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    XPS M1530: Doesn't run Battlefield games...

    Discussion in 'Dell XPS and Studio XPS' started by rickzter, Jan 31, 2008.

  1. rickzter

    rickzter Newbie

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    Hi guys,


    I've just purchased a new XPS M1530.

    When i run Battlefield Vietnam it says program has stopped working.

    I read around and believe its got to do with the screen refresh rate and that the Battlefield games are only compatible for 60Hz.

    I've managed to run the game... BUT only by plugging in My desktop monitor to my XPS M1530.

    My standard XPS M1530 Monitor settings are:
    1. Generic Non-PnP Monitor on NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT.
    The screen refresh rate only allows to select 63Hz.

    I've already tried installing many different graphics drivers to change from 63hz to 60hz. I've tried to install earlier nvidia forceware vista 32bit drivers from 156.66 and up to latest versions.

    Driver installation setup window gets interrupted by an error message:

    "The NVIDIA Setup program could not locate any drivers that are compatible with your current hardware. Setup will now exit."

    Not compatible with hardware, why not?

    Could someone please tell me what I should do to run the game without using my desktop monitor every time.



    Cheers,

    Ricky D.



    Processor:
    Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7500 (2.2GHz/ 800 FSB/ 4MB Cache)

    Operating system:
    Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium (32Bit)

    Memory:
    3GB Dual-channel 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM

    Harddrive:
    320GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive

    Graphic Card:
    256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT

    Monitor:
    15.4" Widescreen WXGA (1280x800) TFT Display with TrueLife™
     
    rickzter, Jan 31, 2008
    #1
  2. Johnny T

    Johnny T Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Have you tried drivers from laptopvideo2go.com ?
     
    Johnny T, Jan 31, 2008
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  3. Jamaicanyouth

    Jamaicanyouth Notebook Evangelist

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    Battlefield 2 worked for me.
     
    Jamaicanyouth, Jan 31, 2008
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  4. mtv2004

    mtv2004 Notebook Evangelist

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    it worked for me too....i think you need to update your drivers like the other poster said
     
    mtv2004, Jan 31, 2008
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  5. Jamaicanyouth

    Jamaicanyouth Notebook Evangelist

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    Jamaicanyouth, Jan 31, 2008
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  6. mia4l

    mia4l Notebook Evangelist

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    I run BF and COD4 fine on mine
     
    mia4l, Jan 31, 2008
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  7. ACHlLLES

    ACHlLLES Notebook Virtuoso

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    It's the USER, not the system!! :)

    Best way to start would be

    1-fresh install

    2-update all drivers (dell GPU driver not recommended)
     
    ACHlLLES, Jan 31, 2008
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  8. alexejrm

    alexejrm Notebook Consultant

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    i think its the screen. i have m1530 with wxga 63hz screen and it wont start BF2, tryed both new drivers, change config file on the BF2 etc. nothing worked :( but CoD4 runs fine.
     
    alexejrm, Jan 31, 2008
    #8
  9. Johnny T

    Johnny T Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Well you should be able to set the screen to run at 60mhz at certain resolutions.
     
    Johnny T, Jan 31, 2008
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  10. rickzter

    rickzter Newbie

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    Ok, i solved the problem.

    All drivers come with an "Installation INF(ormation) file".
    This tells the installer how to install the driver.
    The INF has the instructions to what files to copy and where.
    It will also setup settings to install with.

    The INF also has a list of products that it will install for.
    nVidia provides UDA (Unified Driver Architecture) where the driver should work for all their released GPUs.
    So the driver itself will support ALL GPUs, but the INF the driver comes with will only support a selected set of GPU

    nVidia by default don't support laptop GPUs with beta and WHQL driver updates on their server.
    This is left up to the OEM to organize. I assume nVidia must charge to have an OEM driver made or be included, as they are very rear for OEM to actually update a video driver.
    So an OEM driver has specific instructions for that laptop (ie model specific) and will only work with a select few laptops.
    So a Toshiba OEM driver with a toshiba INF (nvts.inf) will only work with the models included in that INF.


    I found out drivers under 156.55 supports 60Hz.

    Copy and replace INF file which will allow driver to be compatible with hardware.

    I now run 60Hz and run Battlefield Vietnam fine and am sure it'll be same for BF2.
     
    rickzter, Feb 1, 2008
    #10