Crud... New Problem (m17x R1 / Hybrid GFX greyed out in BIOS)

Okay, so I tore down my m17x R1 to fix an issue I had with the DVD drive (appears to be working again... tech must not have had the ribbon cable in right; found a couple of screws in wrong too, fixed those).

After reassembling, purging power, then hooking my battery and AC I checked the BIOS (previous tear down to clean proved the importance of making sure everything in BIOS is right). I went to the Graphics sub-section only to find I can not enable Hybrid Graphics anymore. It's grayed out, like when Integrated Graphics is grayed out when Hybrid Graphics is on.... except vice-versa. It's not a huge problem, as I can still disable Integrated Graphics and go off my 260m SLI setup.... but it just seems odd.

I did double check my connections (SLI gold fingers, card seating, both connectors going to the LCD, etc) and found the LCD connectors loose, but the BIOS is still stubborn.

Running A03 if it matters at all (afraid to go to A04).

 

Try re-seating both GPU's again, but this time also unplug the BIOS battery (white connector near the CPU fan) for half a minute.
This should do the trick, I hope.

 

Okay, ripped back down to the cards, reseated again. Put that back together and pulled all power (including the BIOS battery). Purged, plugged everything back in; option for Hybrid is back now. Yay!

Now I just have to rip down again because I didn't plug the AlienFX ribbon cable all the way in on the keyboard (left keyboard zone only turns on when I push on it.... argh; at least I know what that means).

 

Graphics options
* The computer will have to be rebooted to switch from Integrated GPU to Discrete GPU or vice versa. The need for a reboot applies to all the cases listed in the table where Hybrid Graphics is off.
Vista Hybrid On, Integrated Greyed Out = Discrete Nvidia 260M/280M or Integrated Nvidia 9400M
Vista Hybrid Off, Integrated Off = Discrete AMD or Discrete Nvidia GTX 260M/280M
Vista Hybrid Off, Integrated On = Integrated Nvidia 9400M
XP Hybrid Off, Integrated Off = Discrete AMD or Discrete Nvidia GTX 260M/280M
XP Hybrid Off, Integrated On = Integrated Nvidia 9400M

Hybrid SLI Modes
* Hybrid SLI is only supported on the Windows Vista operating system
* Hybrid SLI is only supported with at least 256 MB dedicated memory for the mGPU
* All displays must be attached to the mGPU for seamless mode switching
* Hybrid SLI is only supported on OEM notebooks with specially developed software released for specific notebook configurations. Loading generic drivers on a Hybrid SLI notebook will cause hybrid features to disappear
* The two operating modes of a Hybrid SLI-enabled notebook are:
- Boost Performance Mode where the discrete GPU and system board GPU work collaboratively to provide higher performance
- Save Power Mode where the Discrete GPU completely shuts off and the Integrated GPU renders and drives the display (HybridPower)

 

Hi, since i am already here, i want to ask something
I have recently purchased a used m17x i think it is R1, with two GTX260M
T9600 processor

What happen is, when i enable Hybrid mode, the laptop goes black screen before i get into window.

I go back to graphic bios and disable it, i notice it say Hybrid only available with Vista 64bits, i am currently running Win7

I've read a few threads and people arent haven't problem with the 260m in win7 with their R1.

I've done everything, flashed bios to A05, update all drivers

When i go into Safemode, i notice 1 GTX260 appeared, but after installing the latest driver, it is not there anymore (even after i enable Hybrid and go into Safemode)

 

^ Ditto. Please save me!