XPS M1710 Gaming Problem.. Please Help!

Hi all,

I am trying to solve an annoying isue with my dell gaming laptop. Specs below

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Windows XP Media Center Edition
2.16GHz Core Duo
2GB DDR2 SDRAM
Nvidia GeForce Go 7900 GTX 512MB
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I can play most of my games maxed out with no problem but while I am playing the game the graphics tend to jitter for a split second randomly. It make no difference If i put all the graphics setting to low or maxed out in the game, the frame rate stays great but it still stutters for a split second. It is not so bad that i cant play but its just anoying after paying so much for this laptop.

Also I noticed on games like farcry when turning slowly during the game i can see horizontal lines kind of like breaks in the graphics.

I would really apreciate any help at all to sort this problem out, I am sure it is something simple.

Thanks so much

 

First of all, have you removed the bloatware? Installed latest video drivers?

Maybe something is hogging your cpu. Enter task manager and look at your cpu usage.

As for the ''break'' in the graphics, it's called tearing. It sometimes happens when you don't have vsync on. Turning it on from the game options should solve the problem, but it might also cause a dramatic framerate decrease.

 

Other thing you might want to check is sound. What sound card are you using? Is it possible to lower sound quality/update sound drivers?

 

Hi

Thankyou for your help, I will try what you explained, would you be so kind as to explain what bloatware is and how i remove it, also how do i see me current driver version?

many thanks

 

Your welcome

Basically, bloatware is the many programs that your notebook comes with. Oftenly, they are completely useless(like demo versions of different programs). Also, to my knowledge, many laptops come with norton antivirus preinstalled, which is a HUGE system hog. It made my laptop(1.6ghz core 2 duo, 1 gb ram) run worst than my old system(athlon xp , 256 mb ram). To remove these little pests, all you have to do is go to Control Panel>> Add or remove programs. A big list of installed programs will appear. Simply select the ones you don't want and click ''uninstall'', then follow the instructions on the screen. However, bits of these programs remain in the windows registry, so it is recommended to do a clean install of windows. I can't tell you the exact steps, since that depends from one laptop manufacturer to another, but it generally involves accesing a hidden partition on your hard disk.

As for the drivers, if you haven't installed new ones, you probably have the ones that were supplied with your notebook. These are often very old versions and give you problems in newer games. So installing a new driver will oftenly solve these problems. For more info on drivers see this:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=64910

Hope i could help, and sorry if my english is bad. It's not my native language.

 

Hi,

Thanks for that, yes i have removed all the rubbish that came with it, I do have kaspersky antivirus suite running all the time which might affect it i suppose.

I will update the drivers and see what happens.

thanks

 

No, that's not the problem. I used to run kaspersky too, and it didn't give me any problems, and my system is completely trash compared to yours(see sig for specs).

 

Hey fxkiller,

I have the same problem on my M1710. Tearing during cutscenes in games and also during frenetic-paced sections of games. It is also very noticeable when watching some DVDs or DIVX files - even more so when watching on my widescreen TV via S-Video.

I have tried the following, all of which have not fixed the problem:

Formatted the hard drive and installed XP (it came with Vista) with no bloatware.
Tried various Forceware drivers for the Nvidia GeForce Go 7950 GTX 512MB card as well as stock Dell drivers
Fiddled to no end with both the latop display settings and when connected to the TV, the TV settings.

I then concluded it may be a hardware problem, so I moaned to Dell, who replaced both the motherboard and the graphics card. Still the same problem.

I can play the exact same DIVX file perfectly on my 3yr old Acer Ferrari through the same S-Video cable on the same tv.

Conclusion - it is a royal pain in the....