The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    M11xR1 - Problems after installing 263.08 nvidia drivers

    Discussion in 'Alienware M11x' started by felfel, Apr 5, 2011.

  1. felfel

    felfel Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Hi all! I'd greatly appreciate some input on this :)

    A while after installing the new nVidia drivers from the Dell website (263.08), my m11x decided it wouldn't let me use fn+f6 anymore (i.e. I couldn't switch between integrated and dedicated gfx anymore). Thinking it was a driver issue I

    uninstalled:
    1. On-Screen-Display
    2. Nvidia driver (clean up with "driver cleaner" software)
    3. command center

    reinstalled all of them cleanly in the same order. Now my m11x is exhibiting very strange behaviour: sometimes the graphics switch works after a boot and sometimes it doesn't! The nvidia tray icon appears only sometimes, not on every boot (right now its there, but on my next reboot it probably wont be).

    I'm pretty confused :confused: has anyone experienced this? Any idea how I could solve this? Maybe I did something wrong and my driver installation wasnt as clean as I hoped... Could anyone give me tips to ensure a "clean" install?

    I have my recovery disk back at home, which I will use in 2 weeks time but it would be nice to fix it now :p
     
    felfel, Apr 5, 2011
    #1
  2. Bendak

    Bendak Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    36
    Messages:
    589
    Likes Received:
    14
    Trophy Points:
    31
    Yep, same thing happened to me. Just roll back to the previous driver.
     
    Bendak, Apr 5, 2011
    #2
  3. whitrzac

    whitrzac The orange end is cold...

    Reputations:
    497
    Messages:
    1,142
    Likes Received:
    7
    Trophy Points:
    56
    when you install the vid driver, choose "advanced' and then check the "preform clean instal" box


    I had the same issue when I went back to switchable graphics...
     
    whitrzac, Apr 5, 2011
    #3
  4. ejohnson

    ejohnson Is that lemon zest?

    Reputations:
    827
    Messages:
    2,278
    Likes Received:
    104
    Trophy Points:
    81
    I tried to install these new drivers for 6 hours, never could get them to work.... reinstalled the old ones and Im back up and running.
     
    ejohnson, Apr 5, 2011
    #4
  5. Scottyballs

    Scottyballs Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    85
    Messages:
    110
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    That sucks.. Ive had 263.08 for 2 weeks now and it has switched every time no problems.. I did advanced and clean install, same as whitzac did maybe give that a try ...
     
    Scottyballs, Apr 5, 2011
    #5
  6. felfel

    felfel Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Hmm, it seems to be following a pattern:

    1. it doesn't work, so I reinstall the (advanced - reinstall) drivers.
    2. Reboot, it works.
    3. Reboot again, it works a second time.
    4. Reboot next day, doesn't work.
    5. Repeat steps 1-4 until insanity :mad:

    I want to try installing the original drivers that came when I got the laptop, anyone got an idea where I can get them? I haven't found them on the dell support website.

    EDIT: just installed the old drivers (the 197.12 BETA from the dell site). Hopefully this will work better and Dell puts out a driver that actually works in the next update!
     
    felfel, Apr 7, 2011
    #6
  7. kcljj

    kcljj Notebook Geek

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    82
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Do you often change your power settings? I found for some reason changing back and forth between my balanced and high performance power option meant I couldn't switch. Also I once found that the GPU was disabled in device manager and had to re-enable it.
     
    kcljj, Apr 7, 2011
    #7
  8. c4sc4

    c4sc4 Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    246
    Messages:
    256
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Here is the link to the previous version driver, newer than that beta one. Drivers and Downloads
     
    c4sc4, Apr 7, 2011
    #8
  9. Brodygs9630

    Brodygs9630 Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    53
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    What exactly do people mean by "switching" between them? Like from save power to normal using fn + f6?
     
    Brodygs9630, Apr 7, 2011
    #9
  10. Bendak

    Bendak Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    36
    Messages:
    589
    Likes Received:
    14
    Trophy Points:
    31
    He means manually switching between the Intel/nVidia chipsets.
     
    Bendak, Apr 8, 2011
    #10