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    Battlefield 3: Problem Switching to Graphics Card(M17xR4)

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by shawncaution, Jul 12, 2012.

  1. shawncaution

    shawncaution Notebook Enthusiast

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    Just bought BF3, I currently whitelisted it and made sure my battery performance was on High, I even load up by right clicking "run with graphic processor>high performance". I have GPU-Z loaded and after playing it for 5 minutes the integrated goes from 50 to 70 and the graphics card temp stays the same(at 50). It's not running on the graphics card and I don't know a solution on how to fix this. Anybody else have this issue and know how to fix it?

    I don't know if it's because when you load BF3- a browser pops up and you have to quick match or whatever to load battlefield up. Also, the stock drivers are the only drivers that are for the new M17xR4, there isn't any new drivers only BETA(s). The only way I get it to run on my graphics card is when I FN+F7 to shut down my cpu and load only my graphics card to play it and I really don't wanna have to deal with doing that everytime I wanna play BF3. I took a screenshot- ( http://i47.tinypic.com/4pwmk3.jpg)


    I have M17xR4- 660M, 8gb, i7-3610.
    Nvidia Driver Version: 296.39
     
    shawncaution, Jul 12, 2012
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  2. MegaSquishyMan

    MegaSquishyMan Notebook Enthusiast

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    is your laptop plugged in or are you using the battery?
     
    MegaSquishyMan, Jul 12, 2012
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  3. shawncaution

    shawncaution Notebook Enthusiast

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    Yes, the laptop is plugged in- set on High Performance.
     
    shawncaution, Jul 12, 2012
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  4. Chris_c81

    Chris_c81 Notebook Consultant

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    Have you tried setting up a profile in the Nvidia control panel for BF3? Within the options for the profile is one that allows you to specify the dedicated GPU.
     
    Chris_c81, Jul 12, 2012
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  5. shawncaution

    shawncaution Notebook Enthusiast

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    Took a screenshot of what I could. I've done everything I could, set even my browser to run on my High Performance Nvidia Card- thinking it would detect it when the browser pops up, no use.

    [​IMG]

    (Note: this is the only game that i'm having this problem with. Run Steam games fine and every other game I play runs perfect).
     
    shawncaution, Jul 12, 2012
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  6. Chris_c81

    Chris_c81 Notebook Consultant

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    Unfortunately at work and can't see the image (browser restrictions).

    I don't play BF3 so don't know how it loads, but does it use a different .EXE for a launcher? Or is the "browser" you refer to a seperate .EXE within the BF3 directory? All of those would also need to be configured to use the dedicated GPU too.

    For example, World of Warcraft upon launching it uses launcher.exe, a small window application that you launch the actual game (wow.exe) from. I had to configure both .EXE files.
     
    Chris_c81, Jul 12, 2012
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  7. shawncaution

    shawncaution Notebook Enthusiast

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    Well, when I right click to open BF3- IE/Chrome pops up and uses their own site to customize settings and your dog tags and basically anything to do with playing the game. So, when I wanna start a game; I click quick match and then battlefield finally launches when the map is loaded- I've went into the folder and tried opening the exe from the "Select program to customize" but it just stays the same.

    I don't have no problem loading up WoW. So, I don't really know the issue....i'm thinking it's because of the browser pop-up, like I said- the game only seems to work on the graphics card when I FN+F7 to restart my cpu which doesn't make any sense since everything is set right..i don't know what could possible be wrong.
     
    shawncaution, Jul 12, 2012
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  8. Chris_c81

    Chris_c81 Notebook Consultant

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    Very strange. I'm sure fellow BF3 players will have come across a similar issue, so hold out for a reply.

    For what it's worth, I disabled Hybrid SLI and just use my dedicated GPU all the time. I was encountering similar issues and I honestly could not be bothered setting up individual profiles etc. My issue was with The Secret World.
     
    Chris_c81, Jul 12, 2012
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  9. black-bean

    black-bean Notebook Consultant

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    well i can say some games can recognize switchable graphics and some don't. for those that don't turning off IGPU via fn+f7 is your best bet.
    me, i'm turning off IGPU indefinitely unless i'm on the road and using battery only.
     
    black-bean, Jul 12, 2012
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  10. shawncaution

    shawncaution Notebook Enthusiast

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    Can't only be me with this issue. Really lame if no one knows a fix for the problem i'm having. I don't wanna have to restart my cpu every time I wanna play BF3.
     
    shawncaution, Jul 12, 2012
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  11. black-bean

    black-bean Notebook Consultant

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    i have the same issues, in BF3 and many other games, and what i did is to keep the IGPU off.
    i use SSD so when i reboot my laptop is less than a minute counting from the moment i clicked the yes button after fn+f7.
    so np there, and unless i'm unplugged, i never bothered switching back to IGPU.
    so far theres no fix to this problem that i know of, for amd card.
    anybody got feedback from the nvidia side?
     
    black-bean, Jul 12, 2012
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  12. Chris_c81

    Chris_c81 Notebook Consultant

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    I have Nvidia. Similar problems.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
    Chris_c81, Jul 13, 2012
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  13. ProH4Ck93

    ProH4Ck93 Notebook Enthusiast

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    same problem with nvidia 660m...
     
    ProH4Ck93, Jul 13, 2012
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  14. Alienware-L_Porras

    Alienware-L_Porras Company Representative

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    Make sure you guys have everything set up like this.
    Also, try reinstalling both video drivers from DELL.
     
    Alienware-L_Porras, Jul 13, 2012
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  15. shawncaution

    shawncaution Notebook Enthusiast

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    Anyone figure out a possible solution for this yet? Yes, i've reinstalled my drivers. Still nothing. Used different browsers and still nothing.
     
    shawncaution, Aug 2, 2012
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  16. Mvejerslev

    Mvejerslev Notebook Guru

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    Well I cant launch BF3 on a system with GTX680m and 3D Vision. It has no GPU switching because of the 120hz display, only dedicated GPU.
     
    Mvejerslev, Aug 3, 2012
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  17. shawncaution

    shawncaution Notebook Enthusiast

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    Ugh, bump. Still wondering how to fix this problem- still not resolved.
     
    shawncaution, Sep 10, 2012
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  18. Mvejerslev

    Mvejerslev Notebook Guru

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    My fix was a complete re-download and re-install of the BF3 files and making sure I had the latest Origin beta version. Now it works. Slow-loading like snailware, to the point I choose to play other games instead, but it works.
     
    Mvejerslev, Sep 10, 2012
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  19. shawncaution

    shawncaution Notebook Enthusiast

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    Tried reinstalling BF:3 - still nothing. Runs on Integrated. Tried putting all my browsers to run on the graphics card- nothing. Pretty lame........
     
    shawncaution, Sep 11, 2012
    #19