M17x DPC Latency

I wouldn't mind keeping all system fans active for constant use when running intensive 3d-applications.

 

Thanks for the analysis, BatBoy.
I did fully read them: the last article indeed shows a "bad" 9600 GPU not 9400. However while it is not emphasized in the articles (you can still find it here for example) MAC was and probably still is in a lawsuit against Nvidia because of the faulty chipsets (MCP+GPU). Same with Sony, HP and Dell.
The DPC latency is only an echo of the real problem, it is not directly related to the "bumps". The real problem is when a big corporation sells faulty parts to its partners (HP, Dell, MAC etc) and then these poorly designed and manufactured chips get stressed a little and change their properties. And you don't need me to find the info about the failure rate of Nvidia chipsets, and how companies like MAC are extending warranties for free to keep the customers happy.

 

Sadly this happens every day my friend... Is it right? Nope - not at all.

As for the MCP79 or the motherboard or any other component of the M17x being faulty, well - I choose not to pass judgement until we have an actual admission from Dell or NV or some other proof is presented. Just my 2 cents on the matter. Everyone is capable of deciding for themselves.

It will prove very interesting how this ultimately unfolds. If the ball is dropped and the problem ignored, Dell will lose (has already lost) a vast amount of support as a result. I think we can all agree on that point.

I look forward to seeing what arrangement Dell and NV come up with next to address this issue.

 

Exactly Kade, eject button is a non issue for me. Main thing was the stutter on DC and that was resolved. I did want to see if I could induce stutter on eject as I did before and at 7k it does not induce stuttering.

 

Indeed.

Yeah, for testing and greater analysis, I am interested. I mean, the eject button testing has helped us understand that not all ATi replacements culminate in the same results for all users, which then raises a wealth of other questions. For purely diagnostic research, it ain't a bad test. However, for the detached/apathetic gamer out there, I think if stuttering is gone, then there is no reason to fuss about the eject button, but all the reason to just be content.

 

And we'll see it shortly, m8. Heck, I almost forgot how cool this beast really is Time to hack some monsters....

 

Fascinating -- and revealing. Big props.

 

well i would like you to know i reinstalled my Os just for you and did a fresh install and then i install the chipset drivers and bam. i have so much stuttering. i'm going to see what caused it. if it was the smu or the storage driver but i'm very close and i will post when i find out what the problem is.

 

it's 3:03am for me and i'm so beat i can't even finish my steps on how to resolve the issue. i have found out how to make the issue happen and prevent it and make it go away again i have done it 3 times already and tomorrow. i will write up what to do step by step and see if this solves everyone elses issue. it has solved mines. regarding stuttering in games. i have ran 06 got when i did the stuff i got 5000 and then i'lll type up the rest later. lol....

 

relating to DPC Latency and audio issues, some may find this interesting - I'm doing a bit of a test since its been a few months...

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=5846921#post5846921

 

Don, 5k spikes will never go away on R1.
It's the lockups that make things really bad.

 

i'm not talking about the spikes. i'm talking about the stuttering. i only have 06 installed right now. i'll install vantage and make it happen again and show you what i mean. just give me a bit.

 

Dell are getting their hands full. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100205/tc_nm/us_dell_lawsuit

I too believe the chipset is flawed. I got my replacement laptop from Dell but it's in it's box and I most likely will sell it. I know I will lose money with this ordeal but at this point I'm moving on. I won't buy a Dell ever again though and they have lost a long time customers...

 

fight for ati...

 

Same suit is going on here in Canada with Canadian customers suing Dell over those inspiron notebooks.

 

for people who dont want to wait for the write up
DONT NOT INSTALL THE NVIDIA SMU DRIVER.....

if you already have it installed just uninstall that.... i havve tested with that install and uninstall and trust me it solved it for me. this was done with ati cards......

 

I haven't been following this thread... and there are a lot of pages to read.

I'm having issues after installing Win7. Whenever I play intensive games, it randomly drops to 1-2 fps while having huge stutter in noise. Is this the issue we're discussing now?

The thing is, the system was perfectly fine when I was on Vista (which was only 2 weeks ago).

 

of course its not of main importance but it may show the difference between nvidia chipsets..

 

ok. i'm not going to do a full right up. as i said it is the nvidia smu driver that caused the stuttering for me so you can simple uninstall your nvidia drivers and reinstall it without this option checked.

if you are coming from a fresh installation. i would suggest this.
have the ati's card on in the bios and disable the 9400m.
after windows is reinstalled go back in the bios and turn on the 9400m and the 4870 will be disabled.

now download the nvidia chipset drivers. ( http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce_win764_15.51.html)

install it with everything except the ethernet driver and the smu driver.
now if you look, you will see in the device manager that there is a device called the co processor and won't install. you will have to do the have disk method and install it that way. this is called the NVIDIA nForce System Management
located here is you installed it normally.
C:\NVIDIA\nForceWinVista64Eng\15.51\SMBUS
now install the ricoh driver to take off the two base system drivers from the device manager.
after that you can install what you want. i don't think you want a every single single detail but that's the main steps.

after installing all your drivers reboot and go back to your 4870's and you should be solid. it works for me. but it also worked when i just uninstall the smu from the program and features menu......
my music is sounding very good. no nothing so far.

let me know what you come up with.

 

Interesting process. Look forward to seeing if other ATI users can replicate your results Don. Nice job.

Curious - you have the wrong chipset driver. The MCP79 is a nForce730i based chipset. At least as far as I know - could be wrong on this so dont take it as scripture. I'm sure the drivers are the same, but you never know. This is the one I am currently tearing apart -

http://www.nvidia.com/object/nforce_vista_win7_64bit_15.49.html

Knowing NVIDIA and their .inf files, there might be subtle differences based on product. Again, not sure on this. Interesting enough, the driver I am ripping apart does not state the MCP79. LOL Perhaps this is the whole reason why NV has not released an actual installer for the MCP79 chipset and instead Dell pieced together the drivers. I don't know. So many possibles...

 

yes. i did notice that and but i didn't pay to much attention since it was a higher number. but it did install everything and had the same choices as 15.49 did.

 

once again, your dpc latency shows red spikes to around 4000 μs when browsing webpages right? ... i dont want to format once again for nothing..

 

Yes it is the 730i, as validated by CPU-Z. Sager have 15.50 if you need to disect those, although you are right, the packs I have seen do seem a bit generic.

 

Thanks for the confirmation Alex.

 

No problem, glad to see theres some headway being made for users with issues, even if it does involve battering Dell CS with a verbal mallet a few times

 

Not that i believe it is of importance but it does have me curious... On a whim I decided to allow Windows Update to search for the NVIDIA nForce Serial ATA Controller driver.

Windows Update Ver: 10.3.0.46, 11/12/2008
Dell Released M17x Chipset Ver: 10.3.0.42, 08/18/2008

A bit curious Dell would package an older driver than what Windows Update has as current for the MCP79. As I mentioned, I doubt its a factor, but it raised an eyebrow. Granted most of you are probably using the NVIDIA released version of the chipset driver(s). I myself have stuck with Dell's release this whole time. After locating the difference with the WU driver and Dell's, I've chosen to keep the WU version for now.

FWIW, I was seeing quite a bit of extra HDD activity with the 15.49 NV Chipset version. After re-installing the 10.3.0.46 WU version (Dell version also) I was back to normal - no excess drive activity.

I can say that no amount of tweaking the chipset driver under A02 has any impact on the DPC Latency Checker's results. If in fact the Chipset driver is involved somehow, NV is going to be performing some major tweaks (re-writes) to it.

 

did you read anything i posted up???

you dont have to reinstall your os or anything. i said IF. all you have to do if uninstall the nvidia smu driver..... and you dont have to do it. since your frustrated. and i'm not force you to do anything. just wait for dell to come out with a fix. i was just plain and simple just posted what helped me. that's all.

 

don, do you know what the smu driver is in the Device Manager? I don't have the ability to uninstall specific nVidia drivers after I uninstalled my video drivers...

 

The SMU driver is the NVIDIA nForce System Management Controller. I believe it shows as 'coprocessor' when there is no driver installed for it.

 

you should see it in the programs and feature menu. and uninstall you will something that says nvidia drivers once you click on that it will show you a list of stuff that you can uninstall and choose the smu....

remember
the sm bus driver is different from the smu driver
this worked and did wonders for my ati gpu system
the smu isn't in the device manager so when you uninstall it nothing will show up and unknown device.

let me know what you make out.

 

no, there is two of them

the smu is the bad one. the sm bus is different and the sm bus is the co processor which is only on with the 9400m....

 

Sorry don - my bad. This is what I see. Thought this was what he was trying to find. BTW, did you ever get any sleep?

 

ok that's why I'm asking - there's no nvidia entry in programs and features after I uninstalled the nvidia graphics drivers.

 

here is mines. it seems when you install the smu it also adds to nvidia nforce system management


also when hybrid is disabled. the nvidia nforce system.... isn't in the device manager. when it is enabled it pops up and if it isn't install it says co-processor....

here is a theory since i saw that. if you looked in my benchmarking thread when i had the 280m's. and i was having horrible scores and when i turned off the 9400m it fixed it but was still there. i think this may be apart of that. of course i can't prove this theory because of the fact that i dont have nvidia cards no more.

 

ok i see what you mean. revert back to my previous post with the nvidia chipset driver qith 15.51 and reinstall that with your 9400m on. then make sure you dont select the smu drivers. IF you see smbus, you can install that. it seems that from batboy's pic and mines. that the smu driver just adds tot he nvidia nforce........
let us know your results.

 

Actually you should have two Don - unless its different under Win7.
They should be right on top of each other under System Devices.

Under Vista:

NVIDIA nForce System Management
NVIDIA nForce System Management Controller

EDIT - Ok I got you now Don. Must be because I enabled the 9400 earlier. I've been running some testing with it enabled.

 

this is all i have the 9400m is on.
http://i47.tinypic.com/k0kgzt.jpg

can i see your device manager?

 

Here ya go Don...

 

iuploaded the wrong pic.

this is with the 9400m on.
http://i50.tinypic.com/2dv0dh1.jpg
you have an exta driver.

 

So if I never intend to use the internal gpu, do I need to bother at all w/the SMU driver?

 

This might help -
http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/what-is-the-smu-driver-t69725.html

A very old brief discussion on the SMU Driver and how it relates to the SMBUS. SMBUS and what that is can be found here:
http://smbus.org/

If Don isn't having any issues with it killed and it fixed his issue, it doesnt hurt to try and replicate his results if you have ATI. You can always go back if you run into an issue or until Dell/NV release their fix.

 

I gave it a shot, no difference for me. Still stutters.

 

I'm confused - I DL'ed 15.51 and am looking to install it, but Don you said no SMU and no Ethernet. That only leaves storage driver, which I thought was also bad...

I used the have disk metho of installing "unknown device" though I found 2 .inf files in the SMBUS folder - nf4sys and nfsmb64. I installed the first one and the unknown device became "nForce Hyper Transport Bridge". That's the right one, right?

 

So this is the SMU driver that I should delete?

 

I dont know why everyone is making it so hard.

To delete the smu driver go into windows Programs and Features (the place where you would normally uninstall any program), select Nvidia Drivers, Uninstall, select Uninstall only the following choosing SMU driver (im pretty sure you want to remove the NVIDIA system management too just select it) . Do it. Reboot, go into safe mode(not needed but safer), run ccleaner and run the registry fix tool, it will find some nvidia entries, backup the registry and fix those.

Done.

 

could you guys tell me how dpc latency can affect audio editing ?

 

I would like to point something too.

The coprocessor driver is the SM bus driver ( not the SMU ).
If you download the chipset driver for win7 (R232573.exe) from dell site you dont get the SM bus driver and you cant install any coprocessor driver unless you force the SM bus driver to install from the cd or the vista nvidia chipset package.

What you guys dont want to install to remove the stuttering is the coprocessor (again SM bus, not SMU) that is missing from the dell site win7 package and so should already not be installed in your system, unless you forced another driver, not installing this driver means losing the chipset features (powermizer and etc etc) so its actually another way to remove the auto clock features and so the problem its always the same.

I would like to solve one curiosity too.

Do any of the guys with stuttering have win Vista?
Actually for me with the latest drivers from dell site Vista64bit is equal to no stuttering (DPC latency get some spikes but they never affect audio/fps). If i try to use win7 i get audio stuttering issues. (A03 bios).

 

I didn't mean to make this process hard.
if if you the chipset driver on there:
1. boot into the 9400m
2. Uninstall the chipset driver
3. Restart
4. Now reinstall the chipset driver but don't select the smu driver.(I used the nvidia 15.51)
5. Restart...

then you should be good.
if you don't have the chipset driver installed then just do step 4...

notes:
system setup:
dondadah88's system setup
qx9300 overclocked
nvidia i730/9400m g motherboard
ati 4870 crossfired

problems:
when playing any games the fps would be
80_50_0_0_0_20_100_52_0_20_0_16

solution:
the smu driver installed with the chupset driver.

notes to remember if it has/hasn't worked for you:

worked for me with ati cards.

I had ati cards so when it is turned on the 9400m is disabled and they can't work side by side. Unlike nvidia where you can have all 3 on at the same time.

one thing that you can consider is that the driver may slip in the nvidia cards so you may have to uninstall everything before moving on. But I didn't find that issue. But again with ati cards.

also not having the chipset driver installed peroid also is a plus.
warning try this with caution
if you don't want the 9400m on peroid. Go into the bios and put in a password. This will make when you unplug the system, it will not MAKE you turn on the 9400m at all. It won't even give you the annoying beep that the discrate will be disabled when first boot.
why?
because the system will go and try to change the bios settings but it can't because it is locked out by the password.

 

do you have aim or an I'm so we can talk on. From what I am doing, the smu was the problem not the sm bus controller.

I'd you have aim my username is my aim so you can aim me there.

 

I am wondering if the 'new driver' dell techs keep referencing is part of nvidia's 'Optimus' product.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/mobile...duce_Hybrid_SLI_Under_Optimus_Brand_Name.html

Maybe they just skipped a driver fix because the new unified IGP + GPU driver series is out on the 9th.