Punkbuster issue with M11xR2 Optimus Discussion - BC2 and other titles

Someone wants to help us at least. Can't say I'm getting the same response from Even balance about this though.

 

...and it seems that i have been oblivious to the PB problem with this laptop.

I decided to drop $30 to get the game because of it's WONDERFUL gameplay and multiplayer functions....but:

I was kicked from several games in a row, and then decided to google the problem, but the answers there didn't help solve my problem. THEN, i was like, oh wait, my favorite FAQ site might have the answer. So i check up on threads here on it, and it's obvious from the beginning that it's a problem with PB and this laptop having optimus graphics.

SO.

To the main topic. I am obviously a noob with the driver sets. Can someone please tell me exactly which driver to install so that I am not constantly being kicked out of BFBC2 matches (and very detailed step by step instructions on installing)? I'm currently using: Driver Version 8.17.12.5730, whatever that means, HA.

With some helpful advice and instructions, MAYBE, just MAYBE, I won't be pulling my hair out over just wanting to play a full match.

THANKS A TON!! I love supportive posters.

PS: I'll be bookmarking this thread and checking up on it frequently, so if you need to know anything additional about my problems, feel free to ask. THANKS!

 

189.79 Drivers

Just know that if you use that driver, performance in all of your games will go down significantly compared to using the latest driver sets.

 

even fps in BC2?

alright i'll take a look. thanks a lot for the post and the warning.

 

Maybe this will help...?

 

UPDATE: just downloaded and installed after a driver sweep. i couldn't tell whether it worked or not, although after installing it said finished complete, etc. I also checked my driver version and noticed that it has changed successfully to 189.79. So after that i reinstalled PB and added bc2 to the list and such, I re-ran BC2 and got kicked again. What am i doing wrong?

 

erm, not to be blunt but I don't know how this helps me not getting kicked out of a BFBC2 match by PB? (its the whole multiple direct3D loaded error thing)



EDIT: still having problems, I have 189 installed. Help me please I really appreciate it.

 

cmon guys, (bump) i still really need help.

 

NEVER use a driver sweep with Windows 7, it can delete critical windows files and such. The OS is new enough that all you have to do is uninstall via the control panel, restart, install the new drivers, and restart again

 

thanks a lot for the post, though my problem still persists. I have the 189 drivers installed. :/

 

Where'd you hear this? Driver Sweeper has worked in Win7 since v.2.0.0

Phyxion.net | Driver Sweeper History | Driver Sweeper | Driver Sweeper
scroll down to "Version 2.0.0 - 21-07-09"
- Windows 7 support.

 

2nd the above post. I have no issues with strong statements about what you should or shouldn't do... However please follow the post up with links, facts, details.. driver sweep works fine with windows 7. I have used it. Others have as well.

So please let us now how or why you came to this conclusion.

Not throwing anyone under the bus. Just want some more details to hear your side.

BW, stevenx

 

Hey StevenX, i know you're really good at helping people with problems regarding the m11x. Can you help me with my problems regarding PB and BFBC2? I can't make it work with the 189 driver installed.

 

I'm wondering if there is another piece of software that is conflicting with PB. If you have the time I would suggest the following course of action:

Get an external drive, or if you have enough space on your primary drive, make a full backup of your system. Several free tools are available and others have free trials (like Acronis).

Make a new OS installation. Only upload the necessary drivers and BFBC2. *Nothing* else.

Try again.

 

@sfxxxxx - The m11x-r2 is a different animal than the R1. I would highly suggest you download CCleaner which is free. Install it.. now in this order exactly...
1. Uninstall your nvidia driver and any other video related drivers in the control panel - uninstall a program. Then reboot.
2. Use ccleaner to examine your registry. It will ask if you want to back it up, select yes and back it up to the desktop.
3. Use ccleaner Examine your registry and it will list anything it finds. Choose to fix or clean all these items.
Then repeat steps 2 and 3 without backing up the registry until it finds no more issues.
4. Reboot.
5. Download and install 189 beta driver.
6. Extract and install it. Then reboot again.
7. Now try bfbc2 and let us know if it works this time.

CCleaner has never tanked my machine and I literally use it weekly. I have to warn you, that any modifications to the registry can negatively impact your machine. If you back the registry up, then it minimizes your risk.

Good Luck, StevenX

 

I officially LOVE YOU. I followed your brilliant and detailed step by step instructions, and now i'm done getting kicked; the grief is finally over!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! +1000000

 

+Value, its what I do...

Glad to hear it's working! pew pew some campers (as the guys in the bfbc2 forum say)

Just remember, as others have mentioned, that those older drivers are not good for newer games such as starcraft 2 or mafia 2. So if you plan on switching over to those, you may want to follow the steps above and utilize a newer driver.

BW, StevenX

 

From that post a page or two ago about Nvidia being aware of the problem, do you think there is a good chance we will get an updated driver that is compatible?

 

If I gave an answer it would be pure speculation. The reason is that nobody is 100 percent sure the exact cause of the issue. Obviously something changed between the release of the beta driver and the official whql driver released after. We also don't know if punkbuster changed their detection criteria at that time. I do know that it's costing them customers and some that are interested in the m11x R2 are looking at other brands or models due to this issue.

Future Driver Development:
Nautis and Kopicha do an outstanding job adapting drivers to be utilized by the m11. These guys don't work for Alienware or dell specifically but update the drivers out kindness. So do what you can to support these guys.

Closing.. I dont know if the PB issue will ever be resolved. All everyone can do is continue to open troubletickets, tweet, facebook and anything else that gathers attention to this.

BW, StevenX

 

Yep - sorry Greg. Not going to help - this is definitely an issue with PB and NV's Optimus tech. At least NV is on the case. Time will tell but in the meantime, the 189 workaround seems to be the best course at the moment.

 

I hope so, I submitted a ticket and after a week I haven't gotten any response from Nvidia.

 

I'm a member of the press. I'm talking with a few engineers; we're looking into it.

 

OK, here's the lowdown guys.

I was given some beta drivers by my NVIDIA contact. They do not fix the problem. I'm currently uninstalling and will give you guys the scoop:

NVIDIA's Engineering team is now in contact with Punkbuster. Within the next 60-30 days they'll try and re-create the issue that I have on my review units, as well as release a fix, either from Punkbuster's end, or NVIDIA's as a new Verde driver.

You're welcome guys/gals.

 

Nvidia just sent me a response after I sent them a nasty-gram:

Nearly two weeks and no response from you all. I've bought a ton of Nvidia products from you all mutiple 6600GTs, 7800GT, multiple 8800GTS, GTX250, multiple GTX 260s, and multiple GTX275s.

I know you all have lost alot of business to ATI/AMD. Keep up with this kind of service and you'll lose alot more (as I type from my AMD rig with an Asus 5850 card).

"Thank you for contacting NVIDIA Customer Care, apologize for the delay in getting back to you. We are aware of the problem and working with Punkbuster developers to determine how best to resolve this problem. We will published an article for this issue and update on process."

 

ok i have a question for everyone in the community with this problem. are you running the 189.88 or the 189.79?

I am running 189.88

 

Please like my new page:

Welcome to Facebook

Updated my logo, hope you like it:

 

I have a more obscene idea...

 

@All - Well Ive had my m15x for roughly a day.. the comparison between the m11 and the m15 is pretty substantial.
Benchmark Comparison (Atacoma desert, 32 man, no other people, conquest)
I go to each objective and capture, shoot stuff, throw grenades and smoke.

These are at low settings native rez on each machine... no aa or af

M11xR1, gpu oc 550/850, su4100
2010-09-14 23:37:58 - BFBC2Game
Frames: 6070 - Time: 138597ms - Avg: 43.796 - Min: 32 - Max: 75

M15x, no oc, 5850 10.8 driver, I3-350m (stock darnit!)
2010-10-01 21:55:27 - BFBC2Game
Frames: 12128 - Time: 130105ms - Avg: 93.217 - Min: 69 - Max: 147

M15x, 5850 set to 5870 clocks, 10.8 driver, i3-350m (stock)
2010-10-02 01:38:39 - BFBC2Game
Frames: 15662 - Time: 131144ms - Avg: 119.426 - Min: 67 - Max: 201

 

@ Mr. Steve:
Nice catch!
How is the battery life on the m15x ? I've been looking for an adequate replacement for my desktop (since my m11x has removed the last primary purpose it had - gaming), but I still need a computer with a wee bit more... oomph, every once in a while.

 

Well yeah, of course there's going to be that big of a difference!

That's like comparing a BMW 335i and M6

They're really not even in the same league.

My Asus G73JH-A1 gets at least double the FPS as my m11x if not more.

Mucho congratulations by the way. If you're only going to own one notebook and you want it for gaming at full settings on any game worry free, you pretty much have to go for a M15x or M17x or Asus G73 or the new MSI or Sager/Clevo.

The M11x is a perfect balance between performance, portability and battery. But anyone buying one shouldn't expect to run most games at High-Ultra High settings.

But more on the Med-High or even lower for MP games. But nothing else 13" or smaller can play games like the M11x.

Of course, Steve, you know all this already. I'm just clarifying for the lurkers.

But seriously, congrats. I think you made the right move.

Maybe consider the m11x or something similar when you know there's going to be a worthy panel, GPU that is dx11 ready and can run games in high/ultra high settings and not kill the battery and most importantly, no design defects like breaking hinges?

That's what I'm kinda doing. We're keeping ours, because the wife is in love with it and just going to pay the premium on an accidental warranty, but I'm moving on until they get PB fixed.

But if/when the R3 or latter comes out that hits all those criteria then you can bet for sure I'll be getting one...

With an extended warranty

 

I dint think we really need A low voltage CPU M11X R1 with GT335 comparison with M15 5850. State the obvious!
No surprise in the numbers really they are two different laptops aimed at two different markets. Sorry you didn't get on with your M11x but these figures should be in the M15 forum.

 

IMO people get hung up on ultra high settings and unrealistic expectations for an ultraportable. That is fine, to each their own, but the most recent games will need something more along the lines of the M15x to crank all the settings. Of course they will! And of course bigger, heavier gaming rigs will run them better.

I previously had a netbook for travel that could only play casual titles and really old stuff. 10 hours of battery life was awesome, but I can only take so much Peggle .The M11x is perfect for me. I am not hung up ultra high settings, I am thrilled that I can even play 98% of my games on the M11x. My desktop is pretty pimpin', so I do appreciate cranking detail settings, it just does not seem necessary on an 11" screen.

It just relates to your expectations and how you approach what this little beast can do. Like I said, I'm thrilled with it because I have had portable computers recently that cannot even load a directX9 game.

Cheers,
Stain

 

Yeah, I have my desktop for "ultra high" stuff (but comming from an Intel GMA 950... my expectations for this laptop were blown far, far away)...

 

@All - sorry my intention was not to sidetrack this thread. Some folks had asked before if I would post some figures between the two models. I probably should have started it's own thread. Notice I dont post any negative comments or "flames".. merely figures from both. I like each person to have the facts and purchase based on their own individual needs. Best Wishes, StevenX

 

anyone know if punkbuster is like hackshield or whatever anti hacking program that Nexon has? The game i'm referring to is Vindictus. I have the R2 also and everytime i play with the dedicated it will kick me out about a couple minutes into the game referring to unauthorized program detected.. anyone know how to fix this or is it similar to this punkbuster problem? i don't have BC2 so i'm not sure.

 

I did this and it worked out at first. I was able to play a few sessions of BFBC2 with no kicking. But now I can't even run the game. I'm not sure what happened, even on single player. When I start the game everything run fine, but after a few seconds or a minute it starts bogging down, before even entering a game. it does this on single player as well. I installed FRAPS to check it out and with fraps running the single player start sequence it reads the first paragraph at 30-40 and then goes down to 5 and less for the next paragraph and just kinda hangs there.

Any ideas? I've tried whitelisting the game and every time I re-open the nvidia control panel the game is gone, but when I re-add it its automatically selecting the High-Performance settings anyway.

 

@Forsaken - Virus? Trojan? Worm? Virus scanner or protection?

1. Open Task Mgr
2. Look at processes, see what is taking up memory and cpu.
3. You can take a closer look at performance and sort by mem or cpu or network.

It also could be a memory leak... each machine/user/installed apps are different. So I am just taking some general guesses.

Last, Does it do this in any game? Does the machine crawl even after a reboot with nothing else going on?

BW, stevenx

 

Only does it in BFBC2, I played borderlands 2 for 2 hours with no problems. I decided to look in my setting on BFBC2 so see what was up (after uninstalling the drivers, sweeping, and reinstall) and noticed I was missing the high settings and MSAA on AA, so clearly the gpu wasnt kicking in. I cleaned it and re-installed the 260 drivers after frustration.

So here, I'm wondering why the Nvidia control panel was not able to save and use the whitelist settings. After installing the 260 driver when I whitlisted the game and exited the Nvidia panel I got a pop-up that said "are you sure you want to save the settings" or something along the lines of that, I was not getting that with the 189.88 driver. The other thing I find weird is the only thing I've done since installing the 189.88 driver was install a bluetooth module I bought off ebay and install the dell drivers for it.

ps-sorry for my run-on sentences and rambling, im tired.

 

so this issue is only for BC2? or all PB games?

 

mine does the same thing , i gave up and play on non pb servers now , so im sure im playing with cheaters now lol.

 

Who has a link to the upcoming PB fix? cant seem to find it.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/526641-pb-issue-will-fixed-apparently.html

 

As of right now I'm guessing it's still pointless to buy this game for the m11x? I was just about to get it since it's only $15 for PC on Amazon

 

well, nvidia has promised a driver fix, so you might as well get it for the sweet price and just wait to play it until the drivers come out.

 

So I sent a PM to an admin at NVIDIA that I know regarding the problem we all have and hate on the 260.99 driver. Here is the conversation:

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

Sent Yesterday, 11:45 PM
Any updated news on how much longer til the PB fix NVIDIA drive with optimus support is coming out?

ManuelG
Group:NVIDIA Technical Support
Sent Today, 11:18 AM
It will be released within the next week or two.

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

Yes!

 

nice! bout time.

 

Yesss Yessss Yessssss !!!

 

the 265 drivers were just released for quadro so the geforce one is right around the corner! hopefully...

 

Should be just in time for the vietnam dlc, cool.

 

Where's the link?

Kopicha can Mod those drivers right now and we can test them.