***AMD Beta Driver Release***

No ETA as of this time. We are working through some tools issues. You will have to grab it off that weird looking page I posted the link to earlier. More detail here.

 

Cheers, but the A05 BIOS that has been posted is the full correct?

Thank you

 

Not exactly sure what you mean by "the full," but that is the correct and proper full version of the A05 BIOS for M18x.

 

Full version, which you have answered.

 

I never had the fan problems, but updated to A05 just for the hell of it, everything seems to work just fine!

Has anyone tried installing the 11.11 drivers with BIOS A05? Maybe no more BSODs?

 

This is a good question. I believe the BSOD will still be there, however, as dell has admitted they forgot to give a dell-specific piece of code to AMD for creating reference drivers. I think the issue is under investigation (at least they are aware of it) and newer reference drivers will be good to go (let's hope so and keep our fingers crossed).

The new Dell drivers are not bad at all if you want to give them a try.

 

@Dell-Bill_B - once the official release of the new Dell AMD driver is available to the public at the Dell Support web site, please send me a PM and I will sticky a new thread and provide a reference to this awesome thread that Steve provided for testing the Dell beta.

Thanks!

 

I couldn't find the drivers into dell support web site. Could anyone post to the direct link to Dell site? And just one more thing which is the number of the display driver?

8.902-111012a-128052C-Dell this is my current display driver.

Excuse my English :/

Thank you!!!!

 

I dont think they have been released to Dell Drivers & Downloads just yet - we were very fortunate to have Bill let us test them out beforehand. I am sure that they will be up soon - maybe Dell are trying to tweak them so that brightness control works on these drivers.

And, yes - you have the correct Driver Packaging Version for these drivers.

Below is a screenie of CCC with the drivers on post #1 of this thread installed (Dell's Beta-AMD Driver)

 

Hey, thats interesting, got that driver package day before yesterday and my ccc is showing catalyst version 11.9?? Did I take a wrong turn somewhere?

 

yea my ccc says version 11.8 ...

gah

 

I think that the version (for some odd reason) shows the "previous version" you had installed....I know I had 11.10 AMD WHQL before....maybe you guys can confirm this by letting us know what versions you had before updating?

Also, did you guys install over or did you uninstall / Driver Sweep / CClean? - that might have something to do with the old ID kinda getting left behind?

 

I can confirm that it was indeed 11.9 that was the previously installed driver. But I deleted the previous driver via the tried and tested method of the uninstall/ driversweep/CClean. etc. So I was a bit surprised to find this.
Weird

 

Yeah, I know its weird but I have noticed this "trend" before with CCC - regardless of wether or not you use the above cleaning tools.

Seems this is the case, as our Brother Shaden shows the same kinda thing, and I quote him as follows from the benchmark thread:

 

I'm not sure why it would matter what version of CCC is implemented if the driver itself performs optimally with the latest games and does well in benchmarks. (Those that have seen the latest results from Shaden know the answer to the benchmark question... it's "WOW" to put it mildly.)

Those that have been around for a while will remember that BatBoy used to have a tag line in his signature that said something like "The latest driver is not always the best driver" and there is some truth to that.

CCC is merely a front end GUI for making adjustments to settings and that add very little or nothing to the performance equation. What version is the actual driver file?

I only mention this because I have done a driver-only installation numerous times (without installing CCC at all) and it worked very well.

This is an accurate statement, if there ever was one.

We've known the AMD Catalyst packages to be fraught with oddities for a longest time now. We have AMD to thank for that. Even doing a "clean install" of AMD drivers, I have had bizarre things happen more than once. Driver support is AMD's "Achilles' Heel." It's interesting that Steve has CCC 11.10 and some other folks have CCC 11.9. I know Steve does a clean driver install religiously. So, I'm inclined to think that folks that have 11.9 must have missed a step somewhere. I would uninstall the new Catalyst beta from Dell, boot into safe mode and run DriverSweeper again. Reboot into safe mode a second time, then use the CCleaner registry tool in safe mode, boot into Windows normally and use DriverSweeper to look for stray CCC crud (run it again if anything is found) and then run CCleaner registry tool a third time. I would also manually browse the HDD for folders with anything related to AMD or ATI (none should be found, but you never know) and delete those folders before reinstalling the Dell package.

 

I do indeed, Mr. Fox!

However, Shaden had 11.8 installed prior to these Dell ones and his CCC displays 11.8 still....

I had 11.10 and show 11.10 (which is obvioulsy coincidence as these Dell drivers are based on 11.10)

ltcmdrQ had 11.9 installed beforehand and is still showing 11.9.

So, my conclusion would be that its a glitch that shows the last version you had, for some bizarre reason. I bet if either of the above guys were to uninstall, and re-do the install, they stand a good chance of showing 11.10.

But, like you say, its neither here nor there....its of no consequence - just another AMD based "glitch"

 

Hi Steve - happy Sunday, bro - Yeah, it's weird. There has to be something in file folders or the registry that DriverSweeper or CCleaner is missing somehow. Otherwise, there is no explanation that I can think of where this could happen. I added to my post above before refreshing to see your reply. I think more draconian measures are going to be needed to clean up the AMD dross before getting the Dell package to install properly.

 

Happy Sunday to you too, bud!

It may be the case that a regedit search to check for AMD leftovers "before" installing new AMD drivers, but "after" Driver Sweeper and CCleaner were ran, *could* resolve this strange anomoly. Obviously, caution would be advised to anyone "experimenting" in doing so...be sure to backup the registry before making changes.

 

well, did full refresh of my amd drivers after i updated to A05,
i was on 10.9 with current caps, now im on 8.902 11.10, but now im experiencing a really bad stutter ever 3-5 seconds,(furmark,3dmark11,heaven)
3d mark 11 i was hitting 6800-7000, now i hit 5300 tops..

best driver so far, 8.93, pain in the butt to uninstall, but the built in cap system works great. and i was getting almost 80 fps on ultra in bf3 with vsync off. and firm 60 on skyrim.

 

Any ideas why Catalyst Version isn't listed for me?
No problems with the driver, other than brightness control.

 

that's how it's supposed to look since it's a dell version. you can tell with the "8.902". Which means 11.10.

8.911 is the 11.11

8.92x will be the 11.12

8.93x is the 12.1

 

For that may I sugest a visit to: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m18x/607421-what-users-want-m18x-r2-43.html#post8118338 ? - You may find a temporarily well working solution

 

just switched back to 8.93 11.11, i love the controls of the cap profiles..
AND brightness control!!

 

Can you provide me the link to your driver? Thank!

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...12-beta-8-93-reference-driver-discussion.html

 

Hmm...I try that driver before but couldn't get the profile to work. I really want that 3d application profile.

 

thats because profiles dont work yet.

 

Did you do a custom install or a custom uninstall? - I dont see the HDMI driver either??? - its a common occurence for reference AMD drivers to NOT include AMD HDMI Audio Driver...(I have lost count of the amount of times I have had to insert the WDM folder, from the desktop counterpart, into an extracted mobile package to get the AMD HDMI driver installed).

When I uninstalled (express uninstall all AMD software) my previous drivers from AMD (11.10whql), I swept in safe mode as admin, ran ccleaner as admin for registry and I repeated the process in normal mode before installing (as I like to ensure all AMD stuff is nuked). I then installed the previously downloaded Dell Driver and performed an normal install. Full, not custom.

As you can see from my CCC shot, I have the HDMI driver but I am not sure why you dont have this or the Catalyst version number....

 

Ahh I see. I only asked because the picture steviejones uploaded previous to mine shows more info, so I was curious.

I previously installed another 11.10 driver (I believe) prior to the one provided on this thread, and everything worked perfect including the brightness. I can't remember which post I got it from now but I'm sure it was some sort of mod, as others at the time were giving people BSOD. It was definitely within the forums here, I might switch back to it again when I find it.

You know I couldn't even see CCC from the list of programs to uninstall, so I just used driver sweeper to get rid of the drivers manually and then installed the 11.10 drivers provided from the first post of this thread. I don't know what you would make of that.
Again I'm sure it was some modded driver I'll have to browse through the threads and see if I can find it again.
I didn't even notice the HDMI driver not showing lol. I don't use HDMI I use Display Port, unless it's still important that I sort those drivers as well?

Cheers

 

Firstly, I am a sucker for wanting to "nuke" anything old before installing something new....my methods may be over the top by others standards but I have rarely had a problem uninstalling/installing AMD or Dell drivers for AMD cards...apart from the HDMI Audio driver as mentioned before!

It may be the case that, as you didnt actually go into control panel and uninstall via "express uninstall all AMD software", something was left behind. From what I have read, AMD recommend uninstalling via control panel > add/remove > uninstall > express uninstall all.

The additional steps using driver sweeper and ccleaner are obviously optional but limit the possibility of a driver conflict.

I can only go on what I have done. The process I always use. I used the exact same process to unsintall my previous 11.10 from AMD...cleaned and swept and then installed. The end result was my CCC screenshot - its weird to me that there are so many people with different shots of CCC, its gotta be something to do with the "process" that we are doing to uninstall and subsequently, reinstall.

If anyone would like me to post up my exact procedure, I would be more than happy to update the first post with EXACTLY what I did.....it seems that there is some disparity or confusion about what should be displayed.

Let me know - either by posting or PM.

 

IMHO the voice of experience can't hurt and then can be useful to many...

Thanks!

 

Thing is I’ve always uninstalled my AMD drivers that way (control panel> add/remove etc etc).

On this occasion I just saw nothing AMD related at all on the programs list even though CCC was clearly up and running which I thought was strange, which is why I resorted to uninstalling directly with driversweeper.
And then I installed the 11.10 driver provided on this thread. CCC clearly shows up as an option to uninstall this time with this driver.

Again I think it’s down to that modded 11.10 with working brightness control I got from another thread. I can’t find it for the life of me now
No biggy though, I can live with this driver for now

BTW I’ve always followed this guide when uninstalling AMD graphics drivers, basically what you’ve suggested in detail:
GPU-57: How to uninstall pre-existing graphics card drivers from a Microsoft Windows based system

Cheers

 

hey just saw this... thank you sir!

 

Yeah...thats more or less the process I use too....I just add the additional steps of sweeping and registry cleaning in safe mode before re-installing video drivers.

From what you say about how you had to uninstall the modded set you had, it may be possible that things got a bit "funky" somehow. Maybe because Catalyst uninstall tool wasnt used, not sure.

If the drivers werent in the programs list, I would (and you may well have done) uninstall manually using device manager and then sweep/clean/install.

 

About uninstalling AMD drivers (and not only that) i've found the utility "windows install Clean up utility", to be really good. I have seen for example that if you remove catalyst with the "standard" (uninstall>safe mode>driver sweeper/ccleaner) method, then rebood and run the utility, still something is left from previous CAT installation.

I've used it the first time in order to remove a beta driver that was uninstallable otherwise.

 

Ive done a quick guide and put it in a spoiler on the first post - basically, for anyone who wants a "step by step".....

If its of help, great....any questions, just ask.

Steve.

 

Will rep you as soon as the system let's me do it again, Steve. Nice job.

Anyone that doesn't follow our thorough cleaning process for AMD drivers is just begging for issues to crop up. It's not over-the-top or OCD, it just works... consistently.

 

Something was definitely 'off' with that modded installation, although it worked perfectly for me. Don't ask me why I changed it

Yup I did good old uninstall drivers via device manager, sweep but *oops* I didn't cclean.... doh!

Nice one for the guide on the first page, very informative. Thanks

 

It's probably worth a shot.

 

Thanks Moyt.....like I said, its my own "recipe" but I havent had any foul-ups since I started doing things that way...hope it helps for future installs!

 

It's a tasty recipe mate, it will certainly help cheers
*flushes AMD uninstall guide down the toilet*

 

Hmmm... maybe nobody heard you. I think brightness control is pretty important. I agree that it's worth a shot.

 

I forget which thread i read it on but I saw that someone tried the above with no success.....pity....

EDIT: I knew I saw it somehwere lol....

 

You did. I saw it, too. One person responded to 'gunner on another thread, and said it didn't work. Not sure if anyone else tried it. That has been an issue with the M18x and R2 with AMD reference drivers in the past and it frequently helped to reinstall OSD.

 

Yeah, its a good idea to try anything if you have the issue...

 

Thanks Mr. Fox - I have updated the initial post with the link for the driver only - I presume you will tag the A05 Bios link to the relevant thread.

 

I get "file not found" when trying to download it! Why!?

 

downloading it now for my 6970m crossfire

 

I had no trouble with it. Are you downloading using the browser or "download manager" option? I always just use the browser. You might try that if the download manager is acting goofy.

 

Try direct ftp link: ftp://ftp.dell.com/FOLDER00176158M/2/8.902-111012a-128052C-Dell_ZPE.exe