Dell XPS M1730 Owner's Lounge, *Part 3*

An update once in a while can provide useful. I usually keep my system up to date.
The only difference is in the video driver, which I only change when needed.

 

I've stumbled upon this message by accident.

Come to think of it, that's exactly what they did

I`m anxious to get the system back tomorrow...

 

It seems to be a common tactic by Dell. . . too common when it comes to depot experiences.

 

Yeah I am, it tends to be hot after I bring it back from being hibernated :S

 

Hey. Here is a link to the batboy's blog. He doesn't actually have drivers for Windows 7, but Windows Vista drivers should work just fine. I checked the date, and they are newer, than what you are using.

 

Is it a common tactic for them to upgrade to the 9800M GTX SLI ?

That's what Dell gave me for XMAS

I`m so freakin` ecstatic

 

Nice one eleron.

 

Era si cazul, bre

Thanks

 

Core 2 Duo T9500
4g ram
Dual 9800gtx in SLI


Having some issues... I can seem to get Quickset to work.. It installs fine.... I saw the workaround about the 1640 but when I open mobility center I get nothing... I cant change the LEDs other than bios. Stupid windows 7.....

can anyone give me a cliff notes or quick links to some workarounds or tweaks?

 

I think msn is the problem..

 

Guys! Tomorrow is the fairness hearing on the class action suit that nVidia lost, and several XPS models are included in that action. As soon as the fairness hearing is complete, the claim process will start.

Monitor this situation and verify your system is included in the action at The NVIDIA GPU Litigation - Affected Models -- get ready to file a claim as soon as the process begins.

To read about the class action, go to http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news...faulty-processor-suit-dell-hp-compaq-mac.html.

I discovered the XPS M1730 was included while I was researching this for my wife's hp dv6449us that the screen randomly goes black on. Fortunately, her system is on the list of affected units and we will be making a claim.

 

My GPUs were just replaced, and I did have those symptoms, but I've got an upgrade to the 9800M GTX

 

had a friend to borrow me his 2x4GB samsung sodimm modules just to test if it would works fine in my system and they did work. Bios detected them ok as well as windows 7 and task manager showed 8GB of memory no problem.. so it looks like its working just fine with 8GB... one strange thing was that this memory performed slower in windows rating and had only 6.2 windows experience index but my original 2x2GB (same samsung brand, even the same samsung sticker on them) have 6.4 rating..

so im wondering if i decide to go for 2x4GB modules (as I could really benefit from 8GB ram as I do a lot of 3d/max/zbrush/photoshop) which one to buy to get at least the same performance as i have now with my 2x2GB and not slower... what brand/type etc? could someone help what would be the best choice?

btw bought 2x 240GB vertex 2 ssd's last week and set them up in raid 0 and i'm loving it! Its like a new computer (well, for the price it should be anyway as i could have a new decent notebook heh)... everything starts instantly, whole windows boot in 30 seconds from pressing the power button. I'm very well impressed!
btw2: went from 5.9 to 7.9 in windows experiende index =)

 

So can anyone help me get quickset to work with my m1730 with windows 7? I cant control the light colors at all

 

I would not fret over the memory "score"

You know WEI is a joke of a "benchmark" right?

 

The 8GB of RAM may be a slower speed memory even though they are the same brand. What was the speed and memory timing of the 2x4GB modules? If the memory was PC2-5300 that could explain your drop in the WEI. That being said, the Windows Experience Index is not all that meaningful, as Scook9 pointed out. You would need to run some actual benchmarks or experience the difference running games and resource hungry apps to know how those modules perform in the real world.

Go to the Kingston or Crucial Technology web sites and run their configuration tool and you can identify the fastest memory specs your system can use. Once you do that, then look on newegg.com for that memory spec and it's probably available at a much better price than purchasing it directly from the OEM store. (Assuming you have a M1730, DDR2 PC2-6400 should keep you running at full speed.)

 

Im also having an Issue with the game panel..... I have win 7 64 bit and I cant get it to display anything but XPS

 

I use R182249 from Dell for quickset and I can conrol all the lights and colors fine.
Hope this helps.

 

I use this driver from Logitech lgps306_x64.

 

My post on Nvidia's forums about new driver 26X series and issues with 8700M GT:

Driver failure, black screens, 8700M - NVIDIA Forums - Page 2

Please register there and contribute your own story if you're experiencing similar problems.

Also, anyone else have thoughts? I've had no BSODs, just windows driver crashes (today they've started happening from out of the blue though) and the typical Flash crash bug. My 8700M GTs came with the system and don't get over 58-59 C under load (idle in low-mid 40s). I have a hard time believing even these would fail, but I wouldn't put it past Nvidia...

 

I got the game panel tweaked and working but still cant get quickset to work.
If I open mobility center there is no option for lights

 

Drivers from 2xx batch series basically kills the old 8700 in sli, while it should be ok in single, like the old 8600.
However seems that most of the problems are related to driver timing and driver kernel managed by windows framework api.
I can only advice to stick to older 19x.xx, in particular 197.45/197.25 drivers for x64 systems.
Download them from LV2G, get the inf, then after you installed everything get the SLI comulative update for 18x/19x drivers.
Basically that update brings performance and sli profiles to older drivers to keep on par with newer release with the only effect that those profiles works better on 19x batch as those drivers uses 3.1.1 CUDA engine management, far better than the newer 3.2.1 in 2xx drivers.

This is the sli update: SLI comulative profile update for driver v18x.xx\19x.xx - NVIDIA Forums

This is the page where the drivers are located: Drivers | drivers for mobile cards and laptops | laptopvideo2go.com

Is totally worth the try, those sets are awesome. Plus with sli update theres nothing to envy to newer ones.

 

Wow, performance in games has definitely increased, with the same config, in Crysis WH I had around 30-35fps, with the new setup it hits 40-45 sometimes...

 

Well thats a sign that 9800m GTX is working good. What drivers and OS are you using at the moment?
I cant really see so much improvements over my 9800m GT which was oced to 650/1600/1000, barely a few fps more.

But in some games like mafia 2 fps got a good boost in low gps and avg fps. In some games its not really noticiable.

I guess thats drivers fault...as an example my 3dmark06 score is basically unchanged. But if a game uses all the cuda cores in conjuction with good drivers/os, things can happen

 

Well, I was using stock, both SLI setups, so now if I OC the 9800M GTXs, should get even more.

Using 186.08 atm, but I`m thinking about getting the 197.x drivers, heard lots of good things about them.

Dunno how, but I`m sure that all round gaming performance has increased. Games that seemed a tad slow, now are playable, and the ones that were playable are now smooth.

Only an X9000 is missing... anybody care to make an Xmas gift?

 

I am surprised how much the X9000 still sells for! The X9100 can be had much cheaper

 

Shirleycpu over ebay still had the es q174 when i checked a few days ago for a good price.

 

I would like to thank all those who contributed to persuade Dell to release a new BIOS A11. Perhaps thanks to this I will be able to enjoy "The Beast" for a bit longer time - certainly much more pleasant :]. Not looked at the Dell website for a long time and here a surprise under the Christmas tree :].
Marry Christmas and the happy New Year to everyone.
Pit

 

Yea, the high price for the X9000 prevented me from getting one.

On a side note, left the computer all night on, and woke up to a dark screen.
Rebooted, there were white horizontal lines, and messed up images. Unistalled, reinstalled different drivers, same issue, or dark screen. Turned off the laptop, left it like that for an hour, turned it on, and now it`s fine.

Boy, I sure hope it`s not the video cards again, or something else

On the other hand, playing Crysis maxed the temps at 68C

 

Double post ftw lol

 

Lol im not going to say thats the gpu, since the vertical lines are gpu related.
The card isnt oced, right? It may be a memory issue with the drivers you using, since 18x.xx are good for performance but insanely instable coming from standby and such.

I advice to use quadro 265.90 with modded inf, those are the ones im using under win7 x64 right now, and they're amazing.

Also, keeping the beast off, makes the electricity discharge fast plus it cools down rapidly.
I advice to monitor your cpu and to switch to newer drivers asap. Remember that there was an issue with 18x-19x drivers in the past, their habit is to fry cards like nothing. Happened alot with 191.xx drivers if i recall correctly.

So far i didnt had a single problem using quadros...did i already mentioned that performance is awesome? I did yes Definitely keepers from me...just ran a few benches with Dirt 2, maxed out with 8xMsaa, and while low fps is around 35, the avg is well above 40 while in game it can tops 60fps in some areas, while staying above 50 in most of the cases.

which is AWESOME. I love my beast.

Besides those quadros, if you're into BFBC2, are awesome for it, Vietnam runs like a dream (maxed out,dx10,4xAA,16xAF,HBAO on,Vsync OFF) PLUS they include the infamous punkbuster fix.

Edit: if you face those problems again athought you've updated the drivers, turn off the system, remove the battery and keep power button pressed for 1 minute. Its an old trick but it works.
Edit2: as i said, the drivers that started the problem are 196.xx. Basically their habit is to fry the cards. Instability, bsods and drivers reset are present in 186.02-06-50-65 while 186.85 should be fine.
Also high resource usage, gpu hitching is quite present in 197.xx-50 batch.
Better stick with my advice mate...

 

Looks like something went horribly awry. My cards were idling 3-5 C higher right off the bat. After about 10-15 min in StarCraft II, it crashed to BSOD with this error:

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.768.3
Locale ID: 1033

Additional information about the problem:
BCCode: 124
BCP1: 0000000000000000
BCP2: FFFFFA800505F038
BCP3: 00000000B2000040
BCP4: 0000000000000800
OS Version: 6_1_7600
Service Pack: 0_0
Product: 768_1

Files that help describe the problem:
C:\Windows\Minidump\122110-23322-01.dmp
C:\Users\Sub-Zero\AppData\Local\Temp\WER-35459-0.sysdata.xml

Read our privacy statement online:
Windows 7 Privacy Statement - Microsoft Windows

If the online privacy statement is not available, please read our privacy statement offline:
C:\Windows\system32\en-US\erofflps.txt



I've never had this before, I searched around online and it indicates code 124 as meaning overheating, so I'm going back to the unstable 265.90 drivers. At least there were no hardware issues with those.

I restarted and tried to duplicate it, but the temperatures didn't seem too high at all, but I didn't want to play long enough to find out, once was enough for me.

 

Ok, any link for those modded quadro drivers?

Thing is, I never had issues with drivers in the 17x. range, so you might be right.
a few times this morning, before resuming activity, after boot up, right in the window screen I would get a BSOD caused by nv4.disp or dps, however it is...

So I`m thinking it`s driver related, not hardware... hopefully

 

Get the quadros from laptopvideo2go mate and be happy
As i said the 18x-19x batch are good but too much dangerous imho.
Theres a bit of performance drop in 2xx batch but nothing beats their stability.
You will be amazed how well they perform trust me.

 

As long as I get rid of the errors and glitches, i`m fine with a minor decrease. Heck, the 8800M GTX SLI were plenty for me, so there`s room for a dropdown, if necessary


Thanks.

 

eleron, there you go: v265.90 Windows 7/Vista 64bit | Quadro Desktop - LaptopVideo2Go Forums or this for 32 bit OS: v265.90 Windows 7/Vista 32bit | Quadro Desktop - LaptopVideo2Go Forums
Downnload the driver and the INF modified above the page, extract driver to C and then copy and replace the INF with the modified one. Good luck.

 

Stable in that they don't fry your card like 197.x maybe but they're definitely not as stable as 190.40 (although those had problems with artifacting in StarCraft II).

Temperatures are same as 190.40 (low), but it crashes whenever I go to YouTube or another page with embedded Flash video. Not sure if it's an SLI problem or what, but I need SLI for games, so I can't disable it.

Anyway, back on 265.90, temperatures are normal again.

 

Raad1 if youre running 8700m then the flash player bug its a known issue since it uses hardware accelleration and its not supported by your card.
The advices above are mainly for 8800/9800/9800gtx users..

 

Well, the 265.90 quadro drivers seem ok so far.

Let's game

 

the 2x4GB i tried was pc2-6400 (800) and timings was someting like 6-6-6-dont remember the last number... but my 2x2GB modules are pc2-5300 (667) and timing is 5-5-5-15..
yes i have m1730 and i'm looking into possible upgrade from 4 to 8GB memory just cant decide what to buy. Im also confused by the price of ddr3 memory being cheaper than ddr2 ones

 

Hmm. The 2x4GB was actually faster memory and the difference in CAS latency timing is negligible. Let's go with the common understanding that the Windows Experience Index is an unreliable measurement of performance and not burn any more calories on that question.

Your observation about DDR3 is common. Whenever a new memory technology emerges, it is usually less expensive than an obsolete generation. You will find the same to be true comparing the price of DDR2 to DDR. This is largely due to supply and demand, but there is probably an element of simply being able to get away with it coming into play before supply and demand become a legitimate excuse for the price increasing. (A whole lot like the price of gasoline. )

These are different form factors which are not interchangeable, (electrically or physically,) so you have to stick to DDR2 on your M1730.

 

Imho spending 200 bucks over a memory upgrade isnt worth it.
Instead, the better bang for the buck will be an SSD drive where to put your OS and, lets say, Steam.

The SantaRosa chipset can hold up to 8gb but it still uses only 6 for allocation and on the fly data access. Therefore if you plan to upgrade, go to Crucial or Corsair website and run the auto detect tool.
Still prices are insane for what is worth, the beast is perfectly fine with 4gb.
Also, althought you use PC2-6400 (800mhz), the chipset still downclocks it to 667 mhz, no matter what, since it doesnt accept 800mhz modules.
The best bet will be a low CL memory, and come to think of it im using DDR2 800 as well.

Also the more the hardware becomes old, the more it will cost, since theres no great availability and manifacture of the parts is basically dead.

 

Merry Xmas, fellow beast owners

 

Yeah, merry xmas and happy holidays to y'all brothers! We're near 2011 and the beast keeps rolling!

 

Yes, merry xmas to all!

 

Good to hear you finally got what you paid for. Merry x mas to everyone here.

 

Just extended my warranty. Fully covered up to April 2013!! For €180, I'm happy to pay that knowing I don't have to buy a laptop until April 2013!

And by then, maybe just maybe, might consider an upgrade!

 

Merry XMAS for all.

 

Have a good one, amigos! Hope you're all doin' well.

Lawl.

No. No it isn't common tactic. But that's because I scared the life out of the chumps. I called 'em up, and I was like, "Dell Support!"

Dell Support was like, "Yes, Kade, oh you Godly beast. How may we help?"

And I was like, "It's the season of unconditional giving in the spirit of sharing with others."

And Dell was like, "Yeah, so. . . You won't bite our heads off like you always do?"

I was like, "Of course I'll bite your heads off! You downgraded one of my 280s to a freakin' 260!"

"But that was technically Alienware's fault," Dell argued, snidely.

I immediately silenced them with a, "What was that?! Are you trying to be smart?!"

And Dell was like, "ZOMG! No! Plz! HVE MERCY!"

So I took my aggression downa notch by putting some conditions on the table, "Right! Now if you fix my problem right away, and show an equal gesture of kindness towards fellow veteran Eleron who put up with a lot of crap, I shall spare your souls from the eternal pits!"

Dell was gobsmacked as it yelled, "Yes! Yes! Of course, sir! We will fix everything! Mr. Eleron shall be looked after nicely!"

And then I closed off by saying, "Good to know. . . And about Mr. Eleron. . . He had better be a happy customer before XMAS, otherwise there's always next year, and I'm itching for 'full invoice refunds' on two machines. Don't you dare test my patience!"

"Of course! Of course! Thank you for not abusing Dell," they yelped as I hung up.

--

So yeah, 'tis the season to share and boast! Again, all of you have a good one.

 

Rolf Kade, you made my day mate.