M17x Drivers thread

I'll vouch on the 182.06 being the absolute highest scoring ever for me on my M1730, BUT.. on the M1730 it had no downclocking capabilities, and we already know how bad those things were with burning up. I was only a few points shy with the 182.67, so I aired toward caution for once. Still ended up burning up the cards anyway (poorly designed main BIOS fan charts).

 

this is 186.67 stock gpu's. cpu at 3.125ghz

 

Anyone having problems with the 186.64 version for the 260M in win 7?

Everytime I instal 186.64; before it even finishes, my screen goes all black forcing me to restart. I need to boot into safemode and do a system restore to fix this.

What version should i d/l?

Thanks

 

did you get the ones from dell for the GTX 260m? they do have 2 different versions up for the different cards (never checked to see if they are the same so maybe that is it?)

 

I got the same problem as unhip.

I got my replacement computer from Dell 2 days ago and when trying the SLI with my GTX 260M, my CPU usage spikes and my computer becomes incredibly slow. Tried playing Aion with 3 FPS.

I thought it could be a driver issue so I downloaded Dell's 186.64 from their support website. During installation there is quite a lot of flickering as it tries all 3 chips but just when its supposed to finish installation the screen goes black and the only solution is rebooting.

I have a sneaking suspicion as to what may I have done incorrectly.

As soon as I get back home from work I will try a few things to hopefully fix this issue.

1. Download and install "Driver Sweeper"

2. Download drivers 186.82 (lv2go), extract "nv_whql.inf" from the .zip folder and place it in the main folder, delete the "nvfu.inf" file.

3. Control Panel > Programs and Unistall Nvidia display drivers

4. Reboot with F5 (Safe Mode)

5. Run Driver Sweeper and delete display driver leftovers

6. Reboot windows

7. Disable Antivirus (Nod32) (I think it is messing up the installation progress)

8. Open "setup.exe" from the 186.82 driver folder

9. Cross my fingers

 

I did what Zabba suggested, I uninstalled the driver through the device manager and re-installed 186.64 from dells website and it works BUT.... I don't have the option in the task bar to change between boost and power saver like in vista...Why?

 

Just a quick update for anyone interested... I just completed my testing of 195.62 - the current WHQL release from NVIDIA.

• Install went fine - even with Hybrid. This was a bit of a shock since the 195.55 had install issues with the M17x GPUs.
• SLI is functional and game play was smooth without issue.

Issues I did find which are deal breakers (at least for me):

• Hybrid Functionality is quirky. Depressing the Stealth Mode button prompts with the normal 'Do you wish to confirm' dialog box. When selecting OK, nothing happens. LOL Depressing the button again prompts with the normal 'Do you wish to disable' dialog box. Selecting OK causes the system to enter Stealth Mode. ROFL
• Pulling the AC Power does not automatically disable the discrete GPUs. When this is functioning properly and if you have the 9400M G enabled, it should automatically disable the discrete GPUs and kick you into 9400M G only mode. Fail.
• Waking from sleep/standby mode results in the intermittent black screen. Only way to exit is to perform a hard shutdown.
• BIG ISSUE: After exiting a game, GPU #1 will downclock properly to 200/100Mhz. GPU #2 remains locked at full clocks.

Given these issues, I'm sticking with 186.82. NVIDIA better get a clue or I may just start looking at those ATI GPUs.

 

you should of been looking a LONG time ago

Also Batboy

If you want you can add in a check and minus system for the GPU drivers because i cannot download them all the time and you seem to like testing them. I figure it will be easier on the OP so that no one has to wad through all the pages or download 100mb driver to find out it does not work

 

i tried the first officially released 195.xx drivers for notebook, the 195.62 one.

until now it seems to be good for games. win7 rating also remained 7.3 and not 7.2 as all other 19x.xx drivers . i didnt run any benchmark with this one yet. also dpc latency spikes are until 4000.

 

how is sleep/wakeup with these?

any issues?

 

i never use this function really and dont know how it works. anyway i tried now and pressed sleep. the pressed the power button to turn back but blank screen if this is the issue you are talking about.



benchmark score: 15814 with gpus at stock (never overclocked them since i got M17X), cpu oc at 3.125ghz. the score is good for win7 (dont compare with vista)

 

Aristotelhs,

Thats a good score actually.

did you disable integrated graphic chip? usually that happens when you have it disabled in the BIOS.

 

Hey You All,

I was wondering if there is a microphone driver for Windows 7? I can't seem to find one.

 

yes its disabled why?

 

It would be the IDT Audio Driver. Some W7 folks are finding they are having better performance with the default Microsoft driver.

IDT 92HD73C1 Audio Chipset
v6.10.0.6233 A02, Last Updated: 09/22/2009

If you are still having issues with the microphone after sorting the driver out, go ahead and create a new thread and we'll work on it.

 

I would not consider a score under 16k with an overclocked QX9300 "good"....it is decent

With the QX9300 over 3.0 though, should be able to hit 16000 somewhat easily

Just my 2 cents

 

I noticed the sleep/hibernation works better with integrated graphics chip enabled. This is something i noticed personally and i dont know if its true.

 

I've noticed a problem with one of the GPUs not downclocking after exiting 3D graphics mode (i.e. a game). You can force it to do if you have hybrid SLI on by going from "boost performance" to "save power" and then putting it back to "boost performance" again, but this is a hassle.

Still I like the fact that it doesn't take a stupid amount of time to alt-tab in and out of WoW on these drivers.

 

Noticed the same issue. Thanks for confirming.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5590272&postcount=457

This was also present in the 195.55 beta. *SIGH*

 

Interesting though, you have it happen to GPU #2? It's the first 260M on mine, according to HWMonitor and CPU-Z. Ends up running about 10 degrees hotter unless you force it to downclock using the method I mentioned above.


One other good thing,the 9400 runs about 5-10C degrees cooler on these drivers. It was hitting 69-70C when idle on previous drivers I tried, and now seems to idle at 60-62C

 

Well, unless GPU#2 is selected by default when open the sensor tab of GPU-Z... yea, it was GPU#2 showing the full clock.

I had two instances of GPU-Z open. On the Sensor tab there is a pull down for each GPU.

Very odd.

 

Gave it a look in GPU-Z, and yeah it's the second card for me there. Seems different programs order the cards differently.

 

That figures - well in any case, thanks for posting this. I was interested to see if this was occurring in Windows 7 as well (not that I had any reason to think otherwise).

 

under vista i reached 16500 points with the same oc cpu and stock gpus. i dont remember with which driver but i never reached this score under win7 no matter what driver i used.

 

BatBoy I tried to see if the second GPU is not downclocking after exiting two games.
The first was HL2 ep2 and the other was Counter Strike Source and on both I had left two GPU-Zs running in the background monitoring both of the GPUs.
In both games both GPUs downclocked almost immediately after exiting the game. Isn't that weird?
Maybe this happens in specific games. Unfortunately I don't have any other games currently installed to try.

 

Windows 7 works fine, except for the wireless. Sometimes I need to restart my pc to get it working. As I was trying to fix it, i noticed that I do not have a high performance plan in the taskbar...why?

 

Under Windows 7 I had to 1st go to the 'Power Options' in 'Control Panel' / 'System and Security', hit the drop down for 'Show additional plans' and select 'High performance'.

Though now I only get just Balanced and High performance options on my task bar, lol, Power saver has gone. I never use it anyway but oh well.

 

NEW NVIDIA CHIPSET DRIVER

guys i just found this new nvidia chipset driver which is absolutely compatible with M17X

http://www.driver-soft.com/html/125952.html

NVIDIA nForce 5/6/7 chipset version 15.51 WHQL driver for Win7-64 released on 7th Oct 2009.


MORE INFO :
This Win7/WinVista 64-bit nForce UDA driver package for C51M/MCP51, C55/MCP51, C72, C73, MCP77, and MCP79 consists of the following components:

Ethernet Driver (v73.14+) WHQL
Network Management Tools (v73.16) "Sedona"
SATAIDE Driver (v11.1.0.33) WHQL
SATARAID Driver (v11.1.0.33) WHQL
RAIDTOOL Application (v11.1.0.30)
SMBUS Driver (v4.74) WHQL
SMU Driver (v1.71) WHQL
Installer (v7.57)


i remind you the current nvidia chipset driver from dell has the following

This Win7 64-bit MCP79 nForce driver package consists of the following components:


Ethernet Driver (v73.07) WHQL
SATAIDE Driver (v11.1.0.26) WHQL
SATARAID Driver (v11.1.0.26) WHQL
RAIDTOOL Application (v11.1.0.28)
SMU Driver (v1.70) WHQL
Installer (v7.37)

 

Be careful with that one, if memory serves it wants to install NV's network management tool. Caused issues for me when I gave it a go and ended up wiping it out with DriverSweeper. It if works for you great, but if not - wait for Dell to release it.

Did you make sure to set each instance of GPU-Z to the correct GPU using the pull down menu? Easy mistake believe me, I've done it before.

 

yes it does work. it also adds this option in nvidia control panel



from the first sight it looks like a fix for ethernet problems with previous driver?

it needs more testing maybe (example test sound stuttering which who knows may be related to chipset driver too), but for now i can connect to wifi with ethernet enabled as well.

 

Nice! Keep the thread posted on any conflicts, if any. Thanks for sharing.

 

this is also from the device manager which then promts to the nvidia control panel i have shown on the previous post



looks like nvidia decided to go a step further maybe. i need more testers here as i may not see something. i assure you it wont cause problems or if it does you can install previous chipset driver again.

 

I am positive, I double check everything before I post something. Both instances of GPU-Z were checked for both GPUs.
Things are quite confusing as they are, I try not to make them any worse

 

Neither do I stamatisx. Just asking as it can easily happen.

Very odd - I'll attempt to reproduce it if I work up the desire to reinstall that junk driver. Any driver which fails to work properly with PowerMizer is a fail - IMO, but as I have said time and time again, its up to the user to decide . If it works for you and you are happy with the results, then kudos.

 

I agree with you. Unfortunately each version of these drivers has cons and pros. while it shouldn't. Supposedly every new version should be a better one but not in our case. I actually need the CUDA support and the lower idle temperatures, otherwise I wouldn't use this version

 

ive been looking for the best real world gaming driver, and i saw this post and i wanted to try them, but it wont allow me to enable SLI with them, or any of the Dox drivers. so any other ideas on how to get that to work, or even other drivers that may be better?

 

Batboy did you try the officially release 195.62 driver? on your blog you describe the lv2go one. experience with me is perfect anf of course full blue ray support

 

Not sure which articlepost you are looking at as the one I posted on 12/4-12/5 was on the 195.62 NVIDIA Verde release. Straight from NV.

187.66 I grabbed from LV2Go. I believe that was the last one I tested straight from them.

 

okay, so i found some drivers that are working great for me EXCEPT in mirrors edge. its a common problem as ive tried soo many drivers this week, and certain ones all have the same problem, in mirrors edge all of the characters flicker greenish in certain light, as well as in l4d shadows of the dead zombies flicker as well. if theres a fix for just those two things and its not the drivers id really like to know, as it happens with alot of drivers.

 

Just to let you know NVIDIA's apparent justification of the max clocking issue for their new drivers (195.62) - I found this in their release notes...
"This is a hardware limitation and not a software bug. Even when no 3D programs are
running, the driver will operate the GPU at a high performance level in order to
efficiently drive multiple displays. In the case of SLI or multi‐GPU PCs, the second
GPU will always operate with full clock speeds; again, in order to efficiently drive
multiple displays. Today, all hardware from all GPU vendors have this limitation."

I don't understand why they need to have the second card running at max - even when there isn't a multiple display connected!

 

that is a BS response from them.....

 

I don't know of any real world performance drivers better than it, but there are some very close ones, like 182.46 and 182.67, as for your SLI issue, I have no idea why it's not working for you, when I set it to use SLI in the NV control panel it works with no issues.

 

Are you running in "Single display performance mode" in the Nvidia control panel? if not try that, it may allow for the second card to down clock.

 

What a load of BS. Even when using multiple displays, so what? Since when does the Windows Desktop, or any non-3D program require huge amounts of graphical horsepower?

And it clearly is buggy because it doesn't downclock on single displays (and the Nvidia control panel is set to single display), though as I mentioned, you can force it to do so if you have hybrid SLI enabled.

 

Uninstalling (190.73) using the default method (Display driver remove via Programs & Features) on the M17x is a buggy nightmare. They seriously need to get on the ball now. I'm starting to think this is a main reason why Dell is not putting out more updates (NV Driver) - the drivers are buggy big time.

Don't get me wrong here - I like NVIDIA. Always have. They are seriously ticking me off though with these, as of late, 'waste of time' mobile releases.

 

Well I have been testing out 195.62 with the following games:

• Batman Arkham Asylum
• Dawn of War II
• Borderlands
• Frontlines Fuel of War
• Dragon Age Origins

And I have to say I am pretty happy with the driver. I checked my temps using everest pro and my g15 and they seem the same as 187.66, which I was using before. I am using a cryolx nzxt notebook cooler so this may have something to do with it.

Performance is similar in older games, but better for newer games due to the built in sli profiles, so no messing around with the control panel etc.

This appears to be a pretty good driver for win 7, 64bit, i'd recommend it, installs easy and no messing around to get sli etc to work, I am happy nvidia have finally released a driver that will work with the m17x

 

Word, how are you resolving the issue with the 2nd GPU not downclocking or are you just leaving it locked at full clocks after exiting game?

Leaving the 9400M G enabled constantly? Just curious...

 

using 195.62 and 1 minute after exiting cod mw2 (sli). so i cant see this absence of downclocking (if really exists) on temps. i also use nzxt cryo cooler but i have it on passive (just on the cooler) and not active (using the fans which i usually forget to turn on).

you can see the top temps which are the temps immediately after exiting cod mw2. this screenshot is 1 minute after exiting the game. 1-3 degrees difference is nothing right?

 

when i set enable SLI in the NV control panel, it flickers just as normal, and a box asking me if i want ot keep the settings pops up, and before i can do anything it automatically starts to revert back, also i noticed that any profiles i make for games are not saved upon exiting the control panel. i guess ill stick with what i have for the time being

 

thus here are my temps during gameplay of cod mw2. reached max of 61 degrees. the temps are exactly after exiting cod mw2



again with 195.62 and now that i checked temps without playing games are 39 and 40 for 1st and 2nd gpu