Couple random questions regarding new M15x

I've had the M15x for a few weeks now. I tried looking for answers using the search tool and didn't find what I was looking for - sorry if these questions have been asked before.

1. Not being entirely familiar with the eSATA port, I'm curious about how it functions with respect to USB devices. My USB printer is not detected if I use that eSATA port. My iPhone charges, but does not sync. I don't have any devices that use an eSATA connection, but find convenience in the fact that I'm supposedly able to use USB devices through it. Do I have a defective port?

2. While I bought this laptop in preparation for the upcoming Starcraft2 and Diablo3 releases, I do enjoy playing WoW in the meantime. I am not able to get my frame rate above 10fps even on low population servers and in low population cities. I have confirmed that stealth mode is off, settings in-game are on low and 3D preferences in nVidia settings are set to performance. Does anyone have any other ideas I should check? With my configuation (below), I shouldn't have to go with low settings to enjoy the game.

3. Am I being overly nitpicky/OCD if complain about the keyboard lighting being very uneven (brightness about 1/2 of what the rest of the keyboard is the bottom row of keys) and the looseness around the arrow keys?

Thanks in advance for any advice/help you can offer.

224-6812
1 BASE,NBK,ANW,BLK,M15X
317-2396
1 Intel Core i7 720QM 1.6GHz (2.8 GHz Turbo Mode, 6MB Cache)
317-2401
1 6GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz 1 x 2048MB + 1 x 4096MB
320-0936
1 15.6-inch Wide FHD 1920x1080 (1080p) WLED
468-4638
1 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M
468-4647
1 500GB SATAII 7,200RPM

 

1. The eSATA port should function just fine as a USB port. Perhaps try some different/newer drivers.

2. Make sure that Shadows are off and AA is not set too high (I turn mine off).

3. You could try pulling the keyboard without disconnecting it, then turn it on to ensure all of your lights are functioning, otherwise that's just the way the keybard lighting seems to work on most rigs.

 

10 frames per second with those specs? you shouldnt have to turn anything down. have u tried running 3dmark to see what scores you get

 

I went on to Dell's support site and saw that the newest drivers were dated back in September-December of last year so I assumed I had the most recent drivers for everything since I got the laptop this month.

Yes, I have ALL settings in WoW turned down ALL the way, including shadows. I'm a bit apprehensive about calling Blizzard tech support. I have a feeling they are going to tell me to talk to Dell. Of course, Dell is going to refer me back to Blizz. This is pretty frustrating.

As far as the keyboard goes, I am willing to pick my battles. While it's irritating to see uneven lighting and squeaky/lose keyboard, it doesn't affect the overall unit's utility. I'll hold off on it till I get the other two issues resolved.

 

1. there is a known issue with iphone/ipod syncing on the M15x.
2. i don't play wow but i heard this help:

SET processAffinityMask "255"

edit your config. file and change the value to that.

3. you have to live with the keyboard lights, its same for everyone. keyboard flex can be fixed with a shim or a replacement, but when actually just pressing the buttons it doesn't really flex, only when pressing on the plastic part.

 

I know you say you don't play wow, but does your source tell you where this "config" file is for me to be able to edit?

This sounds promising....

Also, is anyone able to use a USB printer via the e sata port?

 

like i said i don't play wow but i guess, it should look in the game folder where you install wow into or document folder. but i'll check for you. yeah 10 fps on this system seems wrong.

 

ok i just found this hope this helps:
http://www.wowwiki.com/CVar_processAffinityMask

the M15x should be overkill for this game.

 

Thanks for the link. I added that string to my config file and didn't help.

I'm at a loss.

 

im guessing something is wrong with your machine. do other games run as poorly?

 

Yeah you should be crushing WoW in every way. I get 50-60fps in bad company 2 you should be able to run WoW on highest settings.

 

Check if stealth mode is on

 

something tells me, this is not a problem with your hardware not being able to live up to the task of running WoW (which isn't much of a task for this beast) but rather a network problem, as this is an online game after all. Are your wifi signals strong?/weak? are you far form yoru modem? . What kind of internet do you have? highspeed?

lets try to solve this by a process of elimination. If its not a network problem. we'll move on.

 

You bring up a very interesting point. It didn't even occur to me to consider my connection. I always thought frame rates were solely the function of what the graphics card can handle.

In any event, I AM using a wwan connection (3G via AT&T). I am a flight crew, so I never bothered getting a home (corded) internet connection when I'm not home very much and I save money by not paying ridiculous WiFi charges at hotels. I digress.

Although I enjoy decent download speeds and a consistent strong signal at home, I have been getting high latency in upwards of 650ms or more according to my in-game meter. Speedtest.net somewhat confirms this - below is an example of a typical reading I'll usually get (just ran it a few seconds ago).



Do you guys think latency might be the culprit here?

 

hmm while i don't play WoW anymore.... i've read quick quick that 200-400 is where you wanna be. anything over that ( the 600+ms you speak of) can result in very laggy gameplay.

It might have somehting to do with your latency, especially if you're on an overly populated game server.

But Lag should come and go. Is it a constant 10FPS no matter what time you play?


The only way to know for sure, is to wait when you get home and your ping goes down.

 

Well, speedtest.net gives me about 275-450ms range. When I look at my latency in-game, it's never below 600ms.

The registry edit didn't help at all either.

I'm going to try restoring the system to factory defaults and try this again.

 

Playing an online game over 3G is like playing an online game over dial-up (well almost). Try a free wi-fi spot and see if you get different results.

 

Marvie100 you're correct, if your playing games like MW2. However WoW was designed to play on almost any pc, and i've read forums where people reported playing flawlessly over 3g, but they also had very low latencies. My guess is the high latency Hemiolia is experiencing coupled with the not-SO-fast 3g , is giving him the problems he's experiencing.

So Hemiolia I would suggest not to restore your system, as this probably won't do anything. But if you wanna give it a try, what the heck go for it. As Mervie said why don't you try a high-speed free wifi-spot? Don't All airports have free wifi?

 

check how your machine did on the Windows Experience Index.

 

You can also try Joker's fix for throttling. Speeds up games really.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=439546&page=103

 

I would recommend try playing WOW on another local WiFi network if possible. Perhaps maybe even an ethernet based connection on a known good router.

 

Have you tried playing any other PC games? If they run just like WoW then try messing with the stealth mode again, press it and start up WoW ( see how it performs), then if it's still bad quit, press it again, load up WoW again (see if that fixed it).

If that doesn't fix any of your games then maybe one of your parts is bad.

My set up plays game perfectly fine, though it is hard to determine if stealth mode is on by that dim light.. they should've made it just shut off when you turned it off.

Or maybe some setting in the nvidia panel is messing with it

 

Ive Noticed atleast on online shooter games that once you get above a ping of 150-180 things start to get a little laggy. I cant imagine 400ms ping.

I fired up my netbook to speedtest the broadband card on it (I often use to with internet sharing to game on my m17x when i have to)



granted verizons speeds arnt as fast as At&t, but they are fast enough for online games. But more importantly is the ping is almost one fourth your ping.

Im leaning towards your network.

 

Thanks for all the responses. I might just take my laptop over to a friend's house who has a corded internet connection to test this out.

I play other games, but none that are sensitive to latency.

I appreciate all the helpful advice.

 

I run WoW at max settings with shadows one notch below maximum (for some reason that one notch can drop fps by insane amounts for no noticeable visual increase and 8xAA and I am playing with FPS between 60-100 in open areas, over 100 in 5 man dungeons and drops to the 30's and 40's in Dalaran and full raids with lots of spell effects. My system is the same as yours except the ram in which you have more so there is something definately wrong going on with your M15x. Whether it's software or hardware though I don't know. The affinitymask fix was added by blizzard in a recent patch so that was never going to be the problem. Try other games, if it's just WoW messing up then it's likey a software issue. If not then you should call Dell and look into getting it repaired or replaced.

 

I agree with silvercup, there's def soemting off about your machine, software-wise, or hardware-wise. I play WOW, it RAGES hard in fps, ranging from 50- 400, depending on your settings, i turned down all shadows, bam, smooth as butter. and your connection should not matter when it comes to fps, i played over 3g last month while on train, the only issue is your surroundings has to be caught up whenever you spike, you know? you running , then suddenly if you lose connection for a sec, you go back a second, then run again, that's the issue you would get from having 3g connection.

 

Ok, I might have hardware problems.

I went through and reinstalled the game on a respawned system. Sounds drastic, but I wanted to isolate the problem. Needless to say, I still have the same problem.

Any ideas on how to approach Dell with this situation? I have a feeling they will be completely unsympathetic to, "I need a repair or a new laptop because I am experiencing low frame rates in WoW'.

I'm at a loss here. . .

 

I don't think Dell would be unsympathetic to any gamer who bought a gaming system from them and is getting 10fps in a game like WoW. They may ask you to try other things first before they send a repair guy, but if you press hard enough they will cave.

As for the problem; have you applied the throttling fix for the M15x? I remember people reporting that they were getting lower fps in WoW as a result of throttling though not as low as you are getting. I don't think it's a connection issue, you would be getting rubberbanding (like what mutoloco mentioned) and lag, but not ridiculously low fps. Have you tried any other games, a few people have suggested it but you haven't mentioned anything about performance in different games and this would be the best indicator of whether you are having a hardware or a software issue.

 

no throttling would not gave you a constant 10fps, throttling is when you get like 30-40fps then jump down to 10fps for a few seconds and back up again in a cycle. do you have other games to try out?