NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M Problems

Well, I am at my wits end... I've tried EVERYTHING that a novice can try and now I need some expert advice.

I've tried Alienware help - it was helpful(ish) - I thought turning off hybrid graphics would be helpful and prevent the crashes... But they still go on...

The story so far.

My computer starts and runs normally - it's an M17x with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M.

When watching videos (.mp4, .avi etc) the computer 'stutters' - and in an unlucky situation the computer crashes - the screen goes black and the computer won't respond. I end up having to turn it off by powering down as I can't stop any offending programs because the screen is black and ctrl+alt+delete does nothing.

I decided I really enjoyed flight sims, so recently running MS FSx - the computer fully crashes and freezes - mostly within 20 - 45 minutes of playing. Usually as I am coming into land... Arrrrrg!

I've downloaded nVidia's performance tools so I could use this to to some analysis if I knew what it was I was needing to analyse.

I've updated drivers... Removed drivers... Reinstalled drivers...

It's frustrating as hell!

I tried clocking the GPU at some recommended clock-speeds. I set the profile so it would load the clock speeds when loading FSx - instead, it crashed on loading!!!

Please, ANY advice would be helpful... I realise I can't provide a lot for this forum other than questions, I'm too noob to do much... So I realise I am a parasite in this case and I do apologise...

Thanks for the help and understanding...

I look forward to making this work!

Cheers

SLiM

 

Bump?

Has anyone else had this issue? I've scoured the net, all I can be left with is the card is faulty... Too old for warranty, so is it a case of replace???

 

I assume since its a 260m that this is an r1.
Have to tried disabling pcie gen2 in bios? if not, then on boot when you see the alien head, press the function key to get into bios, go to the graphics settings and disable the pcie gen 2 and that should fix all your graphics related crashes. If you are on the latest nvidia drivers you should also go ahead and disable the integrated and hybrid graphics also. The new verde drivers do not support the r1's hybrid graphics.

 

Your issue matches mine to a T. Only difference is I have an ATI 5870M on an R2. But yeah, anything that utilizes the GPU tends to crash my system. Screen goes black, no response from pressing any keys and I have to hold down the power button to turn off the system. I dummed it down to the GPU going bad, because it happens only when I open a video file (specifically mp4s or mkvs cause they run using the GPU instead of the CPU) or when I transcode video because my video converter uses AMD APP. The way I got around it so far is to disable ffdshow's DXVA codecs, AMD APP transcoding, and turn off dreamscene. Of course, my screen has still randomly gone black twice, but that is only because I don't have integrated graphics like your R1 does, so occasionally a program will try to put the GPU under load and will crash the graphics card. Your R1 does have integrated graphics so you can keep on that instead of the Nvidia card until you get a new one...and that's probably what you need to do. The only other resolve I can think of is to update your BIOS and VBIOS. But if those are up-to-date, then there might not be any other conclusions than a faulty video card.

 

Phoned Alienware, they're sending out a technician to replace the card and check the heat sinks.

Oh, yes, it is an R1 with an integrated graphics card. I was thinking of turning Gen2 off as well... So I will do that on re-boot, hopefully solves the probs until a technician comes here.

I am just going to give a big ups to Alienware - they've offered to replace the card for free and have a technician come to my house, even though the service warranty has long expired.

I think I am sold - buying a new Alienware next year!!!

 

I thought the 260m was only in the R2s'?

Nice to see they are taking care of you, and it is time for a upgrade

 

I'll have to be honest, I don't know now if it is R1 or 2.... How can I tell? The specs don't say anything.

I am very happy that AW have come to the rescue

 

If you have a Intel Core 2 Q9300 processor or similar then it is a R1 (just like mine). If you have a i5?/i7 processor then it is a R2. The 260M I think was available on both r1 and r2.

 

R1 it is then

 

If you look up your service tag under the Dell Drivers page, it will say if it's an m17x (R1) or an m17x-R2

 

I also have an m17x r1, and the only way I was able to achieve stable gameplay was to update all drivers except the video. I am still using driver A00 to this day, and it seems to work just fine. My configuration is the 260gtx in sli.

Disabling hybrid and the internal graphics card while changing the pci 2 setting produced no signifcant results.

Thanks,
Gabe

 

here guys, read this thread. It should help out, I ended up disabling everything under the graphics tab in bios to finally fix my driver issues.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...idia-verde-drivers-bsods-freezes-m17x-r1.html

 

Thanks for that reply...

Well, it appears the Dell man is coming to my house in 3 days time, with (and this is what he said) a motherboard and a graphics card!!!

Could that be right? They'll replace a motherboard??? Sounds a bit over the top - but I'm forever hopeful

Anyway - I wonder what graphics card they'll replace it with - is the 260m still available? I'll direct him to this site too for this information.

But in reality, the computer was designed to have PCIE Gen 2, awesome graphics capabilities at the high end, and shouldn't 'crash' because of a graphics driver - surely???

Or am I asking way too much?

 

I would strongly recommend only replacing the video cards. Most of the refurbished motherboards for the R1 have had issues and are difficult to test fully.

Gabe

 

The pcie gen 2 never truely worked correctly, and then it only worked when running the outdated drivers from the dell site. If you are on any of the newer nvidia verde drivers you have to disable pcie gen 2 or you will get driver crashes. and by newer drivers I mean anything newer than 2010. Those drivers from dell havent been updated since then.

 

I have noticed since turning the PCIE Gen 2 off I've had smooth running. Am I getting new stuff for no reason???

What am I missing out on with PCIE Gen 2 off?

 

your not missing out on anything with it turned off, reading through the thread i linked to earlier a bunch of people ran benchmarks to show the difference and it was marginal. Something along the lines of 2 to 5 fps slower with it off. Thats nothing. Plus it stops the crashes. It can be explained better in that thread, I know its a lot to go through, but there is some really good info in there.