M17x R1 Graphics help please......and sorry

First off I want to appologize for what is probably a dead horse to all of you. I just don't see any recent threads on this topic and I presume there must be something compatible with it that is quite new.

There is no other way to say this but that I'm an absolute n00b.

That said I would appreciate some advice on the following.

1) I have what seems to be a R1 M17x qx9300 with a Nvidia GeForce 9400 256MB.......this card just doesn't cut it in Guild Wars 2 beta. I had ro resort to the lowest possible setting in order not to give myself seizures from the screen jumping.

2) I really like this 20 pound dynosaur and don't wan't to get rid of it unless i have to. I have 8gigs of RAM and a 1TB hard drive.

The question is, what can I do to change that graphics card seeing that I've never had my hands inside one of these things. Yes I know, "buy a new one" but I like this one after 3 years of GW1 without any difficulty.

I need to know the best option for a graphics card(s). I will read whatever I can about installing that (those).

Sorry to the gurus for bringing up this. Thanks for the help in advance! Cheers!

 

First off, welcome to NBR, James and don't worry, we were all 'noobs' at some point in our lives.

Your system is a beauty and can support two dedicated MXM 3.0 graphics cards besides the integrated 9400M.
Now, are you the first owner of this laptop? I'm asking this since the M17x came with at least one dedicated graphics card, the 260M, 280M or the AMD mobility 4870. It is also compatible with more recent cards such as the AMD mobility 5870.

Let's make sure your system isn't already equipped with a dedicated graphics card by following these steps:
-turn off your system
-make sure the charger is plugged into the laptop and the blue light around the plug is lit.
-turn it on and repeatedly press the F2 key to access the BIOS menu (don't worry about the beeping, it's normal)
-now navigate to the Advanced menu using the arrow keys
-and down to the Graphics Settings menu.
-here, set all four options to Disabled (press Enter and choose Disabled)
-press the F10 key to save and exit (make sure to save)
-the system will restart, let it boot until you see the desktop
-right click Computer and choose Properties then Device Manager
-tell me what you see under Graphic adapters.

 

No I bought it on EBay a few years ago. The guy had a warehouse or something so I asked for the upgrade to 8gigs RAM and the 1TB hard drive. (Cost me 1000 bucks on top of the just over 3k bill IIRC) I think it came with 4 gigs originally, but not sure of that fact.

I did what you said.
Interesting. NVIDIA GeForce 260m x 2 under Display Adapter

 

Awesome, it seems you had those little beasts in there and been using the 9400M all this time.
Time to install drivers and get back to gaming.

Follow these steps in my post here, make sure your laptop is plugged in or your 9400M will be reenabled and take your time:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...r-301-42-whql-released-22may.html#post8552910

Get the drivers here:
NVIDIA DRIVERS 301.42WHQL

Post back your results.

 

Actually with that you should be able to play most games in medium-high settings, you can also upgrade to the 280m but the difference is not a lot. I hope you enjoy the baby... Here are some cool tips to take maximum advantage of the PC while gaming.

 

Wow I wish cool things like this happened to me lol. That's great news for you op, congrats.

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2

 

I downloaded into a save spot and ran the driver intall......

NVIDIA installer cannot continue

It says: "The graphics driver could not find compatible graphics hardware"

I checked back in device manager and see them there. Norton 360 also sees them when I check system configuration through Norton.

Nevermind.....I need to uninstall the other drivers first.

I'm a dumbazz...sorry.....will get at it now and post back

 

That's normal but it means you have to continue reading the steps from here
Press Cancel when it starts checking for hardware compatibility

EDIT: Just saw your second post. Download CCleaner and after uninstalling the current driver, reboot your system in safe mode by repeatedly pressing the F8 key after the alien head.
Choose safe mode and run CCleaner and choose to clean your registry. You might want to repeat this until there's noting to remove anymore.
Reboot your system one more time and follow my steps.

 

Thanks for the help! You guys rock!

Guid Wars 2, here I come.

 

ahah so nice to see this fixed this way.. if you have been using that machine with the 9400 all this time you will have a really pleasant surprise with the 260 SLI. I'm happy for you