M17x R1 tweaks

Are there any tweaks or mods that I can do to my M17x to boost power or make it better in any way shape or form without buying new parts? Just tweaks to the software or OS?

 

You can make sure that the settings within Windows and your GPU control panel are set up for high performance. Don't have any unnecessary programs running in the background or at start up. After that you can look into running some kind of overclock on your CPU and GPU. What processor and graphics card do you have installed specifically?

 

How do I run an overclock? My processor and graphics card are posted below in my signature..

 

Wow, so you mean you only run on integrated graphics?!
It's normal to see low performance, as that 9400m is there so save battery life. This system was design to run two dedicated MXM 3.0 GPUs like nVIDIA 260m or 280m or ATi mobility 4870.

 

Yes, please post the exact CPU and GPU you're running. The 9400M is integrated, and only meant for use when you're running on battery power. If you're only running on that, switching to the discrete GPU will give you a tremendous boost in performance without doing anything else at all.

 

To be honest, I have no idea what you guys are talking about; dxdiag listed this as my graphics card.. By discrete mode, do you mean the stealth mode button?

 

No.
Ok, let's do this:

-Make sure your charger is plugged in the laptop.
-Turn it on and repeatedly press the F2 button after the alien head to access the BIOS menu.
-When in BIOS navigate to Advanced and down to Graphic options (enter).
- Disable everything, save and exit.
-Let the system boot and press the start button(orb button).
-In the search field type Device Manager and press enter.
-Double click Display adapters and Processors and tell us what you see listed there (or post a screenshot).

We can go from there

 

In addition to what Katalin told you to do, I'll clarify.
Your laptop has an integrated GPU. That's the 9400 you see. It isn't powerful, and is meant for low power operations. Definitely not gaming.

Then you must have some other dedicated GPU. My guess is ATI HD 4870 or maybe Nvidia 260M. They are much more powerful, and what you should be using most of the time. Katalin's instructions will have you turn off the 9400 so that you're running on the more powerful GPU instead. If you've really only been using the integrated GPU, you're in for one hell of a performance boost.

 

Here is a picture of my device manager, but I went to look for software updates and this came up..

New discovery.. After doing as you said and switching over to the GTX 260M, none of my games will work..

 

Great, I knew it. At least now we know what we are dealing with.
With those specs you should be able to play most games at decent settings.

What exactly is wrong with your games, can you elaborate a little?
I'm pretty sure it's driver related so give me some time to put together some useful links, you'll have to run a benchmark software and monitor some temperatures for us later and you will be up and running soon, don't worry.

 

One game gave me an error that mentioned rendering.. GTA IV just plain crashed, GTA SA will not even boot at all.. I also just learned that my screen dimming buttons are now not functioning (I want to turn the brightness down, my eyes hurt!)

 

GTA 4 is a very sensitive game, besides being a crappy port and dependent on a lot of things.
If it ran before, it should run after you'll install proper video drivers, I'll give you the steps later as the latest version doesn't have our hw ids included and some modding is needed.
Even after this, don't expect a huge performance in that game, it sucks (not gameplay wise).

You'll have to install the latest OSD application and the function buttons should work for you to be able to control brightness or you can dim it in the power settings.

 

GTA IV worked before.. I went to power settings, but where the adjustment bar was, it is no longer.. I cannot play any games and the screen is blinding me.. What next?

Just noticed something really F'ed up in Dxdiag..

 

Ok, you'll have to change those video drivers and prevent Windows from installing them automatically.
Disable windows automatic driver install:

Press the start button and type in the search box 'change device installation settings'
Click it and you should have two options to choose from
Click to choose the second one ( 'No,let me.....')
This should expand with 3 options
Choose ' Never install driver software from Windows update'
Click on Save changes.

 

Done.. Now what?

 

Properly uninstall and install your video drivers:

Download the latest video drivers from nvidia.com, choosing your model:
200m series > 260m to your desktop but do not install yet.
Download CCleaner and install it, we'll need it later.

Now go in control panel and uninstall the nVIDIA video drivers only.
Restart your system, press F8 and when prompted choose safe mode from the list.
Open CCleaner and run the registry cleaner and clean.
Reboot your system again
See this thread on how to install your drivers as you'll need to replace the .inf file with the one found there:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/582912-275-33-whql-drivers-out.html
Perform a clean install and uncheck the 3D stuff.
Reboot and you should be ok.

 

Where and how do I delete the drivers? Under uninstall program I see three NVIDIA programs..

1. NVIDIA Display Control Panel
2. NVIDIA Drivers
3. NVIDIA PhysX

Will my computer run without any NVIDIA drivers present?

 

I highly recomend to you install the Dell's beta 197.84 video drivers, or disable PCIe gen2 if you want to install some of the new verde drivers (2xx.xx) to avoid BSOD

 

What is the difference and is it compatible with the GTX 260M?

 

It should, just follow the steps above.
Choose nVidia drivers (option 2 in your list) and when prompted choose display drivers!

Regarding the PCIe Gen 2 you should have it disabled by now if you followed everything I said above.

 

But how do I delete the drivers, all three of those things I listed above?

 

The difference is that they are stable with the PCIe running @16x bandwidth but you loose support for newer games.
The M17x R1/R2 don't run @16x anyway so there's no use installing old drivers instead of having little to no loss in performance using newer drivers.

 

Answer is above your post.

 

It now shows the GTX 260M, but the update will not get past the compatibility check..

 

Did you put and replaced the nvdm.inf file from the thread I posted above?

 

I found two files, I assume they are both the same.. I put the .inf here as someone said..

C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver\275.33\Vista 64-bit\International\Display.Driver

 

Exactly, replace when prompted and run the installer.

 

I tried, I keep getting this..

 

Did you extract the nvdm.zip archive?
It's the file inside that you have to put here:
C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver\275.33\Vista 64-bit\International\Display.Driver
You should be prompted if you want to replace the existent nvdm.inf

If it still fails, then go on nvidia.com and download the version before the 275.33 and this evening I'll look into it and get back to you.

 

I was prompted and it still failed, I keep trying and it gives me the same error.. Do you know what version it was before 275.33?

 

These should work:
NVIDIA DRIVERS 267.76 WHQL

 

Alright, I put that on without an issue.. Hope we can get 275.33 on my computer..