m18x and windows aero

So this MB on the M18x has the same intel HD3000 chip as the XPS? Interesting. But you have to reboot to switch right?

 

Yup. Its a bit of a pain as if you switch alot, its alot of reboots. Not good for the hard drives really....would have been better to be able to switch without a reboot.

 

I think it's lame to have to reboot. All you should have to do is press FN + F7 and click yes. Nothing more. I hope a new bios/OSD can change this in the near future.

 

As it stands today there's no way to switch on the fly, no BIOS update will fix it.
Still, this is far better than no IGP at all. Find another high-end gaming notebook with IGP switching. The direct competitor from Clevo (X7200) has a battery life of 40min compared to 5hrs + for the M18x.

 

Yep, I dont mind the switching. With the hybrid drive reboots are quick. I know everyone with an SSD.. they are even faster!

 

How about Nvidia users? As I know, Nvidia has Optimus Technology which allows switching to IGP automatically and without rebooting. Is that correct?

 

Yes, but Optimus still has plenty of stability issues.

 

This is killing me!!!, this issue doesn't make up his mind, goes away, takes a break, comes back, goes to the bathroom, and appears again. It's such a lame that AW didn't fully tested the laptops upon release.

 

... as a direct consequence of the apparently total lack of a transparent, valuable, effective and reliable total quality control and a total quality (pre-delivering) assurance. and

 

My M18x has not landed yet, so I am not able to test this for myself. I am curious... does aero stop working while using the IGP or the GPUs, or does it behave the same regardless?

I am thinking the only time I will use the IGP is when AC power is not readily available. It is only circumstances such as when I am on a long plane ride or stuck in an airport that good battery life actually becomes relevant. The rest of the time it will most likely remain set to use the AMD GPUs.

 

Update: This problem annoys the crap out of me so I decided to call AW today. After spending 3 hours on the phone and being transferred from AW tech>AW Software Solutions>AW tech all they had to say is that they have never heard of this problem and that this is an isolated issue.
They want me to send my unit to the depot to fix this issue....lol.
Am I the only one calling on behlalf of ALL M18x owners?
I'm sooooo pissed!!

A level 3 is suppose to call me with a solution.

You guys/gals need to call so that they can be aware of this problem.
This thread also needs to be sticky'ed. Please.

 

Gunner, it comes of no suprise to me that yourself, Mr Fox and I are all over this one already!

Yeah its a complete PITA. Mines been "behaving" for a bit.....I updated the Inted HD3000 so I am completely bang up to date with Dell Drivers etc...Running Dell stock Video Drivers.....everything that Dell would run through on a checklist on a tech call....still happens!

It seems to me to happen mostly upon boot....mine boots to the desktop, looks normal for a few seconds and then changes to basic. Cannot be changed back via appearance/personalisation. Only way to recover is to restart/reboot.

Same goes when I run 3dmark 06...'cos it runs in basic, it changes automatically but when the bench is completed, it doesnt change back like my ole R2 used to do....its stuck at basic without Aero.

Im hoping its something that will get ironed out....its not caused me too much distress like the sleep bug but is annoying nonetheless.

Im thinking wether to jump on another long journey......the last one took almost a year to address and, as you myself and Mr.Fox know all to well, (and Debaucher to name but a few) that issue was never resolved and will likely remain unresolved.

Here we go again...seconds out...round two....."ding-ding"

 

I know I can count on you to get things done. I have the exact same aero behavior you do and also with 3DMark 06.

All these people here do is worry about benchmarking on their 3000.00+ M18x but at the same time that same system can't even utilize Windows Aero correctly....lol. This needs attention!!!

 

Well, unfortunately I'm still waiting on a ship date (status still says "Parts Ordered"). I'll be jumping on this as soon as I get it. I'm anxious to get crackin' on the fix.

For people that are only interested in benchmarking, Aero may be irrelevant. In fact, some run the Windows Classic scheme for a tiny edge. I like benchmarking, but I want to have my cake and eat it. So, Aero needs to work for me.

 

Sweet!! It seems like we have most of the " LEGACY TEAM" here to combat this problem. I sure hope it is a easy fix this time.....and not a 6 month+ journey going nowhere.

Mine also said parts only for about 5 days....and then bam!!!!. It was at my local Fedex.

So what are your final specs?

 

The way things are going I really might need some of you guy's phone number associated with your M18x in a PM in about week to prove that this problem goes beyond me. Nothing more. I had a serious arguement with the tech trying to tell me that I am the only one with this problem and that this forum isn't official.

I'm really annoyed at this point. I hate when Aero randomly drops out or doesn't start with Windows.

 

I haven't seen the aero bug issue as much since I updated to 11.6. I did a clean install using the guide here on the forums. Then I do proper driver installation for each new gpu driver that comes out. It definitely doesn't come up anywhere near as often as it seems to for some of you guys. Maybe twice since 11.6 came out and it's always been on startup. It's never happened just out of the blue. Just another user experience to compare to!

 

Pretty Please.............explain how to install 11.6CCC. When I try to download it from AMD it says it's not compatible with my graphics adapter. Do you get errors when switching to intergrated graphics?

 

Mine has same specs as Eliphion's signature except for 8GB of RAM. Will be 16GB when I add the extra I already have.

Well, I've never found Dell video drivers to be any good. This would automatically be the first thing I do when mine arrives. Well, second thing, right after creating recovery media and cloning the drive.

skygunner and stevie - are you guys still running Dell drivers?

I think there's already a thread on updating the drivers. Let me see if I can locate it again.

 

Hey - here it is...

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m18x/579120-m18x-how-install-amd-reference-drivers.html

 

Yup we're on the OFC Dell Drivers.

I've tried that method it gives you an error when switching graphics with FN+F7. I hate errors...lol.

 

Hmm. Is there a way to disable the Intel HD3000 in the BIOS? My first inclination is this is a driver issue and the switchable graphics is a distinguishing feature on this system. If one of the graphics subsystems can be completely disabled, it will be interesting to see if the problem goes away.

What would be nice is a boot menu to select which graphics system to use when powering up or rebooting. The ability to switch within Windows seems like something that would just be begging for a glitch.

 

That's how it works by default. IGP is disabled in BIOS and re-enabled when you press Fn+F7 and reboot. Only one graphics subsystem is active at a time.

 

@Aikimox

Do you have a fully working method for installing 11.6CCC with working switchable graphics and no pop up errors?

 

I saw on one thread about this "pop up warning" when rebooting to the iGPU, scook9 recommended to just disable CCC from startup via msconfig. He said it wouldnt affect discrete gpu performance and if you wanted to enter CCC, just right clik on desktop and it will work as normal.....

Just a thought as if I cant get rid of this message when using AMD drivers, that message would do my head in after some time - I would have to turn it off somehow and scook's method seems fine to me....havent tried it yet though....

I WOULD like to hear of ANYONE running AMD drivers who DOESNT get this pop-up when switching....

 

Guys, you're going to get "errors" when you switch to the igpu. It's technically not even an error. Catalyst doesn't detect the AMD cards when you're on your igpu. That's what it's telling you. Well since the cards are literally turned off when you switch, of course the driver for those cards won't find the cards. You don't have to turn off CCC, you just hit ok, or whatever the button says and that's that. Look in your BIOS when you switch. It won't detect either the igpu or the amd cards when you are switched to the other. It's as if they don't exist in the system. When I switch back to my AMD cards.. there's no error. Everything runs like its supposed to.

Skygunner, I used the link provided by zero in another thread for the 11.6 drivers. He made a specific thread about it.

 

Thanks for the info. At current, I am battling it out with Dell/AW trying to get the Aero bug resolved. I expect a level 3 to contact me. For that phone call I need to be on Dell drivers.

 

bump..............................I want a fix!!!

 

I am still getting this issue with Aero flaking out.....really annoying! - not what I expected AT ALL from Dell.....

 

I'm running the latest 10.7 beta's + latest hd3000 drivers from dell. Not had the aero problem since I moved to this driver combo. I also don't get any warnings from the amd control panel as I've read some reports about.

Though I did find double/triple booting windows omitted the problem till the next time I switched the gpu's over when I was on the stock drivers.

 

11.7's mate?

Well, I just had someother issues.....AMD display driver stopped working and recovered successfully.....along with the taskbar "bugging out" and flashing......

 

Hey Stevie, did you try the 3NZO 'combo'? How it's work in your rig? Just curious...

 

Havent tried it yet fella....although i may well jus try it !

 

how ANNOYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Yeah, that's the ticket. I'm still in 2010, see.

 

Hehehe....me too sometimes its even earlier than 2010... lol

 

Well, it's time to get "Back to the Future" guys.

 

Its freaked out on me again.... 1st boot this morning.....had to restart to get back to an Aero theme....

 

I think it might have something to do with crossfire disabling on the non-aero reboots, make sure you double check in CCC that crossfire is still enabled.

 

Well, this happened this morning when I turned the system on whilst on a/c....I dont use the iGPU so it couldnt be anything to do with the "switching" from one to the other....ive never disabled x/f so if its enabled prior to shutdowns, it should be enabled upon starting up, right (as inbetween, you cant do a thing as the system is off LOL )

It was working last night.....shutdown fine....boot this morning...BANG...got to the desktop, followed by a quick screen flash and Aero turns off and goes to the basic theme....from that point onwards, this cant be re-activated unless you reboot the system.

Extremely Annoying!!

 

Joining the club. If anyone thought it was a igpu switching problem, I'm going to lean towards no. I've been CF since getting her out of the box.

 

Look what I stumbled onto... Windows 7 Aero Disabled - How can I enable it again?. It's nice to see it's not unique to the M18x. It's interesting that the same problem surfaces on another system with switchable graphics. It may be a coincidence, but maybe not.

I don't have my M18x yet, so I cannot try the registry edit to see if it helps. There are a couple of tips on that thread that may be of some value in fixing it on the M18x.

Does the M18x come with a special Alienware theme of any kind? I had issues with the theme that came with my R2. In addition to looking tacky, it made Aero act up on my R2. Uninstalling it fixed the problem. I later reinstalled it as part of the "Alienware look and feel" and the problem returned, but went away when I uninstalled it again.

 

I think this is a Windows problem, not a hardware problem. I don't have my 6970M installed right now and have been running on IGP since Friday, and I get this issue every so often when I turn the computer on. Restarting usually fixes the issue.

 

It could be a Windows issue. I believe (not certain) that the Envy 15 has an AMD discreet GPU with switchable Intel HD3000 IGP. Maybe it's a combination of hardware that is causing Windows to balk. I've not experienced this issue on the R2. As usual, HP has a ridiculous number of model variations (21 versions of the Envy 15 exist) and no specs posted are posted online for this unit. It's an obsolete system now.

 

I wonder if this error occurs with third-party window managers like stardock and window blinds. Anyone running one of these and having issues?

 

That is (in part) what I was driving at when I asked if the M18x has an Alienware theme.

I noticed comments on the other thread about Stardock being a potential issue. It was on my R2 and nixing the Alienware theme made that go away. I think it was a Stardock variant, but I am stretching my memory a bit. I also did not have it installed for long on the R2. Many Stardock-based themes replace critical Windows system files with modified versions (e.g. explorer and shell are a couple).

Come to think of it, I have also run into problems with Vista and Win7 where Aero starts acting up after installing some customized themes from web sites such as deviantART, but rolling back with System Restore has always fixed the problem.

 

I'm going through the EXACT same thing.


I've never experienced this problem on another machine with Windows.

 

My 'feelings' is that it's a combined uncoordinated Intel/Windows/Bios issue... maybe that's the reason why "they" prefer to deny the existance of it or wait that the others do something about... a very classical ostrich behavior...

 

I've been told by AW/Dell tech that it's a BIOS/VBIOS problem. I was also told that this problem doesn't exist with the 580M SLI config.

 

Just the 580? Does anyone have this problem with ANY non AMD card?

Thx in advance.