190.X upwards NVIDIA driver compatibility possible?

Hi all fellow 'legacy' (I'm still annoyed at this term used by Alienware) m15x users!

I'm been currently looking into the lack of driver compatibility between the m15x and newer NVIDIA drivers, specially version 190.X upwards.

From what I can gather in these and the other forms, most notably laptopvideo2go, it seems that its the lack of support for 'Hybrid Technology' in these latest drivers that causes the crashes/'blue screens of death' with these later drivers and our systems.

These crashes seem to be irrespective of Windows version, NVIDIA GFX card and problems installing the drivers. In other words it doesn't matter what windows version you have or what card you upgraded to, the 190.X NVIDIA drivers will install but are not compatible with the 'Hybrid Technology' and as a result Windows crashes.

As such I've posted the following in the laptopvideo2go forums to enlist more specialised help but I thought I'd put the word out here as well:
http://forums.laptopvideo2go.com/topic/26482-8800m-gtx-on-alienware-m15x/page__p__128715__hl__m15x__fromsearch__1#entry128715

So if anybody has any ideas of whether option (1) or (2) is the best way to go, or if this all this is even possible please let me know and I'll start researching!

 

It seems like I missed another thread in the laptopvideo2go forums where this issue is raised again: need driver for my 8800m gtx aw - LaptopVideo2Go Forums

Interestingly this thread was answered by a user named 'Nautis1100' who seems to be a guru on adapting NVIDIA drivers to Hybrid Technology based on the following forum post:
Modding 101 - The Basics and Hybrid Graphics - LaptopVideo2Go Forums

Hopefully he reads my/our collectively plea in the laptopvideo2go forums and will help us out. In the meantime if any other users could post politely ask for his and others help in these forums I think it would go a long way to recruiting an non-official expert to help us out with this issue...as all the official ones *glares at Dell, NVIDIA and Alienware* seem to not give a damn!

In the meantime I'll try my hand at modifying the 190.X and/or 200.X NVIDIA drivers to work with Hybrid Technology i.e. our m15x laptops, based on what I read.

 

Yeah sorry mate, been a hectic time for me as of late. (I am on here too BTW )

--

AFAIK the M15x is first generation Switchable Graphics. Here is a little info I put together:

NVIDIA Switchable Graphics – An Evolution

1st Generation – Switchable Graphics - Introduced in 2006
Switchable Graphics utilizes hardware multiplexers and requires a manual switch and hardware reboot to switch.

2nd Generation – Hybrid Graphics – Introduced in 2008
Hybrid Graphics utilizes hardware multiplexers but does not require a reboot in order to switch. It still relies on manual interaction to switch, but does so using a software switch as a trigger. Utilizing this software switch with a hardware mux can take as long as ten seconds to switch and needs to blank the screen in order to do so. Hybrid Graphics also blocks switching until certain applications are closed but this feature is adjustable.

3rd Generation – Optimus – Introduced in 2010
Optimus eliminates hardware multiplexers and uses a software switch to seamlessly, instantly and automatically switch. The software switch in Optimus is based on a combination of application profiles and call detection. Since Optimus does not use hardware multiplexers it has no delay and does not blank the screen when switching. Optimus uses the integrated graphics processor as a display controller; it transfers the display surface from the GPU framebuffer over the PCI Express bus to the main memory-based framebuffer used by the integrated graphics processor.

---

Now I am not as familiar with 1st Gen Switchable Graphics as I am with Hybrid Graphics or Optimus. I assume the INF has already been modded properly and the result is the bluescreen. Let me look at the latest M15x drivers and see if anything jumps out at me. It may be that the Nvidia and Intel drivers may need to be combined and installed in a similar way to Hybrid Graphics.

What version of Windows are you using btw? Win7 64bit?

What will help me is:
To find the and paste the Device ID:
Open Control Panel - Device Manager -> Display Adapters -> NVIDIA Geforce.... -> Details Tab -> Hardware IDs --> Right click second one and choose copy and then paste it in the reply here.

 

hey HEY! Thanks for for getting back to us so quick!

You're right about the m15x being 1st generation Switchable and not Hybrid. In truth I wasn't even aware that there was this many generations?! In addition I don't know about others but I never use the Intel motherboard GFU processor, especially as it requires a reboot. The m15x also has a 'stealth mode' button which allows the primary NVIDIA GFU to be downclocked to save battery.

So driver updates for the Intel motherboard GPU in my opinion would be a low priority or even just use the ones packaged with the original OEM laptop drivers...hopefully bundled with the new NVIDIA components in the 190.X upwards drivers. Unless of course this 1st generation m15x system is convertible to a 2nd or 3rd generation system i.e. Switchable to Hybrid/Optimus...but I doubt it right?

You can find official drivers for this m15x laptop here:

Official: http://support.alienware.com/Support_Pages/Restricted_Pages/driver_downloads.aspx

However to save you time navigating through Alienwares horrendous website, the last versions that Alienware officially released were 169.25 and 176.37. In addition there's also a separate driver for Intel motherboard GPU 7.14.10.1350 which you can find on that website above or here:

Unofficial m15x Driver Hive but very good: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/342331-m15x-mini-myhive.html

So I'm not sure about the significance of the NVIDIA and Intel drivers being separated, but in your 'Modding 101 - The Basics and Hybrid Graphics' laptopvideo2go post you mention that these two driver sets are integrated and reliant upon each other in the Hybrid and Optimus systems.

There was also some problems in the past with the m15x 8800m GTX I believe...I'm still getting up-to-date as I haven't looked at this in a while:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/259805-m15x-updated-8800gtx-drivers-no-downclocking.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/229035-m15x-8800m-gtx-display-driver-update.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/388692-new-nvidia-drivers-186-03-lets-test-em-out-m15x-3.html


Also please note that I and others on this forum section own the m15x made only by Alienware, and not the new M15x (capital 'M') made by Alienware and Dell after the merger.


-----

My computer specs are as follows:

Currently I'm using the laptopvideo2go modified NVIDA 186.91 drivers. I have tried both your 'HGMS' driver sets, even after adding the 8800m GTX to the INF file, and also the NVIDIA base version of 191.90 and 258.96. Obviously these last attempts were stabs in the dark but I thought I'd slowly try and add a little about driver modding for the future.

This is the Hardware ID info your requested:

I also run RivaTuner and found the following info which may help:

Thanks for looking into this for all of us Nautis! Message me here or email me at [email protected] if you want someone to try your driver mods. Alternatively if you show me what to look for I can start trying to modify these drivers myself based on your guides...but the 'tool' that you mention in the laptopvideo2go forums that would do all this automatically sounds great!

 

why do you think that this failure is caused by the 2 gfx configuration?

i would rather think that its some general driver-hardware-whatever incompatibility with the m15x mobo. it could be because of some binarygfx related hardware but it also could be some other piece of hardware on the mobo.

maybe somebody could compare the 186.81 and the 195.39 drivers, because there must be a change between this two versions which is the cause of this problem.

 

Lets try this first -

Save [258.96 INF for m15x Win7/Vista 64bit] (right click save as)
Make sure to download the 258.96 64bit International Verde Drivers
Extract 258.96_notebook_winvista_win7_64bit_international_whql.exe to a folder
Open (extracted location\258.96_notebook_winvista_win7_64bit_international_whql\Display)
place the modified inf above in this folder replacing the existing nvqu.inf file then run setup.exe in the same folder to install.

This is using a standard INF/Drivers method. We can try a Hybrid Graphics method next if this does not work. What is the Intel GPU in the m15x?

 

tried it, it doesn't install - system was not changed blabla...
however i wasn't sure which setup file to use, there are kinda 5 of them

it's the Intel 965 Chipset

 

@HeMeZ:

I think the 'binarygfx' you refer to in your first post is actually the1st generation 'switchable graphics that Nautis refers to above and that I incorrectly refer to as Hybrid graphics.

@Nautis:

I tried the driver and modified INF you provide above but it did not install. I'm guessing this is due to the fact that the driver is for Win7 64-bit and I am running Win7 32-bit.

I did however try your modified INF with the Win7 32-bit version of hte 258.96 driver and encountered the same problems I did before. i.e. the 190.X upwards drivers will install on my m15x laptop running win7 32-bit with a 8800m GTX with/without the modified INF, but upon restart will encounter the 'blue screen of death error'.

I did not record the actual fault number as I did not think it relevant but I'm happy to repeat the process and get this number if it will help.

I believe HeMeZ is also right about the Intel motherboard GPU in the m15x being the Intel 965 chipset.

 

Yep, as has been discussed in these forums, driver versions 190 and up won't work with the alienware area 51 m15x.

Best stay with either 186.81/ 186.82

 

don't like the idea to stick with more than a year old drivers

it would be interesting to know why it doesn't work and how to solve the problem

btw my old notebook also has the possibility to switch graphics (Nvidia 6600Go/Intel 915) and the newest nvidia driver works flawlessly
that's why i'm not sure, that the problem has something to do with the gfx switching capatibility

 

@Cha:

Perhaps it's the wording of this thread title, but my aim was to solve the problem rather than question it's existence.

At the moment I use laptopvideo2go modified drivers 186.91.

@HeMeZ:

That's great that you have an older laptop with the same type of grpahics setup to test on! It's a good point as well about the problem being 'Alienware' specific if your testing has shown that this is the case.

Do you think it's to do with the button integration through the BIOS on the Alienware laptops? This wouldn't make sense as most older laptops, even your old notebook, has a a Fn+Button combination to activate the Intel motherboard GPU...

 

Oh sorry madrabbit, I checked the thread title and immediately assumed that you were seeking answers regarding compatibility of the 190 and up drivers with the m15x.

Good luck and hope you guys get to the bottom of this

 

Well it's not exactly same, but at least similar. It is still running XP x32 though and the Intel-GFX-driver for XP is relatively old. So I'm planning to update it to Win7 x32 for better comparison, but due to lack of time that won't happen in the next few weeks.

I don't understand what do you mean with "button integration through the BIOS", maybe you could explain this?

However the switching on the old laptop works with a hardware switch. I think there is some electronic circuit which checks the switch position before power-up and switches the right GFX on, because it takes some seconds to decide before it actually turns on.

EDIT: I've added an attachment with the typical BSOD you get from new drivers.

 

That BSOD refers to:

Yes those codes actually do mean something.

Does the BSOD always gives the same error no mater which newer driver is used?

EDIT: What other machines use the same switchable graphics as the m15x? I know the Vaio SZ is one.

 

Yeah, already seen that, but well it doesn't say more than faulty gfx driver to me

Yes when it BSODs it gives this error on dxgkrnl.sys. Sometimes it doesn't BSOD but then it gives "Code 43" error in the device manager and stops the device.

EDIT: tried 189.92 from lv2go (one of the newest 18X.XX drivers), got 2 different BSODs (0x7E and 0xC2)
for whatever reason my memory dumping doesn't work, so no minidumps to debug...

 

I've been trying to install some newer driver for m15x (8800gtx) for about 1 year...
Have tried following drivers from lv2go:
188.25 - BSOD
188.22 - BSOD
187.66 - incomp - error 43

19x series :
190.15 - incomp - error 43
190.40 - BSOD
190.56 - BSOD
190.62 - BSOD
190.89 - BSOD
191.00 - BSOD
195.81 - BSOD
195.62 - BSOD

25x series
257.21 - BSOD
258.69 - BSOD
258.96 - BSOD
259.32 - BSOD

I have found that only 3 drivers really work for me : 186.03, 186.82 & 186.91. And I'm running on 186.91 right now (win7 32bit) and I don't have any problems with downclocking...

Strange thing is that, this drivers was not modified by AW, but it's working just fine.


I've been getting BSOD caused by dxgkrnl nearly always, so I've tried to debug this bsod a little (with no success) - here are the results from WinDbg:

PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA (50)
8db6c9c4 936c965a 00000001 c01e0332 89f944c0 dxgkrnl+0x11d43
8db6c9e4 936c9766 89f944c0 8db6ca10 93702cef dxgkrnl+0x1365a
8db6c9f0 93702cef 00000001 90b8407e 89bd2000 dxgkrnl+0x13766
8db6ca10 9370517d 89bd2000 ffffffb0 859be000 dxgkrnl+0x4ccef
8db6cadc 93705894 ffffea76 00000000 9370c48d dxgkrnl+0x4f17d
8db6caf8 93705812 8769d920 8db6cb0c 990589f8 dxgkrnl+0x4f894
8db6cb10 9370c969 8769d920 8769df64 8769c970 dxgkrnl+0x4f812
8db6cc70 9370c3d0 8769d920 00000001 00000000 dxgkrnl+0x56969
8db6cc98 936f7213 00000000 90b899c8 00000040 dxgkrnl+0x563d0
8db6ccb8 90b89e09 8db6ccd0 94a44322 00000001 dxgkrnl+0x41213
8db6ccc0 94a44322 00000001 ffffbc97 8db6cd18 watchdog!SMgrNotifySessionChange+0x19
8db6ccd0 94a45e98 00000001 00000000 94c33870 win32k!DrvNotifySessionStateChange+0x42
8db6cd18 94a45992 0022f988 8db6cd34 8325644a win32k!InitializeGreCSRSS+0x16
8db6cd24 8325644a 00000040 00000044 0022f9a4 win32k!NtUserInitialize+0x81
8db6cd24 776064f4 00000040 00000044 0022f9a4 nt!KiFastCallEntry+0x12a
0022f9a4 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 0x776064f4

OR

BAD_POOL_CALLER (c2)


Any ideas, Nautis1100? :>

 

Any luck with win7 32 bit INF? I would love to test some new driver on m15x, but non seems to work...

 

Sorry I've been outta of the process I started here. I'm currently having other issues with my laptop:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-area-51-aurora-legacy-systems/515823-hinge-broken-m15x-screen-again.html#post6674496


@Nautis:
From memory 'mkocus' has accurately described which NVIDIA drivers, once INF is modified by laptopvideo2go, will install but result in BSOD. i.e. anything 190.X an up.

Hope this helps Nautis and let us all know if you want something tested, even on a 'lark'.

 

Maybe I can help by adding this info. The latest and greatest drivers still work on my Area 51 M17x with SLI 9800ms. I though thtat the M15x was related to the M17x. Could you flash the M17x's BIOs on the M15x and call it a day????

 

Does seem to be an issue somewhat contained to the m15x or at least due to the hardware configuration specific to it. I wouldn't go flashing bios willy nilly but it may be due to a bios/acpi issue.

Limited on time right now but am going to look into it further when I have a bit more.

 

Hello, I got the same issue as everyone and it would be cool if someone could find a way to fix this up

Tried alots of versions of drivers and still the same issue... Error code in the device manager saying windows couldn't load the driver etc... Or just BSOD.

I have an Nvidia Quadro FX 3600M with the driver 186.82 and Windows 7 64bits.

 

Just wanted to add that i found huge difference in idle temp after using 186.91. When i was using 186.81 my idle would be around 66 to 72 now its idling from 56 to 62 and am more than happy with it.

However while playin games the differnece has been only 4 degrees.
playing MW2 for 4 hours:
186.81 - max temp hit was 91.
186.91 - max temp hit was 87.

Both without any laptop cooler.

That is still good i suppose.

I would encourage anyone using the 8800/9800 in m15x to use the 186.91 with modded inf from laptopvideo2go.com.


Peace~

 

Use the newer 25x.xx drivers, Ive used them on my M17x with dual 9800m gt for a few months with 0 issues, good luck.

 

I think this thread is about the m15x R1

 

Im sorry Ive done that 2xs now, keep forgeting that for some reason AW used a completely different architecture for their Area 51 m15x and m17x which use the same ECU, GPU, RAM, etc. AW. If I didnt enjoy their products so much Id buy a Sager

 

A quick update.

My GPU is now idling between 50 to 56, 5 days after installing the 186.91.
The reason i believe is i had applied a fresh coat of AS MX2 prior to installing 186.91 and i believe it has fully set now. Hence the drop in temperature.
Maximum Temperature is still at 87 degrees though.

 

just fyi:
tried the 260.63 driver, new installer, same problems...
first reboot: BSOD, second reboot: code43

 

Same problem here, very annoyed with alienwares la-di-da approach for it's customers. I've looked through all your threads regarding this madrabbit and am surprised nobody has sussed it.

I'm within my warranty and they wont even help me, the latest drivers on their website are designed for windows vista x64 - beta release 19/08/2008 7.15.11.7637 - I've paid for warranty until June 2011 and they still wont answer my questions about newer drivers for my newer software that needs it.

Ashamed, loving the fact they say on alienware's own website 'five star customer service'...

...and you get microsoft & xp extending it's product support for god knows how long for, and alienware cant even keep a three year promise <- but they will still take your money for that warranty!


Tony - [email protected]

 

If I were you, I would call the support hotline and insist on getting new drivers or a refund...

 

The problem with that is the drivers that he is running arent deffective and run the card efficiently, Im not agreeing with AW's new business practice but by the letter of the law "they" havent voided the warranty, now if that 8800/9800 would fry and AW couldnt get you a new one....

 

Agreed, they are not defective, but they are far from efficient...

Ive been getting major problems with my 'stealth' mode on the laptop... if anyone else with a legacy m15x out there could join me on this, just pop your laptop into stealth mode, you can even pop it on power saver. Close the lid (and make sure it does not go into standby) and watch the temperature soar. (i leave mine to cook overnight!)

Managed to pull a nice 95degrees C - using HWmon and confirming the downlclock on GPUz. - that's a 8800gtx burning away while doing absolutely nothing.

About laptop melting etc... I wish i could, but i cant be without my baby for a week let alone the months of agony it will take to get something from them above an apologise. They still wont even replace my mouse after i bought it from them defective!

To be a bit positive, the guys on the phone try their absolute best, its just the silly policies that seem to be stopping them...

Still pushing buttons on my end, will moan at them over the weekend - due to speak to the 'escalation manager'

Tony

 

If your GPU is fired and you have a warranty they HAVE to replace it, now if they do not have anymore 8800/9800 cards, they wont give you a 260/280 so they should give you s newer m15x because they can not repair your original. Thats how the warranty is supposed to work.

 

Just got a response from the escalation manager.
(paraphrased)
"Out of your statutory rights within the European union, which lasts a period of two years"
So the advisor said that he could only repair the system and never replace it.

This is a load of rubbish tbh... Looking into the law regarding this over in the UK/Europe

Tony

 

Okay so I'm back on-board with this thread I started!

I've been researching the 1st generation 'Switchable Graphics' technology and it may be even more 'over-my-head' than I initially expected it to be. I found the following article on the history of Switchable Graphics interesting though:

NVIDIA Optimus - Truly Seamless Switchable Graphics and ASUS UL50Vf - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

Nautis1100 wrote the following guide on modding NVIDIA drivers using the 2nd generation 'Hybrid' and 3rd generation 'Optimus' technologies:

Modding 101 - The Basics and Hybrid Graphics - LaptopVideo2Go Forums

seems to be the most knowledgable in this area from what I tell on 'the net'. Indeed he has commented on this thread in the first couple of pages and has stated that:

So I guess it's up to us as a community to figure this out!

I guess a couple of questions have to be asked first which I'm trying to find the answer to:

How much of a performance gain do/can we hope to make with our 8800m GTX card in the m15x-R1 by using 190.X or 200.X NVIDIA drivers?

Personally I'm interested in how does the CUDA technology work and will it be compatible. More specifically can a CPU intensive game such as ArmA2 which maxes-out a Core 2 Duo T9500 CPU be 'helped-out' due to the load sharing of the processing to the NVIDIA GPU by way of CUDA?

Any thoughts peoples?

 

The following is an interesting discussion between Nautis and Mackan in reference to the M11x (yes it's our spoilt little sister!):

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/474523-laptops-alienware-m11x-getting-nvidia-optimus-new-intel-cpus-summer-5.html

From what I can gather, it seems the that the Optimus technology could be applied to a non-Optimus 'envisioned' GPU e.g. 8800m GTX but it is largely dependent upon the presence and interferences of "multiplexers" on the host motherboard.

In addition it seems the major problem with adapting Optimus drivers to older GPUs + motherboard combos seems to be power management...which was the aim of the Optimus technology by NVIDIA in the first place.

Personally I don't care if my m15x-R1 runs on full/high-performance all the time if I can get an improvement in performance by modifying newer Optimus drivers to be compatible with the older m15x-R1 motherboard and 8800m GTX GPU!

Have I interpreted this right Nautis or anyone else out there?

 

I don't really think there would be a huge increase with the newer drivers madrabbit. Actually, i don't have problems running modern games till now with 186.81/.82

 

I'm currently using the 186.91 laptopvideo2go modified INF drivers and I don't think there's a single game I haven't been able to run yet due to GFX drivers either.

I'm just not knowledgeable enough to understand CUDA despite my reading.

 

I'm all for a way around the driver issue. The switchable graphics in the m15x have been it's downfall. My issues with varying downclocked speeds on my 9800GT I know for a fact are due to the 186 drivers being inadequete for modern games. I recently loaded some games from the 2007-2008 era and low and behold my clock speeds jumped to their mfr rated speeds and temps started climbing. Playing a modern game like Just Cause 2 or Mafia 2 and it down clocks itself. This is a driver issue. I think we could see a 15% or so increase in performance if the driver could be updated. This is why sites that review graphics cards will not stand by findings if they are given a card from Nvidia or Ati that doesn't have optimized drivers available. They can cripple a graphics card's performance. Good job Madrabbit. Maybe there's hope for us

 

I also have this problem!
Any updates?
Do you get your refund rabit?

Happy new year!

 

Just an update on my issue in particular with the clock speeds. I just tried Just Cause 2 and Mafia 2 last night and low and behold they are performing great. I'm not sure what happened but I checked my speeds in-game and the card is no longer downclocking itself in these games. I haven't made any changes other than trying to re-install the Nvidia Physx driver even though it was the same version. Can anyone else verify this? I removed it and re-installed it and it seems to have fixed the issues with speed. Doesn't make sense, because I thought that Physx was only relevent in games when it was enabled. I've always left it off. Oh well. Hopefully this rings a bell with someone. I'm just glad it's performing well again.

 

hi guys, i to have an m15x since day 1 with a 8800 GTX and t7700 processor. I always update drivers as new ones come out, so i have been aware of this problems since the 190.x drivers came out whitch was quite some time ago. At the time i called alienware and complained about their false claims of "constant" suport of the m15x on myhive with updated drivers for the system. at the begining i seem true with a constant update of their screwed up bios but then everything stoped being updated when their new M15x was launched. so i lost hope on getting new drivers for this system i cant even play metro 2033 because it says i need to update my drivers witch i cant... so just out of curiosty i came here today and saw this thread that sheds some new hope of getting an updated driver for the m15x. just letting you guys know i with you in this cause.

 

What about 3rd party drivers?

Omega, Tweakforce, LaptopVideo2Go..

Anybody tried these?

I'm currently downloading the latest non-beta Tweakforce mobile drivers.. gonna see if they work.

 

Update.. Tweakforce drivers install but the same Code 43 error.. at least it didn't bluescreen like the Nvidia drivers did, though.

 

The only driver I've ever found to work properly is from LaptopVideo2Go with the modified .inf file. Also be sure to update or re-install the Physx driver after you update the main driver. I recently had an issue where my 9800GT downclocked itself in games until I updated the Physx driver. I still can't figure out why but that fixed it.

 

I'll give that a try tomorrow when I'm back on my laptop.

 

Tried the latest LaptopVideo2Go drivers with the modified INF.. they installed fine but, as with all other drivers I've tried, Device Manager states Windows has stopped the driver as it has encountered a problem (Code 43).

 

It has been almost 2 years since the Dell M15x has been launched after this was abandoned... there is no chance Dell is going to release an updated driver to support this product.. sucks but it is true.. might as well as accept it ... the best driver as of now is 186.91...

 

I was trying to learn how to mod NVIDIA drivers until the crappy NVIDIA 8800m GTX failed in the crappy Alienware m15x-R1.

How is it possible to have a lemon INSIDE of a lemon?!

Very sour.

@firen: I think you're right. When I was reading up on it (mainly Nautis' posts inhere and the laptop2govideo forums) it seemed waaaayy over my head. Need someone with an m15x-R1 and tech know-how to look into this, even if it's at the sacrifice of being able to use the on-board Intel GPU.

 

Theres absolutely no financial motivation for Alienware to continue to support an old product. This is essentially forcing gamers to have to upgrade as we will, much sooner than normal, reach a point where our video cards can't handle current games because the drivers are SO unoptimized and our already aging cards can't keep up.

This is bad business for us, but good business for them.... forcing us to have to buy a new machine sooner.

 

yes and my new laptop will not be a dell or alienware because of this crap they pulled... they only have 186.03 available on their site to download. They no longer answer emails from me or posts on the forums regarding the system... bad choice by alienware/dell. My business moves on to ASUS or Sager.