***M18x - NVIDIA SLI (Driver Questions, Performance, Problems) Discussion Thread***

Hey everyone! Just ordered my M18x, so I'm very new to the AW family

There is a huge amount of information on this forum, to the point where it's almost overhwhelming! Are there any issues I should be aware of or drivers that I will need to get the most of out of my dual 580M sli?

Thanks very much!

 

Congratz on the purchase, no issues at all with the latest drivers, just make sure you do a clean install to the latest certified, currently the best drivers.

 

Thanks Xeneize. Sorry if this is a dumb question, but where would I find the latest drivers? Would they be from Nvidia's website, or a link somewhere on this forum.

Thanks again!

 

You can get the latest drivers from Dell for your system from My Drivers & Downloads ... its probably advisable to use Nvidia's latest WHQL driver from their website as it resolves a few issues such as DPC latency.

 

Find the latest drivers on nvidia.com
Here you go:
NVIDIA DRIVERS 295.73 WHQL

Welcome to the team!

 

Awesome, thank you all so much! Can't freaking wait to get my machine!! Luckily the 580M delay means that I'll be getting right after I'm done with midterms, so I won't fail my classes! lol

 

Awesome dude..had the same driver questions as you and I just ordered my m18x on Friday with about identical setup as you (except I ordered only 4gb of memory and will upgrade to 8gb as soon as I get it..much cheaper this way doing it on my own). I assumed the latest nvidia display driver would be good to go, as it seems pretty stable on my desktop setup of sli 570 sc's. So yours is already on its way, as in shipping? That would be super fast is so!

 

Yeah I opted out of the second HDD for now so I can get a good one (probably a Seagate hybrid SSD) at a better price, down the road. Plus, i feel like the 128GB (even after Windows and everything is installed) will last me a good amount of time.

I don't believe my machine will ship until March 23. So I probably won't get it until late March, early April. But that's ok, something to look forward to!

You'll probably get yours around the same time, I would think.

 

Ok I am posting this here due to not sure where I should post this question. I have my dual 580m sli m18x since December. No problems,whatsoever. Last night after playing SWTOR for 8 hrs or so, it shut off. Turned it back on and it went for a while. Then shut down again. Was tired and called it a night. It was not hurt or anything. Called Dell this am and they had me take out the battery and ac adapter. Hold power down for 2 min. Then put each in individually and start to back up. The computer won't evene power on anymore. It powered up this am so I was in the process of running alienware's diagnostic program sbefore eit shut down for good. Dell told me they could build a replacement or I could send it in. He is unsure why wit is having problems only that this has been a trend fewer this model. Anyone have insight on the problem. Thank you.

 

Well, if it wont even power on anymore its time to take Dell up on their offer of a new build I imagine.

 

two days ago, only when in game, the screen has sort of like a green filter. when i alt tab, it goes away. again, this is only in game, and only in sli. i update to the latest nvidia drivers(296.10), same problem. i did a factory restore, same problem. i first noticed this in bf3, the only other game i played was hl:dm, same problem. it doesnt hurt frame rate much, but its def noticeable.


m18x - i7 2860QM - 4GB DDR3 1600 - (2)GTX 580m SLI - kingston hyperX 120g SSD - 500G platter - Killer WAN

 

Hey Guys,

I'm in the middle of cleaning up a mess an onsite tech made of my machine a couple of weeks ago. I am in the process of going from "red" to "green" and it would seem that I am having the same PCB shorting issue seen by members eyric101 and martywrx. I know now that I need to get some type of non-conductive barrier (electrical tape, etc.) between the back brackets and the PCB. How hard is it to pull the the brackets off? Will I end up mangling the brackets and/or damaging the cards in the process? The adhesive backing feels like it is "welded" on.

 

Did you try to hook up an external monitor to it and see if it persists? Sounds like a possibly problematic card...

 

So, My old M18x with the 590M and A03 unlocked had awesome idle temperatures of 48-50c and load between 74-78c, my new M18x with A05 unlocked behaviour is very different (same room temps mind you) where the idle goes from 40's to 62 and the fan kicks in at high RMP and brings it down, the behaviour shown is very inconsistent, sometimes 580M 0 is the one reaching 60-62 while 580M 1 is idling at 42-44, yet other times is the other way around.

One would think it has a pasting issue yet the loaded temps never go above 71c! (usually 68-70c under 3DMark).... am I missing something that has changed in A05? (I keep reading inconsistent reports) or can it be a background task doing this? (the only difference in software between my old M18x and this one is that I went from Avast AV to Kaspersky AV)

Normally I wouldn't mind, but we all know how annoying It can be to hear the loud fans when I'm just surfing the web or not even doing that....

Any thoughts?
Any thoughts?

 

They are quite difficult to remove on the AMD and NVIDIA cards. The insulated material is a 3M double-sided adhesive rubber gasket. Use a plastic pick tool, credit card or some other soft plastic tool thin enough to lift the edge. Go slowly and you can peel it off without mangling the bracket. Having the material warm (not hot) will also help soften the adhesive. A blow dryer (not a heat gun) would likely work well. You should be able to spot the area where the bracket is making contact with the PCB and only need to get some insulation under that area. It may not be necessary to remove the bracket completely.

While your are at it, you also want to be sure you have correct back plate. If your back plate looks like this or this, it is not correct for the GTX 580M. (This back plate is for an AMD card.) Your GTX 580M back plate should look like this one. If you use the AMD back plate you will have trouble with overheating. The large flat surface should have a thermal pad. If you did not receive the correct items, Alienware should send what you need.

I experience the same thing with A05. It does not particularly bother me and it has caused no problems, but A05 was primarily intended for the AMD 6990M to correct problems they were experiencing with overheating and thermal shutdown. I believe the fan tables were modified for the AMD cards and this may explain what we are experiencing with the NVIDIA cards. (Several M18x owners have reported problems using A05 with their 6970M CF systems.)

 

Mr. Fox thanks for the valuable information. I can't wait to see the eye-roll I will get from my wife when she sees me using her "fancy-pants-ionizer-blow-dryer" on laptop parts. (Rep+ for the idea)

I confirmed that I have the correct brackets with thermal padding. I have a roll of electrical tape lying around somewhere for home and auto repairs. I just need to find it.

 

I had that problem before and it turned out to be the 2nd card.

 

yes that's weird, my machine do the same thing I think it is the Bios!

 

FYI, I am on A05 stock Bios, I run 99.9% of the time on my external U2410 only (internal off) and my temps look like this while browsing:



Occasionaly, the temps on the primary do get to 60-63c and the fan kicks in and drops it to low 40's more or less right away - doesnt happen often though, unless I am heavy browsing with lots of tabs/flash open. Room temp I would say is ambient at around 25-27c most of the time. No gpu OC, cpu lvl 3. I am also using Mr. Fox's clocks for P8 & P12 states.

Under gaming, primary hits max 71c and secondary hits 68c - stock paste.

This is whilst on my U3 cooler, which is on full all the time as its so quiet anyway.

 

Sounds like a bad GPU.

 

No I haven't tried that. The "garbage" can be seen on POST, in the BIOS, and in Windows 7. Here is how I described the problem in a previous post on another thread:

"My 580M cards were displaying distorted images that had white dashed lines and garbage on the screen. The best way to describe it would be like watching Saturday morning cartoons as a kid on a UHF / VHF channel and then your Mom turns on the vacuum cleaner and there is this white snow from interference due to the vacuum cleaner's motor... LOL!"

I'm guessing the "garbage" would have shown up on the external monitor as well.

I'm not sure which card has the issue. I didn't run GPU-Z to find out because as soon as I saw the "garbage" I immediately switched to IGP out of fear of damaging the cards. I will apply the "electrical tape fix" to both cards as soon as I get some time this week.

I have pictures that I sent to Alienware showing the issue. I will post back with before and after pictures; unless the forum already has some in a thread elsewhere depicting this issue.

 

Why you switched to IGP don't you have the warranties? Remember if the card fail dell will replace it.

 

Yes I have a warranty on my machine. My switch to IGP is only temporary until I get my cards straightened out. If I switch the laptop over to the discrete cards the machine is unusable due to the "garbage" on the screen and may kill the cards. My laptop was down for two weeks because of two on-site visits by the same tech in one week. I finally have my machine up and running, not to it's fullest potential yet, thanks to my warranty and Alienware support allowing me to do my own repair work. I just received "green" cards in place of "red" cards and I don't want to damage them because there might be a long wait for 580Ms again.

 

Oh ok, Totally agree on that.

 

I trust you will get it sorted, bro. Please post the before and after photos here in this thread.

 

Here are the before images for the "garbage" that I have seen when my brackets were causing shorts against the video cards.

On POST, BIOS and Windows 7:



I attempted the blow dryer method suggested by Mr. Fox on my primary and secondary GPU brackets without completely removing them.
I inserted electrical tape where I could see contact being made.

Visible points of contact highlighted in green:



Insertion of tape under gently heated bracket with heatsink screws loosened:
(Guitar thumb pick being used to keep bracket raised )



Completed brackets:



Slightly raising the brackets and inserting tape on visible points of contact may be enough to resolve the issue.
If it works for you, consider yourself very fortunate. If not, read further.

The "garbage" disappeared from POST, BIOS and Windows 7. I then installed the latest Nividia WHQL 296.10 drivers with no problems. There was no "garbage" during rebooting or when entering Windows 7 but when I attempted to use GPU-Z to inquire the second GPU or enable SLI the "garbage" came back.
I would see a message saying that the Nividia graphics "display driver stopped responding and has recovered". The screen then defaulted to a lower resolution. I did a clean removal of the Nvidia drivers and tried the Dell stock driver... same results. I guess the Nvidia drivers were trying to turn on specific circuits on the video cards that were shorting out on the brackets in areas that I could not see. Just a theory

Here is a screenshot with the infamous "error code 43" on both cards and the second GPU showing the dreaded FF code:



I repeated the blow dryer technique but this time I removed both brackets completely without disturbing the heatsinks and thermal pads. The brackets came off cleanly without mangling and they still retained their sticky adhesive.

The tools I used. BTW, different gauge guitar picks make great "pry tools" in a pinch.
Also, note "The Official Nvidia Blow Dryer"... just kidding, my wife just happens to have a "Nvidia Green" colored blow dryer.



Both brackets had potential areas that could have been shorting out that I could not see. I highlighted the areas in green in the following photos.



I proceeded to cut pieces of electrical tape and poked small holes through the tape so it would fit snug over the posts:



I then trimmed the tape to cover the potential "hot spots", positioned the brackets onto their respective video card and tightened the heatsinks. Using a small plastic tool I smoothed out the tape to make sure it was secure.



I reinstalled both video cards and once again noticed no "garbage" on POST, in BIOS or in Windows 7. I "cleaned out" the stock Dell driver and tried the Nividia WHQL 296.10 again; this time..... SUCCESS!!!! :yes:
I can now enable SLI and use GPU-Z to query both cards; no more error code 43; no more FF errors and finally no more "garbage".



I wish I could give MEGA-REP to everyone in this forum and on this thread for bringing this issue to light. THANK YOU!

*** EDIT - SEPTEMBER 07, 2012 ***

Recently Alienware support sent me a set of revised GPU back brackets that have fixed the shorting issue that was evident with the original brackets. No more tape needed to hold my Alien together.. LOL! This is just another example of Dell and Alienware's willingness to "do right" by their customers. Yeah I know.. it's been several months, but as a reminder; a little patience, courtesy and co-operation go a long way when working with Dell / Alienware support to solve issues that effect us all.

Below are pictures of the new brackets. Highlighted red boxes show the generous coverage of insulated material and revision numbers. See my original post to compare the old and new brackets. Both brackets have revision number REV:0B(A00). Click on the pictures below to see the full part numbers if needed.

Revised Primary GPU Bracket:



Revised Secondary GPU Bracket:

 

I don't see any images or links to images.

 

LOL.. as I was crafting my message I hit submit instead of preview... I was nowhere near finished. I couldn't delete my incomplete post so I had to do an edit instead. Sorry about that. I was trying to finish it up before anyone noticed.. too late!

 

yep typical bracket issue seeing them all over.

 

Awesome post, Zer0WaitState... I have notified numerous contacts at Dell of this post outlining the fix. I'm glad the blow dryer technique worked out well. Nice job, bro.

I added a link to your post to my index of useful threads so others can find it quickly: NVIDIA GTX 580M - Code 43 - Revision FF - Display Artifacts: Repair Procedure

 

Thank you Mr. Fox! I'm just trying to do my part in helping out other Alienware owners out there. That's the team spirit of this awesome forum. I hope Dell / Alienware come up with a revised bracket soon. The "out of box experience" for a new owner must be a HUGE let down when they encounter this problem. I wonder how many on-site techs have seen this before and have dismissed the issue as faulty cards? Hmmm....

I am glad to help out and give FULL CREDIT to the previous posters for making us aware of this issue.

 

I also added a link to the opening post of this thread.

 

I just wanted to give some props here to Mr. Fox as although I have a m17xR3 with a 580m a great deal of useful info has come my way through these threads on the 580m in SLI and from some of his posts in particular so Mahalo! +1 rep. and +1 rep to Zer0 for the Nvidia dryer, gives a new meaning to "Nvidia will blow you're mind" although I wonder which one actually runs hotter, the 580m or the blowdryer?

 

Thanks Mr. Fox! I went back and added some more pictures showing visible points of contact between the brackets and the video cards. I also added pictures of the insertion of electrical tape by slightly raising the brackets, not completely removing them. This may work for some owners and not others. If not, they can continue reading on to the next section for the complete bracket removal procedure. A picture of boot up with no "garbage" was added as well.

Mahalo Vytis! Keep the sand out of your Alien!

 

Mahalo, Vytis. Thanks for the props and rep. +1 back to you, bro.

 

I just received my m8x in the mail. After initial boot I noticed that there was no SLI option in the NVIDIA Control Center. I attempted to re-install drivers using the safe-mode, driver sweeper, etc method, but no SLI option has shown up in any version (latest DELL, 296.10 and 301.10 laptop2go).

Both cards appear in the BIOS and in GPU-Z, so I'm thinking this must be a software issue.

I'm hoping one of you gurus has some wisdom to share, because I've exhausted my ability to troubleshoot and really don't want to RMA a laptop that cost as much as a used car.

Thanks!

 

The SLI bridge cable is disconnected, bro. I literally just finished taking mine apart to reconnect it less than 5 minutes ago. The box probably got dropped or banged around too much and it got knocked loose during shipment.

 

Thank you! Is there a diagram of the SLI cable? I took the back off my laptop and couldn't find it.

 

It is directly under the keyboard, bro. Go to the opening post of the http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m18x/575859-official-m18x-owners-lounge-thread.html and there is a link to the service manual. You can also watch one of the videos on Youtube.

<param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/NhURMyavgks?version=3&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/NhURMyavgks?version=3&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width='640' height="480" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>

In this video a CrossFire cable is shown. It's the blue cable you can see clearly at 4:50. The SLI bridge runs across the same area, but it fastens differently. Instead of sliding in horizontally, the SLI bridge snaps on vertically (straight down, or perpendicular to the video card PCB).

 

Hello All,

I have been reading the posts about video card brackets making contact in places they shouldn't and have read all about the fix with electrical tape.

I am wondering if this is a problem specific to the 580M cards?

Also, why are people having to carry out this fix themselves on a machine still covered by warranty. Surely it is upto Dell to resolve this issue not a customer?

Cheers MP

 

I'm sure the same thing is capable of happening with other video cards if the conditions are right, but I believe the AMD cards have a simple X-shaped back plate that does not have heat plates for the memory that need to be insulated from the PCB. It's totally random and caused by careless assembly at the factory in China.

I think many Alienware owners don't want someone else working on their laptops. The warranty is great for any replacement parts that might be needed, but I don't want a tech or the depot touching my M18x. Dell/Alienware would send a tech whenever one is needed and I specifically request "parts only service" all the time. The tech that works my area is really good at his job. He's a super guy and I trust his skills 100%, but I just prefer to be the only person that works on my computers.

 

Understood. However, if a customer requests 'parts only' and then damages the part or any other part (keyboard surround comes to mind) accidently whilst installing it they would be up the creek without a paddle so to speak.

Also I am concerned that people such as yourself (Mr Fox) need to order parts. Your last post seems to suggest you have to do this often. Are these machine really that unreliable or am I missing something.

MP

 

I've definitely had issues with defective parts, unfortunately. I would have liked nothing better than to never need to. With the Alienware M18x, almost all of the troubles I had experienced have been related to AMD 6970M and 6990M GPU. I did have a motherboard failure once, but I see that (one motherboard failure) as being within the acceptable norm.

Thankfully, I've had no problems with the GTX 580M GPUs.

I've been building and repairing computers for more than 20 years and I'm not really all that worried about breaking something by accident, but going the parts only service route is not for everyone.

 

The L3 Alienware support person that I am currently working with knows about this issue. Mr. Fox has also alerted key Dell / Alienware contacts about the issue as well. I'm sure they will come up with a revised bracket but it will take some time before we see this happen. If a customer is not comfortable with fixing it themselves then yes Dell / Alienware will assume full responsibility for fixing the issue.

I feel the same way. For the money shelled out for these machines I am very overprotective of my baby. Let's just say Dell is kind of like an exotic car manufacturer but producing exotic machines in mass quantities. The problem is that Dell / Alienware don't have enough "certified mechanics" to work on these machines properly.

No, the M18x is fully capable of running "out of the box" with no issues barring any production mishaps. You have to take into consideration who the target audience is... gamers, "benchers" and enthusiasts. Sometimes we do things to our machines that make them unreliable. People post to these forums only when they have issues. Most people that do not have issues don't bother posting about their positive experiences. This may create the "unreliable" image you are interpreting.

My machine went from bad to worse after two on-site tech visits (same tech) in one week. What started out as a screen replacement spiraled into a multitude of disasters. The tech claimed they were Dell "certified" and could do the work needed on Alienware laptops; obviously not. Depot service was suggested next but I pleaded that I could do the work myself and that I could do no worse than the tech since the machine would not boot.. it just sat there and beeped over and over.

I have been slowly and carefully restoring my machine to full operation. I take pictures along the way every time I do a parts replacement and share them with my Alienware support tech. It gives them confidence in knowing that you are capable of doing the work yourself. It also probably saves them time and money in avoiding on-site tech and Depot fiascoes.

Yeah... parts only service is not for everyone. I wish I didn't have to go through the exercise either but it has two BIG advantages.

1. You learn your machine inside and out.
2. You know the work was done right.

I'm sure there are some GREAT on-site and Depot techs out there if you are fortunate to have one work on your system.
Some of us just like to roll up our sleeves, bring a D.I.Y attitude and take matters into our own hands.

 

Couldn't have said it any better, bro. I actually enjoy working on the M18x.

There are some really talented techs, and many not-so-talented techs. That's pretty much the norm in any business. There are always a few top notch professionals, and a few incompetent losers, among the mass of employees with very average talents. It takes a tech with better than average talent before I will consider handing over the screwdriver to someone else to work on my M18x. I have to be satisfied that they know as much or more than I do, then I'm nervously OK with the idea.

 

Every since I got the GTX 580 replacements for my 6990s I notice that I get random game slowdowns. Using EVGA Precision X I checked my temps, and my primary video card is getting way up there in temps, possibly over 100 c. The Fan speed just says % and it is not adjustable. I can see the fan speed for the second card, and the temps seem to remain under control. Should I be able to s ee fan speeds for the primary card? Do you think this is why my temps are out of control for the primary card? Is it time to call dell or shall I pop it open and check to make sure the fan is hooked up?

Edit - i opened the bottom and replugged in all three fans. They all seem to spin on bootup. There did seem to be a little bit of damage to the white plastic around port for the fan on the far left. Out of ideas.

 

You are most likely throttling. My 580M cards never get anywhere close to as hot as what you are describing, even when I overclock the daylights out of them.

It sounds like the card that is getting too hot is probably not pasted and padded correctly. Did a field tech install the 580Ms as replacement for the 6990M? If so, the job likely was not done properly.

Call Dell and tell them about it. They should send a heat sink kit to you.

 

Yes, unfortionatly they did.

 

Just received my M18X (for work ) and am having trouble setting up three monitors. Looking to get the laptop display plus two external monitors. Have the 580 SLI'ed and Mini DP HDMI and VGA whats the protocol for the displays for three... I could just be stupid it is early in the day yet.

 

Have a read of this thread: M18x Multiple Monitors - might shed some light on configuring your setup.