M17x R1/R2 - Dell 8.763 Driver (4870/5870 GPUs) + 5870 VBIOS Discussion (non-beta)

Progress meter? Where are you getting your instructions from?

I've always flashed from DOS, that's the easiest way.

 

If you downloaded the vbios from support.dell.com then it should not be run within Windows. You have to burn it to a CD or run it off a bootable USB drive. Alternatively, you can follow the directions in my sig.

 

Hi Moddy,

None of my clock speed issues are related to this new driver or vbios.
I didnt read the last round of posts closely enough and ended up sending a few things haywire.

Following the guide at the start of this thread, things should work proplerly and without incident assuming your lappy is normal.
Personally i have learnt the hard way not to touch things unless i read properly.

usually video driver updates are a no brainer.. this stuff however includes vbios updates and therefore requires patients and attention

that said, the new drivers have fixed the following issues for me;
> Turn screen off after x minutes. no longer goes black and wont return to windows
> sleep mode. no longer crashes my comp, and returns to windows fine. (my system boot disk is an SSD)
> game crashes. so far so good, Crysis, metro, unigine etc are all working fine

 

Holy cow, what are you guys doing?

To install Video Drivers, Uninstall ATI Command Center via Programs, Express Uninstall, Reboot, install 8.763.0 Drivers from Support Site, Reboot.

After that, use the VBIOS Flash Media Creator, to create either a CD-ROM or a USB stick. When you have that, reboot your computer, hit F12 at the BIOS screen, select your bootable device you created and the flash should start automaticly.

You guys are missing an important step i guess, and that's using the Memory Stick on a Boot up to flash VBIOS under DOS, no commands needed afaik.

After the whole process check clocks and VBIOS info in GPU-Z, compare to the info/screenie i provided earlier. Actually, read this thread completly and try to understand what is provided and how it is done. Thanks

 

Soooooooo, any way to flash the 4870? Or do we need to? Not really worried about O/Cing at the moment. Just having some issues with framerates in Unigine and trying to figure out if it's a card or just drivers/software before contacting AW again.

 

Hey cheifs,

Nope this particular vbios is not for the 4870. It is only for the 5870 GPU's.

The only available update made available from dell for the 4870 were the driver updates.
If your not having to much trouble in games then I wouldn't worry too much about unigen or any other benchmark for that matter. Just try out some games and make sure they perform well or as they should to be sure.
Not to sure how much help AW or dell on the phone will be either. Depends who you get really.

Cheers.

 

Yeah, 4870's no vbios needed, the 5870's need it for stability reasons in windows 7.

Also 10.8 might cause 4870s second gpu card to not throttle/scale correctly on gpu load or clocks (10.8b hotfix release notes, but maybe its only to desktop gpus releated), from what i read, so it might be a general issue with 10.8 all along, wonder if dell has fixed or seen something like that in your unigine benchmark.

What is the score for more common known benchmarks like 3DMark 06 and Vantage on your system? There should be some screenies and info floating around on this forum, where you can compare that to it, i think it would have been heard alot louder rukus if those would have dropped significantly after a driver update.

So if you get a good comparison for your HD4870's with another system, and it behaves the same in those, with the same drivers and maybe the same issues you would have found out. If not, you might have a unique problem on your own (hardware or software releated in general) and also releated to unigine especially only for the new drivers.

 

Hi Grimfan.

You used a blank CD to flash the vbios or a USB thumb drive (what capacity?)
I shall do the steps what you have mentioned and then report to you

What softwares to use to remove all ATI stuff completely before i install drivers and update vbios?

Any other points you feel i should keep in mind before i go ahead? I get scared for all the small and big things in life and that is my weakness

 

I used a 1gb thumb drive worked like a charm To get rid of old ati files I used Ccleaner it's a free program . And don't worry it's easypeasy to do just boot into your thumb drive it will guide you through the rest GL

 

Everyone has a weakness and is not perfect, some people like the adrenalin pumping thru their veine when they do crazy stuff on a computer and something goes wrong, some people get totally stressed about it.

Uhum Anyway, i did not use that VBIOS Installer (Media Creater), as i'm already on the beta vbios. I only opened the creater once and i've seen two options, Burn a Disk or Create a USB Stick. So i assume you clean/copy your stuff off the memory stick, format it, use the creater to make a USB Flash Stick if you want to call it like that. Boot it via BIOS Option F12 upon STart Up, VBIOS should flash.

But to make double sure i don't always assume things and get some more solid info out, i'm gonna do it anyway now and see what happens, and if it tries to reflash my beta vbios lol

To uninstall Drivers if i'm not sure if i have the previous drivers uninstalled correctly, i use Driver Sweeper "Select ATI Display - Analyze - Clean" and a Registry Clean with CCleaner.

Cheers.

Edit: Thanks Etown for the quick description how it worked out for you.

 

Yeps its real easy chiefs.

If you do choose the USB bootable flash drive method. Make sure your usb is 2gb or less.

If you try using anything larger it will tell you that it is unable to format and clean the drive as it is too big. It must be a built in parameter specific to the Alienware vbios program flash updater. So yeh just use a older or smaller thumb drive and flash away.

Good Luck!

Cheers.

 

I can confirm that the same issue that has plagued BFBC2 in all post-10.5a drivers is still in this version with my 4870's.

Im sure it's ATI's fault. It's also kind of hard to describe. I don't know how else to explain it other than the game runs "rough".

When the maps first load the framerate is extremely low, like 10-15 fps. After a few moments, the framerate rises to more acceptable levels, but the smoothness (or lack thereof) of the game itself is not accurately portrayed by the framerate.

The best I can do is show this video of the game menu screen. Notice how the FPS counter doesn't stay locked at 60, but kinda fluctuates very quickly, and notice how the scrolling text at the bottom is jerky/hitchy. This is how the game itself runs. The game is playable, but there is a noticeable roughness to the game. I haven't made a direct comparison, but I would also guess that my measured FPS are lower with post-10.5a drivers as well.

YouTube - Video0001

Does anyone else know what I'm talking about here? I surely can't be the only one experiencing it. I have tried every single driver since 10.5a and have the exact same problem with all of them. It doesn't do it in other games, just bfbc2. 10.5a is great for this game, it runs smoothly and the maps load extremely fast. It blows my mind that the latest drivers have made the game load slower and perform poorly. What the hell is going on with ATI?

 

Are you using the latest ati profiles???

 

steviejones, which profiles? Linky?

 

Linky: ATI Catalyst Application Profiles 10.9

 

You sonafa................that was good though

 

Ok here you guys go in case you clicked on Grims link

http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/crossfirex-app-profiles.aspx

 

My Link is more fun though, no harm if someone likes to try anyway, good for a laugh and still leads to the desired app profiles via detour

 

I like that, lol

 

Grim, your link IS way more fun!! Common people, laugh a little.

 

Grimfan, i have become your fan after you said those encouraging words
Reborn and Grimfan, can i use a blank CD(700mb) to flash if i cant find a 1gb thumb drive?

 

At first I thought my computer had a virus because I had clicked on the link then looked away for a second, when I looked back it was a major ?! Hahahahahaaa

 

Ok...I am not pretending to be the expert here, but it seems to me that people may be missing something here.

I asked earlier if people were getting this "lag" in BC2 just in online MP or also in the single player campaign. Many of you responded that you dont even play the SP and only play MP.

I dont play MP online, I just play the SP campaign. It runs flawless. Absolutely flawless! Ok, it slows down to mid 20's when there are lots of smoke effects...so maybe not FLAWLESS per say but I think you all know what I mean.

So if the game runs (graphically) super when not on online MP...how could that be solely a video card hardware/driver related problem? Or ATI's fault? It seriously sounds to me like there is something else we are missing...

If I am wrong on this and video card hardware/driver issues can cause this type of "lag" ONLY in the online MP (as in there is evidence of this happening before on other games etc) then let me know and I will eat crow. As they say.

 

I used a 250mb thumbdrive so the blank cd should work

 

Like this???

And I know the VBIOS is just for the 5870. Just saw one mentioned somewhere for 4870. No biggie. Haven't really had a chance to game too much.

 

When I flashed my cards with the last one that is when I got the major lag but after I flashed with the new one and new drivers, the lag would only come for about five seconds on online playing but then the game crashed three times in less than an hour. Last night when I played for 90 minutes it played flawless on online. Weird, I dunno

 

@frozen:

To clarify:

You flashed your cards with the beta vBIOS and then got massive lag.

Then you flashed your card with the latest WHQL (or whatever they call the finalized one) vBIOS and driver then the lag only came for 5 seconds...but game crashed multiple times per hour.

Then you played last night and got 90 minutes of perfect gaming.

****************
If I summed that up right then I guess I am wrong. If it happened right after you flashed it certainly sounds like it is vBIOS/driver related.

 

Spot on, spot on

 

We can refer to these drivers and vbios as A01, as dell uses this form of the build/revision declaration that are officialy released on Welcome to Dell Support

For the enthusiasts, we speak about either the ATI driver revision, also officialy released, for example 10.8(a) or driver version 8.763.0(.1) and the vbios in it's full variable for example 012.020.000.027.037640 for the latest (Beta/Non-Beta)VBIOS in what we can read from GPU-Z.

 

Maybe Dell|AW need to team up with AMD|ATI to get a mobile driver rocked out for these bad boys (HD5870).

 

Hey.. Had a simular problem.. Installed i think it was 10.7 or 10.8 from Amd and everything was crappy. Had 300/ 400 under load and went down to idle. Finaly i reinstalled the hole windows 7 and same problem. I thaught what the f...... Then i tried a very simple thing. pulled out the ac, battery and did a power drain. Restarted and everything was back to normal.. I dont know what it was but something evil

 

Yeh black CD 700mb is fine chiefs. The files that are burnt to it are really small. You could even use a CD RW if you had one handy as some peeps don't like to waste disks lol.

Cheers.

 

Hehe, yeah they complement each other very well: ATI releases broken drivers and Dell tries to fix them

Stuck on battery clocks or stealth mode was on all along I bet on the second^^

Exactly this! Oh, this is this thread, oops, missed one site earlier, was probably asleep... Let me see... What is not ok with those on stock 920xm and 4870's? Did you enable the BIOS option for OverClocking since you have an extreme cpu?

 

By the way.. If you want to flash this gpu bios so you can change volt and clock settings can you just save this bios that now is saved on the usb stick and you have the copy if some thing goes wrong. I saw a thread somewere by zfactor but it was from 2008. Does that bios still work or does his way just unlock the bios.. Does anybody have a link to do this on these 5870 cf. Thanx.
Oh yeah, and i flashed my v-bios a couple of hours ago and it was very simple. Just followed the instructions. But i had to go and buy a 2 gb stick because a 4gb didnt work..

 

Here is a thread on how to do it on another forum. This is the method I use for benchmarking and flashing the bios. I use the same method for the 5870's, you might have to flash dells way, and then copy the flash from the cards to the USB for safe measure. Credit goes to Mandrake. He posted this under his name on that forum

Alienware M17x w/ATi 4870 info thread! ... My SpecsAW-M17x Nebula RedIntel® Core2 Extreme quad-core mobile processor (QX9300)Kingston HyperX 1333 CAS7 4GB Me ...

 

Folks, please move all discussion of modding the VBIOS to another thread (create one of need be - same goes for modding the driver). Additional posts along these lines will be removed. Also, for system BIOS discussion, please post in the BIOS A09 thread - http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/519400-m17xr2-bios-a09-discussion-thread.html

Thanks!

 

justa question...


if i have the ATI 8.763 can i install the ati crossfire aplic. 10.9?
already have the 10.8a can i update the aplic without any problem?

 

Yes!

/10char

 

So just a quick question....sorry for being such a noob about this....can i just flash the vbios by running cmd prompt? or do i have to do it through the USB flash drive method? cuz just to confirm one more time...the vbios shouldn't be run while i'm in windows correct? sorry again and thank you.....

 

if you use the tool, you will be flashing from a command level state - the tool allows creation of a bootable optical disc or bootable usb flash drive. there are no issues. download the vbios update and launch it. follow the prompts.

 

Oki, another version for those that did not understand yet what to do after installing the Display drivers and Downloading the VBIOS.

Upon finishing downloading the VBIOS file from Dells site , use the common dell extractor and after that a Setup should start, click on create USB or CD, whatever you like better. In my example i use a 2GB ipq memory stick.

Step 1, chose Install to a USB Flash Drive.



Step 2, Select the CORRECT Memory Stick, double check in Windows Explorer for the right size and its drive letter. Then click OK. (Tip, have only a memory stick attached, no other USB device to make sure)



Step 3, After a quick progress bar, a message will show up that it finished.



Step 4, Keep the Memory Stick in the system, reboot your computer, hit F12, select option 2 USB Storage.



Step 5, the flashing utility should start, continue by pressing "B".



Step 6, VBIOS Flash will intiate and flash both cards (or only one), upon finshing you get the provided image, remove your device and hit any key to restart your laptop.



Step 7, verify after Reboot in GPU-Z, should look like this.



Good Luck

 

WAOH Grimfan. I am growing fond of you soo much That is pretty much everything. Thanks a ton buddy. You are the man

 

I just flashed my 5870's through windows. Just downloaded the vbios from the Dell site, clicked it in windows, used a bootable USB (1GB) restarted the computer and hit F12. I then booted from USB Device and it flashed both cards with ease.
How do I know the cards were flashed???? Anyway to check somewhere in the computer?? Also in GPUz I noticed the CudA and Physx aren't ticked at the bottom. What's up with that??

 

Not Nvida Cards, only those have CUDA and PhysX

Compare your GPU-Z with mine above, post updated.

It's all in here now, GPU-Z image showing latest driver version and vbios, now a detailed guide with all info needed, step by step, and you also see the extracted folder path.

Also i already had the beta vbios installed, i actually ran the dos memory stick twice now, and it did exactly the same again.

 

Oh I forgot CudA and Physx are only for Nvidia
Thanks. I'm so happy both my GPU's were successfully flashed.

My laptop used to freeze on battery and never come off of sleep mode
Now everything seems to work great.
The only thing left to do is get the A09 bios in there
I'm on A06. Is it worth the upgrade??

 

Yes, you get a better touchpad, something that is actually usable. Go get it!

Discuss the Bios there if you have question or issues with it. Though most issues would land here anyway i guess hrhr

 

Lol thanks for all the help
The touchpad is horrible
I didn't see anywhere in the release notes for A09 regarding the touchpad

Also what is everyone using to overclock these 5870's
Are you using ATI Overdrive or another program.
Can I use MSI Afterburner??

 

No, RivaTuner... You might research quite a bit for that, since there is no step by step provided guide so far around to use it with the latest vbios, it's applied expanded knowledge though, if you went thru the beta process. Someone might adjust those threads/guides and keep it up to date for our cards, maybe i'll provide one by myself soon when i find the time to explain it.

 

Ahh.... Your the best.. Thanx.. Is there a thredd for this by the way.. And sorry for writing it here..

 

Should I pull the trigger on this vbios. I play BFBC2 and ARMA2:OA.