m15x easter egg!?

ok so i had just shut down my m15x. when it was shut down, i had some weird notion that compelled me to find out which side of the "mouse bar" clicks better. so i hit the right mouse button, and hold it down for a few seconds.

BOOM. my m15x starts up. i'm like "***?", and wait and see what happens. lo and behold, the laptop fires up quite normally, except that it's now running on the Intel IGP!!!!

so apparently, starting the notebook via the alienhead will fire up whatever graphics unit was used last, while holding the right mouse button will "shortcut" to the IGP!!!

for me, this is very good, because until now, every time i wanted to go mobile with the IGP, i had to boot into dedicated graphics, hit FN+F7, wait for the restart.... which just takes a while. now, hit the right mouse button and presto, IGP at your service!!!

PS: only drawback as of now is that the Vista Media Center also opens up for some reason. no clue why.

UPDATE No.1: for some reason, Fn+F7 led to rebooting, but i'm still on the IGP. will look into the matter.

UPDATE OF THE UPDATE: after rebooting, i'm now running the Nvidia GPU after all.

 

Holding the right-mouse button is a "shortcut" to launch Media Center according to Alienware in any GPU mode (since there is not touch control for that.), but if the computer is off, it will turn on with the integrated GPU and launch Media Center.

 

huh. say it ain't so. holding the right mouse really opens the Media Center.

i'm still proud of my "discovery"

 

Ive always wandered if the integrated graphics also apply to the 8700m gt... for some reason I've never been compelled to use that function.

 

course they do, it's a totally separate chip from the Nvidia card.

 

Old (a).

I found this out a couple of weeks back

/me runs

 

you did? shucks. ah well, i'm still proud of my (apparently not-so) discovery

 

thats a pretty sweet thing to kno, any chance we can configure what this does at startup?

 

nah, apparently, holding the right mouse is actually a shortcut of sorts to the Media Center, and if you press it while the notebook's off, it'll just fire up and open MC.

 

Do you mean like the not full version of Vista media center designed for dvds or what not?

 

IN xp with no command centre installed it just dims the screen.

 

Are you sure you cannot configure it ??? I am still here, Yes you can

Here is how
1) Fire up regedit.exe
2) Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\MobilePC\HotStartButtons\0
3) Change the Application Path to your own application path, must be in double quotes eg. "c:\folder\file.exe"

Enjoy !!!

 

Researching to see if you can configure more such shortcuts....

 

Nice find vikkie, it'd be worth creating a wiki for this stuff - and keeping a db of it

 

U ROCK!!!! THAT WOULD BE SOOO COOL!

 

Nice find Whizzo. I'll be using that one.... being able to start up from the IGP without the whole start, Fn+F7, restart, thing, will be nice.

I don't have media center in my vista, so I'm immune to the shortcut.

yay vista business. All I'm missing is the Media Center, and the default games. big whup. I think I get the backup thinger with mine though. I forget all the differences.

I'd like to change my MSMC link (MS Mobility Center) to just start up the Mobile Device thinger from the control panel. Seems everytime I connect through bluetooth, not only does bluetooth need to be on, and configured for an incoming com port, but the mobility center has to be allowing incoming connections on that com port... everytime I restart, it defaults to not letting devices connect on that com port... either fixing that, or having a shortcut to the program would be nice.

 

This is way cool. Why not just make a batch script to fire up your whole workspace in one go? So many possibilities.

 

Yeah, this has so much potential. It's a shame I can't think of anything I'd want to boot up right away.

 

but you need to remember that it will boot up with integrated

 

i think the starting up while holding the mouse button is a feature that was never mentioned. or might be a glitch because i think they all have them. never heard anything about it ever though about why it does that.

 

They said it before that it's a shortcut for Windows Media Center. If it annoys anyone there is a patch to disable it.

 

just media center?

ive seen some that fully boot up.

 

Well, the thing is it does boot up to open Media Center. I, like you, don't see the point in doing that, but that's what I was told...

 

Hey dont blame me if that does not work, seriously blame it on OSDManager.exe
I later discovered that OSDManager is replacing that registry again-n-again with same value. So next reboot and you are back to basics.

Let me restate everything and it will work. We just made it work, right Whizzo?

Here is how
1) Fire up regedit.exe
2) Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\MobilePC\HotStartButtons\0
3) Change the Application Path to your own application path, must be in double quotes eg. "c:\folder\file.exe"
4) Now select the folder "0", Right-Click and go to Permissions
5) Click advanced
6) Uncheck the "Include inherited permissions from this object's parent"
7) Click remove, if prompted.
8) Hit Ok, say Yes to prompt
9) Hit Ok, close regedit.exe

This will restrict the OSDManager.exe to change the value & make this value permanent and unless you change it manually next time.

To change it next time, you need to add permissions back

Here is how
1) Fire up regedit.exe
2) Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\MobilePC\HotStartButtons\0
3) Now select the folder "0", Right-Click and go to Permissions
4) Click advanced
5) Check the "Include inherited permissions from this object's parent"
6) Hit Ok
7) Hit Ok, close regedit.exe

 

Yeah, it boots up into Windows, then runs Media Center. good, if you forgot to switch to integrated the night before. haha.

 

Say, forgive me if this is common knowledge (I'm pretty new here), but is there a way to tell what graphics mode you're in currently if you forget?

Bests, MB

 

Yep... the easiest way is to

1) Start taskmgr.exe
2) Kill OSDManager.exe
3) Run C:\Program Files\Keyboard Manager\OSD Utility\OSDManager.exe

It will again prompt you in the systray with a pop up balloon

 

You can also just right click on your desktop and see if Nvidia Control Panel is an option that you can click. If so, you are on dedicated graphics. If not you are using integrated

 

Why I always think of different (strange) ways yeah that is even simpler. or go to Desktop properties and see its listed there

 

Maybe it's too much stress from work findvikas?

 

yeah I need a break in hawaii.... ahhhh..........

 

Thanks a lot guys!

Bests, MB

 

I could use an early vacation right about now, but I'm kind of tight on money. ):

 

does anybody else have the problem that the touch controls don't work after booting up in this mode??

 

noone with the prob?

 

My touch controls work after booting up in this mode. Usually it's the On-Screen Display Utility that doesn't work for me sometimes. It's a bug. Right now I'm having trouble with the volume slider control lighting up and changing the volume sporadically. I've already sent my m15x for repairs considering this and the broken hinge. I don't what you can do, otherthen try to reinstall your OSD utility and update your .NET framework software.

 

which BIOS version do you use? maybe it's a bug in x32...
i don't believe that it's a software issue, because the controls already don't work upon booting...