m9750 repaired.... Psyche!

Well, my m9750 finally shipped back after not being able to run Call of Duty 4 and Unreal Tournament 3 like advertised, and on the repair note I got back with my computer, it said they were able to duplicate the problem and the computer was fixed.

Odd, it seems my m9750 is performing EXACTLY the same as before I sent it back, I am still getting roughly 20-30 fps in Call of Duty 4 with the following setup

2 7950 GTX's in SLI
2 Gigs of Ram
2.16 C2D
Windows XP
167.46 Alienware Beta Drivers

I run CoD4 on max settings (Except no Anti Aliasing) at 1440x900. I still get roughly 20-30 fps outdoors and 90-100 indoors. The lag problem with UT3 is back as well, since that is the first thing I checked when I got this laptop back. I feel kind of disappointed, is it too late to ask for a refund with the $500 restocking fee so I can get a new alienware notebook that actually works out of the box?

Incase you are wondering, Powermizer is disabled, SLI is enabled, I have tried it with Single GPU, AFR1, AFR2 and SFR, with no difference in framerates, Dual Video Cards is enabled in CoD4, The texture filtering quality and stuff is set to high performance, yet playing without SLI gives me significantly lower framerates. What gives?

 

There is a guide somewhere for sli cards optimization and is it due to the temps?

 

I just got off the phone with tech support again, they are going to expedite it back to the repair facility again and attempt to fix the problem once more. I really hope its fixed this time.

"There is a guide somewhere for sli cards optimization and is it due to the temps?"

No the temps are actually quite cool so I am unsure what the problem is.

 

Okay man I don't want to sound like a ******* but I am pretty damn sure that I told you to use drivers from laptopvideo2go because alienwares drivers were pure crap. It is up to you to decide whether you want to or not.

However, I could be wrong as I tell a lot of people this.

 

Yeah you did tell me to try out drivers from laptopvideo2go Stone, but they had the same performance as the ones from Alienware. When I was talking to another tech support agent about sending this machine back like a week or two ago, I was told that they had a gameroom where they could play videogames when they were on break, he said they had an m9750 in there similar to my configuration that ran it without any problems at a much higher framerate than I was getting. So as far as I am concerned, if it does not run well on these drivers, it will not matter what other ones I use. Its on their notes this time to make sure CoD4 runs properly.

 

I actually understand your point very well. It is not your responsibility to spend over 12 hours total (I probably have) reinstalling vista + xp and installing and testing drivers until you get the right ones.

That job falls in the hands of AW, not the customer if that is what they choose.

 

did you enable dual video cards in the cod4 game options? and enable sli correctly using alternate frame rendering 2? just making sure lol

 

Yes I have tried them

 

I have an m9750 with about the same configuration and i get about the same frame rates on cod4 and sometimes it even drops into the teens when im in a battle. I just thought that the computer was not powerful enough to get higher frame rates and im not even running it on the highest settings.What frame rates is it supposed to get? The benchmark tests seemed to be fine and because i got 9506 on 3d mark 06. On another note I used the laptopvideo2go drivers and they dropped my 3d mark 06 scores by 400 marks so I reverted back to the alienware beta drivers. So if you find out this problem I would love to know what it is.

 

Me too, if it is not fixed this time, I will try to get a refund with the $500 restocking fee.

 

Well im glad I am not alone.

 

How's it going Aqatius,
I can honestly say that me and stone have spent more hours restoring and installing than actually using our laptops lol. We've been helping each other and providing help and tips where we can. The Area 51 m9750 will not, and I repeat will not, run COD4 or UT3 with the factory drivers. You're better off playing it on a console if you expect the factory drivers to do the job. You have to load 174.16 from laptopvideo2go (or any driver above). Althought it shouldn't be your responsibility to make this laptop work, it will not perform until you've put time into it as stone and I have. The 174.16 make a tremedous difference, and I'm sure both stone and I can verify that. Try a complete restore, following by loading the 174.16 drivers from laptopvideo2go (don't even look at the AW drivers). Don't forget to turn on SLI, and try UT3 and COD4 once again.
I realize the frustration, as we've all be there. But you'll definitely be relieved when you try this configuration. It may not run like the ultimate gaming machine. However, you'll at least be able to use it for what it's capable of doing.

Hope this helps,
Gabe

 

so is the 174.16 is the best driver? would any of the newer ones be better?

 

Thanks for the info Gabe, but the only thing that truly concerned me is the fact that the tech support guy said the m9750 at their facility worked flawlessly on CoD4 with a similar configuration, so I reaallly expect this computer to work like they said it should, like the m9750 in their facility does.

Also, before you install those drivers captain derek, realize that you need to install SP3 first, when I tried that on my m9750 I had to reformat it twice to get it to work for some reason, and if we have the same problems with running games, I hope you don't have the same problems installing SP3.

 

Yes I have SP3 and I only had to reformat my hard drive when I downloaded the pre-release SP3. When I did it through windows update it worked fine but my desktop did not like it. thanx though

 

Hi Agatius,
I was actually told the same thing. I was told they played all kinds of games on break. However, they aren't very clear as to what drivers or configurations they're using. I was told by an Alienware employee that they preferred the laptopvideo2go drivers for now, as there's aren't quite working right at this point. And to be be perfecty honest, I'm sure that even they don't get perfect play. I'm sure that if you lower the resolution enough, anything works well. Keep in mind that they're looking for relief on their break. They aren't necessarily using the computers as if they are their own, not to mention nit picking the performance. I'm sure they very casually sit down and use it for a 15 minutes at best.

Gabe

 

One of the tech guys said 1 7950 GTX should be able to crank out 35-45 fps on max settings with no AA easily on a 1440x900, but I am getting like 22 fps so I really think something is wrong with my system that has not been found yet.

 

ha wow 45 fps on one i can barely make 30 on 2 with no AA and 1440x900

 

dont listen to the guys at CS, they have their laptops are on steroids, anyways im thinking this is an sli issue, did you guys try with sli on and off? and use the sli bar to see how its working? Also make sure the game profiles are right, ive noticed nvidia control panel can mess you up if not set right for the game

 

With SLI off, the game is unplayable. I'm talking about going from 22 fps down to 11-13ish.

BUT... Atleast Alienware customer support is trying to solve my issue, they were nice enough to expedite it so I won't have to wait another week and a half, so if it comes back fixed this time I'm happy.

 

I could not live without my laptop so I am dreading to send it in because my desktop sucks at gaming with 2.4ghz amd 1gb RAM x700 graphics lol

but if that fixes it then i will gladly send it in.

 

lol yah I remember when the rep told me my system repairs where going to be expedited...m9750 went in with overheating problems and came back a fire hazard. , but they where nice enough to give me expedited 2 week repair service. "thats sarcasm"

 

@Derrek - One user here actually reported trouble installing the 174.16 driver on his laptop with XP SP3. I advised him to try another driver (which is listed as the driver to use in my SLi guide) and he said that the new driver installed properly unlike the 174.16 and his system ran beautify.

My verdict:
174.76 and up for XP SP3
174.16 and up for Vista SP1

 

Was it within the 30 days of return? Did you get a refund? With the amount of money I spent I am kind of worried what will happen to my system.

 

@Agatius - I do not think your laptop has overheating problems as you never mentioned it anywhere in your post. Bwhxeon had trouble with his M9750 from the start. I don't remember the whole thing though as there have been a lot of "come and go" buyers recently. I believe that he said he would give them 1 chance to fix it and they failed or something like that.

Personally I think that the M9750 is the best laptop that Alienware has released. However, if mine breaks down in the future and TS can't fix it within 3 attempts, I will unfortunately most likely have to ask for a credit since I can't be without a system for that long as with my M5550.

 

well it installed fine

 

I did end up getting a refund, but it took a BBB claim to make them accept it. The problem is, they seem to like to take their sweet time doing the repairs and they will send it back after that 30 day period is up or you conveniently get it so late that sending it back in would put you over the 30 day return. My advise is if they didn't fix it right the first time get out now while you still can.

>.> stone didn't you have to fight with them for almost a year on your previous laptop?

As for the issues I had, I had no problem getting sli to work on the system. Someone had written a sli guide that stated you had to install the cards one at a time and from that point on you could update them without a problem. The thing was after about 20-30 minutes of gaming the system would shut down, a common problem seen when a system overheats. The so called expedited repair service was really on overnight shipping "To" alienware. Nothing about repairs is expedited and they will most likely ship it back standard ground like they did with mine.
Upon receiving the laptop back, not only did they clean it, but they added a burnt plastic smell to it . Once I opened up the laptop some wires where indeed melting around the gpu, I believe they where actually the power connectors for the fans. By this time I was already at the 30 day return mark and I filed BBB report and after they found out how much Alienware was lieing to them they forced them to refund my money.

 

It was overheating originally when I sent it back in for repairs, it seems to be about 9-8 C cooler, instead of running at 101-103C its at about 92-93 C when running UT3 or CoD 4, it still seems kind of high though and they replaced a heatsink as well as a video card last time.

 

@Bwhxeon - Yes in fact I did have to fight with them for 14 months to get a credit on a M5550 that never worked properly from day one (downclocked after 1 hour playing games).

@Agatius - Both of the temps that you posted are way higher than what I would consider normal for the laptop. I would suggest you contact the Roswell crew and see what they can do as the technicians there are MUCH more qualified than the Robots who read what AW tells them to read

 

How do I contact the Roswell Crew?

 

I think the m9750 does indeed have a solid case build, the problems seem to really be caused by sloppy craftsmanship when it comes to the internal component assembly. I mean...how many gaming laptops still use heating pads on anything besides the graphics card ram.

 

one thing i realized about sli drivers is to never ever mess with the pre-defined profiles for the games othewise it may "break" the profile causing sli to not work properly regardless of setting. the only thing you should do is enable and disable sli through the set sli configuration tab.

when i had the m9750 it came with factory alienware drivers that did not have any sli performance increase in my games. i had to use their beta drivers for the m9750 to get any sli performance out of it.

i advise you to re-install the AW beta drivers or a recommended modified driver set and enable sli afterwards. restart the computer and do not go into the manage 3d settings tab and do not manually modify the global settings either.

 

well I am using the 174.16 drver and getting 26-50 fps on cod4 so that suits me. thanx

my friend has an 8800gts and his never gets below 45 so i though that 2 7950gtx will match one 8800gts but i do get better frame rates on bf2142

 

Agatius,

We apologize for the inconvenience, please PM me with your account info and I will look into the progress of the repair.

Thank you,

 

I have this same laptop, and with 2x 7950 GTX cards, 2.33GHz processor, and 2 gigs of RAM.

Mine has run more or less okay since I received it several months ago. It typically runs around the high 80s, low 90s for extended gaming sessions, although it never shuts down. I have played CoD4 for up to 4 hours at a time with no temperature warnings or shutdowns, although both cards can get up to 93 degrees.

I always considered this normal.

Additionally, the machine has consistently benched 8300-8700 in 3dMark06 since I got it, which seems to fall in line with what various reviewers have claimed. I'm pretty sure that it's working as it was designed to.

The gaming performance leaves much to be desired. I play Bioshock with all options maxed out (no AA) at 1280 x 800 and it can drop to 20 fps on some scenes. I have the same issues with CoD4, running 100+ fps in rooms, and as low as 12 fps in huge outdoor environments. I have always assumed this was how the laptop is supposed to run, and I think it is, judging by the benchmarks for real world games as posted by this site's review as well as others.

I have a tough time believing this laptop can run games like Bioshock or CoD4 at 45+ fps @ 1400x900 with all options maxed in all game areas. I just don't think it has the horsepower for that.

So my CoD4 performance is the same as your's, however, my UT3 performance is really good, like 45+ fps at all times with all options maxed @ 1200x800.

I have always run XP SP2 and tried the following drivers from laptopvideo2go, all gave about the same performance in CoD4:

169.04
174.82
174.93
167.46 AW Beta
167.58
175.63

I have tried all those drivers using DriverCleaner.NET in safe mode to ensure a pure and clean install. None of these drivers have improved my performance in CoD4 from my avg fps:

30-100 fps indoors
12-45 fps outdoors

I think that's just the norm for this laptop.

 

I have heard of some users on this forum maxing out the game (No AA) with 17950 GTX at a native res of 1920x1200 and it was playable. Why can't I get a playable framerate at 1440x900 with two 7950 GTX's and no AA? It just doesn't make sense.

Thank you for looking over the progress of my repair, I will either send the laptop back today or tomorrow, whenever I get the label from Alienware. I would feel much safer e-mailing you my account information instead of PMing it to you in these forums, could you please send me a PM with your Alienware e-mail address? Thanks again.

 

Run 3DMark06 and compare your score to what Chaz got in his M9750 review, that'll tell us if your M9750 is really underperforming or if it just can't handle higher framerates in Call of Duty 4.