m18x and windows aero

Thread to share the "infamous" windows aero issue with the m18x. please post your thoughts and maybe dell will notice this and FIX it once it for all


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Please see:

 

it does that from time to time, itll work in a bit, i promise : p.

 

LOL! I think most of us share the Aero curse

 

automatically fixed after the windows updates

 

itll go back to not working... i promise >: P

 

Hahaha - yeah. It is really pissing me off that yet another simple thing doesnt work on these high end systems - wht gives!.....c'mon Dell...

 

more of an AMD problem imo. and possibly windows 7's issue as well. i had the same issue with a desktop GTX 480.

 

It's a technology problem. We tend to overlook all the reboots we do with our smartphones now, our desktops, its just tech. in general. We are overly scrutinizing our new toys so we notice EVERY LITTLE THING. lol Just my opinion.

 

I think it's a Win7 problem as both sides (Amd-Nvidia)have this problem

 

I still think that the Aero 'curse" is another proof of the lack (or 'misbehavior'?) of a total quality control system in the manufacturing/assembling line before it's boxed/packed/sent to the customer.

We are lucky to have this forum...

 

99.9% sure its due to alienware osd/command center, like most other minor issues.

 

Yeah Aero being permantly disabled until the next reboot is indeed an issue with the OSD. Unfortunately, you lost the ability to switch graphics without the OSD so you'll need to keep it installed if you'd like to use that feature.

Fortunately logging off and logging back on resets Aero without needing a full restart. I really wouldn't hold my breath on waiting for a fix from Dell coming down the pipes.

 

Hope this helps.
Switch User - 100% CPU usage, impossibly slow - Microsoft Answers

Aero Effects not working after several attempts to fix the issue. Need - Microsoft Answers

 

What's lame is that since we have AW/Dell OEM Windows installation Microsoft technical support will not help us resolve issues within Windows. Instead they refer us to Dell.

 

Dunno, after a couple of driver updates and Command Center reinstall the aero bug is no more on my system and the OSD is perfectly fine.

 

Is this on a factory install or clean install? - Id been interested to know which drivers you updated...im thinking Intel HD3000 for one....is this with AMD video drivers installed too?

 

Has anyone spoken with Dell/AW about this issue? If so, what did they say?

I'm sooo glad I have never encountered this error.

 

Updated both the HD3000 and 6970M drivers. Factory install.

 

Thanks Aikimox - any special instruction to update the IGFX driver? - uninstall or just dowloand an execute the new file from Dell Support?

 

I installed it over the old one.

 

Mine was doing this, but I haven't seen the issue in awhile. Not sure what fixed it.

I do run on my HDTV most of the time at 720P.

 

So, has anyone else follow Aikimox's lead and found it to offer resolution on their system?

 

Update:


The issue is back

 

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.........man!!! So what's our next step? Call AW/Dell?

 

Nothing we can do about it right now.

 

Is there a way to disable graphics switching in the M18x BIOS, to run exclusively on the Intel or AMD GPU? I'm just curious if you select one or the other and disable the graphics switch capabilities if the aero problem goes away.

 

Well, everytime i turn on my laptop, it always comes on in "ATI mode", so i guess that, if you go to ATI mode and then turn off your laptop, when you turn it back on, it will be like that from now on, just don't do FN+F7 again. If i am wrong, please someone correct me.

 

My M18x has only the 6970 CF and no integrated vga and it still has the Aero issue. To tell the truth, I never had this problem with Dell stock drivers or the 11.4, and started happening with the 11.5 and continued with the 11.6. Of course, in the meantime I installed quite a few Win updates, so I'm not sure what exactly is causing this problem.

 

rafix73 every m18x has the integrated VGA, it is built upon the sandy bridge CPU architecture, the question is whether or not you are using it (via FN+F7)

 

I can assure you that in mine it's not an option. I tried the Fn+F7, nothing happens. In addition, it's not even possible to enable another vga via BIOS, as it says that there's not integrated vga. I must have a problem I guess.

 

Make sure you have alienware OSD installed, it should work for sure.

 

Yes, OSD has been working all along as far as I know. However, now the Intel is there and I'm updating its drivers. I re-flashed the BIOS and the integrated vga option magically appeared. Then I re-installed OSD, rebooted and Fn+F7 finally worked. Thanks for the input man, I really thought my system didn't have one and never bothered checking if it should have.

 

Confirmed that after a fresh install, Windows Aero is not active. Solution is: Select a random theme and it will activate Windows Aero.

 

Did you install the HD3000 drivers?

 

damn you were right lol. This is pissing me off.



@ DELL, address this problem!!!!!

 

Ive updated the Intel HD300 driver off Dells site, still running stock drivers....will see how it goes but I dont hold out much hope for Aero NOT going nuts on me.....

 

I've been on my M18x for 8 hours straight doing updates/installs and I have yet to see any aero problems. Out of all the games I have, the M18x smashes through all. I think maybe I'll chill on 11.6CCC for a few days. I hate pop up errors.

 

That's great news! Nice to see what I have to look forward to.

 

Still no aero problems....I haven't even gone to sleep yet. I tried installing CCC from AMD. It wouldn't download because of wrong display adapter message like stevie said.

 

Good to hear that things are running well Gunner, I think when you do "sleep" you will find that the brightness is a bit dimmer after resume - on mine its like one or two notches below 100%....I press the "down" once and "up" once and its back at 100%....no BSOD's and no other issues regards sleep AFAIK so far.

Since updating the Intel HD3000 IGFX Driver, I havent encountered an Aero "dropout" either....still using Dell's video drivers so Im gonna keep an eye on it....

 

Aero normally doesn't disappear during normal operation but rather on a boot after a few turn off and on cycles. If you leave your system on all the time it won't lose aero even if it goes to sleep/hibernate (valid for my system).

Even the off/on cycles won't necessarily show the problem. I went through a dozen of cold boots before it happened once.

 

Ive seen it drop out randomly. Upon boot. Whilst running apps. When resuming from sleep. Seems to me to be completly unpredictable as to when its gonna crap out!

Ive noticed that after I disable an Aero theme, say, to basic to run a bench like mark'11....afterwards, when I try to re-enable an Aero theme its a no-go. Some people report that a simple user log-off rectifies this but I have found that it needs a complete reboot to restore normal functionality.

I have no idea what causes it but I reckon sooner or later, Im gonna have it again.......

 

I can tell you from what I've seen on mine. I get this problem occasionally when booting but it's rare. However when I disable xfire, I've NEVER had Aero disappear so to me it seems much more dependent on running xfire so seems more windows / driver related to xfire. Also I never had the issue on AMD Drivers on my studio 16 with the ATI 4670. So it would really point to the xfire implementation.

 

I had the aero not work on me on my E1705 on first install of Win 7 Prof, but after about an hour it started working as well, so it can't nessesarily be just an alien-ware issue?

 

I got the aero problem 4 times in the last 3 hours. Upon boot and at the desktop......how annoying!! The only way to fix it is to reboot. Does Dell/AW test these systems before releasing?

I may need to reflash my M18x's bios. Dell drivers has been down most of the day.
Does anyone know where to get the M18x's Bios????????????????

 

Nope, have the same problem in my R3 with a single 6970m so don't think it's an Xfire thing, but I'm sure it's an AMD driver issue, because I don't have this problem when running on the IGP, just like the brightness control via FN issue, on the 6970m FN only displays the brightness up/down logo on the screen with nothing happening, but when I switch to the IGP no problem at all, works like a charm.
So pretty sure there's something wrong with the AMD drivers...

 

I also have it sometimes when I'm booting. It never just goes out on me; it's always on initial boot. As you see from my specs, I have nVidia cards, and through various reports, I can tell you it affects both camps, regardless of whether you have one card, or two (SLI/Crossfire).

It may be a driver thing, but if it's a video driver, then both ATI and nVidia have the same problem in their drivers, which is unlikely.

 

All I know on the xfire vs xfire for me personally it has not affected my M18x with Windows 7 Ultimate using 1 GPU in over a week. If I run in xfire I can see it almost once a day if I reboot several times. So I'm sorry but it might be an issue for you on a single 6970 but for me it's not. So it may have more to do with windows configurations or driver configurations. There is much more information needed before you can just totally dismiss or blame one or the other. I was simply stating what my experience has been.

 

Ive been running my system for a few days now since updating the Intel HD3000 drivers from Dell support. Everything else is stock. I havent had one instance of Aero going wrong. There is, however, plenty of time for it to happen! LOL

 

I want to download that driver to but the drivers have been down since yesterday