Bl4ckw1d0w Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 I just got my Alienware M-18XR2 nd have been playing on battlefield 3 for a few days and the problem is when I switched to an ASUS VG236 monitor for playing I get an occasional black flash of the screen. Meaning it will go completely black then the screen will come back to normal. I have 2 GTX 675m's running in SLI mode and updated and a clean installation of drivers. I have a 3ft. High Speed HDMI cable to go between the 2. Makes me wonder if the refresh rate has something to do with not being supported by the cable but I have never encountered this issue before and wanted to see if anyone has had similar issues or possible suggestions to get this issue resolved. Really Hate getting blown up when unloading an MG240 on someone because of the screen flicker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Founder Michael Posted March 11, 2013 Founder Share Posted March 11, 2013 Hmm, weird issue indeed. Are there any screen drivers you can install? Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Founder Brian Posted March 11, 2013 Founder Share Posted March 11, 2013 Is this over HDMI? Might be an HDCP issue. You should ask the display manufacturer about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littleone562 Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 Could be that the cable is not seated deep enough due to m18x's deep hdmi out port. Possible it just barely is or partially touching causing these issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bl4ckw1d0w Posted March 12, 2013 Author Share Posted March 12, 2013 Heres an update on what ive done and think I finally solved it for now... 1. Re seated cable multiple times had no change in effect although was my first suspicion. 2. Changed cables had only made the problem worse. I tried a 11ft. Insignia branded cable and the screen saturation and contrast was completely out of whack. 3. Re-Installed drivers in safe mode after a complete wipe. Tried several times no luck :/ Then finally arrived at a solution 4. I have been using Nvidia drivers and usually check back at their website often for updates and had the lastest and greatest (according to them). Decided to go to Alienware M18XR2 Drivers page over at dell and use their drivers... problem solved. What I dont get is how can the dell Nvidia drivers be different then the actually Nvidia drivers? Makes me think back to when I replaced Ram in Dell computers in the past, those computers would only past P.O.S.T. with Dell certified ram... Such a hassle that was :/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Founder Brian Posted March 12, 2013 Founder Share Posted March 12, 2013 That's strange, it shouldn't make any difference with Dell vs nVidia drivers. Well whatever the case, at least you got it working now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bl4ckw1d0w Posted March 12, 2013 Author Share Posted March 12, 2013 True that, I just worried about driver updates now. I know the saying goes if it isn't broke don't fix it, but a lot of times their drivers have performance updates for certain games and what not that I would hate to miss out on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littleone562 Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 1 thing you can do is use nvinspector to import latest sli profiles via text file when using an older driver. That way you wont be missing much. Here are the profiles from 314.14 driver. https://dl.dropbox.com/u/45543900/314.14.txt 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wesleyalex Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 Looks like its SLI or HDMI Cable's problem. Try change the HDMI cable first, if it still doesn't work, try re-pulg the SLI cable or get a new one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ERAWNEILA Posted May 26, 2013 Share Posted May 26, 2013 If the m18 r2 is having any issues with hdmi, the first thing I would recommend doing is to trim the hdmi cable so it would go in a bit deeper into the port. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allen George Posted May 26, 2013 Share Posted May 26, 2013 Is the display driver resetting and windows barking at your or just the screen flashing black? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h3x1c Posted May 26, 2013 Share Posted May 26, 2013 Heres an update on what ive done and think I finally solved it for now...1. Re seated cable multiple times had no change in effect although was my first suspicion. 2. Changed cables had only made the problem worse. I tried a 11ft. Insignia branded cable and the screen saturation and contrast was completely out of whack. 3. Re-Installed drivers in safe mode after a complete wipe. Tried several times no luck :/ Then finally arrived at a solution 4. I have been using Nvidia drivers and usually check back at their website often for updates and had the lastest and greatest (according to them). Decided to go to Alienware M18XR2 Drivers page over at dell and use their drivers... problem solved. What I dont get is how can the dell Nvidia drivers be different then the actually Nvidia drivers? Makes me think back to when I replaced Ram in Dell computers in the past, those computers would only past P.O.S.T. with Dell certified ram... Such a hassle that was :/ I had this exact same issue (well, still have it, actually). Dell basically told me that only the drivers on their site are what they support, which I think is complete BS when it comes to a computer like this. The drivers on their site are always supremely dated where the GPU is concerned. I just discount that port now, which sucks, because I really want to use it. Perhaps what littleone562 recommended earlier in the thread would be a good solution. May have to give that a shot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Dingle Posted May 27, 2013 Share Posted May 27, 2013 If I can tag my hdmi problem on to this instead of opening a new thread - I get slow down in games when using hdmi, everything runs fine on the laptop screen but when I connect it up to my tv the fps dips and the game starts to chug along. Any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bl4ckw1d0w Posted May 28, 2013 Author Share Posted May 28, 2013 I had this exact same issue (well, still have it, actually). Dell basically told me that only the drivers on their site are what they support, which I think is complete BS when it comes to a computer like this. The drivers on their site are always supremely dated where the GPU is concerned. I just discount that port now, which sucks, because I really want to use it. Perhaps what littleone562 recommended earlier in the thread would be a good solution. May have to give that a shot.I hate the fact that dell only supports those drivers. I ran into similar issues with trying to upgrade the firmware on the factory installed SSD's ( Samsung 830's ) and there was no way I could even do any firmware updates from Samsung because Dell has the firmware encrypted I think. Well thats another story but I recommend littleone562 suggestion which seems to be working for me. Trimming back the hdmi connector case also helped on different cords that needed it. The only thing is the connection doesn't stay securely in the port and picture goes fuzzy if bumped. So I ended up just buying high quality HDMI cables too that didn't have such a bulky casing and contained more surface contact.- - - Updated - - -If I can tag my hdmi problem on to this instead of opening a new thread - I get slow down in games when using hdmi, everything runs fine on the laptop screen but when I connect it up to my tv the fps dips and the game starts to chug along. Any ideas?What worked for me was changing the refresh rate and most importantly change the VERTICLE SYNC in the game. Worked for me in Battlefield 3 I had the same issue. But change that setting first before playing with the refresh rate. Good luck mate! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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