The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Windows 8.1 & 780m - problems with 120hz external display

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by bob_p, Dec 28, 2013.

  1. bob_p

    bob_p Notebook Geek

    Reputations:
    18
    Messages:
    78
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    16
    We have two AW 17's - both with 780m graphics..

    The newest AW 17 was able to drive an external display at 120Hz using an Accell miniDP to DVI-DL adapter, without any problems.

    Upgraded both AW 17's to Windows 8.1 (from Windows 8) - and both AW 17's have the same problem - when running Windows or some games, the 120Hz display has problems - going to a quickly flashing/gray display or displaying the image compressed horizontally. Switching to 60Hz back to 120Hz will sometimes clear the display or disconnecting/reconnecting the Accell adapter also seems to work.

    The problem occurs on both AW 17's - so it's not specific to one system.

    We rolled back the newest AW 17 back to Windows 8 (had a full backup) - and it's working again without any problems with an external 120Hz display - so the problem isn't with the AW 17 hardware or with the Accell adapter - it appears to be with either Windows 8.1 or a driver (NVidia?).

    Has anyone else encountered this problem? And resolved it?

    NVidia has a new beta driver - which I'm going to download and install - and see if that resolves the problem. I'll also look at Dell's website and install any updated drivers/BIOS - and see if that helps...

    Other than this issue - haven't had any major problems running on 8.1.
     
    bob_p, Dec 28, 2013
    #1
  2. Alienware-L_Porras

    Alienware-L_Porras Company Representative

    Reputations:
    3,658
    Messages:
    6,874
    Likes Received:
    969
    Trophy Points:
    281
    It may be due to driver support for W8.1. It would be wise to wait for an update.
     
    Alienware-L_Porras, Dec 31, 2013
    #2
  3. bob_p

    bob_p Notebook Geek

    Reputations:
    18
    Messages:
    78
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    16
    Rolled back the laptop that will be using the 120hz external DVI-DL display to Windows 8.

    On the 2nd laptop that's still running 8.1 - have installed all of the latest drivers and software from Dell & NVidia - and still have the same problem.

    The only other test I might try is to see if the problem appears on a 120hz DP display - and verify if the problem is due to the combination of the Accel DP-DVI adapter and the laptop (which works fine under Windows 8).
     
    bob_p, Jan 1, 2014
    #3
  4. bob_p

    bob_p Notebook Geek

    Reputations:
    18
    Messages:
    78
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    16
    Was able to do considerably more testing on this - and have confirmed the problem is NOT specific to the AW 17. When I connected the Accell DP to DVI-DL adapter to my desktop running Windows 8.1 with an NVidia graphics card - had exactly the same results - at 120Hz, the display would be corrupted and then reset when cycling the power on the Accell adapter.

    So the problem appears to be an incompatibility between the Accell adapter and the combination of Windows 8.1 and the NVidia drivers - not clear what the difference is...

    Is anyone else using a miniDP or DP to DVI-DL adapter with their AW 17, running Windows 8.1 - to a 120Hz external display? If so, what brand and model number are you using?
     
    bob_p, Jan 2, 2014
    #4