stop the installation. Once that you should modify the nvwin.inf file (for 314.22 version) for the other version is nvdmi (if i remember well) but anyway i choose to enable both graphics card for let the system recognize both cards. This procedure worked perfect since today...

I though: nevermind after i install the drivers the triagle will disappear, well no...even after i re-installed the drivers the problem still persist.

I said: ok, let's put the dell gpu drivers from site. So at this point i have installed the official dell drivers for this old GPU the latest version is 257.xx after i installed them and reboot home Windows Desktop should appear but it give me only the mouse cursor and all blank.

I decided at this point to completly reinstall Windows and retry that, i decided to does not install anything once i reinstalled windows and start to install only GPU drivers, nothing changed.
I wan't to say this too, i tried to boot the PC with only the dedicated graphic just like i always did and the situation goes like this:

With Drivers installed
Hybrid Graphic: DISABLED
Integrated Graphic: DISABLED
Not BIOS screen - the screen Flashing red,green, blue, white, black (in order)
Or
not BIOS screen- all blank
Without the Drivers installed:
Hybrid Graphic: DISABLED
Integrated Graphic: DISABLED
Not BIOS screen - the SCROLL option on the keyboard is locked and the CAPS and NUM blinking. Yesterday i was able to boot the machine with only the 260M (dedicated) gpu, seems the situation is going to complicate hour per hour..
I've tried to reset the CMOS, i pulled out the dedicated graphic card and re insert it,
Now, with or without drivers the system see only the 9400 integrated graphic for the 80% of the time, the remaining 20% it show the 260m in the Device Manager. One graphic card after driver installation ( 9400m) says the resource driver is from Nvidia, the other (260m) says from Microsoft.
The story in short is, i am unable to install the driver properly because most of the time the Device manager see only the 9400m, and when at random boot decide to show the 260m the OS automatically install the Microsoft drivers. So after that the only thing i can see its a driver conflict.
Please help me i have no more ideas.

 

It sounds like the 260M has gone bad, you need to replace it.

 

Could be. But i would say another thing that i miss in the previous message. I noticed the both cards are displayed correctly in Safe Mode without any yellow triangle etc.

It's like windows automatically disable the dedicated graphic once is boot up.

UPDATE: i decided to swap the cards, so i took the 260M from another laptop (working condition) and i put it into my laptop, the result was again: red,green,blue,white,black blinking. I don't know how to solve this s**t really.....Could be something related with MOBO?

 

Safe mode works in 99% of the time, coz it doesnt load any drivers. Hmm in that case i'd be looking towards mobo or the mxm slot... Does your card also work in the laptop you took the second 260M from?

 

But if in safe mode my graphic card work as i said, this should be (like you confirm) drivers problems.

About putting my card into the other computer (the one i took off the 260M in working condition) yeah i'd put it, and on device manager popped up the yellow triangle under 260M name.

Let's say the card is broken, in this case neither in safe mode would be displayed right?

And if the mxm slot was broken, should be the same right?

When i reinstalled Windows and boot it for the FIRST time i noticed the double VGA adapters 9400 WITHOUT any yellow triangle (this mean generic drivers are good i think) and the VGA adapters 260M with the triangle,fine i remember the same during the past time, but i even remember when i installed the drivers usually that triangle disappear due to genuine driver overwrite. When microsoft install generic drivers the 260M disappear in the device manager once i restart the system, and when i go to install nvidia drivers from the site or even drivers from dell support site (even if i unistall those drivers) the 260m will never go back on the device manager. It's like generic microsoft drivers can not be overwrite by the official drivers. I said again, i did tons of windows reinstall on my alienware and never had this problem before. Don't know what is happening here...

 

Not really, the GPUs can be faulty but still work in standard video mode (without drivers).

Can you double click the device and check why it has a yellow triangle? A yellow triangle by itself means nonthing, there must be a code why it isn't working.

Wrong, there are numerous ways of GPU getting defective and in many of the cases the GPU works just fine without drivers.

And again not really, it can just cause instability, crashes or unable to post with the graphics card in it altogether.

It's been too long since i've had a R1, but i still have the last driver that will work on it, the driver version is: 258.96_notebook_winvista_win7_64bit_international_whql
Use the gpu from the working laptop, completely remove drivers with DDU or do a clean install of windows if u have the time.
In bios settings, have the Integrated enabled and hybrid graphics enabled aswell and then install this driver.

 

When i fresh installed windows and boot it for the first time we have the standard generic drivers installation, for the 260M the error code displayed is code number 10, and when i installed the official drivers from dell sire we have the error code number 43. I remember like one or two times now, after drivers installation in the device manager (for miracle, because it was completly unaspected) the situation was like this:

nvidia 9400M
Vga standard adapters (with triangle)

Ok, i will do what you suggested, i will completly reinstall windows just to be sure. Will update this post as soon as i can. Really thanks for the support.

 

no problem hope this finally solves your problem

 

Sadly, nothing changed, i have installed the drivers that you suggested. After i reboot the system before whe windows home is displayed i see blank screen with only the mouse cursor visible.

 

can you post a photo, i dont really understand what do you mean. if you move this card back to the other laptop it works fine right? this driver should work on it without any problems :/..

 

cable ? Connection somewhere or somethign is on it's way out videosubsystem wise.

 

Nop, the card in the other laptop still give the yellow triangle.

Summary: if i put my 260m on my gf laptop where 314.22 drivers are installed will appear the yellow triangle.

If i unistall and reinstall drivers on my laptop if both GPU are enabled in BIOS will give me blank screen with mouse cursor.

 

Hi, thank you for reply, which cable do you mean, i run the integrated 9400m and only one 260M. In the master slot. I re-inserted the card so much time that i do not remember. As i said i've installed 3 type of different drivers without success.

 

the cable to the screen... it could be you have 2 separate issues

 

Hi, i would like to share my experience about this issues for helping other people that can have this problem with various GPU.

I would say that i fixed the problem for now. I say for now because it can happen again due to my experiences.

I performed a "reflow" (i'm an hardware/software technician) so i decided to choice this option as last due to hightly risk of failure because it's an invasive technique.

What i did:
1) i took off the GPU from my alienware m17x (R1) disassembled the heat-sink and i've place the GPU on wood-surfaces to helping spread the hot-air and avoid damages.

2) Once i've placed the GPU i covered it all the GPU surfaces with alluminum foil eccept the GPU chip (the one that you put the thermal compound on) Fig: 1



Next step is the Hot-air station.

Q: Can i use an hair dryer for this technique?

A: Do it at you own risk, i would not reccomend an hair dryer for two reason: You don't know the real temperature and the air speed is huge, you will probably lose some components on the GPU chip.

Q: Can i use an hot-air gun?

A: For the same reason of hot-air dryer, i would not reccomend it because it's too aggressive, much more than hot-air dryer. An cheap and good hot-air station with display temperature and air-speed It's about 30/40$ bucks only.

3) I've setted the hot-air station at 220°C around 428°F at 2, max 3 hot-air speed and placed the hot-air at 30centimeters from the GPU chip.

From now i started to slowly down my hand till reach 1cm around 0.03ft from the main GPU chip, i did this to avoid thermal shocking issues due to room temp. Keep this distance for like 10 sec (should be passed like 40-60sec from the start of the procedure).

After this start to move your hot-air station gun to an angle of the chip and slowly (around 10sec per edge) do all 4 edges. After that slowly go up with your hot-air station gun till you reach 25/35cm around 0,8/1,1ft.

All the procedure should keep like 3 minutes and 30 sec.

Sorry for my english, i'm not American/England. Hope i will help someone.

DISCLAIMER: Do this at your own risk. You can permanently damage your chip. Please if you don't know what you are going to do, get your faulty item (if not in warranty) to a specialized tech center.

 

If it works it works
Sometimes the reflow lasts, sometimes doesn't. it all depends on how excessive the microfractures are
if you will want a working 260M, my offer still stands, if you pay for shipping its yours