***M18x - AMD Crossfire (Driver Questions, Performance, Problems) Discussion Thread***

Hiya

I went into bios and selected bios and the unknowns have gone away. I then stripped it and checked the cable and took it off and reseated it and still no option for crossfire in catalyst.

Now you would think if you have gone to someones house to fix a graphics issues you would actually check the cards were working before you left, what a total knob. I raised a complaint against him and now AGAIN i have to go through all the bull phonecalls and take a day off work for some other idiot so called engineer to come and fix my machine.

 

So heres the thing. Booted the machine up this morning and up pops the window about crossfire. Selected yes and now the crossfire option is available again Catalyst panel. So Im guessing a dodgy sli cable as the only thing I have done is moved the machine?

 

Hello everyone, the last night I realized that my second hd6970m does not work.
is detected but does not work on amd catalyst center the device id is 0 and there is no crossfire option how can I do??

 

What happens if you run a game or a benchmark?

 

The fact that the GPU is detected is a good thing. If it does not report a problem status in Device Manager, the GPUs are probably fine.

I think this is an AMD driver issue, bad CrossFire cable, or perhaps the cable connection has simply worked loose on one of the GPUs. I moved this to a thread where you might find other examples of the problem and solutions that others have shared.

Have you tried installing the ancient Alienware driver for 6970M [ DOWNLOAD] to see if CrossFire can be enabled and then install a newer AMD driver on top of it? See this: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...-7970m-official-driver-issue.html#post9669254

I think you may has some issues trying to use some of the newest AMD drivers with the 6XXXM series video cards.

 

im waiting for 14.6 driver to come out and hope for the best. i heard mantle is getting better and better, not like it matters though since my cpu is fast and mantle is better for slower cpu with overhead removed.

 

hallo does enyvone know what kind of so-dimm ddr3 would work on my m18 , i m looking for 1866 or more mhz cl11 ? m18 works only whit 1,35v ?

 

I had the SAME problem. Remove AMD driver, restart, then install other AMD driver.

And don't use 14.6 yet. I use 14.2 beta 1.3 because I have most performance on that driver. I've noticed about 15% loss of performance on 14.4/14.5 and 5% on 14.6

 

14.6 beta got 5% loss of performance Vs 14.2 beta?

 

They must have seen what happened with NVIDIA dropping the ball with 880M, so maybe they lowered their performance bar by an equal amount.

 

Post your feedback here please.. >> http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/755913-amd-14-6-rc2-driver-out.html


Feature Highlights of The AMD Catalyst™ 14.6 RC Driver for Windows

Plants vs. Zombies (Direct3D performance improvements):
AMD Radeon R9 290X - 1920x1080 Ultra – improves up to 11%
AMD Radeon R9290X - 2560x1600 Ultra – improves up to 15%
AMD Radeon R9290X CrossFire configuration (3840x2160 Ultra) - 92% scaling

3DMark Sky Diver improvements:
AMD A4 6300 – improves up to 4%
Enables AMD Dual Graphics / AMD CrossFire support

Grid Auto Sport:
AMD CrossFire profile

Wildstar:
Power Xpress profile
Performance improvements to improve smoothness of application

Watch Dogs:
AMD CrossFire – Frame pacing improvements
Battlefield Hardline Beta:
AMD CrossFire profile

Known Issues
Running Watch Dogs with a R9 280X CrossFire configuration may result in the application running in CrossFire software compositing mode

Enabling Temporal SMAA in a CrossFire configuration when playing Watch Dogs will result in Flickering

AMD CrossFire configurations with Eyefinity enabled will see application stability with BattleField 4 or Thief when running Mantle

Catalyst Install Manager text is covered by Express/Custom radio button text

Express Uninstall does not remove C:\Program Files\(AMD or ATI) folder


Download:
AMD Catalyst 14.6 Beta Driver for Windows

 

Good afternoon. I have a problem, there were two HD 6990M, I put one HD 8970M 4Gb, now can't log in the BIOS, the screen strips on Windows 8.1 load properly and games no problem. Why strips when loading in the window where the Alien with the input selection in BIOS (F2 and F12)? My BIOS A05 unlocked.

 

Hello mitya_alba. I don't understand what you mean about the screen "strips" so if you can post a photo that might be helpful. Pressing F2 and F12 does not work using the built-in keyboard?

 

Good afternoon. Pressing F2 and F12 keys work, but the picture bios black with blue stripes, and I can't configure the bios. How do I do and put picture here? Thank you.

 

Are you able to switch from discrete to integrated graphics in Windows pressing FN+F7? If not, run the "SwitchGPU.exe" file, change to integrated graphics and see if the BIOS is still the same way. If it is, your GPU is not the problem and you may need to do a blind flash on the BIOS to clear corrupted information. If the problem goes away, then it must be something with the GPU not playing nice with the BIOS. Although, a blind flash may still be useful.

 

No, I can't switch to the schedule FN+F7. Vbios was sewn up (was BR44618.005 did BR44450.007), did not help. I can't in the BIOS of the laptop go F2.
I have no folder(Alienware On-Screen Display) file "SwitchGPU.exe"

 

It happens so:
1) Download Raid0.
2) To enter the BIOS (it strips).
3) Download Windows 8.1

 

Install Alienware On-Screen Display for your M18xR1 and then you will have that folder and file available. The FN+F7 key macro cannot work without it installed.

You need to try to switch to integrated graphics to see if the problem goes away or not.

Does this problem exist if you connect an external monitor as the primary display?

 

I have Alienware On-Screen Display, but FN+F7 don't switch the video card.
Alienware On-Screen Display ("file not found " SwitchGPU.exe")

 

What version of OSD? If you have the correct version installed you should find it in the path posted above. If it is not in the C:\Program Files (x86)\Alienware On-Screen Display folder when you manually browse to that folder (not use Windows Search to find it) then you need to reinstall the correct version.

Also verify Windows' Folder Options is configured correctly so no files are being hidden.



If push comes to shove, simply remove the AMD GPU and see if the problem goes away. If you take out the GPU the system will automatically switch itself to integrated graphics. If it does not and refuses to POST then you're having BIOS or motherboard problems and need to see if a blind flash will fix it. If not, you may need a new motherboard. If the problem goes away on integrated graphics, a blind flash may still rectify the problem. If not, then the 8970M GPU is probably the source of your problem.

 

Without HD 8970M, on integrated graphics is no problem, I go into the BIOS with no problems ( no stripes), when put HD 6990M, too, no problem (no stripes) is the graphics switching FN+F7. What's wrong with HD 8970M? In work and in games, it works very well and gives good results.
OSD Version 0.33.0.11,A03

 

There could be some corruption in the system BIOS that a blind flash might resolve. I generally reserve that as a last resort measure because there is a risk if not done correctly or something happens to interrupt the blind flash procedure.

The first thing I would recommend trying is removing the 8970M, going into the BIOS and setting it to defaults. I would first clear the CMOS, and see if the problem persists. If it does, I would remove the 8970M, then do a blind flash of the system BIOS and see if that corrects the problem after the 8970M is put back in place. If it does not, there could be something wrong with the GPU, or it could be a simple conflict between the BIOS and vBIOS.

 

Mr. Fox
The problem is solved. It was in vbios card. I flashed her vbios (R9 M290X 950@1250) and strips immediately disappeared. Now I freely go into the BIOS of the laptop F2.

 

Excellent news! Congratulations. +1 Rep

Please show us a couple of benchmarks to see how she runs now. :thumbsup:

 

Mr. Fox Now all works well.