NV Verde Notebook Driver 258.96 *WHQL* - Discussion relating to M11xR2

We can only hope nVidia will add in the R2 soon. Even though Dell has 256 series drivers now, PC manufactures are always slow on publishing driver updates. Video card drivers have always been a bane to notebook users until nVidia started released reference drivers, not sure if ATI does.

 

It might be worthwhile to use the NVIDIA Driver Feedback survey to let Nvidia know that the M11xR2 does not work with their Verde drivers (as it is missing the Hardware ID strings.) Make sure to click the Provide Driver Feedback link at the bottom and fill out the proper info.

 

I did the survey , lets hope a lot more do and we get some result !

 

Done survey, lets hope they hear us up

 

Survey done

 

I want to apply kopcia's instructions to update the drivers on my new Asus N73. Can anyone give me instructions on how to modify the .inf so that it's recognized? I would greatly appreciate any help with this...

 

Survey submitted. Thanks, Nautis.

 

alright no problem, haha i only try and stick with all the driver updates just in case it makes my gaming like 10x better (like maybe just maybe the graphics card will be updated so much that i can play gta4 at 50fps on all HIGH! ha)

 

Survey Submitted

 

I'll fill the survey out when I get home, for naow thanks for all the driver updates!

 

Submitted survey, thanks!

 

Submitted survey. Nice job Nautis.

 

survey submitted

 

done my survey too. hope they can add it soon. so we dont have to rely on modding

 

I think i successfuly installed the new driver, how can i tell?

funny, i dont see the taskbar icon for gpu usuage folks are taking about. the driver i have is 8.17.12.5896 in the device manager.

 

Follow the instructions in the video here.

 

thanks ultimately had to uninstall the nvidia drivers and go with the new dell ones. LOTRO kept crashing. I will wait for drivers to mature and then retry... with nvidia inf lord of the rings online would not work.

 

I've installed the 258.96 drivers and even though the taskbar indicator shows that it's using the GPU when running Warcraft 3, the performance tells a different story (10-11 fps with all effects turned up). Has other people has similar experiences as well? Any suggestions for a fix (force optimus to use the GPU somehow)?

 

I don't think you're right that it's not using the nVidia GPU if that is your fps reading with every effect turned up/on. You need to turn down the effects. I don't play WoW, but the posts I've seen imply you need to drop some things to get decent performance, and even then you'll see some drops. I'm sure the huge thread on WoW can be some help.

 

Thanks for the tip but I had assumed there was a difference between Warcraft 3 and WoW since Warcraft 3 is a slightly older game. Are you saying this GPU cannot run a 7 year old game full tilt? I'll scan through the WoW discussions and see if applying the same settings makes a difference.

 

Whoops! I totally misread that you are playing WC3. Please ignore me

 

Will this newer driver allow us to bypass the punkbuster "multiple direct3d loaded" error that shows up. Also, will it be always set to the GT 335M discrete card?

How are people able to play without rolling back the drivers on M11X R2 with online Punkbuster games?

 

Ive found that with some games even after white-listing them, and with the Nvidia GPU apparently engaged in the taskbar, that it still obviously isnt using the 335M since I have terrible FPS.

For these games (Need for Speed World, WoW and Starcraft 2) the only way I get the 335M to engage is to right click the exe file and tell it to launch with the Nvidia GPU. Shouldnt have any effect since theyre already white-listed, but seems to work.

(Running the 258.96 drivers.)

 

interesting, will test that!

 

In Warcraft 3, I still get a laggy mouse with these drivers, even after changing certain suggested things (framedelay set to 0, set to single display performance, turn off vsync, etc). It's weird, because I can run Starcraft 2 just fine.

I tried using the latest Dell driver and also the stock driver and same thing. My friend's R1 can play Warcraft 3 just fine, but my R2 fully decked out has a laggy mouse. What a bummer!

Anyone got any tips?

 

I'd also love to hear any tips people have. My experience with WC3 is similar when all the visuals are turned up, whereas newer games like Heroes of Newerth and League of Legends runs just fine.

 

I'm getting a nasty freeze up when using the 258.96 drivers. Happens in WoW, StarCraft II, and Alien Breed: Impact.

This sucks because these have been the only drivers that run Alien Breed: Impact, all other drivers the game wont even start.

 

Try 259.12 Quadro WHQL see if that helps.

 

I have read this elsewhere about the 256 series of drivers. It seems as if the profiles sometimes do not save or whatever which would of course cause Optimus to not work properly.

I wonder if this GeForce SLI Profile Tool created by Nvidia would help this process. NOTE: The tool is linked under "File Attachments" and above "How well did this answer your question?". I would love to hear if this actually exports the profiles with Optimus settings listed.

 

thanks for the help Nautis, the unfortunately Alien Breed still doesn't work.

 

Seriously, this are looking so awful for the M11x-R2. How soon do you guys think that optimus drivers will be headache free? I can't believe they would release the technology in its current state. I feel like I paid over 2 grand to beta test.

 

go for the 259.12 drivers on laptopvideo2go.com

 

Why my m11xR2 fps on warcraft3 (DotA) is around 20.
Driver version 258.96 Can anyone tell me how to fix this problem?

 

If I'm not mistaken, there's already a recent thread on the R2's WC3 performance issues.

 

There has been report that this driver seems to work better with WC3. Not entirely fantastic but much better over the 258.96 set. You can find it here

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...rivers-v259-22-r2-discussion.html#post6595237

 

try the new set of drivers I posted on the above link. And discuss that in the new thread if you would like to feedback about the new drivers. Thanks

 

Ill appreciate it if someone can download the Mafia 2 demo with this driver to see how it performs compared to the Dell 257.30....the dell one is giving me about 25 avg fps on medium.

I am not really experienced with modding drivers, so I just wanna be sure of the performance before I try to get them.

 

in other forums there has been report about Mafia 2 works better on 259.xx drivers along with the latest PhysX. Some get as high as 10-15fps more. But drivers performance can sometimes varies from system to system. you may want to try it out yourself

 

thanx...could I get a link to that forum?

 

over at guru3d

 

I already tried it,but with the hight setting at 1366x768 it also get bad fps (around 18-21). : ( My older nb can get high fps than m11x (8600GM)...

 

I installed this driver and man oh man I am just so satisfied. I ran Transformers WfC at full with no problems except the occasional lag here and there, I didn't even enable turboboot or overclock. Thanks guys for all the input you have on this stuff! M11xR2 just gets better and better....

 

I am getting great framerates on Starcraft 2 and Company of Heroes using 258.96. Also, the optimus correctly activates the games to use the 335m GPU.

See thread here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/509089-company-heroes-m11x-r2-problem-solved.html

I don't understand how other people can have different outcomes given the same hardware (m11xR2) and same driver (258.96). I wonder if the people having problems did not use the Guru3D driver sweeper and have multiple old drivers installed.

I started with a clean install from Alienware Win7 Home Premium 64-bit DVD.
My frame rates were awful using the default Dell drivers, but got fixed after installing 258.96 using the original instructions by kopicha.

 

Yes, at the highest settings, the fps is still horrible. But at some intermediate settings, the result is slightly better than it was before. Overall, however, there's still an issue with this game and the latest driver hasn't solved it yet.

 

one thing thats worth giving it a shot is go to your nvidia control panel, go under your manage 3d settings page. on the main page by default the default gpu is set to auto. try to change that to nvidia high performance apply then relaunch your game again. there has been some report that by doing this force everything to attempt the use of your nvidia gpu and it solve certain games issues that whitelist doesnt help. try it and post your result. thanks

 

I already changed.. but i still terrible fps.

 

Alright guys, I tried... I really did. I followed the instructions to the T and yet I'm still unable to install the 258.96 driver on my M11x R2.

I have no idea what I did wrong. I uninstalled the previous driver, cleaned my system with Driver Sweeper and tried to install the 258.96 driver with the modded inf. But alas, the installer still came out with the error that it could not detect any suitable driver for my hardware and closes.

I've been going on at this for a good 2 hours but to no avail and its really starting to erk me. Any help guys? Thanks in advance.

 

did you make sure u copy the inf file to the right place. if you do it correctly it will ask you if you want to replace the file.

 

@Zaiken. I was on the same boat as you, and I literally spent the whole night reading up on threads about how to change the stock 189.xx driver to the 258.96, as well as what to do if it does not work. I carefully and diligently followed Kopicha's instructions and was still getting compatibility error, and was about to give up hope. However, until after numerous attempts with patience and resilience it paid off. The process DOES work.

Here's what I did: Followed steps 1-5. And after I got initial compatibility error from step 5, I opened driver sweeper again did another sweep on all Nvidia drivers, checked under Log and Backup on "Management" Tab and removed remaining drivers. (Make sure to completely REMOVE anything that has to do with Nvidia.)
Next, step 6: Extract the INF file "nvdm" from your desktop to C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver\258.96\WinVista_Win7_64\International\ Display and it will give you a prompt that there is already a file. Click: "Copy and Replace" to replace the file with Kopicha's inf mod.

(Here's what I did different)
Step 7: After replacing the old "nvdm" file with the new, you should have been already directed to the C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver\258.96\WinVista_Win7_64\International\ Display window, now run the Setup.exe from the same window/folder under Display.

Step 8: Do not forget to click on "Install Anyway" when prompted. And reboot. (Assuming this works for you.)

BTW: Thanks to Kopicha and Nautis I am able to play SC2 on Ultra settings smoothly, again I appreciate all your efforts.

 

That worked! I don't believe it! Thank you so much for your help. I was about to bash my head into the wall when I couldn't figure it out. Thanks a bunch!