M17x and DPC Latency

http://en.community.dell.com/blogs/direct2dell/archive/2009/12/30/19591948.aspx

 

Technician coming tomorrow to replace motherboard, gpu (x2), ram, hdd.

Judging by how this board rates the technicians, I sure hope they do not massacre my unit!

 

Lmao ya good luck with that they messed up mine and now finally getting new one after a month of phone calls it's Just better don't watch lol

 

Australian techs are usually pretty good, actually. Where I am anyway.

 

With the new A03 bios my DPC is a whoooole lot better, however if they have a few more tricks I'll take them.

 

I was still getting spikes of >100,000 after A03, until i tried the dox 195 drivers. At first i tried with powermizer on, and no difference, but then i tried again w/o powermizer and now my spikes are gone!

Seems all i had to do was turn powermizer off?

 

Powermizer?

 

Which drivers are you using MrButterBiscuits?

 

For what video, chipset, bios?

 

Sorry, i was interested in Video and Chipset.

 

I am using the 195.62 nvidia drivers... the Hybrid SLI is finally working great for me, however for gaming performance and stuff, no bueno. I'm looking for new video drivers right now... as for the chipset I I'm just using the ones Moo has up under his M17x drivers thread.

 

i have to ask again here because no one answered me. did you check dcp latency with A03 bios during video chat on msn?

 

Me too. I can still get stutters by pressing 'eject' and my cards run at 56/57 degree celcius (warm).

 

but if the hard drive clicks are causing stutter (a 'system pause' for 0.5 to 1 second) then i want it replaced. think i'll call dell tomorrow. i'm not in my purchase country and not sure how good tech support is.

 

The A03 fix made all the green bars in the checking tool extremely small.

I no longer get yellow bars ever.

I still got massive 100K spikes with A03 however. I had to install the 195.x drivers from dox with powermizer off.

Of course, fans running all the time, temperature is higher. Not a good solution for permanent use, only until Dell/NVIDIA figure it out, which they said they are working on it on the Direct2Dell site.

I'm confused as to how people are STILL confused on this forum as to how to fix this issue, and what the current state of the fixes are at.

Noone should have spikes on the M17x with NVIDIA as long as PowerMizer is turned off for both GPUs or the single GPU. I assume that people still have problems because they have 2 GPUs and the second one is not being affected by PowerMizer turned off?

Otherwise anyone with a single NVIDIA gpu, should be able to run without spikes and extremely low DPC latency.

If you are still confused about this information, ask and I'll explain how to get this result. Again, for 2 GPU people, dunno since I dont have 2 GPUs.

 

I also posted on the m17x BIOS A03 thread, as these two are most relevant and seem to have comparably significant discussions running. So, the question for me is, what’s the source? It seems like different people are experiencing this problem at different stages of the game (Vista/W7, A02/A03, earlier nvidia drivers/recent, etc.). What is the root problem: drivers, BIOS, OS (obviously, it’s combined interaction)? Mine was A02/W7 out of the box (3 vid-cards, BTW), with no latency issues; ran smoothly across the board. Latency began only after update to A03. Others have reported latency well prior to A03, with Vista or otherwise. Consensus here seems to promote the powermizer/nvidia drivers as primary source, and the cryptic hints from Alien-tech may support this (“Dell engineers aware and working with NVIDIA for a fix”).

Also, how best are we to be made aware of a fix when it becomes available? Strikingly, there’s no indication of this issue anywhere on Dell or Alienware Support sites (one mini-reference at Dell to the latency FIX that A03 and latest wireless driver provides [again, A03 seems to have CAUSED my issue]). Will it be announced on support pages, or simply updated on driver downloads, or should we periodically spend the 30+ mins waiting on tech support and hope for a tech that’s sharp and aware of the issue? What would you guys recommend? Currently, this forum seems the best location for timely and insightful info; hopefully someone will post the official (and effective) fix here .

 

so they installed my ATI 4870 card today and guess what! STUTTERING IS FINALLY GONE!!!! I Havent really played with the limits of the card yet but im just pretty happy i can listen to music and watch movies now. anything thing else ill let you guys know.

Side note. With the ATI card the dpc latency is a little more jumpy but there are no larger 60-70k spikes that break the music and cause stuttering. overall very satisfied

 

So you got them to replace your nvidia cards with the ATI ones to fix the stuttering?

 

yeah, i spent quite a bit of time on the phone with them dealing with their bull and they replaced with the 300 dollar more expensive card at no cost. I had to do a lot of arguing to get it though..... It worked so id say it was worth my time

 

Im getting a new system but the difference is the same 260 sli to 4870.

can you give me your thoughts on performace differences ;-)

 

260m to 4870 is a nice jump! Good for you!

Can you run some test at stock speeds? I'd like to get a sense of whether there would be any benefit to switching to the 4870 cards. If you could run 3dmark06 and report back here with your score that would be great.

http://www.futuremark.com/benchmarks/3dmark06/download/

 

based on windows scale my single 260 was rated a 6.8 and the 4870 is rated a 7.2 so its supposed to be an upgrade... It seems to run about the same in call of duty. I was using 1680x1050 but am now forced to use 1920 x 1200 and it feels about the same. Everyday tasks although seem to be a little quicker

 

yeap, my ATI 4870 X2 ARE COMMING 2MORROW, FINALLY ALIENWARE DOING SOMETHING RIGHT

 

Even with no issues with nvidia anymore after tons of work I am selling my laptop, to bad of memory everytime I use it. Plus I get money back and more featues with the auses I am going to buy. 500 dollars back, plus pretty much. A free i7 920xm upgrade, and 8gb ram, and a free 4x blueray player to much of a good deAl to pass up.

They are also sending me a new machine with ati cards in it.

 

Finally got an update - my GPUs are getting replaced with ATI cards in 1-2 days from now. Almost got a free upgrade to R2, but .... Will see if the stuttering is still present with ATI cards

 

So in case the ATI cards won't change the situation you are going to have the R2? That's excellent news.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=273276

Nice little app that turns off PowerMizer.

 

lol my first attempt calling alienware about dpc latency problem to try and get ATI's went as expected. "we don't know of any such problem," and apparently neither does the guys supervisor. Guess I gotta try another time.

 

Try again - they did not understand you

keywords
- audio stutters
- drivers are up to date
- clean windows install
- I read on the dell blog about dpc latency

 

LOL. Good for you. I have a tech coming to replace my mobo. I am going to take my time and jump through all their hoops. If they don't fix it then I think I'll have a good case for an R2. If they fix it - great!

 

After carefully watching this thread

my email to Dell Australia on this issue

Description of problem.
DCP Latency
Huge DCP Latency spikes while trying to listen to music and watch movies.

This is not acceptable for the cost of this machine, A03 Bios installed and has not changed anything, i have reinstalled OS and all drivers to no avail

Description of any troubleshooting steps you have taken.
I want a concise response from Dell in five buisness days or i will be taking the matter to consumer affairs. My previous M17 system was much more stable and faster than this system, i have been following the threads on the notebook review forum and there is no fix to this solution as yet which has been ongoing for months. I am not happy at all about this and this is my 15th system from Alienware and Dell, how you handle this situation will decide any further purchases from Dell.

Also if i do not receive a response from technical support, i will contact Dell Australia and/or Head office USA direct

Its time to sort out issues

I have also just got off the phone with them and i am supposed to have a response by the end of today!!!

wait and see

 

So after talking to dell they said they need to replace the 2nd video card (260 SLI ).
I told them thats its nvidia cards...but they are too stupid to know.
I feel like Dell/Alienware has the most stupid support team ever alive.

Mininmum wage?

People think I am stupid, even if I know 100x more than what they know.
Their support is sad, especially alienware, such a huge company that charges that much for computers they should have 100x better support.
This is garbage.

They are going to replace mobo and 2nd video card, then they will ask me to send my system in for repairs where they will send me a brand new one, hopefully I will be able to get new configurations or refresh.
Also if they send me a new one, Am I guaranteed to be able to get a replacement if my system comes back with a dead pixel? Will they honor that?
I just don't want any F' ups.

 

just get the tech to replace it on site? if you have on site warranty that is.. sending in is prolly a bad idea considering it'll most prolly come back with at least scratches(from experience)

@ducati

what do you want them to do? im going to wait till the refresh reaches my country before sending a similar email as yours so that ill get a refreshed one hopefully and be rid of this ty latency problem. if i do it now they'll prolly keep trying to change parts here and there till almost every single part is replaced with refurbished parts and then say im sorry this is a model specific problem and cannot be solved

 

i just want the cards changed out to Ati and ill be happy not too concerned about i7 mobo

 

Hang in there. After having both 260M replaced the first time, then both cards again + mobo the second time and finally the LCD on the third visit from a tech, they are sending me a new laptop.

I spent 3 hours with them today. I'm so sick of that expensive POS that I'm seriously contaplating selling the new unit when it arrives and buying something else.

That or getting a normal laptop and buying a console. Seems like the "gaming laptop" experience is more trouble than anything.

 

At the moment I just checked my CPU - it's running consistently at 30% CPU with system interrupts. Yay. Great to be at work with a 70% working computer...

 

Dear god. My Laptop is 4 months old and it sucks. I mean - I love the laptop but the stutter is driving me up a wall. I've yet to open a ticket with Dell because quite frankly I don't want a damaged laptop when their tech shows up and does on the job learning via my system. Sorry - just venting and not sure what I want to do.

 

Yes, I followed everything they had in their protocol to fix the issue, skipping the possibility of faulty mobo/GPUs as I could easily prove that there is nothing wrong with them.
Since I have ZERO problems under linux, and guess what? -
Linux Nvidia drivers don't let the cards to go to max clocks, but the cards work flawlessly at a third of their capabilities. So the hardware is fine.
Also, they tried convincing me that the issue is related to both Nvidia and ATI and I have to wait till the next fix, but after I sent them the link
They had to admit I was right.

 

If you are comfortable with doing the work by yourself, you can always ask the tech to watch you do it (since you work in IT and have a huge experience with Alienware laptops ) He is spared some unpleasant reports and you keep the warranty.

 

They try their best not to send all their ATI cards out and save them for the R2 line.

The powermizer is faulty in Linux too. The fact that we don't experience stuttering in Linux is that the ACPI and the kernel handles hardware in a different way than windows. Linux has the advantage of being open sourced, having more feedback from its users and faster reflexes when bugs occur.

Honestly waiting is all we do for all these months. It is unacceptable for a top line product to have so many issues and the company to try to convince their costumers that everything is fine. Not every customer has to be an expert in software or hardware engineering and play hide n seek with the customer service.

 

Alas,...not much we can do right now.
I agree, under linux it's not the drivers, it's the kernel, and I went that route only to avoid getting my GPUs/Mobo replaced as faulty and wasting too much time.
I think the ATI cards do not create stuttering just because their current consumption level is way lower than that of the Nvidia cards, stressing the chipset far less.
Anyway, will know for sure soon enough.

 

Keep us updated Aikimox, I am really curious about the outcome with the ATI cards

 

Hey guys, have a look at the picture below - I don't understand why my CPU is at 30% when the DPC checker shows green bars - BTW this is with 280SLi disabled.
My system is T9600 at 2.8, 280SLI, Windows 7 Home Prem, NVIDIA Driver 195.81. Did a clean install 3 days ago - A03 BIOS.
Any suggestions?

 

The program,DPC latency checker, occupies the CPU. That's why you see 33% usage, if you close the program, do u see the same usage?

 

Tech just finished here and he had NFI what he was doing...

Firstly - Took him around 30 mins to replace HDD + ram.
Secondly - I love the way Tech's install drivers... This is their process:

1. Push eject button (to make release win7 dvd)
2. insert m17x resource DVD
3. Pop-up opens (//scratches head)
4. Click everything and install all drivers at the same time (despite asking for resets)
5. Install all applications in the same sitting, right after drivers then restart (ONCE)
6. Something doesn't work... huh... what did i do wrong!? (STFU!)

I even had to get wifi working for this bloke... as soon as he left i rang DELL and spoke to Kendra and demanded a refund and they said yes, but we need one more service call to make sure we have a hard case to take to management, so i said "OK but it wont fix anything..."

They are sending another tech tomorrow to "fix" the problem then i get a refund... HOPEFULLY...

**PS. I'm from Australia so there may be some differences in service here but OMG... what ever happened to education in the field your in..?

 

This is a typical tech service
Same here in Canada. That's why our company has no competition in IT field here.
Next time ask your tech how many screws he is to remove to replace the GPUs. anything less than 13 and more than 17 = don't let him touch the system!
The correct answer is 15

 

My idea of a tech visit is some idle chit chat while I fix my machine in front of him....lol

 

This is mine with Sli disabled...

And with SLI enabled..

 

That is soooo true!

 

wolverine what number did u ring?
its been a aweek since they said ok to return my lappie, but not email yet