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    New M17x R4 Problems, NEED HELP PLEASE

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by Hellzhavoc, May 1, 2013.

  1. Hellzhavoc

    Hellzhavoc Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hi, so recently I receives my Alienware M17x R4 and I decided to do a clean install of windows 7 onto it. I updated all the drivers except 1 unknown one. Sometimes when I boot my system up, it sometimes boots up and works perfectly with both AMD 7970M and Intel GPUs on and listed in the device manager. Some other times when i boot it up, the status bar at the bottom is a different colour and when I check the device manager, only the Intel GPU is shown, and not the AMD. It also says I don't have any AMD drivers installed either, even though i have 13.4.

    TL;DR: At time when I boot up everything works nicely, but others, it boots up and the status bar is a different colour, the AMD drivers appear to be gone and the 7970m isn't showing up in device manager.

    Is there anything I can do to fix this please? I'm tired of it working fine one time and not fine the other.
     
    Hellzhavoc, May 1, 2013
    #1
  2. Prolixious

    Prolixious Notebook Deity

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    Have you tried to turn off the HD 4000 (Fn + F7 keys)?
     
    Prolixious, May 1, 2013
    #2
  3. Hellzhavoc

    Hellzhavoc Notebook Enthusiast

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    I tried that but it does nothing. When I first got it and did that i got a prompt and rebooted. But now after the reinstall on Windows 7 when I try that nothing happens.
     
    Hellzhavoc, May 1, 2013
    #3
  4. Alienware-Luis_Pardo

    Alienware-Luis_Pardo Guest

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    Did you delete the old partitions when you re-installed Windows 7? (Check your C:\ drive for a folder named Windows.old, if you have it you might need to re-install Windows 7 and delete all partitions in the drive before choosing the install destination)

    As prolixious says, Fn+F7 will switch between graphics, you'll need to restart after you press the combination though.

    As for the drivers, you could try to do a clean video driver installation. Here's a thread created by another user explaining the manual process to completely remove AMD drivers, check it out and give it a try.

    http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...all-amd-ati-not-have-rely-driver-sweeper.html

    Once they're completely removed download the latest versions from their respective manufacturers site.
     
    Alienware-Luis_Pardo, May 1, 2013
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  5. Hellzhavoc

    Hellzhavoc Notebook Enthusiast

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    No I didn't delete the old partitions. Derp moment for me. Thanks for the help, I will try this once I get home!
     
    Hellzhavoc, May 1, 2013
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  6. Hellzhavoc

    Hellzhavoc Notebook Enthusiast

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    Ok so i got rid of windows.old via disk cleanup but whenever i turn my laptop on after it has been off for a couple of hours it boots up into the one that has a white status bar and no amd drivers. I then shut it down and turn it back on and ita back to normal. Why is that? Do i HAVE to reinstall windows 7 and delete partition?
     
    Hellzhavoc, May 1, 2013
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  7. Hellzhavoc

    Hellzhavoc Notebook Enthusiast

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    Bump for help.
     
    Hellzhavoc, May 3, 2013
    #7
  8. tommyvlaming

    tommyvlaming Notebook Enthusiast

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    not sure if it helps but all my strange gpu problems were solved with windows 8
     
    tommyvlaming, May 3, 2013
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  9. Alienware-Luis_Pardo

    Alienware-Luis_Pardo Guest

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    No way to delete Windows.old via anything, please just re-install :D
     
    Alienware-Luis_Pardo, May 3, 2013
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  10. Alienware-L_Porras

    Alienware-L_Porras Company Representative

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    Alienware-L_Porras, May 6, 2013
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