How to install reference drivers on a m17x R3 with a 6990?

I can't for the life of my get any of the reference drivers to install and work properly. Just about every time I install 11.8 I get a blank white screen right when it's done the install. I can hit the power button and put it into sleep and then wake it up and get my screen back. However, rebooting brings back the same white screen with the same scenario. In a couple scenarios it has even BSOD'd on me. I was able to get them working by uninstalling ati, booting into safe mode, running driver cleaner, rebooting and installing. However, I got absolutely terrible scores in vantage and mark11.

I then tried the 11.6 drivers with the same install method and got the same exact results. The confusing thing about all this is when I received my first m17x (see sig), i was able to just install the 11.8 drivers no problem. However, after restoring that using the alienspawn, that's doing the same thing as this one... This is very frustrating as I feel like I've tried everything. The only thing that seems to work is the Dell drivers, but I don't get as good of scores as I once did with the 11.8 drivers. They aren't horrible, but not as good as they could be. Installing over top of the Dell drivers doesn't seem to help anything.

Suggestions?

 

Maybe this can help you:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...er-install-order-guide-alienware-systems.html

 

Thanks for the response NormenKD, but I did see that and tried that method already. What I finally found out was that somehwere in the process the ATI powerplay setting got set to "maximum battery life" when plugged in. UHG . I finally figured this out after I put the Dell drivers back and saw I was still getting crappy scores.

So... I went to try the 11.8 drivers again in the method that worked for me before. I uninstalled the intel drivers and the amd drivers, rebooted in safe mode, ran driver cleaner, rebooted again, and ONLY installed the 11.8 drivers. I got a warning at the end that there was a problem. Though no problems were visible in the log. After a reboot it could not detect the ATI card. I noticed in device manager that the intel card did not have a driver. SO... I uninstalled again, rebooted into safe mode again, ran driver cleaner again, rebooted again----

This time I installed the intel HD drivers directly from Intel first and rebooted (I did NOT check the box to install that WinSAT whatever as I saw someone say not to). I verified Aero was working for intel and then proceeded to install the 11.8 drivers. I did NOT install the Dell drivers first. The installation completed successfully this time. I rebooted and ran some benchmarks and all is good!

3dmark 11: 3492
Vantage: 14175

6+ hours of work later... YAY

It looks like switchable graphics should work fine as all the options are there. But to be honest I'm not even going to try it right now as I'm not going to be using it anyway. Now that I verified this laptop works as advertised and I know how to get the graphics driver working I'm going to be fresh installing Windows 7 onto my Agility 3 drive.

 

put your results in the benchmark vs thread + screenshot please

 

fyi-- since i'm blowing this machine up anyway, i did decide to test the switchable graphics. it switches to the intel card fine. however, i couldn't switch back (no access to the control panel to do so). hitting the fn+f7 combo brings up the box and when you click yes nothing happens. after rebooting, the ati card is disabled and i have no aero. i can enable the ati card and get things going again, but this is far from seamless. I'm not concerned about it right now as I wont be using this, but i'm just posting it as an fyi.

 

I think that's the problem right there. I had gone through this process myself some days ago on my M17xR3 (6970M). I found that you must first install Intel HD drivers, then Dell's 6970M/6990M driver, then AMD reference driver if you want the ability to switch graphics. That is the only way I could get it to work.

I did notice something strange though. If I install the Intel HD drivers separately (even though they are included in Dell's AMD driver), I get "Intel Display Audio" in Device Manager. If I do NOT install the Intel HD drivers, I get the AMD audio driver... However, with the Intel Display Audio driver installed, I no longer have "disconnected" audio devices showing up in "Playback devices" when you right click the volume icon in the system tray. Really weird. I haven't and can't verify at the moment that HDMI audio works when on the discrete graphics though... Maybe someone here has an idea of what might be going on with the audio devices? Which audio device driver is correct for the HDMI?

 

There is no reason to install the Intel drivers. The Dell 6970m one overwrites it with an older version. The Intel driver is there for Nvidia graphics card users, not AMD ones.

 

True, it does get overwritten, or so it would seem, but yet the Intel HD control panel shows the driver version as being newer than what Device Manager shows...? Still, this doesn't explain/clear up the audio device issue I've experienced. Which HDMI audio driver is correct? The Intel Display Audio or AMD High Definition Audio?

 

After redoing the OS on my m17x, I cannot get the 11.8 drivers to install again!

This is so frustrating. Here is what I've tried...

-Install only Dell drivers... works fine.
-Install Dell drivers and update the Intel driver... works fine.

-Install Cat 11.8 overtop of Dell driver: BSOD on "atikmpag.sys" before install finishes. When I reboot the driver doesn't work.

-Remove dell/ati and intel driver, reboot, run driver sweep in safe mode, reboot, install intel driver, reboot, install 11.8: WSOD (White screen of death) during install. I just get a solid white screen and have to hold the power button in to turn it off. When I boot back up it goes right to a solid white screen. I have also tried a custom 11.8 install unchecking everything I could except the driver as to try only updating the driver and I have the same results.

No combination of anything I've tried can get the 11.8 to work =\

Another odd thing-- I feel like uninstall and driver sweeper isn't actually clearing everything out. Sometimes after installing the Dell driver again and checking the driver details it will tell me 11.8. But obviously it's not because I had just done an uninstall and sweep and reinstall of Dell drivers.

 

I'm having the same experience, syntax53. When you get the white screen and force a power down, when it restarts press F8 and select Disable Driver Signature Enforcement and it will boot into Windows using the 11.8 driver (or whatever) without further ado. Problem is, you have to do that every time. This is ridiculous. I can use these reference drivers without any issue in the M15x with a 6970M card, so there's some setting to get around this digital signature business, but I haven't found it yet.

 

Interesting... I'll have to try that. My SSD crashed so I have to restore/reinstall, but I'll give it a shot. The driver signature requirement is actually something introduced in Windows 7 SP1 (*I think*).

There are loads of pages on the internet about disabling driver signature enforcement. Not sure which one works at the moment: windows 7 sp1 disable driver signature enforcement - Google Search

 

Another side note: I received my m18x yesterday and that took the 11.8 driver without a hitch. Installed, rebooted, worked. Easy as pie. I think the issue stems from the graphics card switching capabilities (integrated/discrete).

 

Makes sense. Will investigate further when able. This is nonsense; I'd rather disable or forego the Intel IGP, which I've gotten fond of, than deal with the driver installation hassle.

 

Unfortunately (for me) I do not have the same results as you. I just restored my m17x from the alienrespawn. I first tried just installing the 11.8 drivers without doing anything, right over top of the dell. I got a blue screen of death like before.

So I rebooted > uninstalled > safe mode / driver sweep > reboot > install intel > reboot > chose to disable driver signature > installed 11.8

Before the end of the install I got the white screen. I waited until the hard drive activity slowed down and then pressed the power button once. It went into hibernation. When I woke it up it came up fine and I had a picture. Not sure which graphics adapter it was working off of.

So then I rebooted and chose to disable driver signature enforcement on boot again and it still booted to a white screen.

This blows. I have an m17x and an m18x and I'm trying to decide which to keep. I actually like the m17x better overall but this driver issue may be a deal breaker.

I'm going to try the process again now with first installing the dell driver. But I'm pretty sure it's going to BSOD again.

edit: Forgot to mention I actually updated the BIOS to the new A07 immediately after the restore. It obviously didn't help this particular issue.

 

I wonder if a clean install would remove whatever is causing the update problem. I'm waiting for a replacement, and will do a clean install when the new one arrives in connection with installing the SSD. Maybe that's the answer. I'll check with Inap, who I'm pretty sure has done one or more clean installs and does not seem to be having trouble using reference drivers.

 

Clean install doesn't help. I had clean installed onto my SSD (that crashed a few days later) and my results have been exactly the same as right now with the factory restore.

 

I asked Inap to join us and share his methods and experience. He seems to be using them without hassle or instability, just like they work on my M15x with 6970M or your M18x. I'm sure he'll help when he can.

 

The major difference with the m18x is it doesn't use switchable graphics. So that's most likely why it works like butter. All of the issues with this are because of the switchable graphics. I've been trying all sorts of combinations here to no avail. The latest thing I noticed was as I was trying to find an old catalyst driver to install, I noticed every one of them has "no compatible with intel switchable graphics" in the release notes. All the way back to 11.5.

latest attempts...

Code:

ATTEMPT 1
---------
device manager -> right click intel and choose uninstall and check box
reboot
express uninstall ati
reboot into safe mode
run driver sweep
reboot
install dell's 6990 driver
reboot
reboot again to get aero
install intel driver via device manager using zip from intel
-> white screen of death
put into hibernation by pressing power button
-> white screen of death
reboot
-> white screen of death

ATTEMPT 2
---------
reboot into safe mode
device manager -> right click intel and choose uninstall and check box
reboot
express uninstall ati
reboot into safe mode
run driver sweep
reboot
install dell's intel driver
reboot
reboot again to get aero
install 11.8 catalyst preview
-> white screen of death
put into hibernation by pressing power button
wakes up to logon screen
logon
-> white screen of death
reboot
-> white screen of death
reboot with driver signature disabled
-> white screen of death

ATTEMPT 3
---------
reboot into safe mode
device manager -> right click intel and choose uninstall and check box
reboot
express uninstall ati
reboot into safe mode
run driver sweep
reboot
install dell's intel driver
reboot
reboot again to get aero
install 11.6 catalyst reference drivers
didn't prompt me to reboot
rebooted
no change... 11.6 reference drivers don't even recognize the 6990 it seems
express uninstalled ati drivers
rebooted to safe mode
driver sweeped
reboot
install 11.7 reference drivers
-> white screen of death
put into hibernation by pressing power button
never went into hibernation.  screen went black and then sat there.
shook the mouse and screen came back.  pressed button again and same thing.
hard powered off by holding in power button
turned system on
-> white screen of death
hard powered off by holding in power button
turned on with driver signature disabled
-> white screen of death

 

Very familiar. It's like Chinese water torture. I agree that the IGP is the source of the difficulty. I've thought about, but never actually disabled the IGP in Device Manager. I'll try that next.

 

It doesn't work

Disabling the intel card essentially disables the ati card.

 

have you tried installing 11.7 then going over to 11.8?
i never really have issues with installing driver over older drivers, but if i do a clean install then it becomes a pita.

i recently switched back to 11.7 since 11.8 didn't perform as well in benches.

 

i can't get 11.7 to work either. if i try installing it when i only have the intel drivers installed i get a white screen of death (same as 11.8). if i install it over top of the dell drivers i get a blue screen of death (same as 11.8).

 

ATTEMPT 4
---------
device manager -> right click intel and choose uninstall and check box
reboot
express uninstall ati
reboot into safe mode
run driver sweep
reboot
install dell's 6990 driver
reboot
installed 11.7 overtop
BSOD
load windows 7
(errors about not being able to find a AMD display adapter)
(both cards have !'s in device manager)
tried to install intel driver using both dell and intel's installer but they refused
install intel driver via device manager (right click > update driver) using zip from intel
reboot

-got a display along with weird popups asking for permission to run all the different intel components. i hit run on everything. i'm definitely on the intel card here as i can access the intel display manager. don't see any way via control panel to switch to ati.

-checked device manager and the ati card still has a !

right-clicked on ati card and chose update driver and let it find one automatically...

-> white screen of death

 

when i get home i'm going to try swapping the memory with my m18x and see if anything changes. not sure if the graphics card is directly swappable ? if so i'll try that too.

 

i have never installed the intel driver. i just install the dell amd driver, then the newer drivers on top.

try uninstalling everything, then run driver sweeper and ccleaners.

then try a power drain with the cmos battery out, that will reset the bios and make it detect the gpu again.

then install the dell amd driver and reboot and then the newer driver straight on top of it, don't bother with the intel driver.

 

All right. Uninstalled/cleaned out everything, driver sweeper, Ccleaner. Then installed the Dell drivers (8.851.2). Everything working perfectly. Then installed the Cat 11.7 WHQL version over the Dell drivers. Install went smoothly, but when it tried to restart, got a BSOD. Restarted and it booted using VGA Adapter. Device Manager shows the 11.7 driver is installed. but has this message:

​

(Note that the driver tab shows that the driver is digitally signed by Microsoft WHQL, but Windows ignores that. So, I've been here before and know the routine. Restarted pressing F8 at the boot screen and selected Disable Driver Signature Enforcement. Boots right into full dress Windows using the Cat 11.7 driver.

​

Works fine. GPU-Z reports the driver as 8.872.0 (Catalyst 11.7). All is well -- except that if I reboot it's going to go right back to the VGA Adapter.

For me, if I could find the solution to Win7 ignoring or rejecting the digital signature (or figure out how to avoid the requirement altogether so I can use beta drivers, etc.), then the problem would be finessed. Clearly this is not affecting everyone, but it sure has me locked up. Any ideas?

Edit: Just ran 3dMark11 with the 11.7 drivers and got P3396 at stock settings, a nice boost over the Dell drivers. Then P14,298 in Vantage. Sure would like to figure out how to use them normally.

 

one thing is i do not have the new service pack installed for windows, could that be the reason?????

 

Don't know. Which new service pack? Is there an SP2 already?

 

sorry i mean sp1, i nevered installed it.

 

Odd I installed 11.8 beta, rebooted and no issues. Switchable graphics even still works.

Are you sure about SP1 its already included on the Alienware DVD...

 

yeah i have no issues too, just wierd that some people get these bsod issues.
i reformatted mine since day one, so i never updated the service pack.

 

Me too but its slipstreamed on the install. I've also had 0 issues with the OCZ Max ops drive.

 

What the hell would cause such different result between machines? I cannot install 11.7 or 11.8, plain and simple. I just tried re-seating the video card, removing 2 of my 4 memory sticks (and moving the second 2 slots to the first 2 slots), and removing the cmos and battery (and power) for 30+ minutes. no change at all to anything.

in order to swap the card from the m18x i'd have to swap heat sinks too as they are different design. that's going a little too far for me right now and i don't think it's something i'm willing to do.

does anyone have any real explanation for my issues? will newer drivers/bios' eventually fix it?

 

I thought I was going to have the same issue. I installed 11.6 OCL over stock drivers. I got the white screen and then a black one an then nothing. I had to power down manually. After rebooting it didn't detect the amd card and the resolution was jacked. I rebooted one more time and everything is perfect. My scores went up 300-400 points (see the 6990 v 580 thread), and the FN dimmer keys work too! I am happy with how it went.

What does 11.7 add that 11.6 does not?

 

edit: below method didn't work. this finally did for me: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...nce-drivers-m17x-r3-6990-a-4.html#post7783006

HOLY MOTHER F'N CHRIST@!%!#$

I just got 11.8 to install... exactly like it's supposed to work. No blue screens, no white screens. Just installed and worked. Guess what I had to do? Reseat the video card (which I already did last night, but apparently not good enough.)

Late last night I noticed in GPU-Z that the bus interface was reading "PCI-E 2.0 x16 @ x1" as opposed to "PCI-E 2.0 x16 @ x16". My initial thought was some sort of bios modification needed to be done. I read somewhere that increasing your clock speeds by one bump can sometimes fix the issue. No luck. I then remembered something in the power profile about reduced PCI express power consumption so I made sure I was on the maximum performance profile. No luck. So I brought the machine with me to work today. I had read someone say to try reseating the card. So I did. Took it out, blew compressed are in the slot and on the card, cleaned the contacts with my fingers and stuck it back in. Fired it up and GPU-Z read the correct bus speed!

So I then tried to install 11.8 and it simply installed! Switchable graphics works and brightness controls work too! Absolutely facking amazing.

Now... I wanted to test uninstalling it and cleaning everything out and making sure I could reinstall no problem. I also still had my clock speeds slightly boosted so I wanted to set that back and make sure it didn't have something to do with all of this continuing to work...

[I'm going to type this as I do it...]

I express uninstalled ati... and... BSOD. Yes, during the uninstall! lol. I rebooted and did another express uninstall. That one didn't crash, but it also didn't prompt me to reboot which I thought was weird, but ok. I rebooted, disabled the overclock, rebooted into safe mode, uninstalled the 6990 driver from device manager since it was still there (choosing the option to also remove the driver software), uninstalled the intel driver from device manager (choosing the option to also remove the driver software), driver sweeped the ati driver, and rebooted.

So now I'm completely clean again with no drivers... I installed the Dell driver and that installed fine. Tested switchable graphics (to intel and back) which worked. Tested brightness controls and that worked too. Rebooted.

Tried to install 11.8... BSOD. F!!@$##

When I installed 11.8 this time I go the box from windows warning me that the driver wasn't signed. I honestly don't remember getting that the last time... Going to mess around some more. grumble grumble.

 

So maybe the people having issues don't have the card in good?

 

FINALLY FIGURED IT OUT...

So for me this is what I have to do...

If you have drivers, clean them first so you are at the point of having no ATI software installed, having ran driver sweeper, and having two "standard vga adapters" in device manager.

1. Install dell 6990 driver
2. reboot
3. install 11.8 catalyst driver
4. choose to install unsigned driver when prompted
5. blue screen of death will follow
6. after the reboot install the dell 6990 driver again
7. reboot
8. if you check the driver version at this point it will actually say 11.8
9. install 11.8 again just to make sure
10. (this time you do not get a warning about unsigned driver)
11. reboot

... That seems to work for me. Does anyone know some way I can verify that all of my driver files are actually the correct versions?

 

Can you (a) open CCC and (b) switch to the IGP? I've gotten to that same place with the 11.7's, but couldn't open CCC or switch to the IGP. Could do without switching, but need CCC. +Rep for staying with it.

 

Yup, CCC works, switchable graphics work, and the brightness controls work. I do still want to verify I have all the right file versions if someone knows where I can find a list of files and corresponding version numbers that I can compare to.

 

Very cool. I'll start over again tonight.

 

How did you make out? I just got done reinstalling my OS onto my replacement SSD drive and 11.8 just simply installed (overtop of the Dell). No blue screen, no special reboots... It just worked. So I have no freaking idea, lol.

 

Followed your instructions. Got 11.8 installed and bootable, but could not open CCC or switch to IGP. Yep, I think a clean install is the answer. Don't know what gets added to where during the factory install, but it seems to be beyond the reach of Install Manager, Driver Sweeper, cCleaner or a hand sweep of the registry and related default Win 7 folders/directories. I can't do that until my replacement R3 arrives and I install the SSD, hopefully soon. In the meantime, the newest Dell drivers aren't bad. Frustrating.

 

What happens when you try to open CCC?

 

i get a very brief muted flash, then the hourglass cursor briefly enlarges for a moment but then reverts to normal size and then nothing -- back to the arrow cursor at the normal desktop. Same thing if I try to switch to IGP, logical since the switch is a CCC function.

 

Okay... I just got my upgrade R3 yesterday with the 6990M and I'm having the same BSOD issues on Dell's Windows installation... I installed Catalyst 11.7 TWICE (initially, and then again after it BSOD'd) and then Windows didn't boot at all -- just blue-screened. I then pressed F8 during boot and chose "Last Known Good Configuration" which worked like a charm. Windows now boots and the 11.7 is installed okay (from what I can tell -- haven't done any benchmarks yet).

Just thinking, but have anyone here tried installing the OLD Dell 6970M driver on a 6990M system and then installed reference drivers over it? It's possible there is a problem with the newer Dell drivers and not the older ones. Just a thought though. I might try it as I won't be using this Dell Windows installation anyway. I'll be transferring my SSD drive from my old unit to the new ones. There shouldn't be any issues with doing that with the exception of the Windows activation (I'm not using the Windows 7 copy I got with the computer, which is Home Premium -- I purchased a separate Windows 7 Pro copy). So, again, have anyone tried installed the old Dell 6970M drivers first instead of the newer 6990M drivers??

 

Does any one try to use modified Bios to disable intel IGD, are that solve all problem?
Here is the modified A08 bios