M17x and Windows 7

Hey guys i need help with my M17x. When i installed it, it takes so long to load like 10 minutes and when it does, i try to log in and i get a blank black screen. I have already tried disabling "enabling command queuing" with no luck and the same effects. When going back to vista it is perfectly fine with no problems


edit: wanted to add that i installed all drivers in the recommended order

 

there is nothing wrong with your laptop. maybe something wrong with the drivers or win7 you installed. try format again. thus it takes long to shut down sometimes after you install a driver. for example for me when i installed the nvidia chpset driver it took 4 minutes or so. but after restart its ok. also check if power plan is at power saver.

 

just installed win 7
still same problem. this time when i try to log in for the first time it says preparing your desktop and just a black screen.

 

Yes, Win7 is still buggy. I had to restart my computer n number of times because I have a second HDD in there from my XPS with 32 bit XP, and I'm running x64 W7 on the system disk. It said I can skip the disk checking process, but it would never let me skip, and would often freeze. Finally disk check passed, so hopefully it doesn't need to verify the disk for consistency after I turn it off. It was doing this everytime I booted up..

 

i cant even use win7 and i paid for this...

 

I reinstalled Win 7 on an SSD with AHCI and minimal drivers and I'm having less problems then before. I can actually play WoW now.

 

Windows 7 works 100% perfectly for me. I have an issue with COD: MW2 but I think it can be fixed with better audio sound drivers. Games run flawlessly so do movies. Cannot complain.

 

Which bios version is your M17x running?

 

A02 10char

 

Thought I'd just share my experiences.

Under Vista my M17x was a nightmare, Windows loading to a grey screen over 50% whenever SLI was enabled. No clean install of various GFX drivers could sort this.

Since moving to W7 I haven't had a single GFX related crash and it plays games perfectly. Loads much quicker too. I have Command Centre loaded and no problems. I did undertake a clean install of Windows 7.

However I do have the sound lag/DPC latency issue in iTunes/regular sound playback. If they can get that fixed I will be well happy.

Does anyone knwo how to get the Respawn facility back on after a clean install of Windows 7? It appears to have gone.

 

Well, the patch they posted is for "upgrades" to 7 only, not clean installs. This happened to me also. Anyway, I deleted the Respawn Partition. It had Vista anyway so I didn't see the need to keep it and I don't plan on selling this computer either. I could use those 14GB for something else.

 

guys i dont know if you have seen that but the M17X is not officially tested for functionaliity with win7.

http://support.dell.com/support/top...79BC22EC6AD1E5D2E040AE0AB8E15ADC&docid=364604

 

Now why doesn't that surprise me? lol. Nice find. Thanks for posting it.

 

I think it's normal since the system came out about 6 months prior to Win 7. The refresh of the M17X on the other hand will be.

Anyways it does not matter since it works perfectly with Win 7.

 

I continue to get stuttering during gameplay with one 260m. Long drawn out "brrrrr" sound, like an electronic lawnmower starting up, ranging from 1 second to 4 seconds long during DoD: Source gameplay.

Also, booting up seems to be botched. Sometimes the entire system is sluggish, sometimes it runs fine. W7 is definitly not working "perfectly". But it's definitely running better for a fresh OS. I expect the first service pack to fix these minor issues and what so far seems to be a fantastically optimized OS so far, blending a beautiful look of aero with functionality and resources.

 

Perhaps those w/the Win7 only M17x's can use this as ammo to request a Vista Ultimate-64 disk...

 

Do you keep your battery installed? I've experienced the sound you've described but in my case I was listening to Pandora. I didn't think it was related to the stuttering everyone else is talking about, I thought it was wi-fi lag. One day I took the battery out and I haven't had this problem since. I'm curious to know if anyone else with stuttering leaves their battery in or not.

Forgot to add, I too am running windows 7 with a single 260m.

 

Battery is left in all the time on my system. No issues with audio playback (Vista though - not W7).

 

yeah vista is the solution for now for those who cant tolerate sound stutterings.
i can live with that for a few more waiting for the fixes. if fixes are not optimal or cause other problems i may go back to vista. for me sound stutters more other times while others it doesnt so much. no clue.

 

Battery is in fact not in the computer.

 

yes for me again its the same with battery or not. sound stutters the same.

 

Well, that blows that theory to hell. It was some time ago & my memory is hazy so it's possible I did something else at the time that coincidentally fixed the issue. I do follow some of Batboy's guidance such as not running some alienware services on startup and disabling indexing. I've never used that DPC latency checking app, but LFD2 runs without issues.

 

Word. I still get some stutters, but nowhere near as many.

 

I'm doing another clean install of win 7 but I have a few questions first.

When doing a custom install, has anyone tried to load a driver? If so, which one?

I've been trying to load all my drivers from dells website but it seems like i can only load one. Or is there a way to install all my drivers at once?

Thanks for any help

 

Guys I noticed on page 18 people mentioned about that annoying black-screen flashing at login, caused by SLI enabling. I wondered if there is already a solution for that without manually turning off SLI in Windows? (That post was still in summer so I think someone might have come out with a better choice

If still no other choice, where can I turn off the SLI in windows? I only see the option to switch between integrated graphic and SLI... How can I use only one discrete graphic card? I found only one NVidia folder, and in that folder there is only "Phsx Property" icon, which is a broken shortcut by the way (nothing shows up after I click the icon...)

EDIT, by the way I had the latest driver.

 

hmmmmm sorry guys, as to the nVidia control panel question that was really a dumb question, I typed it out without even thinking like some high school girl ;(

I didn't even mind to check Control Panel at all... So I am just wondering if there is a better solution to avoid log-in black screen flashing... Thank you.

 

I just tried: I disabled SLI by using that small icon in the notification area, and now there's no more settings in nVidia control panel as to SLI or Physx.

I still didn't find the way to use only one piece of discrete Graphic card.. ANyone has done that before?

 

when I use that icon in notification area to change to Boosting mode, "Set SLI and PhysX configuration" appears, further to the right, the GPU acceleration is enabled, however, under the second option "Select an SLI configuration", the only option I can check is "Enable SLI", the "Do not use SLI" option is grayed out...Is this the option that allow us to use only one graphic card at one time?

 

Took the plunge, and did a fresh install of w7 64bit ultimate, had a couple glitches with the wireless card and the nvidia drivers. Alienware techsupport guided me through the install process. Everything works (crossing fingers).

 

if you wanna disable sli just disable it in the bios

 

not sure why you would want to... but just disable one of your discrete GPUs in device manager. suggest disabling SLI via the NVIDIA Control Panel first.

Also, take a look at this KB post as well. Just so you are aware of HybridSLI and its possible settings.
http://4help.alienware.com/cgi-bin/alienware.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=6079

 

Has anyone else tried the 190.73? I had a black screen after clean install in windows 7 but I managed to make them work with Hybrid SLI. I still don't know about performance in games. Temperatures seem fine for now.

*If this is in the wrong thread please move it to the appropriate one*

 

Tried and had the nice blank screen effect as well - pfft. Uninstall, failed driver (IMO). Post back your thoughts on performance when you have time and process used - might come in handy for others who want to try.

 

For those who want to try the 190.73 there are a few steps in order to bypass the black screen after the installation.

1)when the installation is completed and the computer restarts there will be a black screen wait for a while till you see that the hard drive has stopped reading or writing and there is no activity and press the power button for windows to shutdown -just press once, not continuously-.
2)Power it on, enter bios and deactivate the hybrid and the integrated
3)After boot go on Nvidia control panel and enable SLI
4)Reboot and activate from bios the integrated
5)Reboot once again and enable Hybrid from Bios

Now you are good to go

From what I have realized is that the screen goes black after the installation because of the SLI not being enabled by default from the installer and the drivers fail to initialize the Hybrid. By enabling the SLI and then following the rest of the steps we can have the functionality of hybrid back.

So far temperatures are worse than 195.55 and powermizer seems to have trouble powering down the main GPU, the secondary is fine. No time for benchmarking so I leave it for now and I revert back to 195.62

 

Okay, so my computer came with W7 Home Premium installed on it, and I talked to Tech Support weeks ago to send me the Ultimate Disk since I was on XP Pro before on my XPS, and that's the logical step.

Anyways, I get the disk, but no product key for it. The key on the sticker on the bottom of the laptop is for Home Premium, not W7 Ultimate. I get in the live chat today and ask what I can do, and the rep tells me that Dell does not do upgrade disks, so I will have to do a clean install. I ask, 'how will I activate w7 ultimate if I don't have the key for it?' And he says, 'if you boot from the CD, the installation will register your copy of W7 Ultimate with Microsoft online, because the key is embedded in the CD's image'.

Can anyone verify this? Or is this the lack of sleep for 30 hours finally catching up to me..

 

My OEM Windows 7 required me to enter the product key. Since this disks are pressed (glass master --> metal stamping masters --> stamp substrates in hydraulic molds --> apply reflective layers --> bond substrates together) on a large production line the expensive of individualizing the disks would be immense.

Windows isn't like other software that can come with a generic OEM key, Microsoft individualizes the keys and so the disks are produced without the key included.

 

Use this as an opportunity to get them to send you a Vista Ultimate disk so you can install it then upgrade to 7 Ultimate. In reality, I suggest you stay on Vista Ultimate once you get it

 

The Alienware Windows 7 CD simply verifies that your BIOS (i believe the feature is called SLIC) matches the information on the relevant OEM Reinstallation CD. The CD in this authentication key also contains what version of windows you're allowed to have (ultimate/etc) so that's all you can install as thats whats currently on the cd.

So basically you can use any version of the Alienware Windows 7 Discs.. as long as you use it on an Alienware Bios'd machine (M17x or M15x) and of course have a purchased license (covered in the machine's cost you paid up front when you chose your version) for it. You never enter in a CD key because by having the bios your windows self authenticates. Most OEMS use this. Dell windows cds also generally just check it's a Dell machine and then allow the install with no CD key.

They'd have to send you a new CD .

 

Hum...Where can you even get .73 driver？

 

Thanks a lot! That page clarifies a lot!

 

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/

 

Nice mouse dude

 

I would rather describe it as a rat because of its size LOL

 

Would you be able to give us a run down of what tech support told you? Kind of a install guide?

I haven't read through all 70+ pages so maybe something like that already exists but I've had issues with getting drivers properly installed.

TIA to anyone that could help.

 

So is there ANY driver that does NOT have issues with downclocking the GPU/s? I'm currently using Dell's 186.64 and the problem persists. The primary GPU forgets to downclock itself + both cards roam from 40 to 50c without any load...
Even with hybrid enabled...
Any suggestions?
Thank You.

 

For me the 195.81 work just fine. I experience no downclocking issues. For others they don't so it's hard to find a driver that is good for everyone. It sucks I know but I tried all of them till I found the one that best suited my needs...

 

Did you install it with Hybrid disabled/enabled?

 

The 195.81 drivers were installed with everything enabled in the BIOS.

 

Thanks, will give it a try.

 

Let me know how it goes Aikimox. I too am using the factory installed drivers 186.64.