M17x Drivers thread

So just got my laptop yesterday and went in to Bios made the mistake of clicking F9 to default settings. Totally erased all my drivers for pretty much everything. So to solve this I can just download all these drivers then should be good to go yeah?

 

You hit F9 in the bios and now all your drivers are missing ? . You mean the machine cant find your OS anymore i think is what your saying ? .

Your machine is setup in RAID 0 so you have to go back and set it to Raid in the bios again so it will see your OS again .

 

Totally man Windows wouldn't boot up after that F9 I went back into Bios and the F9 took everything off my NVidia chips don't work, wireless network card, RAID 0 array, the works. I ended up having to install the included Windows disk to get windows reinstalled. Now I can login and boot windows just on my standard graphics chip, Half my Hard drive space, No wireless card installed.

 

Actually tried the Raid 0 then after the Alienware logo intel page it just displayed a black boot screen with the flashing -. I think I've done pretty much all that I know to do in BIOS to fix it. But if reinstalling all the drivers will fix my problem then I am willing to do that. The only thing that I want to try and avoid is having to send it back to Dell.

 

You should have a system restore partition on there when the machine is booting(F10) . So if you have the machine set back to Raid 0 just hit that key and let it do its thing if you dont feel like starting from scratch with the OS disk and all the drivers etc.

 

Yep in the chaos that Alienrespawn 2.0 partition disappeared too. I have the alienrespawn disk too but when I choose that to boot from the boot menu it will say Windows loading files then go blank screen for a minute then go right back to the boot screen with flashing -. Oh and do you happen to know if EST Nod 32 will give refunds got that yesterday to and now its gone as well.

 

Any chance you could post a picture of the BIOS screen with RAID 0 enabled I think that I've got everything set up right with it RAID Enabled and both SATA's enabled. Is there a chance that one of my harddrives are cooked?

 

Sorry to sound pushy with all the questions just really anxious to get it into working order again.

 

Just enabling the 2 Sata drives and raid mode isnt the whole setup
I dont remember exactly, so im going to BIOS now to check it out (Ive been through this nuisance myself) BRB in next post

 

After the splash screen that shows the alien head and has F2 and F12 options, you should see an F10 option under some other readouts. Hit that you will go into a blue screen that is the second part of reconfiguring your raid. Put that radi back in the mode it was in before and your bootup should work normally. Most use raid 0 (stripe) but some use the other type.

 

ne1 else get frame drops in l4d on 186.82

 

Thanks Townsend I'll give that a try before I do anything else. I tried the stripe Raid but like you say maybe it is the other option.

 

Got my problem fixed thanks Moo for the drivers this thread really was a lifesaver

 

Np They Are On Dell Site To ...

 

so is 186.91 not suggested for best in-game performance?

 

i suggest it though

 

yeah, they fixed my l4d problem, thanks XD

 

I've been playing Champions Online (and loving it btw). When I ran CPUID however (using 186.81 WHQL), I noticed that only one of the 280Ms was warming up (i.e. being used) in Champions Online. Yes SLI was enabled - see below.

Now I have FutureMark and other games which seem to work fine, so my question is - If CO is only using one GPU, is that an issue with Cryptic's game, or nVidia's drivers supporting this game?

If anyone else is playing CO on M17x, please try and let me know if you find the same?

Thanks guys!

Trelawney

 

Champions online may be like my batman arkham asylum problem if you are running SLI then it dedicates one whole card to physics apparently thats all the info i could find on the situation googled the hell out of it

 

its more then likely a driver issue

which one are you running ?

 

Thanks Tuffdays - appreciate the lookup!

Hi Moo - I'm running using 186.81 WHQL. I know there are modded drivers out there, but after trying the 190.xx from LaptopVideo2Go yesterday I got a blank screen to had to roll back. I'm definitely one to check out image quality rather than raw benchmarks, but I do have the Champions Online settings cranked to max. Getting about 20-40 fps (which isn't bad with everything maxxed and the image quality is great!)

Funny thing is, me second card started getting warmed after re-install, however the FPS remain the same.

Curiouser and curiouser said Alice....

For those who haven't tried CO - highly recommended. I'm Trelawney in game for anyone who wants to give me a shout!

Cheers guys

Trelawney

P.S. May try the 186.91 from L2Go after going back through the thread...

 

Cool idea Moo, don't suppose this has been done for the m17x...?

OB

 

Got the same issue. Only 1 GTX 280M plus the 9400M heats up. No noticeable frame rate issues, although the games I play aren't the most demanding graphically. The SLi green stripe graphic appears, so it should be on.

I'm also using 186.81 drivers.

 

is there any driver for the m17x that supports sli for the GTAIV?

 

Khalsa - thanks for confirming too! (phew)

Futuremark heats up both cards fine (not going to be a cold winter with this on my lap!), but i'm wondering if the nVidia Profile can be made to identify the app and enforce SLI?

I see certain presets such as for Wolfenstein, but don't know what creates these automatically.

Any idea experts?

Trelawney

 

you can rename the .exe to force SLI

 

When I run GTA IV using 186.81 the green bar showing SLi enabled is on, but again only 1 GTX is heating up.

I'm also unable to set "view to distance' (or whatever it's called) above about 32 without the memory usage going into red. It's only showing 1 GB for GPU memory, but I understand from another thread that that's the maximum for SLi?

 

thats what i mean. GTAIV doesnt use sli. available memory is 996mb or so because the game (and not the os) uses only one gpu. both gpus as it is known are together 2000 mb or a little less.

 

So, the winner is - 186.91? Anyone (besides Aristotel ) to confirm or disprove? Please help guys, I'm still sitting heavily on the stock ones (after unsuccessful attempt to switch to 186.82) , and hate the fact that Americas Army 3 (unreal engine) does NOT support sli, or to be correct the stock driver is to blame. All other games so far (excluding Heroes 5) run fairly good with sli, though the performance could be better.

 

i dont know if this is enough for you but it was around 60 fps on crysis and gamer specs with the 186.91 while with the dell performance driver it was around 32 fps. if crysis can run like that, imagine all the other games. thus the driver has signature and you dont get this annoying red message during installation.


always remember to install when intergrated graphics and hybrid is enabled.

 

Thanx, I'll give it a try.

 

Do you know where to get the 186.91 drivers please?

The link below shows the files have been taken down:

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/drivers/win7x64/186.91

Thanks

Trelawney

 

[Edit]: Found them here :
http://forums.laptopvideo2go.com/topic/25075-v18691-windows-7vista-64bit-nvidia/

Cheers

 

For anyone interested, the 186.91 whilst visually good have two downsides that i've observed and measured:

1. About 400 points slower than 186.81 in FutureMark (3D Mark Vantage).
2. In Champions Online, game suffers noticeably more from 'stutter' when there was a lot going on at the same time on-screen. Almost like visual lag. Switching back to 186.81 largely eliminated this (which I have done).

Sometimes you just have to try anyway - Hope this helps!

Regards

Trelawney

 

I have a question,
my alienware came with gtx 260m, I downloaded the driver 186.12 that is in dell website, how come you guys have the driver 186.91? Also in device manager it shows like Nvidia Geforce 9400 , is that right?

I am running windows 7 Ultimate x64 and I did a test in windows 7 for performance, and my Video Graphic came to max where it says Desktop performance for windows Aero 4.9 is that normal ?

Any good thing to improve this performance with other driver?

Thanks

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/drivers/win7x64/186.91

Also here it is the 190.0 x64 driver for windows 7 any good news with this driver? Please let me know

thanks

 

Hi Rayosx

If you go to nVidia.com and check latest drivers for 260M (280M), you will see the latest released WHQL drivers. Previously nVidia used to point you back to Dell or OEM, but now release these directly (phew).

The latest drivers are from www.laptopdrivers2go.com where they have taken other drivers (often beta) and tweaked the INF files.

If you like benchmarking or experimenting then fine, but if not the safe ones (IMO) are from www.nVidia.com which the latest ones are 186.81 as of today.

Re: 9400 - this is the nVidia motherboard graphics chipset, however in nVidia Control Panel, you should see the 260M (/280M), or two if you have SLI. When the M17x uses these, it is called Hybrid mode. If you can't see these, you may need to check you don't have Stealth mode enabled, or don't have Hybrid disabled in the BIOS (boot to F2).

In essence:
9400 = Windows/2D work + Battery. 260/280 (+ SLI) = Games mode (Mains)
Depending on what is running, the M17x should know what to use when if Hybrid is enabled.

Hope that makes sense?

Trelawney

 

Trelawney,
Thanks my man ! ! ! ! you answered all my concerns with an awesome explanation, I could say like a professor ! I really appreciate it a lot. I don't have tech stuff to offer you, but I am a Realtor if you have questions related to real estate thanks again !

 

Very welcome Rayosx

Thanks for taking time to let us know it helped!

Happy gaming and best regards

Trelawney

 

Well, I just installed the Dell 186.12 drivers, and had some weird hiccups along the way (screen went black on first reboot and had to reinstall the drivers). Seems like they are working ok so far, but I can't tell if the SLI cards are working (don't know what fans I can check). What's the easiest free test?

Also, I notice that the fans start turning on to turbo much faster than with the old 179.x drivers. Is that normal?

Should I now update to 186.81 from nVidia?

 

Trelawney,
I have an issue! I went to www.nvidia.com, then download section, product type: GeForce, Product Series: Geforce 200M Series (Notebook), Operating system: windows 7 x64, Language: of course english,

I downloaded the driver that says Notebook Release 186.81 138 MB,

When it finished , I just ran it and it says this horrible message when the Nvidia background appears and a pop up message says

" The Nvidia setup program could not locate any drivers that are compatible with your current hardware, Setup will now exit.

BTW, I reformatted and started from scratch and the same thing, what should I do? it is supposed that i have the 1 GB NVIDIA GeForce FTX 260M, that's how I ordered from Dell.

Any hints how to install the driver or any advise what to do here? Hm.......

Thanks again !

 

i am having this same issue as well when i try to install the 186.81 drivers downloaded from nvidia

 

Hi Rayosx and Rotsu

The most likely reason for your install issues are that you may inadvertently either have Hybrid Disabled or are in Stealth Mode. This means that when the driver installs, it compares the cards in the INF file and doesn't think it's suitable for your laptop, because it can't see the cards/chipsets.

Frustratingly if you power on your M17x and don't have mains plugged in, it will default back to 9400 only mode and disable the 260/280M (even if you then quickly plug back in). When you boot, Press F2, go into BIOS Graphics and Enable Hybrid and Discrete Graphics, and Exit/Save.

One of the other most common issues that caught not only me out, but also the result of many hours of support calls for Alienware was that it is easy for the M17x to go into Stealth Mode. How do you know? Often the quickest way to test this is to press the Stealth Mode button, and see if it says Stealth mode will be ENABLED = Bad, or DISABLED = Good.

Nobody really uses Stealth Mode that I can think of (waits to be corrected), as it's recognised we didn't buy M17x for portability or battery life!

If you've done all of the above, and nVidia System Properties or Device Manager shows you both 9400 and 260/280 (or two if SLI), then you're fine. You may also notice an icon with two green strokes on the SysTray which will indicate if SLI is enabled where appropriate.

Now just as a fallback, many folks suggest you always uninstall old drivers first. I don't have this problem myself as I tend to use WHQL rather than modded or Beta drivers, but if you wish, boot into Safe Mode ( F5), then go to Add/Remove Programs, remove the nVIdia *Graphics* drivers only - I stress Graphics, as you don't want to remove the nVidia Motherboard chipset or anything else, then you can re-install the new drivers.

When you install 186.xx drivers, they now recognise Hybrid (i.e. Discrete + Onboard) setups, and tend to take a while to install whilst it detects each of the cards, so expect there to be a lot of flickering whilst it goes through the installation (basically reaching out to each of the chipsets for validation).

Finally, just to be totally sure, check the drivers for your M17x (Dell website) and ensure you have the latest drivers for your BIOS, Chipset, Audio, OSD, Command Centre etc. Bit like a rinse and repeat to keep your machine updated.

Re: Fan question Fezziwig - the fans kick in when the 260M/280M are being used (which is good indicator they are enabled/working), however the latest BIOS A02 keeps the system cooler by kicking these in sooner (so I've heard people comment). I use HWPro to monitor chipset temperatures to ensure they are within acceptable range and that cooling is working effectively (I also have a laptop cooler which helps nicely). Not a necessity, but good reassurance of the highs/lows and if you have sufficient cooling / open vents - E.g. not using on a carpet!

I'm out from this morning for a long weekend, so good luck and let us know how it goes. Loads of very smart guys and gals on the forum, so if you have any issues, just describe the exact setup, steps and symptoms and i'm sure they'll jump in to help.

Bon chance and have a great weekend all!

Trelawney
(- I'd rather have a bottle in front-o-me, than a frontal lobotomy)

* PS For anyone doing a BIOS update, be aware that RAID setups default back to factory settings, so first note how your BIOS RAID is setup is configured for you (e.g. RAID 0 if applicable), as the first reboot after a BIOS update will be a bit of a bum-clencher if people don't realise/expect they can't boot back into Windows without first going into the BIOS and setting it back to the same RAID config settings as before (again if applicable). You won't lose any data, but until this is set back, you can get a bit of a scare if not expecting it (/phew) Cheers

 

Trelawney
I gave up !!!!!! I went to the bios (f2) in the graphics stuff, all the options are enabled there, I checked the Stealth mode will be ENABLED = Bad, or DISABLED = Good.

It's disabled, so we are good, I tried several times to install the 186.81 Nvidia driver and the stupid pop up message says in the pop up window NVIDIA WINDOWS SOFTWARE - INSTALLSHIELD WIZARD says The NVIDIA Setup program could not located any drivers that are compatible with your current hardware setup will not exit and I just have the option OK, so I click OK and it exits.

I am very frustated and I could not make it work, I installed the 260M Nvidia driver that it is on Dell Website and that one it works like a charm, but I know that it is very old driver and it will not give me the same results as the 181.81 Nvidia driver, what can I do? Please help me!

Also, I noticed that in the device manager I am missing a driver, please check the photos and let me know what you think about everything.

 

Question....

When you guys update these drivers, do you uninstall any of them before installing the new one?

Also, after finishing an update, do you guys restart your pc everytime its prompted? Am I suppose to? Or can I just install all the updates and restart my pc once finished?

Thanks

 

uninstall and run driver sweeper

and i just run through the thing

 

moo

Are you replying to me?

 

yes i am

 

rayosx:

Just use the Modded INF drivers. They worked on my machine. I had the same problem as you, I used the modded the drivers and they worked.

 

Rotsu,
Where do I download the modded version?

The Moo
What about my problem do you have any idea?

thanks

 

Hi Rayosx

Back from weekend. Sorry to hear you had problems with the 186.81. The screenshots you sent looked fine to me, the only difference is that I have 280M instead of 260M but that should make no difference. I've heard one other person have the same issue, where chipset not being recognised - I don't know if it's one of those things where you have to be in front of PC to see the issue, but covered the most common issues.

www.laptopdrivers2go.com are where you can get modded drivers, but beware they may cause more issues if you don't copy the associated INF file to the root directory of the drivers. In English )), the INF file is the Information File that describes the supported products. By default not all modded drivers do, so there is an additional INF file you can optionally download, which you then place in the root directory of the unzipped drivers (overwriting the default INF), and then you run Setup.exe - If this is gobbledegook, then personally I recommend the default ones. 186.81 or 186.82. Some people measure the difference only in the scores from FurureMark/3D Mark/Vantage etc, but often these come at the expense of image quality during , which surprisingly many people don't notice (as they leave their PCs to benchmark) until their games glitch graphically. There is no 'right' driver, though usually the later ones have bugfixes, or are modded drivers that might strip out PhysX support etc.

A driver cleaner as Moo suggests, may prevent any issues from old drivers you may have conflicting, and certainly worth trying before installing the new drivers.

Cheers

Trelawney