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

Your system will be on default VGA driver that is integrated in the OS, no worries, that's what we actually did some of us, a clean install of windows 7 from scratch after flashing VBIOS from previous Windows Install.

 

Thanks, I brought it up because I want to do a clean install of Windows... and clearly using the "correct order" would no longer be possible. I am stil too slow off the start up, and I don't think it's the facial recognition because even with that disabled, it's just not "popping" like it should. I think a clean install will get me in a better place.

 

Hi Grimfan and others.
Just want to wrap up things for me here so that i can begin with my Windows reinstall.
So far from what i have read/understood and since my catalyst manager just wont uninstall, i will be formatting and installing Windows to eliminate the problem. Then follow with the Chipset, Video driver, flash Vbios and software installation. If i am wrong anywhere then do correct me.

a) After installing Windows from scratch, drivers and flashing Vbios, do you recommend me again formatting and reinstalling Windows and drivers?

b) I will make two partitions C and D. C for Windows and D for games,movies and music.
Should i install all the M17xR2 drivers and applications, Adobe, VLC, MS Word, winamp, etc in C:Windows partition or that should go in D:? I was thinking about it so that windows loads faster if i don't install much stuff in its partition.
Just being sure that's it.

c) By the way, one Alienware tech guy told me to keep my virtual memory as 12gb since my system memory is 6gb. Does this help in any way?

d) If i am missing on anything here before i go ahead with reinstalling windows then please let me know. All my questions are noobish but i am learning from it.

 

A) No, that's not needed, what i already mentioned, you can Flash VBIOS right before you begin with the windows installation, which would be from the point of now, restart, Flash VBIOS, reboot, Install Windows. Your system WILL behave like the beast turned into a purring cat (or a tiger roaring under full load) and it should be already stable. Don't forget all the other drivers that are on the support site for your specific system, you don't need some of them, as there are few variations, wireless for example, or maybe you don't have bluetooth. Tip: Create a signature, so we see directly with what user and his system we deal with (Copy mine for example and edit it to your like)

B) Up to you, on the system partition i would say, as some applications like to go hand in hand on the OS partition, but since it's split anyway and on the same DISC(s), it's more or less a matter of defragmentation added (yes i'm aware of that this might be a good reason to do as it's clearly a slowdown) and keeping things on order, i don't even have partitions, even on 1TB, but with my previous laptop i used the DATA partition only for installing games/documents/downloads/stuff like that... If someone can suggest some more solid reasons to do a partitioning, please let me know aswell

C) I don't know, might look it up on google what virtual memory does for you and if it's in windows 7, sure 12GB are more than 6GB, but virtual, hmmm, wonder if it's something like hyperthreading? Do i have it aswell?

D) Not noobish, those are some pretty good questions (that reminds me of stevie, he always has some very accurate questions and describes them very well). But as i am also not everytime in clear picture, i always google it and research things, if it bothers me and i need to find out what something does, the only thing i'm good at is helping people and interprete things in a "logical" way, that's all, i'm sure you do the same thing but maybe from the question seat

 

Hehehe - im watching ya Grim lol - these are probably some of the questions im interested to hear about too !!!

 

Hehe, see, stevie is a good observer aswell, he has a good eye for things, i can tell that right away...

Oh and in my other freetime i'm a psychologist

Edit: Note to myself, "Which other freetime?".

 

All good information.
I do not partition my drives either.
The Vbios flash is nothing to worry about, what the watch out was really for, is people with the older video drivers, they needed to update before they flashed to avoid issues.

Grim, what is your thoughts on how I do a fresh install, on installing all the drivers before Windows updates?

 

To boot Linux as well as Windows. If you don't do that - then I don't really see the need either...

 

First Link is for M11x dear, check compatibility

Anyway i just got a good idea, and i provide you all the latest drivers you need upon fresh windows install in the specific order you should install them:

Driver Download Checklist for the M17x-R2 with HD5870:

M17x-R2 BIOS - A09 (BIOS Flash)

Intel Ibex Peak PCH Chipset - 9.1.1.1015, A00 (Chipset Driver)

IDT 92HD73C1 Audio - 6.10.0.6261, A03 (Audio Driver)

Ricoh R5U230 - 2.07.01.00, A00 (Media Card Reader Driver)

ITE IT8512 CIR Receiver - 5.1.0.1, A00 (Infrared Receiver Driver)

Synaptics TouchPad - 15.0.15.0, A04 (Touchpad Driver)

Dell Wireless 370 Bluetooth Minicard - 6.2.0.9603, A02-1 (Bluetooth Driver)

Dell Wireless WLAN 1520 Half MiniCard - 5.60.48.35, A04 (Wireless Dell 1520 Driver)

or

Intel WiFi Link 6300 - 13.0, A00 (Wireless Intel 6300 Driver)

Intel 825xx Gigabit Platform LAN Network Device - 11.5.10.0, A01 (Gigabit Ethernet Driver)

Intel Rapid Storage Technology - 9.6.0.1014, A00 (HDD utility)

ST Microelectronics DE351DL Free Fall Sensor - 1.06.08.33, A01 (Free Fall Sensor Driver)

AMD Mobility Radeon HD5870 - 8.763-100810a-104118C-Dell, A01 (Display Driver)

AMD Mobility Radeon HD5870 - 13B96101.104, A01 (VBIOS Flash)

Alienware OSD Application - 1.13, A03 (On Screen Display App)

Alienware Command Center - 2.5.54.0, A07 (Alienware Command Center App)

Install at wish:

Alienware Wallpapers - A01 (Windows Wallpapers)

Custom Desktop Themes - A-02 Alienguise Theme Combo-Win7 (Windows 7 Skin)

To change your Login Screen, use this application and one of the included wallpapers above or any you like:

Windows 7 Logon Background Changer

Woo, that took me some while, hope it's more or less complete, SSD guys excluded, Enjoy!

 

Grimfan and flynnaz, i agree to your point regarding flashing the vbios first and then reinstalling windows and then drivers in my case. May be i am worrying more than i should but just to be on the safe side since Dell tells us to first Install the display driver and then flash vbios, so is it fine if i flash the vbios after i have reinstalled Windows and video drivers?

And how can i find out the precise config of my system to put it as my signature so that you could guide me with the correct drivers needed?

 

Thank you Grim I edited my post, I can not find the Memory Card Reader driver for the M17X R2? I know I installed it yesterday??? oh well. Your list is good to look at for updates as well

I thought the Rapid Storage Technology driver has the Intel Chip Set driver in it already?

 

It's there aswell RICOH under CD/DVD. The Intel Storage Utility, is only a Utility, not an actual driver afaik

There are those 2 methods i mentioned earlier if you plan to start from scratch anyway.

And you can look at your system online and take the info from there, input your service-tag:

View the system information for a particular service tag.

So, let's continue again with driver issues or performance issues.

 

Earlier today I was reading a few articles/forums on BFBC2 lag/loading issues and several suggested changing the game to direct X 10 instead of 11 to fix the problem.

I dont know what impact this has on visuals (but would guess it could be significant) but maybe someone should try it to see if it helps.

I dont have the game with me now...anyone know where the setting is in game?

 

That one got away from me too....just checked support and bam, there it is under cd/dvd....great place to put it dell, like i would look under cd/dvd for a media card driver????

Just noticed too under same tab, TSST firmware for cd/dvd , guss that doesnt apply to my bdrom drive ??

 

Grim you should put your list on a new Thread "driver list for M17X R2", just a idea

Stevie, I know what a bunch of dummies, oh well.

 

Yeah, i'll do that, along the VBIOS Flash Guide that's in here.

Hehe you answered your own question in the next sub sentence

Also a firmware update is "normally" optional, so are most drivers and some behave different, but most times they DO improve things.

 

Here it is:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...70-september-2010-incl-vbios-flash-guide.html

If something is missing please post it into the specific thread and i try to update it. Thanks

 

You would need to go into the .config file for BF2 which is labeled as "settings" and in there lists a bunch of pre-set settings for when the game is executed under the various list of commands. In there you'll see "DxVersion=" it should be defaulted at '11' so just change it to 10 to force the game in Dx10. The new driver package also helps significantly with reducing lag/load time although their is an intial lag from time to time for me whenever I join a server when picking a team.

 

Tell me something guys. The resource DVD that we get along with our M17xR2 system which has all the drivers, are these the same for all machines or does Dell put them individually according to how the system is customised for each customer? Because I was thinking of using it as reference to install latest drivers from Dell support site. You all getting my point here?

 

All the same i guess for M17x-R2, wether you have 4870's or 5870's, Bluetooth, Wireless, whatever... It's outdated tho, so you don't want to use that, and better create your own Backup of the latest drivers and only install the programms you like from the ressource disk...

Please move discussing new Install away from here and try to refer to my post with the drivers listed, or create a seperate one on your own, we always miss the topic lately including me

 

The resource DVD is the same for each particular model of system, although it is often updated during the lifespan of that system. While useful for loading basic network functionality if Windows 7 does not during a reinstall, I highly recommend you download everything else from support.dell.com to ensure that you have the latest and greatest. Even if you have a very recent RDVD, chances are that some of the drivers online are newer and fix issues.

 

I requested that this be moved to chipset a while back, but I haven't had any luck yet. Apologies for the trouble...

 

what version is whql ati driver for the 4870s and can you use ati profile applications.

 

That's written in the very first post, 5th line And regarding ATI Profiles, try it out, let us know

 

I meant in regards to the general ATI Drivers I.E. 10.8,10.9,10.10......

 

this question is for BRIAN, is it possible to use the application profiles from ATI, I understand that it is possible to perform the install, but is it ultimately compatible, and the reason I ask is for future application profiles that will come in the future months for games that didn't make the official driver release or will we have to wait for another official driver release, thank you for your time.

 

I have 4870's so im not even running DX11, though i might try DX9 to see if that does anything.

 

Clean install did nothing to speed up the start up... my Dell XPS 32 bit 4 year old system beats it by 22 seconds. That's a lot of seconds. Making matters worse is the XPS is fully loaded (gadgets, start up menu, etc.)

Is this the end of the world? No. I am horrifically bummed out. Yes.

 

If I had one beef with this process it would be a tiny little minor one. I didn't have a small enough USB stick. And since I did a clean install of barebones Win 7 Ult. I had to reinstall a program to burn to DVD, couldn't find a CD to keep from wasting the unused space. I was left rummaging through drawers for a few minutes only to decide it was quicker to just burn the ISO than continue hunting up a smaller USB stick. Everything else was totally flawless. And Grim you did a great job with the howto.
Megatony73 - I had to use the settings.ini fix for BFBC 2 a long time ago due to crashes to desktop. I don't know what causes the CTD other than it seemed to happen most during loads of new maps or a newly found weapon. However forcing it to use DX 10 has solved the crash issue. Quality suffers a tad but it's stable so far.

 

In Metro 2033 you can set it to run on DX 10 or 11 in the settings menu...I found that if I turn on DX11 game is barely acceptable on medium. But on DX10 I can run on high almost flawlessly.

If the 5870 is "DX11 compatible" then why so much trouble running games in DX11?

 

Ok, I have determined that forcing DX9 in BFBC2 basically fixes my problem. It's still not quite as smooth as it should be, but its 95% of the way there and I can tolerate it for now.

Thanks for the idea Megatony

I do think this confirms what I've been saying about it being ATI's fault though.

 

How do you force DX9 for BC2? I use Steam but would like to know to see if that makes a difference

 

go to documents/bfbc2/settings.ini

there is a line that says

Dxversion=auto

change auto to 9

 

I'm using the 10.9 driver + profiles and it has yet to ctd in dx11 mode.

 

Reported for being primitive and non-constructive in any way. You clearly have no patience at all, get a different laptop and try to get some better support. Your feedback does not help Dell nor ATI telling them they do something wrong, if you don't even know what you might have done wrong or what you do at all...

Also DX is not directly releated to ATI, so maybe microsoft has to release a proper DX11 Driver that supports it and improves DX11.

In my DXDiag the DX driver is shown as 10.1 and not 11... So this should actually give you some idea aswell.

 

right, and some how everything magically goes wrong when ATI releases a new driver, even though it's someone elses fault.

How are you not seeing the common factor here?

lets re-trace

BFBC2 works fine up to driver 10.5a, then, post 10.5a the game doesn't behave properly. Problem solved by reverting to DX9 mode. Many many users with xfire 4xxx setups report the exact same symptoms with post 10.5a drivers. I bet we're all just noobs and didn't run CCleaner.

What's the difference for everyone having this problem? Changing to a post 10.5a ATI driver.

Hmmmmmmm!! not evidence that it's ATI's fault though! no sir!

Are you really this big of an ATI fanboy?

the difference is the ATI driver version. It has been this clear since I started explaining the problem.

 

So what, if everyone reports it, didn't you get the information that ati did not release 10.9 mobility, because they might actually work on the problem. Have some patience, if the problem is known, and there is not a real workaround, wait like everyone else. I don't say you need to shut up and stay silent, but comfort a little and be objective on things, forwarding your frustration does not get you anywhere at the moment. Please...

 

Are you paid ATI PR? You sure are touchy about this.

 

Who knows... What i clearly am is a rep of my own. I don't have any bias towards any manufacturer (sure i'm a fanboy, Dell, Sony, Square-Enix to name a few, but i'm open for anything that is great tho), i like to solve problems alot and prevent them if possible, i'm doing this for free in my free time, just giving my oppinion on certain things, that does not necesarilly comfort you or apply to you. I just hate ignorance and persistance of some people that get very aggrivated, there is really no use to repeat their "hate" all the time and in such a superficial way.

But since i am working with my new laptop, i like to sort out the few issues we are still experiencing and some things just don't happen over night and there is normally a reason for everything, why it is like that. So therefor if no workaround is available, you can not more do than present your problem objectively and wait for a fix.

Also excuse my very bad english language, i'm not native to it, i didn't want to attack you personally as it's normally useless to do so on the internet. Just wanted to point this out, sometimes people don't realize they did something wrong, until someone pointed it out, it happens. I'm only human aswell, i have a lot of patience (or i would not help ANY newbie), but i cannot let things slip through all the time like you did earlier. If you want to get off some of your frustration, i can recommend a psychologist, call ATI/Dell or start a new thread if that's allowed.

Cheers

 

I think Grim is just stating the obvious....if its a problem then im sure it will get ironed out but seems odd that you are having issues and having to force dx9 when others dont have any problems and Joker is obviously able to run it in dx11 without crashes which indicates to me, it must be something you have done, intentional or not, that has affected how the game works on YOUR system.
Quite easy to turn round and blame Ati or whoever but why not try something like a fresh install etc and see if you still have issues....then maybe it would indicate where your problem lies eh? - just a thought.

 

He has 4870's, and in 10.9a (Hotfix) it's even mentioned in the reference drivers release notes, that something has been fixed for the 4870. And since ATI did not release 10.9 mobility drivers this month, we can actually count on ATI, that they are aware of ANY Issue, that are currently occuring with ANY mobile drivers and something has to be done. That is my interpretation on the current state of ATI mobile drivers and why they are skipping 10.9, b*tching about it, does not get us anywhere...

 

I wonder if he has the same issues with the game when using Dell 8.763 as opposed to Ati reference drivers??

 

I just researched a litle bit with google and i have read that the redistributable files from microsoft CAN have an influence on the drivers not being installed/behave correctly. So to make sure you can install the drivers, it's recommended to uninstall all those microsoft visual C++ redistributable files before starting the catalyst Setup.

CTD should not occur in BFBC2 anymore, quoted: Twitter / Terry Makedon @CatalystMaker, might apply to the dell A01 8.763 or ati 10.8 aswell.

 

Seeing that Joker has it working, and I know it's my own impatience to ferret out the problem. I tried all kinds of things in RadeonPro to get it to look great and it did. The CTD's only occured during a load of some sort. Sometimes after 30min to an hour of playing. I did the quick fix, the band-aid fix so to speak, with the settings.ini.
Will check on this last re-install since I actually did uninstall all the redistributable packages and reinstalled them. Plus the usual CCleaner clean and registry fix, yadda yadda. That may have fixed the issue and I just haven't played since I did all that yesterday. If I get the time today, I'll reset to Auto in the ini file and give it a go.

 

Yeah, there is somewhere a conflict going on between those redistributables, it's said that you should only install those redistributables the Setup wants to install. Currently i have like 5 installed:

The 2005 is afaik, from the install of 3DMark06 and the 2008 from the ATI drivers, also i think that ATL fix, i downloaded seperatly from microsoft support site...

 

BFC2 worked great for me as well. I had the same performance as Joker. I set everything on MAX except for AA and MSAA. I set them both to 1X each. I have completed the single player campaign now. I don't play much or any online multiplayer though. No problems in single player campaign though.

Has all worked great since the new dell driver and beta vbios; including the 10.8 CAP and 10.8a CAP profiles.

I have also experienced the CTD but not very often, only a few times while completing the entire single player campaign.

Cheers.

 

Hmmm, so should I uninstall the C++ Redistibutable's and then video drivers, then reinstall video drivers after restarting the computer?

 

Yeah, please do so, let us know which redistributables you have in programs/software after the driver installation.

Which redistributables do you have currently installed? Same as mine?

 

I just tried this method, re-installed the driver(Dell ATI Driver) also with uninstalling the c++ files and letting the driver install its own c++ and BFBC2 still drops FPS in both DX9 and DX10....

 

Hey theres,

I have these ones installed so far.

Cheers.