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    Nvidia Driver 258.69 on AW... Discuss Here

    Discussion in 'Alienware' started by fynight, Jun 30, 2010.

  1. fynight

    fynight Notebook Consultant

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    fynight, Jun 30, 2010
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  2. Belien

    Belien Notebook Geek

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    First impression:

    - in game performance need for speed shift a bit better than 257.21 (older one has some rare fps drops @ start grid scene sometimes). Crysis also fine (although I think an older 186 or 197 was better, might be subjective).
    - up till now no BSOD while browsing (keep fingers crossed)
    - fans of discrete cards are still 'starting/stopping' whilst running on integrated. :confused:
    - the erratic behvaiour of the SLI Physx setting in the control panel is back

    Will leave these for now as longs as they don't BSOD.
     
    Belien, Jun 30, 2010
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  3. Mickbt26

    Mickbt26 Notebook Evangelist

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    Hope it stays BSOD free for you and ill try it in a weeks time.

    I think the fan issue is a BIOS problem not an Nvidia problem. Because the fans only start/stop once the CPU fan turns up to its second speed level.

    Plus it happens in every single driver I've tried, even some off laptopvideo2go site.
     
    Mickbt26, Jun 30, 2010
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  4. CoderJ

    CoderJ Notebook Consultant

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    Okay, bit the bullet while at work tonight (so far from my Home Server restores.... bad idea in the making).

    Been running for 3 hours, played WoW for 2 of them and surfed the rest. No BSoD or freezes.... yet. Pack it up to go home soon and will test it with some more WoW tonight.

    On the plus side, my frame rate is up to about 60 fps in Shattrah now while standing under the Naaru... used to go down to 35 fps (checked nHancer, no profile changes). Will try some dungeon runs tonight, as that is where it sucked before.

    -= EDIT =- Appears I spoke too soon. Was enjoying a smoother WoW performance when at the 1.5 hour mark it froze. This is after I power cycled the first time after installing the beta drivers; another reboot and attempt to get to the new Dell betas brought another freeze. Uninstalled, running latest betas from Dell now... argh!
     
    CoderJ, Jun 30, 2010
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  5. Terminal42

    Terminal42 Notebook Evangelist

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    This is why im so skeptical about downloading ANY drivers, even though I cant turn SLI on.
     
    Terminal42, Jul 1, 2010
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  6. Belien

    Belien Notebook Geek

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    Same here. Twice system freeze and nothing in event viewer. I still have the impression nvidia is trying but their focus seems to be on things like multiple displays whereas (looking at history in forums) there seem to be issues with changing clocks up/down 2D/3D. Although they definitley changed something, but imho the core problem(s) is still there (and the question is, is it hard- or software).

    For the moment, I would advise to stay away from these drivers (except if you want an auto coffee break from time to time). Argh indeed!
     
    Belien, Jul 1, 2010
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  7. Mickbt26

    Mickbt26 Notebook Evangelist

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    Im running on 258.69 now.
    Been on ME2 for 2 hours today without issue, browsing the net a few times for the last 2 hours, all still ok.

    But then I was fine with 257.21 aswell and had no issues with it.
     
    Mickbt26, Jul 1, 2010
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  8. Mr Pras

    Mr Pras Hardware and systems

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    So far I'm not having any issues, seems to be running fine.
     
    Mr Pras, Jul 6, 2010
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  9. andytom69

    andytom69 Notebook Geek

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    258.69 is first driver 2xx work great on my gt280 sli (physx on gpu 2 )
    good framerate and quality ,
    but gpu fan run not perfectly (alternate high and slow rpm)
    and up temperature
     
    andytom69, Jul 6, 2010
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  10. Fanatic1074

    Fanatic1074 Notebook Guru

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    I tried to use a non dell driver and lost the ability to turn on/off the 280m's via FN+F6 or whatever.... Do these drivers still allow the hybrid graphics functions? I use it alot.
     
    Fanatic1074, Jul 7, 2010
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  11. Mickbt26

    Mickbt26 Notebook Evangelist

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    Yes, Im using this driver right now. I always use the nvidia icon in the tray to switch GPU's never used FN+F7

    Make sure hybrid is enabled in the BIOS and it will work
     
    Mickbt26, Jul 7, 2010
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  12. Fanatic1074

    Fanatic1074 Notebook Guru

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    Well its just one of those things where you get used to doing something one way and you like it. Thats the situation im in. :). Ok, ill go grab them and try them out thanks.
     
    Fanatic1074, Jul 7, 2010
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  13. Mr Pras

    Mr Pras Hardware and systems

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    I've discovered an issue that I'm fairly sure I didn't have before:

    When running a DXVA accelerated movie and browsing another (flicking through it to see various parts of the movie) I would get a hard freeze with audio (looping a single buffer).

    Repeated several times with different DXVA clips.
     
    Mr Pras, Jul 12, 2010
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  14. Belien

    Belien Notebook Geek

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    Looks like people at Nvidia don't have holidays. They came up with yet another new version 258.96 today.

    Just downloaded and installed (display drivers only and using BatBoys procedure). Games FPS are fine, now let's see how internet browsing will do after a few hours (a really hope the freezes are gone now)
     
    Belien, Jul 12, 2010
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  15. Mickbt26

    Mickbt26 Notebook Evangelist

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    I've just experienced my first system freeze on 258.69.
    The sound kinda stuttered a little at first then the screen went black

    I was streaming live TV at the time (flash based bug again maybe?)
     
    Mickbt26, Jul 12, 2010
    #15