m17xr2 problem

i740qm 5870xfire

I never ask for help but this is really insane. And I have read the 100+ pages related to this on the boards but I haven't seen anyone with this many problems.

I installed the latest dell drivers recently 8.763. But got tired of the freezing. So i uninstalled that and installed the drivers one step down from that thats offered as a download. Now I can't go back to the latest driver no matter what I try.

I tried system restore but it came back with "Could not complete system restore" i ran chkdsk /r and ran in safe mode still nothing. I also made sure everything was enabled and increased the amount system restore can use.

I tried installing with .exe file (uac is off) and "true" workaround but it says Ati display adapter "failed".

So I tried it manually in device manager and still nothing. I get Windows encounted a problem installing the driver software for you device. Ati Mobility Radeon HD 5870. There is no driver selected for the device information set or element. (Btw, I always use driver sweeper and cccleaner in safe mode and make sure vga is listed in device manager, the first time I got it working I only used ccleaner in safe mode not sweeper. Not it doesnt work with anything. I also uninstall everything catalyst and ati related each time.)

So I try to reinstall my chipset drivers with -overall and do this all over again. Nothing different. Microsoft framework is also 3.5 and worked with the first time I had the latest dell drivers working. I do not have the lastest vbios and bios updates but I didn't when I got it working last time either. (can't reformat since no extra harddrive)

So then I try the amd mobility drivers / ati drivers. It doesn't even try to install it with the .exe, even with the true workaround. So I try device manager and I get "latest drivers already installed Standard VGA Graphics Adapter"

So I even tried the resource disk that came with the computer and I got the same results "latest drivers already installed Standard VGA Graphics Adapter". and it doesnt try to install with .exe it just skips the driver even with true workaround.

The thing is I know its not hardware because I just had it working with the latest drivers running fine. But I figured I could always go back with system restore as a last resort. I don't have another harddrive nor the means to get another harddrive to back my stuff up for a reformat.

Any ideas? Please?

 

Two things you can try. Firstly, if you want to use AMD drivers, you really should have the latest vbios, otherwise they wont work - you would have to adopt the "workaround=true" to get them to install. Any reason you havent updated the vbios? - its perfectly safe to do. (obvioulsy, once installed, you will only have the option of Dell 8.763 drivers onwards as older versions will not be compatable and will result in endless bosd's)

Secondly, you could try following this guide to uninstalling and reinstalling.

1. Uninstall CCC via choosing uninstall manager and select everything. Remove. (chose this opposed to express uninstall as I didnt like the sound of anything "express"....)

2. Check in Device Manager that you are back to Standard VGA Drivers.

3. If not back at VGA, uninstall/remove devices manually via device manager. This should get back to VGA.

4. Reboot into safe mode (dont boot normally at this stage) - run Driver sweeper in safe mode for Ati Display only (run as admin - important)

5. Re-run driver sweeper whilst in safe mode (again and as admin and for Ati Display only - should come up with nothing to clean after analyzing)

6. Run CCleaner for both clean up and registry in safe mode.

7. Repeat step 6.

Restart normally to windows - will look awful 'cos of the resolution/vga drivers!

8. Re-run driver sweeper (admin)

9. Re-run CCleaner

By this stage, everything should be totally nuked. Gone. See ya later.

10. Install chosen driver package....Dont choose custom install....

11. Sit back and enjoy.

If all else fails, you could do a clean install and start from scratch gpu driver wise. You will only have Standard VGA after a clean install, nothing else so its a nice clean platform to install new video drivers on.

You can get some good info on clean installing here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...d-your-m17x-r2-full-detailed-description.html

Hope it helps.

 

If you are installing the driver through device manager, why not force the driver.
Don't let windows come back and say its up to date.

 

Are you running the latest V-bios, right?

If i were in you (i know it's a pita..) i would do a fresh install of the OS. You already mess up a bit with your drivers (chipset etc..) so i believe you could only benefit from a fresh OS.

If you decide to do so, follow this link step by step.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...r2-full-detailed-description.html#post6978195

 

Well I didn't want to try installing the vbios and lose all my work. I don't have a backup HD to backup critical data and I can't go and get one atm. But right now I just have VGA which is unusable.

Steve, I did thing just like that. However after I successfully got to VGA when I try to install from the package it says ati drivers Status "Failed"

I don't need the latest vbios just yet. I didn't have it with the dell 8.763 last time. I want to get that running and when I get an extra harddrive I can upgrade to vbios and fix the freezing and sleep issues. From what I understand you need 8.763 to avoid the endless bsod issue anyway.

So... do I need to reformat to update the vbios? I have not done a vbios update before. But that's the main reason I did not is I can't backup for a reformat. (don't think that's the issue though because I had it working last time, only thing different I did was use driver sweeper and now it gives me that error in device manager when I try to do the "browse" install)

"If you are installing the driver through device manager, why not force the driver." <--- You would be the man if you told me how to do that. Did not realize that can be done. I am just going to update, then browse, then I find the dell 215 folder and click next. Then it says "There is no driver selected for the device information set or element." when I try other driver versions I click vga go to browse, find the dell 215 folder and then try to install... then it says "latest drivers already installed Standard VGA Graphics Adapter"

 

Maybe you could try manually uninstalling ALL video drivers from within device manager, make sure to check the box "delete driver software for this device" for each card. That should get you back to device managewr showing one display adaptor on VGA. I think you are having some conflict with bits left over from previous drivers somewhere so clean and sweep until NOTHING comes back as an issue.

Navigate to computer/dell/drivers and delete the driver file (R281215 for 8.763).

Download it again (maybe a dodgy download before????) but dont run it just download the file to desktop so you can run it later. (you could do this before hand so its ready to rock when you are!)


Once your ready and are at standard vga/one display adaptor showing..........

Restart but boot into safe mode. Do the CCleaner for registry and cleaner. Run as admin.

Do the same for driver sweeper in safe mode. Rund as admin. Check "ati display" and analyze/clean.

Check device manager to see what it shows....should be one adaptor on vga.

Install drivers from safe mode. (Ive done that in the past to stop windows automatically updating the drivers when booted normally)

If they wont install, try installing from within device manager as you have done before, browse to the file R81215 on the desktop and select. (forcing driver install)

Could work

 

Forcing driver install? Is that an option somewhere after you select browse for drivers?

 

You select browse for drivers and then you should see an option for manually chossing the driver instead of letting windows look in the folder you are pointing it at.
Then it will ask you what the device is, so you pick display adapter and go from there. You have to point it directly to the inf file in the driver folder

 

Thank you guys, I went ahead and bit the bullet and spent the rest of my money on a external harddrive. Fresh install a10 bios, latest vbios and latest dell drivers are now up and running.

Still not noticing the perfermance I would like to see. Am I suppose to upgrade to something else past this is or is this the best thing I can do other than oc?

Also I installed the catalyst profiles by just installing it. Am i suppose to go into ccc and activate that or something or is it just a seperate program and you never touch it, activate it, or open it up?

Sorry for the trouble guys.

 

These are some of the things I'm concerned about.

When i go into ccc and xfire i click identify gpu, i dont see a number.

(everything on ccc is default settings)

Starcraft ii ultra settings - 45-55 fps at the start of the game with only starting units.

league of legends - high settings, no shadows (only minions on map)
stable 35-55 fps
high 45-55 fps
benchmark 75-100fps, with spikes to 59
80 55-65 fps
60 50-60 fps

bad company 2 - all settings high 8x msaa, 16x filter, hbao on
30-35 fps oasis nobody on map

Alt-tab on bad company 2 in gpu-z 0.5.0 (results are consistent unless otherwise stated)

Graphics card
Ati mobility radeon HD 5870
bios- 012.020.000.027.037640
driver version- atiumdag 8.763.0.0 / Win7 64
gpu clock- 700/1000 mhz
default clock- 700/1000
Ati crossfire Enabled (2gpus), ULPS active (this part went away on both cards when i checked the other card)

card 1
gpu core clock 300mhz
gpu memory clock 400mhz
gpu temp 51.0C
fan speed 30%
gpu load 98%
fan speed 1RPM
gpu temp #1 46C
gpu temp #2 53.5C
gpu temp #3 49C
VDDC 1.050V

card 2
gpu core clock 500mhz(dips to 100mhz for half second every 10 seconds)
gpu memory clock 150-1000mhz(150 for 3-5 seconds then 1000 for 3-5 seconds)
gpu temp 50.0C
fan speed 30%
gpu load 46% (jumps from 0-75% randomly and changes each second drastically)
fan speed 79RPM
gpu temp #1 46C
gpu temp #2 50.5C
gpu temp #3 50C
VDDC 1.050V

This is similar to the numbers I was getting before any driver/bios updates. Was actually better with slightly older driver and bios. And is worse than my asus g72 with 260m and duo core processor.