m11x R1 260.99 Hybrid Drivers + Intel 2020

Great stuff. I wish this was available 6 months ago, when I had my R1

All in all the R1 with SU7300 was a pleasant experience for gaming, not for anything else thou.

 

Thanks for responding back guys I really needed that reconfirmed, T'is interesting stuff.

As per my confusion before, the INF in RigelKents driver package is setup for the old Intel drivers which doesn't have some of the files or the new Intel control panel. This is probably the reason you guys are having the problems you do after installing it and why the extra steps are needed. Things like GfxUI.exe are part of the new Intel drivers and not the old.

I am wondering if with the Intel portion of the INF setup properly it will install and work properly or if you guys have stumbled upon another way to have the new Intel drivers working on Intel 4500M Hybrid Graphics systems (or at least the M11xR1). You guys are the first I have seen that have Hybrid Graphics working with the 4500M and the new Intel drivers.

For those wondering what I am talking about here are the comparisons between the old and new Intel files and INF.
2226 vs 2020 Folders
2226 vs 2020 INF
For those who don't know what they are looking at it will be easiest to look at the Folder compare. The things in blue are in one version but not the other. Red/Gray are matching files with the 2226 ones being newer.

 

Sweet! Lol. That's pretty cool.

If you can share what the correct INF should look like, I could revert back to the official drivers and try the install again to test. I've got no problem with being a guinea pig - it's a great way to learn how to fix stuff

 

I have the comparison above of the Intel INFs, may have to scroll right for 2020 side.

I am finishing up my Nvidia 265.90 & Intel 2226 Hybrid Graphics Master Set right now which should cover all Hybrid Graphics notebooks I know about (14 in total + a couple variants on each) it also includes preliminary support for windows 8. I don't expect it to fully function with all notebooks until we figure out the proper settings for each, so testing will be essential. I intend for this package to act as a template for others to be able to build their own sets (much like RigelKent, thomaskc.dk, and others are doing now).

EDIT: 260.99/2226 INF - Replace the one in the Display.Driver folder after extracting the RigelKents 260.99 + Intel 2226 Hybrid.rar and then install. Driver signing may be required after installing for full functionality. Note: Untested. Let me know if and how well it works.

Tried the method you guys are using to install 2226 on my notebook and I get the old black screen when switched to Intel. Alienware may indeed have fixed the blackscreen issue that is plaguing the rest of the hybrid graphics community (that also have 4500M Intel GPUs) with the A05 bios.

 

thanks im gonna try to uninstall and install these.

 

UPDATE : for the 260.99 + intel 2226 package, please proceed to page 10.

Post a link to specific post please, cause i have only 6 pages in this thread.

 

Is there any interesting changes between intel driver 1994 and 2226?

 

Any chance you (or someone else) could post the inf as an attachment here or even email it to me? I'd like to give it a shot, but can't access your site from the network I'm on currently.

Thanks.

 

Sure thing. See attachment.

 

Awesome, thanks. Gonna try it out now and report back!

 

@Nautis, yeah so far it is the only method i found to make the 2XXX intel series drivers to work for the hybrid intel 4500m.

Tested it on this m11x R1 for more then 30 times and never encountered that GfxUI error, all tests done from different scenarios : fresh install, having a previous driver first etc, to encompass all possibilities, never encountered the error once, i was only able to reproduce it when i played around with the language settings of the OS.

Im done with all the projects at work and is now working on a modular solution for the driver installation, people will be happier (including me) if they do not have to enable signing mode etc, I want the next release to have only 1 instruction....: Double Click and run !

 

I'll be interested to see if/how you can pull this off. Would you be basically creating a packager to install/manage the two separate signed drivers? I don't really see any other obvious way around the driver signing issue (short of paying MS's driver signature fees), so I will definitely be watching your progress. At any rate, thanks again for the work you've done on this project so far.

I am pleased as punch to report back that this seems to have worked flawlessly. Once I had the previous rendition uninstalled and cleaned out, I ran the setup.exe with the modified INF in the correct folder. Rebooted, and everything works. Driver Details is reporting 260.99 and 2226. The Intel Graphics Properties (gfxUI) works fine and dandy. And switching works perfectly as well.

Thanks for the work!



On a related note (I guess?): What's the deal with the 4 nVidia HD Audio devices that get installed alongside the the video driver?

EDIT: Maybe not quite flawless: http://forum.notebookreview.com/6944359-post164.html

 

Interesting that it worked flawlessly for you codesplice, because my speakers and audio jacks stopped working after using that inf...

I even uninstalled the drivers (including the audio ones) and reinstalled without the modded inf, my speakers are still dead right now.

 

Heh, good catch. I wasn't paying attention to my speakers. It looks like the inf removed the Realtek audio drivers for some reason.

I just reinstalled those (from Dell, I had the files handy from all the tinkering I've been doing the past few days), rebooted, and my speakers work again.

 

sorry i'm a noob but can someone explain to me what this all means? is my r1 not going to be optimal on its own?

 

Because of the hybrid graphics in the notebook (intel + nvidia), you need a special driver to be able to take advantage of both of them and to switch between the two. Dell's last release of the driver was a much older nVidia release - something along the 197 series, I believe.

This method lets you get a much more recent (260.99) nVidia release, and an updated Intel (2226) release as well.

The 260 release includes fixes for sluggish gameplay ih several games - specifically Fall Out New Vegas, I believe.

 

@RigelKent: Much agreed this is probably the most awaited feature for just about everyone. Very close to having it, hope your progress is going as well as mine. Will compare notes in PM.

@codesplice: There isn't necessarily a need to have a new installer as NVI2 should be able to handle it. (see attached - take special note of intel portion)

Glad the new INF is working for the most part. I will have to see what is going on with the audio portion. I guess Alienware fixed the blackscreen issue that is plaguing all Intel 4500M Hybrid Graphics notebooks with the A05 BIOs so congrats guys.

-

Hybrid Graphics drivers are fragmented into two camps because of the blackscreen issue. Notebooks with Intel HD and the M11xR1 can use any of the newer Intel drivers. Other notebooks with Intel Mobile Series 4 (4500MHD) must use older Intel drivers up to version 2020.

So far I cover the following notebooks in my Hybrid Graphics Master Sets:
Acer Aspire 5745G
Acer Aspire 5935G
Asus UL30VT
Asus UL50VT
Asus UL80VT
Asus UX50V
BenQ Joybook S42
Dell Alienware M11xR1
Dell Vostro 3700
Fujitsu Amilo XI 3650
HP Pavilion DM3
Lenovo Thinkpad T410s (non-optimus)
Levono IdeaPad V460
Levono IdeaPad V460
Sony Vaio Z (VGN Model)
Sony Vaio Z (VPC Model)

Those looking for more information on Hybrid Graphics check the thread here.

Installer featuring separate Intel driver option:

 

Oh cool, I wasn't aware of that. Very cool indeed. Thanks for the information

 

@nautis, i think im on a slightly different road, i have 2 separate installers, 1 for intel and 1 for nvidia, results are not consistent for the moment, been trying to figure out why.

Anyway seems the future is still bright for R1 users, in terms of drivers.

 

Gotcha we are taking a bit different paths a bit here. I sent you a PM with some of my progress and the Intel module. Assuming we can get these to work when separated they can be packaged any way users like.

 

Notebooks with Intel HD and the M11xR1 can use any of the newer Intel drivers. Other notebooks with Intel Mobile Series 4 (4500MHD)

I thought that m11x have 4500hd

 

Indeed it does but "I guess Alienware fixed the blackscreen issue that is plaguing all Intel 4500M Hybrid Graphics notebooks with the A05 BIOs so congrats guys." So the M11xR1 with A05 BIOs is the only Hybrid graphics notebook with 4500MHD that works with new Intel drivers. Sorry for the confusion.

 

Thanks a lot people for your effort!

The drivers work fine here. Followed the instructions on the first page, had only one minor setback, which was the black screen after turning of the intel graphics.
Had to turn off the m11x R1 and then start in safe mode and continue the remaining steps.

No need for the dll fix for fallout 3 New Vegas anymore either, just deleted the dll, and started playing

Thanks again!

 

Yeah you guys have had some great progress here recently thanks to RigelKent, Hero and others who have contributed. Nice job all, shows what can happen when a community gets together to tackle a problem.

 

Wow. I'm pretty impressed with what you guys are doing. RigelKent, Nautis, Hero1711 and all the others that have contributed.

I can almost put my brain back in the salad draw as everyone else is doing the thinking for me. I like that.

Double click aye, I think I could almost manage that.

 

So I've noticed something interesting... I'm getting great performance with the 260.99 hybrid set in several games.... but some games absolutely refuse to launch. I can't for the life of me get any recent COD game (Black Ops, MW2, MW1, WaW) to even launch. I get a flickering screen for twenty seconds followed by a DirectX failure message. Similar issues with Fallout 3 and New Vegas.

Even running discrete only with the 260.99 nvidia driver by itself, it breaks.

If I revert back to the factory drivers, everything works fine.

I've reinstalled DirectX about a dozen times by this point. Any thoughts?

 

No takers? Ah, well. I've reverted back to the official Dell drivers so I can actually play games.

 

Nautis / RigelKent, any progress getting a fully-functional install package together for these drivers and/or with codesplice's issue?

 

I still can't get this to work.



Maybe getting computer illiterate with age or something, can someone post an idiots guide to doing this or a youtube vid or something?



edit



Decided to try one last time with a fresh coffee and got it working

 

I'm particularly confused by the issue I've been having, especially so since a clean install of just the 260.99 driver (with BIOS set to DISCRETE graphics mode) exhibits the same behavior. Using anything other than the official Dell drivers seems to break DirectX, even though all the DirectX files remain intact and dxdiag shows no errors. It just crashes each time I try to launch a game that relies upon DirectX.

 

It is most likely something to do with a bug in the newer drivers when it comes to the M11xR1s GPU. There is of course a chance it could be a settings issue.

I am having issues with getting newer drivers to switch at all on my Vaio Z, so switching may not be fully implemented properly with 265 series yet. (This is a separate issue than what you are talking about though since yours does not work even in discrete.)

 

Well, I can say using Nautis' 260.63 hybrid driver set, and forcing the game Crysis into DX9 mode for better FPS, I've not had a problem.

Not a big gamer, but been running 260.63 hybrid driver set for over three months now and it's yet to go wrong.

 

I'm running 260.99 & Intel 2226 pack from page 10 - have plenty of games installed....

Back Ops (stuttering issue)
MW2 - no problems
Crysis - no problems
C&C 3 - no problems
Bioshock - no problems
Half life 2 - no problems
halo 2 - no problems
fall out 3 - not installed yet
left for dead - no problems
company of heroes - no problems

 

Hmm. Any thoughts on what I should look at or try to get DX to work with these drivers then?

 

Try running std clocks on the 335, it may be the OC interfering. MW2 plays fine at normal res (1366 x 768) on my R1. Black Ops is a pain, bloody stuttering, Crysis goes fine but I'm stuck at the helicopter fly out keep getting sucked back into the explosion can't get past it!!!

OK just ran MW2 - 1366 x 768 no OC on GPU - CPU on OC U7300, No vsync, AA to off everything else on (bottom setting on auto) - get around 30 - 40 frames, with AA on 2x get 30 but will slow down to around 25ish when they pile on.

My M11x only has 6gig with 500gig 7200rpm HDD so you should be fine.

 

i'ved installed ssd on my R1 and also reinstalled the OS, hybrid 260.99 + intel2020 then i got an error so i went here on the topic and found out that nautis released 260.99 & Intel 2226 pack. i installed it with the same procedure from RigelKent and i have to say, it works flawlessly! Thanks Nautis and RigelKent for all those efforts!

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I've already tried running stock clocks with the 260.99 drivers - no dice, same behavior. I don't think the clocks would really prevent DirectX from launching anyway, and that failure to initialize appears to be the primary issue.

I'll just stick with the 197 official drivers from Dell for now.

Thanks guys.

 

I was using Nautis's 260.63 package and just updated to the new 260.99 package with intel 2226. Now I don't get the aero effects on intel, like the transparent taskbar. I was sure I got that on the 260.63 package.

 

Sorry code, I am trying to come up with a better answer for you, I just really have no idea. Have you tried any other driver prior to the 260 series besides Dells?

 

So this is my driver journey-
Started with Nautis 260.63/2020 - Aero on both nvidia and intel
Installed RigelKent 260.99/22266 - Aero on nvidia, no aero on intel
Installed Nautis 265/2226 alpha - Aero on both. Switching problem - started in nvidia, switched to intel, couldn't switch back to nvidia
Went back to Nautis 260.63/2020 to have aero on intel.

 

Hey, no worries mate. I appreciate the support and advice you've provided me with this far I haven't tried another other besides the 260 series; I suppose I could give that a shot. Is there any particular one that has a better reputation than others?

That's really odd that you don't have Aero effects with certain driver combinations. Did you verify that it wasn't just a configuration or setting (power saving, or even theme setting) that was screwing with you? The only times I've seen Aero straight-up refuse to load was on drivers that were either incorrect or just didn't take (or generic drivers, of course).

 

Yeah I even went through the troubleshooting to get Aero to turn on and it told me I needed to update my drivers. When I loaded either of Nautis's driver sets I was able to use Aero on Intel, even his (broken for me because of a problem with switching intel->nvidia) 265/2226. So since its the same driver as in RigelKent's package I think it might be the way RigelKent's installer works. It seems there have been and may still be some issues with the intel driver in his package. I will tell you, it was a pain to get back to Nautis's 260.63/2020 driver set. For some reason they wouldn't take, but I finally got it. Once Nautis fixes the bugs in his 265 set I am going to go to that.

 

Agree - so where is the 265 pack??????????????

 

Check the link in Nautis's sig. Its a alpha/beta release so I was just seeing if it would work. Maybe it will work for someone else?

 

Nautis hybrid driver set
It's in one of Nautis' posts under 'here'

 

Hey guys, I just did a fresh install of RigelKents driver with Nautis' inf (from page 16).
Did everything according to first page, didn't need to install Intel drivers seperately. Had to install audio drivers, but that's no biggie.
Aero was off on Intel until i ran the windows performance test, now it's on. I think that's pretty normal behavior.

 

Yeah that N265.90 I2226 driver is the one I sent to people in closed testing. Still very much in testing so please leave feedback on it.

 

Ok, well I posted it above but I will post here. After the install I am in Nvidia mode. I switch to Intel, no problem. I try to switch back to Nvidia, the graphic comes up to show the switch but the icon in the tray never changes and I don't get the usually screen flash as it switches. Using the icon to switch doesn't work either.

 

I am running into a similar problem with switching on my VGN model Vaio Z. I have some additional settings that you M11xR1 users can try with that 265.90 driver to see if we can get switching working (or at least better) if you guys would like to try it.

I have seen similar problems in the past with new series releases. My guess is that they are not as focused on the Hybrid Graphics code so it is probably implemented or fixed last. 265.66 may work a bit better but I still have odd switching issues with it also.

Should we start with some new settings that may help with switching on 265.90? (Note: I was kind of delaying in hopes that with the new 265 Verde driver coming out the switching issues would be fixed.)

 

I will get back to you when I have some time after Christmas. It was a pain to roll back my drivers and get back to 260.63 (partly my fault, but still a pain).