M17x R3 485m Nvidia Solution Discussion

from what I see in those pictures there is nothing that this software is going to give us access to that is going to make a difference if indeed this 3D issue is vbios, at the very outside possibly making the 485m look like a 460m by changing the device id may or may not have an effect

Either there is some hidden stuff that we can't see in the video bios or I am at a complete loss as to how Dell enables the internal panel for 3D

other possibilities now are these

System bios specific to the 460m id, high possibility as only the 460m works with the 120hz panel and 3D - the two AMD cards don't

A file or dll that is loaded with some other Dell specific driver like the emitter software that links the 460m to the panel

what it is not
The OS - as people have done a complete re-install from scratch
The Dell Video driver as people have downloaded and installed Nvidia drivers and the 460m still works in 3D panel

I am leaning towards system bios

we already know it must do some conditional checks regarding the 460m and 6970 and the 120hz panel.

so we either need a bios mod (i'd assume a very minor one swapping the 460m device id for the 485m or somehow adding the 485 so both work) or make the bios think the 485 is the 460 by modding the 485m id on the card, this could cause more issues with drivers and stuff but maybe not -who knows.

 

A device id change is an easy and i think pretty safe thing to attempt. if it doesn't work, oh well.

 

=I try all driver from dell 266.08 and others the only one who doesn't work is the 270.51 :/
=I put on a 120Hz screen no 3D and stereoscopic was here so I put both screen duplicated but software didn't find a 3D screen.
=I up to bios to A03 because i got again bdos. Hope will nope get another one. But I still don,t try the A04. Maybe another time.
=I ask dell but they say to me that i need to discuss with a the hardware chat but in this category, they ask the tag ( i don,t want to lose my warranty xD).
=Yeahh I think the best solution is emulating that gtx460m inside the gtx485m but i'm afraid will we brick the gpu :/

 

the risks are

the video driver fails and you get a bsod
so you must be 100% sure you can flash the 485m with it's original bios but I guess if you changed the id you'd have already flashed it anyway lol



one thing I noticed on some of those forums is when you update video drivers the 3D application is matched to the specific driver and the emitter software must be installed again

uninstall old video driver
uninstall emitter software

install 485m
install new video driver with matching 3D vision software
install emitter software.

 

I think it's to risky for me, i never do some things like that before.
But Maybe these bios haven,t much info because they come from gpuZ ?

I just sent a mail to mvktech.net . Hope they will answer me^^.

 

i got more bios information by copying the bios using nvflash. gpuz didn't have as much. all i wanted was the device id though. not going to try anything beyond that.

 

So I ask in their forum, that's the link. :hope i don't say something wrong:
Bios id from Gtx460m to gtx485m - MVKTech Support Forums :: mvk.tech :: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 570 560 460 ATI Radeon HD 6970 6950 6870 5970 :: MVKTech :: On the Edge of Technology

 

sent u pm mate with suggested text

 

yeah using nibitor one of the only things i can change is the device id, so we'll see if that works. i may flash my 460m and just change the id to the 485m and see if i lose 3d doing that.

 

Maybe wait their answer.

 

i can wait. still not 485m anyway. i suspect changing the device id with nibitor won't make a difference, may have to hex edit the device id, something i'm less eager to attempt.

 

yes, but better bricking gtx460m than a beautiful gtx485m xD if something goes wrong.
In my case, I will wait their answer because I see on their forum that editing bios gpu is their speciality^^

we got an answer form the admin, take a look when you got times because i think what he is saying is interesting.

 

I don't think we could brick anything - at worst some features of the card might not be set correctly by the drivers, even then the driver is only the interface between the card hardware and the OS so clocks etc should remain as original device, the bios prifile for fans might be scewed

note this is just an opinion and my own thoughts

 

There's always a risk of bricking any hardware when flashing system software, however that doesn't mean the risk is very high. but just be aware that there is indeed a slight risk.

 

and with the m17 a brick should not be permanent if the system can boot on the integrated

you could theoricaly boot using an external screen and force flash the card back to it's original setting

 

On any inf file, i found this:
MaximumDeviceMemoryConfiguration = 128
MaximumNumberOfDevices = 4

What is that, i want to edit the .inf file because the only game freezing is black ops. :/

 

i'M on 270.51 driver and now, Black ops isn't freezing
I ' testing an OC right now^^
EDIT i can overclock to: clock: 575 to 695 et memory 1500 to 1625 temp is 65*c. (If i put more, while testing, i got a black screen and need to reboot...strange...)

 

Only one problem with that idea, these guys are running 120hz screens so it WILL NOT boot on the IGP. The only model of the R3 that has been verified to boot without the dGPU is the AMD models as they don't run the "Optimess" and don't have a 120hz screen to disable the IGP So basically unless you have another system that will boot without a dGPU if you brick it you may be stuck.

 

Good catch. Careful about it, because it appears the IGP doesn't play nice w/ the screen

 

So when will this official response come from Nvidia? It has been 6 days now

 

the unplug the screen and use external with igp?

 

I hear you mate but ideas like that need to be proven first, I get the impression with this 3D stuff that Dell etc are having to jump through hoops to honor licence agreements with Nvidia or AMD, the whole thing is creating a mess, we have pondered over the 120hz screen with/without 3D then the IGP won't work because intel won't licence it unless Nvidia pay this or that then AMD licence intel to switch over so it's allowed but Nvidia won't allow ........blah blah

I honestly think we are in a licence nightmare and companies like Dell are having to try and implement rigid barriers between all these different configurations and options because one camp won't allow this with that or more of the other, it's the only thing I can think of as to why we are having to put up with all this crp..........that's the impression I'm getting

we as customers have been confused over the whole thing - think for a moment what we are putting up with, if you order that you can have this but without that but if you order that and exclude that you can have ....... and to be honest if what I am saying is correct...................it's rediculous

seriously why should the IGP not work with the 120hz panel, I'm pretty sure that panel works at 60hz if you close one eye

 

Can any of you guys post a how-to on modding the driver? Im really out to sea on that one

 

got my 485m today and installed it. installing drivers now, want to play with it for a while. still may do a device id switch and flash the bios later.

 

johnnobts, use the last driver, there are good^^
LimiteddKp, it easy: just add this line at the end of the .inf file ( you will understand where..) :
NVIDIA_DEV.0E31.01 = "NVIDIA GeForce GTX 485M"

And these on each [NVIDIA_SetA_Devices] ( you will find 2 category):
%NVIDIA_DEV.0E31.01% = Section043, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0E31&SUBSYS_04901028

==> this was for gtx485m

====> for gtx460m or some others, go to HWinfo32==> Video adapter> hardware id: PCI\VENxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
So it will be : NVIDIA_DEV.XXXX.01 = "NVIDIA GeForce GTX XXXM"
and: %NVIDIA_DEV.XXXX.01% = Section043, PCI\VEN_XXXX&DEV_XXXX&SUBSYS_XXXXXXXX

==> xxx replaced by right letters/numbers found on your hardware id



That's all^^

 

Ok cool thanks. So you use that same code for any driver update that comes out?

 

yep because it,s the id, it's like our name^^

 

made a new bios with different id for the 485.

 

...And what happened?

Not with a 120hz LCD, someone would need access to a 60hz LCD

 

haven't done anything yet. will flash the 460 first and see if it still boots safe before flashing my 485. think that's a prudent move. also if changing the 460m id to a 485 doesn't disable 3d then i won't bother flashing the 485 at all.

 

Cool, we are awaiting your results, I have done enough testing on my end to get us up to this point

 

switched back to 460m and will flash in a few moments...

 

If you guys want to compare 485 results with some Sager machines:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/555871-485m-overclocking-results.html

Really appreciate y'alls effort in persuit of 3D!

 

well can't successfully flash my bios on the 460m using nvflash for windows. probably won't work for nvflash from dos either. someone else can give it a shot if they know another way to flash the bios on this card. i backed up the bios for both cards btw. will keep the 485m installed for now. don't like having to remove the retention clip repeatedly...

 

Probably you tried but worth asking.
I'm pretty sure you'll have to force the flash, what commands did you use and thanks for trying

 

nvflash --save backup.rom (for backing up)
nibitor for changing device ID
nvflash changed.rom

probably right about force flashing. sigh... anyone else want to do that? boot nvflash from usb drive and use forceflash commands. try it on the 460m first (i gave my 460m bios my 485 device id) and see if it reads as a 485 and you lose 3d capability. if that works, then try the 485 flash. again, third time i've removed and replaced the 460, don't want to do it again tonight.

 

Also I personally prefer flashing in DOS, you get more liberty and stay on the safe side(does not mean that you can't get a bad flash and brick your card).
When changing a GPU's id,and not only, you'll have to force flash it or else it won't flash at all.

 

Possible fix? Doubtful but here anyway:

BUG REPORT: 3D-Vision-Discover can't be enabled on Laptops! - NVIDIA Forums

Nevermind, forces something else, back to the board.

 

force flashed my 460m device id and now have a dreaded black screen and 3 loud beeps. put my 485m in and its running fine. will not be attempting to flash my 485m in the future. someone else feel free to experiment. might be able to reflash my 460m but don't need to at the moment.

 

Sorry to hear that, I never said it'll be 100% successful, you'll have to blind flash it now with the backup vBIOS.
What panel do you have, 60hz one?

 

120hz, and i'm not going to mess with the 460m again for a while, tired of pulling gfx cards out. would love to see someone else figure this out though at some point.

 

me too, Nvidia have placed this restriction on their later drivers, a rediculous state of affairs

do you think the bios flash completed properly to 100%


like the post I made earlier, I think this is more to do with licences than anything else but at least there is a workaround for the 485m using that dummy load on the video port.

 

I'm not certain it completed, those 3 beeps may indicate a faulty GPU due to the bad flash.
As a side note,john, did you try a full power drain after having the black screen?

 

i think the flash completed successfully. as for power drain, tried rebooting after removing battery and unplugging the notebook as well, still black screen. not going to put my 460m back and mess with it again any time soon.

 

ive been quietly following along and i do have a question about what would be best to buy in refrence to the r3 specs before installing the 485. would the 3d bundle be the btter bet?then install the 485? or just the reg bundle..?

 

i get over 20k on 3dmark06 overclocking to around 650/1550 on it, temps stay low under 64 degrees but if i go higher (over 700/1600) can't go as high as you sager owners, or darcoder apparently. maybe i need to do a better job with thermal padding on the memory or something.

well, time to do some blind flashing. thanks for the tips geoff, i've already read up on it a while back. appreciate the rep points as well. if successful with blind flash i may do more editing on the 460m until i think i have it right.

 

I'm just wondering if an older version of nvidia control panel working with a newer driver would sort this issue, it may be possible to doctor the inf file to load a custom install, this would remove the panel checking that is causing this 3D issue - assuming of course that it is the control panel software that manages this issue. As we know previous driver sets did not do the checking.

 

well can't blind flash my card, get 8 beeps with the 460m installed, not 3. tried disconnecting lcd cable but still won't boot from integrated intel graphics. can't fix my 460m, bummer. anyone with sli capability want to flash my bad 406m back to stock please let me know. that's the only way i can think of repairing it... will pay $20 paypal for their efforts...

 

Oh i just read :/
Maybe this can solve it if you have a desktop
Liantec TBM-1630 : Tiny-Bus x16 PCIe MXM 3.0 Type-A/B Mobile Graphics Extension Module with Two Dual-Link DVI (DVI-DL), LVDS, VGA, TV-out Ports.