m15x: 8800M GTX display driver update

thanks for stickin your neck out a bit soggy

 

Ok so get this...

After Sogarth mentioned that NOTHING is in the works by Alienware to get us a new driver, I contacted ALienware and mentioned that according to my sources nothing was happening on NVIDIA's end because Alienware had not requested anything. After confronting them with this info - as they had told me a new driver was in the works - they said the driver I have is just fine and will work properly with my system. HOLY &%*$*&$ CRAP!!! What a bunch of liers. Here is their exact response.

--------------------------------------------------------------
"Thank you again for contacting Alienware’s Feedback Team.

I double checked this information with our Research and Development Team. They explained to me that the current available driver for the NVidia 8800 GTX card should work fine with your system. It has been validated and tested many times. We do not have reported issues being caused by the driver itself.

Unfortunately, we are unable to cancel your system. However, we will honor the system's warranty. We can assure you that the issues you reported are going to be fixed and that you are going to have a fully functional system. We would recommend you to thoroughly test your system when receiving it. Then, contact us to provide us with your feedback regarding the repair.

If you have any further questions, feel free to contact us again."

-----------------------------------------------------------------

 

This is a discouraging news.. Westcoast, do you have downclocking issue with your unit as well? Are you waiting to see if the new driver fixes that issue or are you the lucky one waiting for just performance increase?

 

I imagine they will update my bios while they have it which should take care of the heating issue and downclocking. Its the performance issue I have. If I load in a driver of the internet, which forces my card to run at half the speed, I can actually run WoW and FFXI just great, but the crysis and my other games blow. If I load in the stock driver then Crysis is playable, but FFXI and WoW blow. SO I cant play all my games at once at a decent frame rate. thats my major beef at the moment with the card.

 

that post needs to be added to the other thread on "aw needs to hear OUR voice again" because that is such an arrogant response. Telling us that there are NO known issues? Read the forums. I posted how I got 30FPS in FEAR. Yes great drivers AW. FEAR (an awesome game) CANT run on my machine build in 2008. This irks me. This is a major complaint and should be added to what the other members are posting.

 

Well I am happy and sad to say I have given up on AW and have returned my system. I wish you all the best in getting something sorted out with AW.

Good luck everyone.

 

That sucks. Good luck with your new lappy, newfie.

 

That's a shame mate, but, i guess you've had enough hassle.

I hope you'll stick around the forum to support those of us who are still battling on lol

So what machine you going for next, Sager/Clevo?

OB

 

Wow I am just more amazed as this story goes on, well all the issues with AW, have they just CS reps on number metrics and no quality feedback, no enterprise feedback system so the right ppl on top get the message and fix things, because most call centers- feedback stops due to management trying to cover up issues for management higher up the chain, as they don't understand customer service, they only understand stuff like: wow we handled 14440 calls last year, now that is good and good productivity as the CS all handled 50+ calls a day...

fhew

 

I'm not sure about the CS, there appears to be some good and some bad cases. I think it depends on who you speak to when you ring up, if the person you're talking to, is having a bad day, then i'm guessing the service you recieve is less than great and so on.

It's a shame that CS is like that but, it's not just AW. We have a company i have to ring for Technical support, and they sometimes help and other times they are useless.

I guess it's the luck of the draw?

OB

 

Thanks Guys.

I am unsure yet. Just going to watch and see how the M15x situation unfolds. AW have promised me the sun moon and stars and have not delivered anything but headaches to date. They are now waiting till they recieve the system to decide if they will grant my refund. I get phone calls and emails stating they are truely sorry for my experience and they will call me back in a few days with something for my troubles. Still no call lol..

I truely enjoyed my M15x, but for the price it just felt cheap to me. The case feels flimsy and cheap. Like it's thin plastic. The Screen wobbles and creeks when it's new. How will hold up after a year. I think it should have been a more solid design. The downclocking was so annoying, and the total lack of driver support is embarrasing for AW to say the least. I am sure AW are scrambling right now to try and fix things, but I don't think they ever will. I think everyone is heading for another M5500 Fiasco.

 

Copied from the first post:

I've finally been able to test an updated driver that should work on the m15x as well as SLI systems (it was actually ready on the 11th, but other things got in the way), and it looks like it works. So hopefully they'll be able to get that checked in and start building release versions of the fixed driver.

 

Thx for the update Sogarth, Here's hoping something trickles down to us

 

Awesome!!!! Sogarth, will you post again when a version is available that contains the fixes? So we know what one has the fix?

I can't wait....I hope its soon....Bring on the leaks (but not from Sogarth of course; don't want him to get in trouble).

N

 

I did say I would.

 

Thanks for continuing to keep us informed Sogarth... +Rep at you.

 

Is a downclocking 8800m still faster than a 8700m?

 

Does anyone know?

 

Now the downclocking is fixed with the x32 bios, all we need is nvidia to release a version of the driver with the patch in it and we're all set!

Come on nvidia!!!

N

 

Anybody try installing different drivers with the new BIOS yet?? Maybe it stops the downclocking with new drivers as well...

 

That's a good point, however, I'm not adventurous enough to do that

 

Doesn't seem likely as Sogarth and the devs at nvidia found the problem. We're just waiting for a leak or release from nvidia with the fix in it.

This was a separate issue from the downclocking, AFAIK.

N

 

Just to save anyone else the trouble, the latest drivers on LTV2GO don't contain the fix and downclock (174.93). I just tried them (I'm impatient )

In addition, I do have the x32 BIOS, and can confirm that it does not solve the driver issue.

N

 

Alright, well there you go

 

That sucks...and the wait continues.

Here +rep for you for trying, if it makes you feel any better.

 

hehe

 

Thanks.. I was so hoping to report good news - the driver is dated just a few days ago...Like you said, we keep waiting...

N

 

i don't think we'll have to wait much longer. AW has proven (by bringing us two new BIOS) that they have a modicon of care for their customers, so i guess they'll get us new drivers too.

 

Bump

Any news on this Sogarth, it's been a while?

 

I'm still waiting for lv2g to get drivers recent enough. They're definitely getting closer to the target date, though.

 

hey the new 175 somthing's are out for X64. Sogarth are these the one's your leading us to.

Again thanks Sogarth for the updates.

 

It is a 175.xx driver that's needed. But no, it's not 175.12.

 

ARGH!!!! Come on!!! We need new drivers!!!

N

 

I'm completely new to this whole issue (being a m9750 owner), but I just read this whole thread and I have a question for anyone who might know:

is this problem specific to the m15x or the 8800 GTX card in general?


I'm thinking of ordering the m17x in SLi, but if this is a problem built into the 8800 card, then maybe I should wait...

 

Hey sogarth the 175.51 have been released are these the drivers we are looking for?

 

I ran them against the old 8800m drivers on my Desktop 8800 GTX and they are much better if anyone is interested... but then again the mgtx is a different beast.

 

Right code branch (this is, unfortunately, very important - a different branch, but more recent build, could easily not have the fix). Still a week too early, though.

 

awww i was hoping these drivers would be released on my birthday today!...

Is there any ay that you could perhaps assure us that this new driver will be out by say next month? (thats when im getting this system)

 

as far as I tested, the 175.51 driver still downclocks the 8800M GTX... switching back to 167.55...

 

happy birthday man.

 

Is this a problem specific to the m15x or the 8800 GTX card in general?

 

its kind of half and half. This problem has existed with 8800m GTX for some time, but there have been drivers released that only work on certain vendor machines.
Apparantly though, nvidia has a new, non problematic driver in the works and in the final stages of testing.

We would then have o wait for AW to approve it and release it for the m15x.

In short, i think we should just blame alienware. Its easier to do, and they seem to be used to it, so they wont mind ^_^

 

I'm curious if this would affect other 8800 GTX laptops, like the M1730 or the m17x. I am thinking of purchasing the m17x and using it with XP, and since AW has no XP support for the m17x, I was just going to use the Laptopvideo2Go drivers for XP instead. But now, I'm rather worried that if I do that, I will have downclocked video cards. If this is the case, then maybe I shouldn't buy the m17x at all, since AW drivers take forever for Vista, and practically never for XP

 

you might be fine if you load your own xp. I would call AW and ask though. im sure they wouldnt ming helping you out on your enquiries if it scores them a sale.

 

Sogarth, How about 175.63?

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=18537

N

 

Hey, what do you know, a driver that actually has the fix. Everybody, go at it!

 

Oh, and have a rep while you're at it, for tracking down the version.

 

Wow. Thanks Sogarth finally...so this mean that any other driver that comes after this will also contain the fix too?

 

More or less. The version chart is pretty crazy (too many branches), but anything after 175.63 should be fine.

 

so wait um, how exactly does one install this? the modded inf link doesnt work or do we not need that.