Driver 8600M GT with XP (Inspiron 1720)

Hi guys!

I bought a Dell Inspiron 1720 roughly one month ago and switched to XP instantly.

Everything went fine until I decided to play a game with a friend for the first time.

The problem is that the mouse is lagging. I firstly checked mouse settings, mouse drivers, tried different drivers, different mouses and ran some programs to look whether the same problem will show up.

So here is the outcome:
1. Its only when running games - in Windows everything is fine.
2. The Touchpad isn't working correctly ingame.
3. The mouse is lagging harder if the graphics card is challanged hard.
4. I managed to minimize the delay by installing other drivers (atm i am using the 177.41 http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=19271), but the delay is still there and really annoying.

I hope some of you can help me with my problem.

Thanks for your effort and if there is already an answer to this problem I beg your pardon - I tried the search function but didnt managed to find it.

 

First, make sure all devices are installed properly. Click start, right click on my computer, hit properties, go to the hardware tab then hit device manger. Check if any devices are yellow question marks or have yellow exclamation points beside them.

Is the mouse on a hub or directly into the system?

Do you have a port replicator of any sort (USB with sound, ethernet, etc built in?)

Do you have Direct X updated to the latest version?

Have you tried the mouse without any drivers (just using the MS ones?) You rarely need drivers for a mouse unless it's got special media buttons, otherwise it usually just causes problems. If you do have special buttons, try without the drivers/software installed anyway.

Finally, what game are you trying to play, and at what graphics settings?

 

1. Everything is installed properly. Means no questionmarks and exclamations
2. There is no hub. The mouse is plugged in directly.
3. There is no port replicator.
4. DirectX 9.0c is installed.
5. Usually I don't use special mouse drivers. But I have tried both - the drivers from Microsoft and the drivers from logitech.
6. The game is Warcraft III. Graphics settings are set to high, but due to the old game this shouldnt be a problem.
7. (just in case) SP 3 is installed.

According to my (limited) knowledge of computer everything should be fine, but somehow this mouse-lagging-problem is still there.

Hope these information will help you to spot the point I am obviously missing.

 

Do you have problems in any other games?
When you drag windows around, do they lag at all?

 

I don't have many, but the I tested and discovered it in 3 different games.

In Windows nothing is lagging. Everything is like it has to be. The same goes for watching films.

Maybe its important to mention that at least one game (Warcraft 3) makes the CPU run at 50-70% capacity, ,which is quite unusual because of 2x2,1Ghz. If i switch back to Windows the cpu is at 2-10% again.
This is something I cant explain properly.

I already wondered whether the same problem will show up, if I am playing games in "Window mode" (sorry, don't know the correct translation - hope you know what I'm trying to say), but unfortunately in these few games I own isn't such an option and due to my limited computer knowledge I don't know how to do this by myself. If you have any suggestions please let me know.

Edit: I borrowed me Battlefield 2 from a friend and tested it today. The result is quite suprising: The lag is still there, but its not that hard as it is in Warcraft 3 although BF2 should be more demanding for CPU and graphics card.

 

Is there nobody who can offer an explanation for this unusual phenomenon?

In the case you have an idea i kindly ask you to let me know about it even if its very unlikely that this thing causes the problem.

@Hep!: Which conclusions did you draw or can you rule something out?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

Sorry I forgot about this. Have you tried a different mouse?

 

It's no problem - I am glad I could remind you.

But it looks like you forgot about the details as well ;-) I will give you another brief overview:

Any ideas what the crux of the problem might be?

 

I kept going "oh it's _____ I'll just have him...." then I looked up, and I had you do that. So I am assuming all mouses had this problem then?

 

All mouses had this problem. I even tried a bluetooth-mouse, so it can't be the plug-in for usb. The same goes for the touchpad (I tried it again and am now sure that there is a delay too.).

 

So is the rest of the game laggy, or just your mouse?

 

Not exactly sure why it would affect mice, but have you tried only having the touchpad drivers as pointing device drivers? You mentioned the Microsoft and Logitech drivers, but not only having the trackpad drivers. I installed the trackpad drivers before playing any games and everything went smooth, but I suppose it is possible that they wouldn't without those drivers.

Also, although again I don't know why video card drivers would have anything to do with it, have you tried Dell video card drivers? If 177.41 made it less bad, maybe Dell drivers could fix it.

Also make sure you have the most recent updates to DirectX 9.0c - just having 9.0c doesn't mean you have the most recent fixes to 9.0c.

But this is strange. I've never heard of a laggy mouse on a primary operating system that is supported by the computer running it.

Might as well see if there's anything unusual in the Mouse section of Control Panel as well.

 

@Hep!: Only the mouse is lagging.

@Apollo13: The problem with Dell drivers is, that Dell doesn't support Windows XP for the Inspiron series. In the beginning I was using the R180917, which has been given to me by a friend. I know this dell-driver is maybe a bit outdated, but we didn't manage to find a newer one. I had been using this driver until I spotted the delay for the first time and changed than to the 177.41. However I would like to try a newer Dell driver if possible.

I will check the other hints as soon as possible and let you know about the results afterwards.

(Sorry for the late answer. I was abroad for a few days.)

 

Try installing later drivers here from here:
http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/

It's what I use, and I have a dell.

 

So this an option I already tried.

 

Well I'm sorry man, I come back here but I trouble shoot so many people I forget who's done what. I'm out of ideas for you.

 

@Hep!: No need to apologize. I will try the Apollo's ideas and if it keeps lagging I am gonna give up. It isn't such a big problem anyway because I am not playing games often, the delay doesn't make gaming impossible and everything else is working fine.
So thank you very much for your effort and better avoid this thread which is confusing you more and more ;-)

 

I finally tested Apollo's ideas, but I couldnt make out a difference. Furthermore a friend (he is one of these computer freaks) and me tested another game (DAoC), where absolutely no lag occured. Afterwards in WC 3 the lag wasn't there as well, but after restarting the PC one time I discovered it again, even if I repeated the same proceeder as before when the lag didn't occur.

So finally I am totally confused and am now giving up. I assume that the problem is somehow connected with the fact, that XP isn't officially supported by Dell and some drivers aren't working together properly when certain games are running.

I think contacting Dell won't help me much further, because the guys in the call center are often less competent than I am.

However since it isn't a big problem I am going to stick to XP and live with this unusual and confusing problem. I thank you all very much for your effort and hope you are not confronted yourself with this weird stuff.

Notri

 

Hi Everybody!

It's been some time and I apologize for digging out this old threat again, but I've got some news concerning the problem I wanted you to know.

Apparently some software is derating the hardware (especially the graphics) in order to sustain the battery longer. One of them is the Power Mizer by NVidia (i didnt even know that there is such a thing after I stumbled across it). When deactivated the performance increases significantly. So in case someone is experiencing similar problems thats a good start.

However the problem is still there and I'm unable to run really challenging software without plugging in.

Notri