M17x R1 GPU Drivers Issue

I recently updated my GTX 260M drivers from a 180 version to the 257.38 driver version. I never took the time to update from the old beta version for the latency fix, and finally got around to doing it a few days ago.

I've been getting some interesting results. The Nvidia control panel shows the correct driver version - 257.38 - but the Windows device manager shows the wrong driver, one from 6/27/10. the driver version it lists is 8.17.12.5738.

Am I correct in assuming that this is not the same release version as 257.38? If not, why is windows showing the wrong version?

Since installing, I've experienced issues with a few games. For some games, computer will randomly freeze completely, leaving me with no options but to cold boot it. Ctrl+Alt+Delete has no effect. For a few games that I run windowed and not full screen, after 10 or so minutes of gameplay i get a black screen flicker and error message from the tray that says "nvidia display driver 257.32 stopped responding and has recovered." This will then continue to happen until I'm forced to cold reboot as the error continues to cycle faster and faster. None of these issues occur unless I'm playing games, and only started with the new drivers.

I've also been encountering the so called "black screen of death" upon my initial login to windows. This is merely annoying though as simply logging out and then back in fixes it.

I did the standard installation method. uninstall drivers, use driver sweeper in safe mode, and install new drivers.

System Specs are in my sig.


I'm really at a loss with this, and at this point I'm contemplating just doing a system restore back to the old drivers. Help is greatly appreciated. I also posted this on the Nvidia forums but haven't heard anything back yet.

Thanks,

Nick

 

No thats the right version 8.17.1 2.5738 I had all these same problems with my R1 and ended up just getting it replaced with an R2. The only difference in the specs from yours was 8GB 1333 and 500GB HD. I was always having problems with those 260's.

 

I really do not want to have to go through the damned tech support. I already did that once to get my last R1 replaced with this one. They'll probably want to send out a technician and that's really not fun to deal with since I'm at college right now.

 

There's major issues with these systems and the Verde drivers. Use Batboy's modified drivers here. Yes they're older, but allot more stable.

 

Ahh, thanks. That would explain it. I'll go ahead and try this out.

 

Your issues will dissapear with those or the P06 beta ones on Dell site!
Also remember to read BatBoy's steps to installing those successfully.

 

I went ahead and installed the P06 drivers. I did get a black screen on my login, but I also got that with the VGA adapters too. I'll keep an eye on that these next few days while I test some games out.

 

You shouldn't get any black screens or stuff like that.
Be sure you have corectly uninstalled the old ones in Control Panel(Driver Sweeper does a good job also,just chose nvidia display drivers and remove),reboot and run CCleaner in safe mode to clean any remainders of the old drivers.
Only after this you can install the "new ones" and be sure you don't still carry old errors.

 

None 2xx.xx drivers are 100% stable. So go with 197.xx from dell. About the black screen in the logon screen, is normal I guess, I think it happens because the cards are switching from discrete to igp, or something like that. If you don't want that black screen to continue, disable the 9400M G from bios. Go to bios, disable Hybrid SLI, then disable the integrated video card.

 

Everything looks good so far for the P06 Beta Drivers. Hopefully they can figure out how to fix the issue with the Verde series.

 

Glad to see you're good to go.
It'll take some time until we'll see a good release from Dell.

enjoy