M11x graphics drivers (General Discussion)

Ok Here some update on my founding,
For those who use my Nvidia Driver 197.16 fusing method
Did u guys notice when u open steam menu u still can switch ur Graphic between IGP and Nvidia Graphic.
which cannot be done on 188.55 Dell factory driver
I don know this is a bad thing or good ...
for me it's good though ,I don have to turnj off steam whenever I swap my graphic.
Do leave ur commend .

 

So i tried giving lksings78's method a shot and got a bsod when installing the drivers, any idea what I did wrong? i did a system restore so im back to normal now

 

I love how I don't have to close steam when I want to switch gpu's. Makes me even lazier now.

 

Lsking, it still kicks up an error for steam. Doesn't let me switch.
Sorry, StevenX

 

You can switch with 197.16 using lksing78s method to install.

There is a whitelist that you can add the excecutable name to which will then ignore it when it comes to switching.

I do not know what happens if you add an application that really needs to be prevented. I have to assume maybe a bluescreen or hardlock.

 

Actually, Dell's 188.55 "factory" driver could switch in Steam just fine... as long as it isn't updating or downloading, which it obviously was when you first got the laptop and started testing.

It took me a little while to figure that out, but it's true. Explains it for all three of you too, doesn't it?

In another thread it was being attributed to upgrading to the new Steam beta but... NOPE!

 

Ok.. here is what we need someone to do here... Need someone to "modify" physx to run on the intel 4500 card so we can set physx to be dedicated on the 4500 for low-med physx details and then we can use the nvidia 335 for the rest. It would be cool to be able to enable some physx stuff. No reason we shouldn't be able to do it on the m11 right? Best Wishes, StevenX

 

I hope this is a joke! PhysX isn't just "some thing that uses graphics cards to run." It originally ran on dedicated hardware until bleeding-edge programmable graphics hardware became capable of processing similar calculations (better suited to it than an x86 CPU). nVidia bought the company and transitioned it to run on GPUs to sell more GPUs. Intel GPUs aren't even remotely capable of running PhysX or CUDA code. Even if they were similarly flexible, their pipelines are fundamentally different and, thus, not able to run PhysX at all. Even if someone did create something similar for Intel graphics it would be slower than just letting the CPU take the hit and having the game slow down! Indeed, even the original dedicated PhysX hardware often lowered FPS in games when PhysX was enabled.

I always thought it was cool that the PhysX card had the same HSF as my old GeForce 3!

 

Does Lksings method really shut down the nvidia GPU when you switch to the intel? I have tried it for a little while and from my gatherings I saw that it didn't but maybe I am doing something wrong.

 

Doubtful that it shuts it down, I'm pretty sure it still drains power like the 188.55s

 

Well I retract my statement with some testing that I did in regards to how much watts my system is using, using both the new drivers and the old drivers I found the same or less battery usage using the new drivers, and my results after the switch on both showed the same or less usage using intel vs nvidia. Over all this is what I found:

Old drivers:
35w during use in wow with nvidia using high performance battery setting (made switch to nvidia)
25w during use in wow with intel using high performance battery setting (after switch to intel)

New drivers:
10w idle using intel in explorer using high performance battery setting
20w during use in wow with intel using high performance setting (before switch to nvidia
35w during use in wow with nvidia using high performance setting (made switch to nvidia)
25w during use in wow with intel using high performance battery setting (after switch from nvidia)
10w idle using intel in explorer using high performance battery setting (after switch from nvidia)

These are very basic measurements I would like to do some more detailed testing but this at least tells me enough that I can stick with the newer drivers.

 

How about measuring after switching from nVidia to Intel, sleeping and resuming? IOW, is it still drawing power after you get it to disappear from the Device Manager?

 

alright i'm very interested in upgrading my drivers.. can anyone create a sum up of pros and cons with it?

I've been hearing fn+f6 doesn't work.. battery time is lower..
but i'm also hearing improvements and etc. can anyone create a nice little pro con list and the link to directions for installing it

 

Like I said these tests were very crude, no sleeps or resumes had taken place the only restart was between the old and new driver set. There were clear differences in game play between the both but I did not look at the device manager during this testing. I used a program called BatteryCare to watch the discharge rate, it wasn't real time as I would have liked but it did give me a descent idea of how much power I was drawing. I will be happy to do more testing but I am satisfied enough with the data I collected to see the jump to the 197 drivers was not a downgrade in battery life at all.

 

The information is in this thread..

I'm running 197.16s using the copy paste directory method into the dell package and it works perfectly. FN F6 works just like the dell drivers because it uses the Dell driver package, simply with udpated nvidia parts but all the original setup of the Dell drivers. This also means the intel power save mode works also! yes you do have to resume/suspend, remember its the original dell package, after switching to the 335M, if you wish to resume battery life on the IGP.

Its a good setup for now though, running the latest nvidia's + the dell package.

I'll be interested to see what nvidia driver version dell releases in the new m11x drivers. If its lower than what i'm running now i'll just keep this setup. its nice to have options

All you have to do, is copy the contents of the INTERNATIONAL directory of the Nvidia driver package into the DISPLAY directory of the Dell package. (Credits to Lsking for his Find)

 

Click my siggy..using this for now
and wait until Dell release their official driver..

 

lksing78, in step 3 are you replacing all the files in the display folder with the new ones, or just drag and dropping the nvidia drivers and replacing whatever conflicting files are there?

 

Drag and drop your nvidia 197.16's files into your dell's display folder, accept all replacements.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Been trying out this "fusing" method, and i gotta say im liking it!
As for battery life, i cant see any difference... though when i get chance im going to do some tests...

Wonder what will happen if you also fuse the latest intel drivers

+rep

Edit: also must add, the 335M seems to power down fine here

 

Need someone to test and make sure it works.

Unofficial Win 7 64bit [Nvidia: 197.16 | Intel: 1994 ] for Alienware_M11x
- Full Package
- Based on Lksing78s method with INF by Nautis
- DriverVer still same as the original for compatibility sake
Note: Due to DriverVer being the same as the original the device manager and some software may identify the drivers as 8.15.11.8688. Check Nvidia Control Panel System Information for correct driver versions.

^If someone could let me know if and how well this works I would be grateful. Make sure to check brightness adjustment and things.

 

I followed the instructions, and it did not work, I can not even install the stock video drivers now, I get this message;

Windows cannot verify the digital signature for the drivers required for this device. A recent hardware or software change might have installed a file that is signed incorrectly or damaged, or that might be malicious software from an unknown source. (Code 52)

Can anyone help me? I used driver sweeper to uninstall all the Nvidia drivers, and have tried reinstalling the stock driver, and the modded one on the above post.

 

ill give it a shot if you can give me idiot proof instructions so I dont mess up. Last time when I atempted lksing78s method i uninstalled the nvidia drivers in discrete mode and then restarted the computer, followed the instructions for copying the new nvidia drivers with the stock dell, and got a bsod during the install. I ended up having to do a quick system restore that got me back to normal, but im hoping it was somehting that I just did wrong.

 

I got that too. Try going into c:\windows\inf and sorting by date. Look at some of of the latest entries and remove the ones that are nvidia by going to a a command prompt and typing:
pnputil -d oem##.inf

It's worth noting that even after this I got a blue screen when first going back to the Dell drivers. After reboot, the GT335M shows up in error, but Intel shows fine. Another pass with the installer fixes all the driver issues, but the system just doesn't quite seem the same anymore, it seems like resuming from hibernation or standby is a little longer and the screen seems to take longer to come up-could just be me noticing it more...

 

Now that you mention it, I also noticed longer resume time from hibernation and sleep with the Dell packager and 197.16. It stays black long enough for me to consider a hard reboot, but then it just shows the login screen and I'm all set.

 

If you press F8 at startup and select “Disable Driver Signature Enforcement”. it seems to work, but everytime I restart I have the same error unless I do the F8 trick, what a pain.

 

If for whatever reason the drivers are not signed or if there is a certificate error windows will prevent the drivers from loading. This is a feature of windows 64bit operating systems. You can use a work around to get around this by setting testmode and signing the files yourself. Setting testmode will cause text to appear on your desktop noting you are in testmode.

For Hybrid Graphics do the following:
1.)Download Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider
2.)Disable UAC (Can usually be done by typing MSCONFIG in run and going to the Tools tab. You can re-enable it after installing the same way.)
3.)Run the Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider and choose "enable test mode"
4.)Reboot. (You should see Test Mode at the bottom right corner after reboot.)
5.)Run the Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider again and choose "Sign a System File"
6.)In the box type "C:\Windows\System32\drivers\nvlddmkm.sys" and click ok (do not include the quotes.)
7.)Click "Sign a System File" again and this time put "C:\Windows\System32\drivers\igdkmd64.sys" (do not include the quotes.)
8.)Reboot and all should work.

I will see if I can put some together for you. You shouldnt need to do a system restore, you can always start in safemode and remove drivers if they give you issues.'

 

If you press F8 at startup and select “Disable Driver Signature Enforcement”. it seems to work, but everytime I restart I have the same error unless I do the F8 trick. I uninstalled the modded driver, used driver sweeper, restarted hit F8 on bootup, selected “Disable Driver Signature Enforcement” installed the stock Dell back on my system, now no problems. Once the mod instructions address this problem, I will try again.

 

With the above method for signing drivers stated using lksing78s method you shouldn't need to sign the drivers. But testmode and signing is the alternative to having to press f8 at boot.

 

i did get a BSOD too when i installed the drivers. i suggest to download Driver Sweeper from guru3D.com and do the following when using lksing78 method:

1) create new hybrid drivers using lksing78 method
2) uninstall Nvidia drivers (when in "Discrete" or Increased Performance" mode).
3) reboot in safe mode.
4) use Driver Sweeper to uninstall whatever's left of the Nvidia Drivers (select "Nvidia-Display" and "Nvidia-PhysyX")
5) reboot in Safe Mode again (coz your M11X is now void of Nvidia drivers and all you'll get is a blank screen if u follow the normal boot sequence).
6) install the new hybrid drivers.
7) reboot normally.
8) ????
9) PROFIT!!!

it worked for me and it ensured that no remnants of the old nvidia drivers remain (thereby avoiding any conflicts that might arise in a BSOD). it's also good practice when installing new drivers for your desktop, be it ATI or NVIDIA.

 

New drivers installed and working

 

Fn+F6 works to switch between the two graphical modes?

 

Yes.

Everything works, and I dont have any more strange issues when coming from suspend

 

How's battery life? Is the nVidia card actually turning off?

 

FYI - we've just posted an updated video driver for the M11x on support.dell.com. It will likely take a couple hours to show up, but it will be there today. Enjoy!

 

Nice! any infor on this erawneila? Going to have to check it out as I'm sure it mentions on the site whats updated. Did the engineers get wind of whats going on here and they just copied it?? lol

EDIT: Yup just checked, not up yet. Looking forward to seeing the reviews. Any clue if it actually kills power to the 335M when it's not in use? Also any idea if a BIOS upgrade is on the way? Not that theres anything wrong with the current BIOS, just curious.

 

Assuming the official driver will be an updated nvidia driver, should I expect to see any graphics performance gains? What have people been seeing with the hacked together driver?

 

With the hacked driver, I have been benching around the same. However I have noticed on some games such as Metro 2033 that my framerates are much more consistent, regardless of what I am doing in the game. Everything just seems smoother and more fluid.

I also am hoping that these new drivers completely switch off the nividia chip when switching modes. That would be awesome!

 

Is it these drivers your talking about? their for the m11x but tagged as beta?

ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/video/NVIDIA_NOTEBOOK-BETA-DRIVER-_P03_R264266.exe

Edit: Ummmm, some lovely buescreens on install, dont use these unless you like bluescreens

Edit Edit: Ignore Me

 

Installed fine here and they are indeed version 8.17.11.9712. I have verified that FN/F6 does work for switching graphics modes. Time to go check them out and see if they fixed anything!

 

Can't wait to see the results Raven, any chance you can do a 3DMark06 run as well at stock settings?

 

Yea ignore me. Some driver cleanage did the trick!

 

Is that forceware 197.16?

It's not... I'm running 8.17.11.9716

 

so any good stuff about the new ones? or the guy who did the custom ones. can anyone tell me how well the custom drivers work.

 

Decimal moves and 8.17.1 197.16

 

wait so is that link for the dell ones, where did you find it i looked at support.dell.com and couldn't find it. and wouldn't these achieve the same thing as the hacked drivers, running the new nvidia drivers without any problems.

 

Nice work. Just found the trick to the 197 series drivers myself. Great to see a company supporting Hybrid Graphics beyond just fixing the serious bugs.

Downloading these now and will check the differences.
I am working on a 197.45 package.

 

^ Oops sry.. this was meant to be an edit to that post.

I think most people, modders included, would always recommend Official drivers over Unofficial ones. While modded ones may work there may be other fixes and things added to the official ones.

What is the version of the Intel drivers on these (the official 197.16)?

 

3DMark06
Before: 6431 Dell 188.55 Driver
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=13602474
After: 6501 Latest 197.12 Dell Driver
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=13738396

 

Okay, ran some tests and discovered the following.

3Dmark06 benched within 30 points of the stock original drivers. No real improvements there. However, like the hacked drivers, Metro 2033 runs significantly better with the new drivers. Fn/f6 works fine for switching graphics cards, but like stock original drivers, requires reboot or sleep mode to have nvidia card switched off. The nvidia stays on under device manager otherwise and battery time is identical to performance mode. With the hacked drivers, nvidia would disappear from device manager without sleep mode or reboot. Battery life would improve but not go up to normal save power mode. Fan issue remains the same, but system seems to run slightly cooler then hacked drivers. All in all, it looks like the hacked drivers were slightly better due to doing a better job of shutting off the nvidia chipset (though not completely). I sorta like the peace of mind of having certified drivers installed though and probably will keep them.

Edit. Hmmmm...system now has problems waking up from sleep mode. I have twice opened the lid to a black screen. Sometimes it works, sometimes it don't.

 

Nevermind, question answered.

 

The link is from dells FTP, they havent updated the support website yet. so yes they are official.

Intel DriverVer=09/02/2009,8.15.10.1892

Edit: just noticed, you can now click on the icon to switch as well as FN + F6, nice!