M17x R-2 Drivers Thread

Windows 7 64-Bit Drivers

FORMAT

Hardware Type, Date, Version

SCENARIO

You just installed a clean copy of Windows 7 x64 on your M17x R-2

Driver Installation Order:

1. BIOS : Check for and install the latest BIOS version
http://ftp.us.dell.com/bios/M17xR2A02.zip

Instructions: Burn the .ISO file found in this .zip file to a CD or DVD (or bluray lol) and then boot to that disc at bootup (press F12).

2. CHIPSET: Intel Chipset Drivers - 1/15/2010 - 9.1.1.1015, A00
ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/chipset/R251012.exe

3. BASE SYSTEM DEVICE: RICOH Drivers - 1/15/2010 - 2.07.01.00, A00
ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/rmsd/R251071.exe

4. OSD: On-Screen Display - 1/20/2010 - v1.11, A03
ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/app/R255931.exe

5. VIDEO
ATI 4870 - 1/19/2010 - 8.68.2-091125a1-092358C-Dell.2, A00
ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/video/R251508.exe

6. Network Adapter (WIRELESS)
INTEL 6300
ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/network/INTEL_MULTI-DEVICE_A00_R242648.exe
DellWireless WLAN 1520
ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/network/R249128.exe

7. AUDIO: IDT Audio - 1/20/2010 - 6.10.0.6261, A01
ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/audio/R255935.exe

8. BLUETOOTH: DellBluetooth 370
ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/network/R246770.exe

9. TOUCHPAD: Synaptics - 1/15/2010 - 14.0.12.0, A03
ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/input/R251070.exe

10. CIR: Infrared Receiver - 1/15/2010 - 5.1.0.1, A00
ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/input/R251081.exe

11. Unknown Device: ST Microelectronics Free Fall Sensor
This happens to be an accelerometer inside of the computer itself.
ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/SATA/R251237.exe

12. Command Center Utility (optional)
ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/app/R251006.exe
It is rumored that this version of command center is buggy. You can always uninstall it and revert back to the M17x R-1's version of Command Center


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Modifying ATI Desktop Drivers

You may want to use the DH Mobility Modder tool to "modify" Desktop ATI Catalyst Drivers so that they will install on laptops with Mobility Radeon hardware. One would do this in order to have the most up-to-date drivers with the most support for games. Find it here:


http://www.hardwareheaven.com/modtool.php Install This Program

Next, download and run the .exe driver file from http://www.ati.com for a desktop graphics card like the HD 5970.

(Graphics > Windows 7 64-bit > Radeon > HD 5970)

the most stable version of desktop catalyst software for modding is said to be 9.12, you can download that here: http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/9-12/Pages/radeonaiw_vista64.aspx?&lang=English

After the files extract to C:\ATI\SUPPORT, cancel the subsequent driver and catalyst installation that follows extraction.

Next, run the mobility modder software and locate the folder in which the driver files were extracted to (usually C:\ati\support). Let the modder add the proper lines of code to the .inf files of the driver so that it will recognize your video cards as compatible and then exit the program.

Finally, run setup.exe from within the respective driver folder in C:\ATI\SUPPORT. If done properly, the catalyst drivers should install without a problem.

 

Thanks man will come in handy when i get mine shortly

 

thanks for taking some burden off

im not around as much

 

I was going to download and save it from Dell website, but this is better. so I don't have to go to HELL.COM .... lol

 

you may want to add the catalyst 9.12 drivers and the hotfix 9.12 those come handy

 

I already had all the drivers linked on teh first page of the M17x-R2 owners thread.

 

The most recent catalyst drivers seem to be 10.1. Do these not work with the dell hd 4870's when using Mobility Modder?

 

they should work i don't have my computer yet to try them

 

Thank you for posting this thread.

 

Use the have disk method and they do

 

they dont like to install the decent way, like Moo said you have to use the "have disk" method to install them. Additionally IMO they are not a step forward use the 9.12 till 10.2 or 10.3 come.

 

I thought as much. Does anyone have a stable download link for 9.12? amd's website seems to go straight to 10.1 when you search for drivers.

 

its my pleasure. I wanted to have an organized hub of drivers similar to Moo's original m17x drivers thread and their installation order so i figured why not share it with you guys!

 

I'm still looking for someone to link me the 9.12 drivers.

 

SORRY BRO!

 

Still waiting for someone to post a link to Catalyst 9.12. I can't find them anywhere and I'd like a reliable link.

 

ZenithNoesis,

Here is the official link from ATI's site:

https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/674/9206/0/www2.ati.com/drivers/9-12_vista64_win7_64_dd_ccc_wdm_enu.exe

 

that links to an Unauthorized Download page.

 

I found the proper link to 9.12 drivers and I posted it to the original post in this thread.

 

sorry guys i might be a noob, but what are these things for???

 

are you asking what drivers are for?

 

Ok I need some help here, can anyone try to help me solve this. I must be missing something obvious...

I have done all the above, I have checked the driver .inf file has the added 4870 string. I have tried installing on top of Dell's R2, I've tried driversweeper and installing it from standard windows driver. I've tried both .exe file and have disk method and I get the same error, see the log beneath. The driver installation fails!!!

Please help me troubleshoot what I'm doing wrong, probably just a stupid noob mistake.

 

does modifying desktop driver with the mobility mod thing make games run better and everything or is it just something to get a nicer number benchmarking?

 

Just allows them to be installed on your notebook.

 

i mean is there any increase in performance?

 

Yes, there is increase in performance.

Cat 9.12 is best right now for R1. BUt I haven't used in on my R2 though.

 

Would you want me to upload the driver for you? I saved it from my last m17x-r1. Modded and ready to install. I can upload it to rapidshare.

 

Please, that would be great mate, rep coming up.

 

K , uploading now. give me a sec.

Edited: Here is the Modded Cat 9.12

http://rapidshare.com/files/346933291/ATI_9.12.rar.html

 

Thanks! Downloading now. Do you advice me to uninstall and sweep or just put it on top of my old ones (Dell's)?

 

i don't know where you found that order but i found this one on dells website and its a little different than yours

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/downloads/en/driver_install_order?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~lt=print

 

I would go by the order that AW posted SPECIFICALLY for the M17x

 

i cant find that. anyone give me a link?

 

It was posted on the old AW support site.

http://4help.alienware.com/cgi-bin/alienware.cfg/php/enduser/std_alp.php?p_scf_6=205&

search for it

 

thanks i found it. didn't find this site before. still kinda new to alienwares but loving mine so far

 

I need you to know that I never had to install on top of dell's crappy drivers. After a format and clean install of windows 7, I go right into installing 9.12 mobility modded drivers without a problem. And if you think that you need to do this for crossfire to work, you're mistaken. 9.12 drivers (mobility modded) have been detecting and enabling crossfire by themselves after a reboot.) Hope this helps.

 

alright i got it to work finally with rengs modified 9.12 driver. +rep for posting it man and +rep for zenith too

 

thanks man. glad I could help.

 

Why isnt this driver for the accelerometer listed on the dell drivers support page? I dont see it anyway. 11. Unknown Device: This happens to be the accelerometer inside of the computer itself.
ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/SATA/R251237.exe

 

Its there. Its called ST Microelectronic Free Fall Sensor. Its under the SATA Drives Category.

 

Just a fair warning: from personal experience and the testimony of others, modified desktop drivers seems to cause a problem with the hardware of the system in that, if the power cord is removed from the back of the laptop while it is running, or plugged back in while it is running, the system will freeze (mouse and keyboard input no longer registers, even CTRL ALT DEL) completely and the power button will need to be held down in order to get functionality back.

 

I am trying to install this mobility modder and I dont have this file path. I have HD4870 in Crossfire with Win7 64bit, does anyone know where my drivers might be stored?

 

Are you trying to install the ATI 10.3 beta drivers? If so they get installed in a folder named AMD. If you are not trying to install 10.3 well then you should. No mobility modder needed for it and the majority of people who have tried it like it so far.

 

I have installed ATI 10.3 beta, I confirm no need to apply modder patch.

I also underline that this driver set fixed the stupid problem of atioglxx.dll error in X-Plane, without using OpenGL (atioglxx.dll) workarounds.

 

thanks - any chance you can provide a linky to the 10.3 beta drivers?

Also would anyone know why I cant turn my M17X on unless its plugged into the wall socket. Kinda defeats the purpose of it being a mobile laptop

 

Just google it, as it is not official yet, AMD site hasn't got it. Look for this file

Filename: ATI_Win7_Vista_Catalyst10.3_Preview.zip
MD5 Hash: FEDBE962B50C7159F6D8BB3045B5920B ...

I used first result in this google search:

http://www.google.com/search?q=amd+10.3+beta+driver+download

edit:

It is a graphic card driver related issue. This beta driver will fix it! At least it did for me

 

Im lost
I download the drivers and then extract it. Once I do I get the following 3 files;

ATI_Win7_Vista_Catalyst10.3_Preview - application
ATI_Win7_Vista_Catalyst10.3_Preview - WinRarZip Archive
Catalyst 10.3 - Profiles App - application

I run the ATI_Win7_Vista_Catalyst10.3_Preview application and everything installs ok
I then run the Catalyst 10.3 - Profiles App application and everything installs ok.

Have the drivers been installed at this point? When I open CCC and click on advanced I see the following list (in this order);

Driver Packaging Version 8.68.2-091125a1-092358C-Dell
Provider ATI Technologies Inc.
2D Driver Version 8.01.01.984
2D Driver File Path /REGISTRY/MACHINE/SYSTEM/ControlSet001/Control/CLASS/{4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}/0001
Direct3D Version 8.14.10.0716
OpenGL Version 6.14.10.9210
Catalyst™ Control Center Version 2009.1125.2309.41491


Im a n00b

 

You did not install the drivers succesfully.... the Driver Packaging Version shows it is the one provided by Dell.

Try to modify the Win7 settings making it accept not signed drivers...then launch again the catalyst 10.3 installer and should work.

 

ok - how do I go about doing that then? Should I remove the previous edition of CCC or will the 10.2 version overwrite the old one?

 

Allow me to explain:

First and foremost, you should have removed and cleaned out all previous graphics drivers prior to installing this one.

You do this by opening Device Manager. Right click Computer in the start menu and click Manage. On the left hand side of the window that opens, click Device Manager.

From here, expand the 'display adapters' tree.

right click the first ATI mobility radeon HD 4870 and click uninstall. click "delete the driver software for this device" then click OK.

Follow the same process for the other ATI mobility radeon hd 4870 listed there. check delete software if the option is given again (though it shouldnt).

at this point, reboot your computer.

When you start back up, windows 7's built in, generic drivers for your graphics card should automatically install so you can see windows aero effects (translucent glass windows, etc).

next, download and run the program called ccleaner (ccleaner.com). you'll be redirected to filehippo to download it, but follow the instructions and the download will begin.

ccleaner will remove superfluous driver files and registry keys that the uninstaller for your graphics card left behind. so you want to run the program under the Cleaner part of it and the Registry part of it. You can create a backup of the registry before cleaning and save it to your desktop. Run the registry cleaner over and over until it finds no issues (sometimes it will miss a few on the first run, or new issues will become noticeable in light of cleaning previous issues).

finally, download the catalyst software you want to install. you should get a single file that is a .exe. This is what is important for you to understand: when a .exe file runs, it extracts its contents into a temporary location, and then kicks off the so-called "real" installation. Your job is to cancel the real installation (which has a catalyst graphical user interface) so that you can isolate the extracted contents of the .exe file and make modifications to them using the mobility modder program.

these files should be extracted to c:\ATI or c:\ati\support

once you have used mobility modder on these files, you should manually kick off the installation you iniatially canceled by double clicking setup.exe from within c:\ati\support or c:\ati

to know if mobility modder worked on the drivers, you'll notice that during the installation, "graphics card drivers" is on the list (if you chose custom installation) of things you can uncheck. Leave it checked, you chose custom installation just to verify that mobility modder worked and that the new drivers will be installed.

as far as the ATI information on the drivers, I have no idea honestly why they have such confusing names for their graphics card releases within individual frameworks such as 2D or whathaveyou.

the program GPUz should display your true graphics drivers version in parentheses. under the driver version section of the Graphics Card tab.

google GPUz, you should get it from techpowerup.com

to recap:

1. uninstall both graphics cards from Device Manager
2. Delete drivers if the option is given
3. Reboot
4. download and install ccleaner
5. use ccleaner to clear out superfluous files and registry keys, repeatedly
(you can reboot again here, but its not necessary)
6. download the desktop drivers you want
7. download the mobility modder program
8. run the .exe and cancel the subsequent installation after extraction.
9. locate the extracted files. (c:\ati or c:\ati\support)
10. install mobility modder
11. browse for the extracted files in mobility modder.
12. run mobility modder
13. run setup.exe from within c:\ati or c:\ati\support
14. reboot the computer when prompted

graphics drivers are now installed. you can know because you cleared out all ati drivers previous to doing this. so if the catalyst manager is on your desktop, you know you've got the drivers now.