-->*OFFICIAL: Dell XPS M1730 Owner's Lounge*<--

It could help in general, but I don't think it's gonna make make a big difference, the 2 Gigs RAM are hardly used up to 85% (on Crysis).

 

Specs are

XPS 1730
T7700
4 GB RAM
2 x 160 GB / 7200rpm
8700M GT 256MB in SLI
Display Driver - 169.28
Vista Home Premium

I reinstalled windows as soon as i got the notebook. All other drivers are from the driver set up cd. As for the HDD config, I have no idea at all. I have 2 drives in 'Computer', a C and D.

I don't know much about RAID set-ups etc.

Games I've played so far and no crashes.

WOW
BF2
ARMA demo
Supreme Commander demo
CS:S
Deer Hunter 2005

 

If your computer shows two drives, then it's not RAID.

I was hoping that vista sp1 would take care of my issues, but I have SP1 RC and still freezing/crashing alot... sux.

 

Anyone out there know how I could get a hold of the A03 bios?

 

uhhh, i started getting the freeze ups with 169.04.... is it the driver, or the driver in combination with vista/raid/sli/etc?

I'm moving down to 163.75 WHQL. I don't think I got any freezeups there, but it may just be that I don't remember...

 

163.75 has bad performance for me, mid 7000s for 3dmark06.

 

i got the freeze up with 163.75 installed. I think it must be something else. Maybe it's all the installing/uninstalling of drivers - LOL (sort of).

i search around for vista related freezeups and am trying

a) remove/reinsert memory (to eliminate potential static buildup)....
b) disable all msconfig-startup programs except for essential windows stuff
c) move back up to 169.04

 

seems steady after a couple hours...

perhaps disabling the nvidia startup items helped. Ironically, one of the items was called nvidia driver helper...

 

I am running the 169.09 drivers in both Vista and XP and everything works great. Have run COD4, Bioshock, Crysis, UT4 and WOW in both with no problems (though I do get a 10%+ FPS hit with Vista).

 

Sorry to hear you're having problems now. You were one of the most stable a few pages back!!

When did these lockups start, has there been a sudden onset, or just a general build up over the past few weeks?

Are there any reoccurring? Any particular games acting up? Have you tried a few stability tests (3dmark loops with desktop theme set to classic - the latter to avoid crashes as discussed before!) or 2x prime95/sp2004 blend and large FFT tests?

Have you encountered the "blank screen" on cold boot issue as yet?

 

Hey everyone~ I am currently having issues getting my 730 Up to snuff as far as PC Mark Scores go. I am using PC Mark Vantage as I have the 32bit Vista Version. When You are running the test is your score just using the Gaming Suite? When I Run just the Gaming Suite I am Getting 5500's? I downloaded Ntune Software and Enabled SLI. I am running 169.04 Drivers? Does anyone have any Ideas?

Thanks
PS - Im running 1024X768 Res
NoAA
Texture Filtering Optimal
Overclocked to 3.4ghz
Slightly Overclocked Graphic Cards with Ntune

 

Just got my replacement computer. It's great, best choice I made. I get like a 300 fps on CSS which is much better than my last 1730(20-30FPS).

peace.

 

No boot freezes, and I was unable to connect it to any particular application or activity. It was seemingly random. I got it when loading a pdf in acrobat, when opening notebookreview in IE, and after leaving the computer and returning to find it locked up...

I got this behavior with all the drivers, including the rock solid ones of before. I figured it might have been due to other changes in my system, so I dug around but it's very hard to get conclusive information based on others' evidence.

I first tried a registry change related to RAID configuration (removing the parameters subkey under iastor and iastorv)... didn't do anything for me.

Then I both disabled all non-essential msconfig startup items and reseated my RAM. This was while on 163.75. The problems seemed to vanish. Recalling that 169.04 was stable for me, I went back up to that version, and things look good. None of the weird signs of instability and no actual freezes either...

IF it happens again and gets worse, I'll try reseating the memory by itself to see if that's the "cure".

 

Ok, so the Excalations BS worked somehow... My 3rd replacement system is apparently on its way... It makes no sense whatsoever... IT has only taken 3 days to build and to ship, makes me wonder if it will be refurbished or what because the EDD is 14/01/08 or b4... Anyways, eventhough it was picked up by ups on the 23rd there is no information nor tracking number available... thats pretty weird no???? anyways...

The lady from excalations was like, yeah i have asked for an extension of 4 years on your nbd warranty, take it as a christmas present blah,blah... so, and because i allready have 4 years on my current system i have asked her if 4+4 =8, or she thinks im dumb or something, lets see what she answers...

The tag number is not working yet so i will have to wait to find out if i have warranty until 2011 or 2015 XDDDD!!

 

But you're just going to buy a new quad core xps next year rite - lol

 

*crys*

Hey guys, I'm currently on a RAID mission, can one of you m1730 owners post a screen shot of the motherboard tab in this application please?

http://bakkap.free.fr/Softs/cpu-z-142-3.zip

Cheers.

 

Hi,

I'd appreciate anyone's help in pointing me to some easy to install drivers. I've got the latest Dell one, (sept 27th) but COD4 runs pretty low and Crysis is v. poor. I'm a fairly basic user, so a nice easy "step by step" guide would be good!!! Thanks.

 

go to www.laptopvideo2go.com they have a guide and drivers which should have you up and running in no time.

 

Well back to where I was again. I just finished a factory install, minus a few items and now have gained a few more 3Dmark06 points in the process. Now to install the games and other software. I hope this does not happen again for at least a year.

 

Was it worth it BigJayTee? I mean do you see any difference in the way the games run with 8975 points?

 

you can also try the NBF performance enhanced tweaked versions from notebookforums. These are based on laptopvideo2go's modded infs.

notebookforums does not offer an NBF version for all drivers, just those they consider worthy or which constitute some significant difference from prior versions. I personally am on NBF 169.04, but others have gotten good results with 169.09. Nothing against laptopvideo2go's editions, which is up to 169.28 at the time of this post... I merely prefer the rendering of NBF for the apps that I happen to use, but YMMV.

http://www.notebookforums.com/thread206047.html

 

Yeah, well, I have learned that the computer will arrive on the 31/12 to my house, im on vacation until the 08/01, UPS says that if by the 05/01 noone claims the computer it will be retuned to dell... Meaning a new order will have to be made... Thats so uncool... I think im gonna stay quiet until 8800GTX and peryn come out and get as angry as f*ck for an upgrade by saying that i have been for more than 1 month wating for the delivery... hehe...

 

To me stability is key... I do get 200 points more with the dell 167.45 drivers. So....YES.

 

Thanks all, the latest notebooks2go drivers have vastly improved cod4!

 

Ok,.. what is the inf and WHQL mean? I am downloading the 169.04, for better COD4 play. Not that it was that bad in the first place. I am curious though, the chap that is having a problem restoring "?" to a prior driver, is this a common problem? Also; how do I know for sure, what driver I have? This is what is shown within the confines of Device Manager:

NVidia
7.15.11.5669
Date 10/4/2007

It looks NOTHING like 169.~? So help this NUOOB/NUBE out guys! Great cheers to you all!

 

INF is a properties file that externalizes configuration information for the driver to use. This is a flexible design.

WHQL - "Windows Hardware Quality Labs" testing - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WHQL_Testing, means that the version was subjected to tests certifying certain levels of compatibility... Such certification qualifies it for the "designed for windows" logo campaign and also receives a digital certificate ensuring the truthfulness of the claim.

Other drivers in the beta stage may receive WHQL standing at some later point, but apparently not all do, as some are intended for specialty usage or are simply not important enough to go through such testing and verification.

I'm pretty sure your driver is 156.69. My driver, for example, is 169.04, whereas the full string is 7.15.11.6904

 

Do you watch bluray at all? Do the 167.45 drivers allow blu-ray playback or does it say the vid drivers are incompatible? 32bit vista correct?

 

I moved up to 169.25 laptopvideo2go and disabled all non-essential msconfig startup items, since that helped with 169.04. So far so good, but time will tell.

 

I'll be using my laptop for mainly for Gears of War. I will also be watching Blu-Ray movies on both the laptop and sometimes connected to an external display.

Which drivers would be the most stable?
Thanks

 

Don't know about GoW but I know for bluray playback - your vid drivers have to be WHQL and have the blessings from the powers that be to be able to playback bluray - my biggest headache... gonna by AnyDVD today I think... before the Euro price change and still get the christmas code discount... Trials not over yet - and it played almost everything so far... day after tomorrow it wouldn't playback for some reason...

 

try 169.25 from laptopvideo2go

 

I have had no problems with playing BlueRay Disks.

 

I would like to know is ...
how soon does the 8800 cards get old
cos like the 9750 out last year & already people will "HAVE" to get upgrades
cos of the Dx10 Games out

Spending $5000 on a laptop & it already needs a Upgrade

Or cos of the Dx10 & 8800 we will be able to use our laptops for another3/4 yrs minimum ?

 

Bloody Hell, my system froze up again (with 169.25). Returning to 169.04. Someone tell me why I waste so much of my life (un)installing drivers LOL

 

Hi,

I am going to overclock for the first time the standard dual 8700m.
Anyone has any idea about stable OC speed? I've been reading of people OCing at 720 Core / 1.2 Gigs o'Memory. Any help would be appreciated.

I am running 169.04 drivers (best one so far) on a 2.4 CPU (2 Gigs RAM) etc etc.

Cheers,

JI

 

Thanks Zerg, for the info. 169.04 I guess is the one to go with. I will download it. Right quick,... does Dell support these installs? Or is there something that a NOOB should be aware of? By the way,... is that Nero 8 Ultra going to be the best BlueRay Disk burner? Is this also capable of burning Dual Layer disks?
Thanks for the help in advance. Cheers!

 

ifti, when you get your machine, can you tell us what bios revision you have?

 

Heyy This is In Response to the GoW Post. I am currently Running drivers 169.04 Seeems to work well for me. I was getting numerous Errors and crashes with this game soo I hit the Forums over there and if your having ths issue try this When trying to run it open the Game Files>Binarys>Startup and right click start up and THen use "Run as Administrator" Since doign it this way I havent had a Crash Yet. Hope this helps

 

On this driver 169.04,... is this a double clicking/trouble free install? Or do I have to tweak any "inf" stuff? Cheers!

 

So you downloaded the 167.45 "rapid release" drivers from Dell at this link:
http://support.dell.com/support/dow...-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=1&libid=6&fileid=226577

???

Because I tried those and mediadirect tells me I have an incompatible graphics driver... You're running vista 32bit right?

Do you not use mediadirect for playback? I've tried PowerDVD Ultra as well (basically the same thing as media direct I guess, but with multi-channel surround)... no luck either way... what gives!?

 

My vista score went from 5.0 to 4.1 due to a drop in Desktop graphics Aero assessment score from 5.9 to 4.1.... so much for my attempts at optimization

 

I will do. Once I get it I'll let you guys know and if I forget to tell you just holler at me again

Nice tip, thanks

I plan to reinstall my system as soon as I get it, and will stick drivers 169.04 on it from clean.

Im hoping that I will be able to watch blu-ray movies through it without any third party software. It seems silly to me that you have to use 3rd party software to view a movie, whether its on the laptop or on an external display!! Or have I got it wrong and you need AnyDVD to watch the movie on an external display only, and it works fine on the laptop itself without??

 

Make sure you've uninstalled your previous drivers properly.

Then, if you have the laptopvideo2go version, unpack it (run it) to a directory, then download the modded INF and overwrite the original INF.

If you have the NBF tweaked version, the installer comes with the modded inf.

NBF version is here http://www.notebookforums.com/thread206887.html

 

using RivaTuner 2.6 btw. Any help, hint, rumour, link appreciated.

Cheers,

JI

 

Im having trouble installing the "Hotfixes" It keeps telling me "this update does not apply to your system" when It does anyone else getting this or have a way around it?

 

If you receive that message Vista automatic upgrade has already downloaded and installed those hotfixes for you, as far as I know.

 

BigJayTee - where did you get your drivers!? I want ones that allow blu-ray playback and ones that will at least play my games with SLI enabled... so far it's either or and it's REALLY rubbing me the wrong way.

I'd happily trade up to a single 8800 to get ride of the non-existant 8700m chips... (at least they are non-existant if you ask nvidia).

 

Is AnyDVD supposed to remove the "driver incompatible" error or does it ONLY correct HDCP issues with displays?

I only get bluray to NOT give me that error with the default drivers that come with the image (156.61 I think?) and the WHQL 169.25 drivers (NOT the beta 169.25)... however SLI doesn't work for me with the 169.25 - games flickr like mad, but I can't see anything and the default drivers SUCK for gaming...

Does no one use bluray or is my system defective or something??

 

What exactly does AnyDVD do??

Is it a DVD Player software, or do you still view movies on Media Player with AnyDVD running in the background??

Can I watch blu-rays on my laptop without AnyDVD? I mean is AnyDVD just needed for when you want to watch Blu-Ray movies on an external display?

Does AnyDVD give you the ability to watch movies from any region??

Also, to watch Blu-Ray movies do I need to buy AnyDVD, and then buy the AnyDVD HD Upgrade, or do I just buy the AnyDVD HD version outright?

 

OK so I installed the 169.09 drivers from Laptopvideo2go and enabled SLI - installed anydvdHD - media direct and powerdvd ultra 7.3 both tell me I have incompatible video card drivers and it cannot play. I am using Vista 32bit after getting the same BS from Vista 64bit.

Can anyone provide some real answers here? How the heck am I supposed to game on this 4000+ dollar laptop AND watch some bluray?? grrrrrr