Video Driver for M17x R1 dual GTX 260M

I own two Alienware laptops - m17x R1 (dual GTX 260 and 9400) and m15x. I’m very happy with m15 but me constantly getting video card issues with m17x NVidia drivers. Older drivers from Dell web site generate blue screen issues, newer drivers - I’m getting black screens or freeze computer. Can you help me with suggestions? What is a good suitable NVidia driver that you would recommend? I’m really frustrated especially when some of my friends got $800 cheap laptops and they can play the games without issues and I’m using one of the most top brand in the market and constantly getting issues not even playing games. Please help.

I found another thread for 306.23 driver. But still no lock:
I was able to install this driver on my m17x R1 with GTX 260M and 9400 graphic cards. Since this driver is no longer supports Hybrid mode it leads to some issues:
1. if I keep 9400 integrated card enabled then my GTX 260M doesn't get used at all - only 9400 is in use.
2. If i disable integrated card then both GTX 260M are in use. But they crush my laptop - i'm getting blue screen or freeze my lop top. in some instances loptop couldn't boot at all - BIOS check was failing and Caps and Num were flashing. I had to disconnect ffrom power and remove buttery for 15-20 min to get my laptop start again.

I was hunting for a good driver for a while but all of them i tried are not stable. Does anybody have better idea what driver i can use for this config.


Any Help please...

 

You need to make sure everything is disabled under the graphic section in your bios.

I have been running v301.42 drivers on my r1 with no problems. Hybrid graphic has been completely abandoned by nvidia and none of the newer drivers will support it so there is no use in leaving it enabled.
If you use any of the newer drivers past the dell supplied ones, you have to disable pcie gen2 or your video driver will constantly crash.
hope this helps.

 

It may be due to files from previous driver versions.

Try to do a Clean Installation of the Video Driver.

You can also use driver fusion to clean up your registry before installing the new driver.

 

I did clean install. But i will try again. I have couple questions:
1. Shell I uninstall ALL NVidia products on my system or only Video Driver? There is a Nvidia network addapter, network controller driver and MNU driver.
2. Shell I disable entergrated video card (8400) and everything else under the graphic section before installing a new driver?

Thanks.

 

Uninstall only the video driver. As for the integrated card, disable it as well as the hybrid option in the BIOS and give it a shot.

 

As a R1 owner and previous victim with stable drivers for the SLi GTX 260 cards, i have found that the Nvidia Graphics driver 260.99 (don't install 3D vision uncheck that box) provide the best results for me. Again my setup is exactly as yours, view SIG below. Also make sure in device manager there are no yellow ticks next to any of your devices, if so please state which ones show the yellow exclamation mark.

You should not have to disable anything to work around this issue, like i stated the drivers for those cards are littered with bugs. I would also run a deep registry scan after before/install to clean up any clutter.

 

Guys, have any of you considered trying this INF >>click>> i posted a while back <<click<<?

Sorry i don't have my M17x anymore so i can't test. I would like to hear your feedback so i can help further if needed.

 

any idea why after disabling all in graphics option i get issues with BIOS chekup when PC starts. Both "Caps" and "Num" lights are flashing. After disconnect from power for 10-15 minlaptop starting, but if i press F2 it gives me a message "The function of overclock was failed. Please ajust your settings in setup menu". Any idea what is it? i didnot overclock anything. I just disabled interfrated graphic card. I receve this message when with Nvidia drivers loaded and also when i remove them and cleanup all registry - just default windows drivers are loaded for video cards.

 

I believe that had to do with RAM not correctly installed.

LED codes table M17x R1

 

Luis can you explain why it has to do with RAM. Laptop tarts ok if I enable Graphic card. Do i need to do some changes to a sysem if i want to disable it? Bios and Windows show correct RAM. So can you refrase it? What do i need to do with RAM to be installed properly.

 

Yes sorry, what I meant was that according to the codes table it meant RAM was not installed correctly, not sure why it's doing it though.

 

I am Having brightness issues and i had to use the inf file from laptop2go