M17x and DPC Latency

scook what do you think i should flash the cards to? settings that is..

 

Idk. Whatever you want them at for the majority of the time. When you open nibitor you will be able to see the 2d clocks. Try those maybe?

 

I used Dox's 195.62 drivers with powermizer off. My DPC stutter problems are fixed, still have the hard disk 'clicking' issue. Less than I had before. And when it clicks I don't see spikes in dpclat. Think I need to call dell support to swap that out along with my dvd-rw drive.

In Alex's fix, he's got step 24 as:

The description for the service reads

So we then have to keep updating Nhancer profiles? (or create them or keep updating it?) I'm okay on vista64 right now but if the stutter returns when I upgrade to win7, I'll have to use his method or if I use other laptopvideo2go or whql drivers.

 

Yesterday I sat and watched GPU-Z downclock my cards and at each stage I'd get a huge latency spike. I don't seem to get spikes at any other time.

The obvious temporary solution was to then find a way to have my cards locked until the downclocking issue is fixed (really really hoping this will be addressed in A04)

Since you can't seem to freeze cards at highest clocks with the 186 series Nvidia cards (this would be a bloody godsend right now... ) I thought I'd try my luck with the 195 series.

I've now got constant lockups and mouse freezes since uninstalling my drivers and having Win 7 auto install the horrid official 195 drivers.
I'd been using 195.62's for a month with my cards locked on A02 and had no lockups.

But I'm hoping that's because I've got old reminants of previous drivers since reinstalling, half ripping out drivers and whatnot. I'm currently trying to clean install without Win7 Home Premium auto installing my drivers.

My plan is to get Dox's 195.62 working, Powermizer off and my cards locked. I see since yesterday a few people have had some joy with this.

 

ok i decided to go back to vista x64 ultimate and test the A03 Bios. Have a look guys! no comparison with win7 dpc latency! mp3 with high bitrate (320kbps but i tried with flac files too) playing, youtube video hq playing, browsing, a demanding gps programm in background , bluetooth connecting to my bt gps and cod mw2 installing from bd-rom . all these at the same time! no alienware services disabled! i dont know for you but i will stay with it until a sure fix comes out for win7. nvidia 195.62 (official one) and i can set to 60hz (unlike win7). as for my temps 38-40 oC for both gpus while doing all those things

it seems the dcp latency is related to win7 os guys! i would advice you not to hurry for replacement or whatever.

http://i46.tinypic.com/f1mc2d.jpg

 

Make sure you try v1.1 of Dox's driver since the original one had some issues while installing.

 

yup and it was close to this good before A03 was released (by disabling acpi.sys). After A03, I have even fewer stutters and far better latency (and I don't need to disable acpi.sys anymore).

 

Well, A03 didn't do anything for me : ( I have even more red bars now than i did on A02.....

 

How can I downgrade from Windows 7 to Vista 64 without having a Vista 64 Installation CD?

 

just a heads up anyone still having latency with A03 make sure the flash took. I had to flash my computer twice for the new bios to work. I don't know what caused this but after flashing it once I went into the bios and noticed that it still said A02 there. I then flashed it again and it took. Just a heads up.

 

The winphlash for A03 kept crashing on me

Had to use the winphlash from A02 and tell it to use the A03 BIOS

 

Yes, it is the windows acpi driver that is being rewritten by ms. We'll have a fix soon. In the meantime I have also switched back to vista and the problem is much less severe.

 

I have got no red bars anymore had to do alot of tweeking though max now is 525. Stupid powermizer is Now disabled thank god. Thanks to all for the help we all should be Dell techs we are better lol

 

My red bars are gone so far so good, still need to test some games with it.
I'm using the new Dox 195 drivers (with Powermizer OFF) and I made sure after I clean installed Windows that I updated the Broadcom driver to the one on the Dell site. here The windows one gave me a red latency spike every minute or so.


Isn't it beautiful...

I do however get spikes when installing programs, but so long as I get no latency when playing games or listening to music/watching videos, then I'm happy to use my temp fix.

 

I didnt play around with the drivers at all because I just disabled wireless altogether. That should be the same right ?

 

how can we be sure a rewritten ACPI driver will fix stuttering ?

 

you can't be sure unless NV writes a new driver according to the new ACPI and Dell a new Bios according to the other two or at least a modified display driver

 

you can't - but it seems as reasonable as any explanation I have heard

unless you are within your refund period what choice is there? sell for a huge loss days before a fix is issued?

 

Can it be CONFIRMED that a clean install of Vista x64 with all drivers from DELL and powermizer ON has no stuttering problems?

 

do any of you know if dell will remplace the video cards to ati to fix the stuttlering problem? thats what a rep told me

 

I will believe that after I see it. The reps will tell you a lot to get you off the phone and not their problem

 

I will be able to answer that question for sure tomorrow afternoon. Stay tuned...

 

It would be awesome if they follow through with it, make that upgrade to 4870s I was contemplating that much easier lol

 

Hey guys, in case any of you care.. I pm'ed nagshead about the stuttering. This was my question and his answer:

Hi mate, as you know some of us still have stuttering, I was wondering if it was possible for you to confirm that dell/alienware is still working on some kind of fix for this ?


Thanks

nagshead:

Yes, they are still working on this.
_________________________________________________________________



so yes, there is hope.

 

Mine came with two 4870s that were swapped with two 280m cards due to some early problems with ATI.

I'd like to swap back. When I asked they said I needed a new mobo. I am just going to let them do their thing. They are in fantasy land, but my rig has 3 year on-site and they can do their futile dance until its fixed. It will cost them way more than a new one, I am sure of that.

 

So is alienware still working on this matter to get this fixed asap?

 

clean install of Win7 and following the install guide with dox 195.62 v1.1 (powermizer off) and I can still get stutters by pressing 'Eject'

but the rest of the time I have no audio issues anymore

 

yeah, they have an angry mob with torches and pitchforks at their gates --- they need us to be happy if they:

1) want us to buy another AW someday
2) want us to spread the word so that Dell can sell these to casual gamers too

 

Can someone put up a camera phone/video recorded video of this stuttering? I'd really like to see it.

 

Just say "Dell!" in front of it, and it will stutter.
works every time.

 

haha I do have a variable latency as well, but as for the stuttering not unless I'm completely overloading a game... like warhead with everything stretched to max..

 

i made a youtube of the stuttering... there was a request for a video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7H4oRacS7s

 

That video is great.

My 2 cents: with the DOX 195.62 drivers and powermizer off i get stutters in l4f2 (max settings 16xCSAA, etc) - haven't tried any other games yet.

 

Nice video, I hope Dell pulls their heads out......and fixes this, if not everyone should be able to get a mobo+video card upgrade for free from them or all hell will start breaking lose.
I am tired of waiting a month for each update.
Does anyone know when A04 is supposed to come out?

 

not sure if its been mentioned.. i just did some observation, dpc spikes up when cpu and gpu downclocks.. no spikes when it upclocks but spikes up again when it down clocks

 

Just a thought: Have you guys tried running throttlestop with clock and mult set to 100%? If the stuttering is from the CPU modulating clocks this might help a bit. I know that others have noted that by suspending ACPI, the stuttering goes away so this might work as well. http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/3/3/1794507/ThrottleStop.zip

 

Some comments:
1. Your DPC latency is a lot better than what I had. Mine was almost every alternate green-red.
2. The audio stutter was about as often as your vid.
3. Really wish you hadn't picked that song

Just watched a short video and have CPU-Z and DPCLat on. Lots of up/downclocks for the CPU but no big spikes, stays in the green but they are tall greens and twice yellows. Agreed it shouldn't be there at all.

And if downclocking is there to save on a/c or battery power, on machines like this, there needs to be a button (like the stealth one which I dislike) to prevent auto-downclocking or auto-switching. So you can watch movies/listen to music at lower clocks without stutter.

FYI, I still have hard disk stutter/clicks.

 

I'd absolutely love a "desktop mode" or something to that effect. Max fans, max clocks on everything, and no power management.

 

hard drive clicks are the hard drive. they are reported by western digital to have no effect on data loss, data corruption or the sign of a failing hard drive.

 

Ok Just spoken to one of their techs, -
They can't provide anything till the issue is resolved between Dell and Nvidia engineers. They should come up with some sort of an updated driver...
Alas, I was so close to get it replaced (would at least get the ATI cards).

 

So they just gonna update the display driver for the Nvidia users? If that's the case then they admit that the ATI owners don't experience the stuttering and I don't see why we should wait for them to fix it when they could provide a laptop that operates the way it is supposed to operate.

 

Right you are! I think it's time to act.
I'll give them another call tomorrow and this time will be less polite.

 

Keep at em!

 

Keep us updated. Though that would be a huge precident to set. Think of all the m17x owners wanting free upgrades! I'd pay a small fee to do it.

 

I am willing to pay a small fee too, even though they have do it for free because of the inconvenience and the trouble they caused. When I bought I didn't have the option between ATI and NVidia...

 

keep at em. i wouldnt even wait til tomorrow. just tell them you want it fixed and let them keep trying. i spent 12-14 hours on the phone with em and guess what. my ATI is coming tomorrow =)

Also, I had a lot more luck with the people who work the graveyard shifts. just a heads up

 

Are the 4870 cards that much better?

They would want the 280m cards back, right?

 

The 4870s are about 0-10% faster. However does seem to be a lot less people with them having issues like 280 SLI users.

 

Don't forget that the chipset is also nVidia so that may come into play as well (although I think you are most likely correct and it will be just a video driver "fix")

D.

 

I'm on the phone with the right now (just got a call back after about a week).

Lets see how I go.

I'm with DELL Australia BTW so not sure if there will be any difference, however, they do not have ATI cards available with the customise options on the AUS website...

Here goes...