HUGE Video problem!

This has been an intermittent problem from the day i got this thing. Sometimes it doesnt happen.

When i am in 9400m G mode and i press fn+f7 to turn on the 260, it goes to a black screen and does nothing. (like the display turns off) It does the same thing if i click on boost performance on the hybrid sli icon.

Sometimes when i press that button i get a dialog box that says a system restart is required to change graphics, i restart, and it works. But this only happens sometimes.

Most of the time i cant even get my 260 working. I tried disabling hybrid sli in bios and disabling intergrated and then the display freaks out and flashes different collors like a strobe light.

What is the cause of this? Why cant i use my 260m.

 

Did you update your BIOS to A02 and install the update for OSD? If not, do so.

Are you still using 179.85? If so, switch over to 186.82.

 

I havent done any bios upgrades yet. whats OSD?
Every time i try to run the 182.82 drivers it says i have incompatible hardware.

 

OSD (ALienware Onscreen Display)
ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/app/R234994.exe

BIOS A02
ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/bios/R235673.exe

When you grab 186.82 from LV2Go you will need to run the executable to extract it. Once the driver is extracted, look inside the directory for the 'Additional INFs' .zip archive. Extract this and copy/paste the 'nv_whql.inf' into the top level of the 186.82 directory. Once this is done, run the setup.exe app to install. This is required for the driver to recognize the hardware in the M17x. The default INF (nvfu.inf) does not support the M17x GPUs.

 

OKay. I did all 3 of those things. It still happens. I click boost performance and i get the black screen and i cant do anything. Anything else i should try?

Thanks for the help.

 

The screen does go blank for a second when you switch between cards. However, it should come right back up. Does it stay blank and force you to hold the power button?

Thanks,
Gabe

 

Sometimes it does come back, but other times, it doesnt come back. I CAN hit the same button and video will come back, but its still on the 9400m G.

 

I have the same problem. BUT with my 9400M G
I can use my 260 but I can't get on my 9400.
I updated BIOS, installed OSD. Even tried every driver. None worked.
Tried enabling and disabling Hybrid SLI. Still didn't work.
Tried runnin only on 9400M alone. ALSO didn't work. I always get the blank screen. It worked in first days of usin Windows 7. But when I updated to Alienware BETA drivers. This problem started. I even tried goin back to stock drivers. Still didn't work.

 

Atleast you can play games. :/ this thing is becoming a paperweight. i hate it when $2000 laptops don't function correctly

 

For those of you that started experiencing problems with stealth after you updated your BIOS to A02, you might want to consider switching back to A00. For those of you that are experienceing issues no matter what BIOS you're running, you might want to make sure that you're running the OSD driver that came with the computer and not the new one.

Gabe

 

These problems were happening the day after i got this thing, nothing changed. I didnt update anything. Only thing i did was put vista sp2 on it. It was always kinda screwy but today i cant get the 260 back. After i restart it a few times the functionality of the button comes back, but it hasn't come back yet after several restarts.

 

I would call Dell about this.

 

I have had Problems switching between cards at the start aswell. Mine wouldn't get out of the Stealth mode...

How did I solve it?
- Reinstalling Windows Vista (no Respawn! this didn't work, somehow not all driver bits are removed).
- Then first install the Chipset drivers.
- install OSD
- then install GPU drivers > 186.82 (I use stock, because I play Empire Total War, rest s*ck for this game).
- then the rest can be installed...

After this my machine still frooze when gaming, so I upgraded the BIOS to A01.
This solved my freezing issue, currently I'm on A02 and the machine is running perfect!
Hopefull this will solve your probs aswell?

 

Dutchy, the problem is, I don't want to go back to Vista. I really really loved the performance of Windows 7. So, I gotta suffer the issues with Windows 7 or take my chances and get back to Vista.

And about the BIOS updates. I noticed some improvements with them, I don't think I need to get back to A01 or A00.

 

What do the stock drivers do? 179.85 and did you try the 186.82?

My actual point was that it could be your system is poluted with old drivers somehow, hence the reinstall of Windows (vista or 7).

p.s. Dont go back to A01 or even A00 BIOS. There is no point to that, The A02 is a good BIOS.

 

Agreed with Dutchy - stick with A02. With A02 you also need to stick with v2.19 of the OSD software. The A02 release notes specifically state a problem with the Stealth Button if you are not using OSD v2.19.

I'm not saying this is the root cause, but you have to keep in mind that Win7 just isn't final yet.

I also had issues like you described. Once A02, OSD, CommandCenter and most importantly 186.82 were all installed the issues vanished. The system now wakes from standby without issue.

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@Darkhan:

Check your PM settings - can't reply back due to your post count or you have it turned off (your post count might need to increase first).