[Alienware - Clevo - MSI] Aftermarket Upgrades Driver Support - Modded INF

[erik500002]

Hey guys, I recently upgraded my AW17 R1 to a GTX 980m, unfortunately I'm not getting the performance that it should be getting. I had no trouble modifying the .inf for the driver installation, I even downloaded j95's modified inf's but that didn't help either. The only last thing I haven't tried is flashing the vbios with the Prema ones, but when I tried I got some BIOS CERT error. I've attached a screenshot with my current installation, I'm running win10 x64, and I have the latest dell bios installed. I'd appreciate any help. Thanks!

 

 

Edited December 26, 2015 by erik500002
Screenshot

[Observer]

3 hours ago, erik500002 said:

Hey guys, I recently upgraded my AW17 R1 to a GTX 980m, unfortunately I'm not getting the performance that it should be getting. I had no trouble modifying the .inf for the driver installation, I even downloaded j95's modified inf's but that didn't help either. The only last thing I haven't tried is flashing the vbios with the Prema ones, but when I tried I got some BIOS CERT error. I've attached a screenshot with my current installation, I'm running win10 x64, and I have the latest dell bios installed. I'd appreciate any help. Thanks!

 

 

 

Perhaps one of the first steps to troubleshoot is to check the GPU temperature when it is under load. 

[tim]

Hi everyone.

Im having a little problem with getting drivers to work. I just recently received my 970m to replace a dead 7970m for my alienware m17 r4 laptop which is running windows 10. But i cant seem to get the drivers to work  quite right. I copy over the moded inf file and then install. following all the steps listed (well I  think I am). The issue is that the gpu wont get utilized by any program whether i force it to in the nvidia control center or not - seems to only use intels integrated one. Ive even tried disabling the intels HD graphics but that makes no difference.  I am new to all this type of thing so it might be something silly i am doing. However there is one driver that does install and works driver 347.09 ( uploaded by woodzstack  listed as M17xR4_9xxm), though does have a few issues with some games. I have tried other drivers woodzstack  has listed on the notebook review site but I am just meet with the message about ‘not the right components found’ , subsequently not installing. I would much appreciate if someone could explain what i should be doing. Thanks.

Ps. I believe  i am running in optimus mode? im not too sure. all i know is that the alienware graphic switch fn + f7 has not worked for years.

[erik500002]

8 hours ago, Observer said:

 

Perhaps one of the first steps to troubleshoot is to check the GPU temperature when it is under load. 

I also forgot to mention that temps are not a problem, while running 3dmark I'm usually peaking at the 70s mark, which isn't too bad. I'm also running on optimus I'm not sure what else I have to do in order to get the correct performance from this card.

[Observer]

4 hours ago, erik500002 said:

I also forgot to mention that temps are not a problem, while running 3dmark I'm usually peaking at the 70s mark, which isn't too bad. I'm also running on optimus I'm not sure what else I have to do in order to get the correct performance from this card.

 

When I installed 970M in my AW 17 R1 under Win 10, I encountered a lot of issues by modding nvdmi.inf both for Optimus and dedicated modes. That is why I re-formatted my system back to Win 8.1. In Win 8.1, I used J95's modded nvcvi.inf for Optimus mode, and I see no further issues.

 

But since you are in Win 10 already, it is not really advisable to switch to dedicated mode for troubleshooting due to EDID corruption issue.

[godfafa]

@J95

 

Thanks alot again for your efforts.

Power drain makes m17x R4 and m18x R2 to throttle using 980m EXCEPT with 352.84 driver.

 

Only 352.84 driver works perfect. Do you have any other thought about this?

[godfafa]

359.12 also randomly throttle on my m17x R4 (win10). (cold boot or power drain)

Only 352.84 works perfect even on cold boot or after power drain.

[Mariopolo]

nice work !

[Solo wing]

22 hours ago, godfafa said:

@J95

 

Thanks alot again for your efforts.

Power drain makes m17x R4 and m18x R2 to throttle using 980m EXCEPT with 352.84 driver.

 

Only 352.84 driver works perfect. Do you have any other thought about this?

 

17 hours ago, godfafa said:

359.12 also randomly throttle on my m17x R4 (win10). (cold boot or power drain)

Only 352.84 works perfect even on cold boot or after power drain.

I'm in the same boat! tried every possible driver + vbios combination out there, 352.84 is the only driver with no throttling.

[Infini]

5 hours ago, Solo wing said:

 

I'm in the same boat! tried every possible driver + vbios combination out there, 352.84 is the only driver with no throttling.

 

Could be worse. Last stable drivers for my GTX980M SLI on my M18xR2 is 350.12. Havent been able to get anything beyond that reasonably stable ever since! XD

[erik500002]

On 12/26/2015 at 6:34 AM, Observer said:

 

When I installed 970M in my AW 17 R1 under Win 10, I encountered a lot of issues by modding nvdmi.inf both for Optimus and dedicated modes. That is why I re-formatted my system back to Win 8.1. In Win 8.1, I used J95's modded nvcvi.inf for Optimus mode, and I see no further issues.

 

But since you are in Win 10 already, it is not really advisable to switch to dedicated mode for troubleshooting due to EDID corruption issue.

Well I went ahead and installed a fresh copy of Win 8.1 and I'm still running into the same problem, I have tried many different versions of drivers including the 352.83, I've also flashed different vbios's including the prema one and same results. I don't know what else to do at this point.

Edited December 29, 2015 by erik500002

[nick81]

Hi Erik

 

I don't have a 970m but I did upgrade my own GPU to a 980m mxm. I remember reading someone with similar issues fixing it by reseating his GPU and properly placing thermal pads to cover the memory on the GPU. In my case the 980m's memory chips were placed differently than the ones on my old 880m so I had to position it differently.

 

So even though the GPU's temp might show up as being "ok", this doesn't mean the memory isn't overheating. Also temps in the 70's still seem a bit high for me. The max I get with my 980m is 69-70 and that is under heavy load. Can you tell us precisely how high your temps go?

Other than that, I can't really recommend you do anything you've already tried:

- Flash to Prema's vbios

- Get a decent driver (one that is know NOT to cause throttling. Please note that in my case I have never faced throttling on any driver but I know some people who did get some on a couple drivers versions recently).

- Try doing the P-states thing described by j95 (I didn't do it personally as I am not getting any throttling).

[nick81]

On 24/12/2015 at 11:48 PM, J95 said:

Confirmed broken driver *361.43* AW/ 980M & 970M, under safe mode uninstall using DDU "Clean & Shutdown", reinstall  353.06 or 359.12

 

M18xR2, M17xR4 120Hz & AW17 120Hz install PEG MODs.

 

GeForce 353.00 PEG MOD Win7/8.1 - Latest profiles

 

PEG MOD v352.84 Win 10 - Latest profiles

 

@J95

 

Hey man

 

I finally decided to give dedicated GPU a try. I used the Fn-F5 to activate it and rebooted my computer. I used DDU to clean my drivers and restarted with DSE disabled.

 

I first tried installing the 361.43 drivers without success. All I got was a black screen whcih I could only get out of by doing a hard shutdown. I then tried to install 359.06 which worked without a single problem.

Performance DO seem better than with Optimus...

 

My big question now is: do you recommend I give Windows 10 one final try now that I am using dedicated mode... I know many people, you included have warned against EDID corruption. But considering I never used (and will never) precisionX or any other overclocking software do you think I might be safe?

Has any progress been done by the community in resolving/avoiding this issue?

 

Thanks a lot!

[erik500002]

2 hours ago, nick81 said:

Hi Erik

 

I don't have a 970m but I did upgrade my own GPU to a 980m mxm. I remember reading someone with similar issues fixing it by reseating his GPU and properly placing thermal pads to cover the memory on the GPU. In my case the 980m's memory chips were placed differently than the ones on my old 880m so I had to position it differently.

 

So even though the GPU's temp might show up as being "ok", this doesn't mean the memory isn't overheating. Also temps in the 70's still seem a bit high for me. The max I get with my 980m is 69-70 and that is under heavy load. Can you tell us precisely how high your temps go?

Other than that, I can't really recommend you do anything you've already tried:

- Flash to Prema's vbios

- Get a decent driver (one that is know NOT to cause throttling. Please note that in my case I have never faced throttling on any driver but I know some people who did get some on a couple drivers versions recently).

- Try doing the P-states thing described by j95 (I didn't do it personally as I am not getting any throttling).

Hi Nick,

 

Well I went ahead and did what you told me, reseated the card, added some brand new thermal pads and some fresh thermal paste but still in the same boat. Temp just went down like 2-3 celsius but again, I don't think temps are a problem since I'm no getting any throttling. I also tried j95's p profiles and such, but didn't make any difference. Although one thing that I did notice is that the pci-e bus showing on gpu-z is only running at 1x even after running the rendering test inside the tool. This does seem very strange to me since all the screenshots i have seen in this thread show the bus running at 16x 3.0. Does this mean this is a bad card? My pci-e slot is fried or what is going on? I honestly have no idea how to test this slot or even do any pci-e bus tests. Any help is appreciated, I went ahead and attached a gpu-z comparison with another screenshot I cropped from this thread.

[nick81]

@erik500002

 

Hey man

 

Can you try checking the same value under load? You can try running the gpu-z render test (click on ? next to the bus speed) and see if the value changes.

 

I will double check mine as well tonight when I am back from work. A quick google search returned lots and lots of results with different solutions to it... You might want to give it a try.

[Leo14]

Dire need of help  680m m17x r3 need modded inf/updated driver 

[nick81]

Dire need of help  680m m17x r3 need modded inf/updated driver 

What's your hardware ID and what OS are you using? And are you using optimus or dedicated?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[IggyDerp]

Hello everyone and happy new year! I'm not quite sure if this is the right thread to ask or post this to but I've gotten really good help and advice from here before. A few months back I had upgraded my M17R3 to be fitted with a 680m (upgraded from a 400m series), got it to work, drivers were accepted with little trouble but I noticed the performance seemed a tad off. Fast forward to about a 2 months ago I started looking at the temps, the card reads that it idles at around 56-59 degrees and when I game it hits that 78 degree throttle point (which it seems is hardwired in). I do have my integrated graphics disabled (it was interfering with the new card) and I do also have an hdmi hook up to use my tv as a screen.  

 

I recently just re-pasted just to make sure but perhaps I need better thermal pads? I made sure the heatsink sat properly on the card and was tight to it which I read caused issues some times. Or is this normal and do I just need to bypass the 78 degree limit?

Thanks for the help or redirect!

(Driver do need an update again I know but I wanted to solve this issue first lol)

 

 

Edited January 4, 2016 by IggyDerp
Updated picture

[Leo14]

On 1/3/2016 at 11:36 AM, nick81 said:

What's your hardware ID and what OS are you using? And are you using optimus or dedicated?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_11A0&SUBSYS_04901028&REV_A1
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_11A0&SUBSYS_04901028
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_11A0&CC_030000
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_11A0&CC_0300
 

those are what i found for hardware ids.. no idea what you mean sorry lol. Windows 7, probably dedicated considering I've never heard of optimus. What should I do? Runs like crap. Can't do anything. S

 

[Khenglish]

On 12/29/2015 at 4:34 AM, erik500002 said:

Hi Nick,

 

Well I went ahead and did what you told me, reseated the card, added some brand new thermal pads and some fresh thermal paste but still in the same boat. Temp just went down like 2-3 celsius but again, I don't think temps are a problem since I'm no getting any throttling. I also tried j95's p profiles and such, but didn't make any difference. Although one thing that I did notice is that the pci-e bus showing on gpu-z is only running at 1x even after running the rendering test inside the tool. This does seem very strange to me since all the screenshots i have seen in this thread show the bus running at 16x 3.0. Does this mean this is a bad card? My pci-e slot is fried or what is going on? I honestly have no idea how to test this slot or even do any pci-e bus tests. Any help is appreciated, I went ahead and attached a gpu-z comparison with another screenshot I cropped from this thread.

 

 

Have you tried another card? If so, does it run x16?

 

If you don't have another card to try or if you did and it also ran x1, look at the mxm slot with the card and and see if any pins are bent. Also check the card to see if all contacts are ok. You can also clean the slot and the card's connector with rubbing alcohol and a soft toothbrush.

 

If the above fails, then the only culprit left is a damaged BGA on the card's core. I've had 2 cards reduce pci-e link due to a damaged BGA. If the card is under warranty get it returned. If not, it is fixable, but could fully kill the card if you don't know what you're doing.

 

If you don't want to risk fully killing the card, if your laptop lets you, disable optimus (apparently this can be done with a keyboard shortcut on the AW17. Fn + F5?). This will tremendously improve performance to around 90% of a full x16 link in most cases.

Edited January 6, 2016 by Khenglish

[Kenter]

Im currently working on my aw 17 r1 under latest version of windows 10 with a gtx 860. 

i have a gtx 970 6gig from woodz. im running the stock a14 bios and have disabled fast boot legacy and am in a pure uefi environment with my os dive formatted gpt.

after doing all this and reading threw the forums  my brain is a bit burnt and am unsure of my next step and the drivers and mod file i need if any. some help would be awesome.

[Khenglish]

@Kenter Have you tried installing a driver? You only mod a driver .inf if the unmodified driver says that no compatible hardware was found.

Edited January 7, 2016 by Khenglish

[Kenter]

1 hour ago, Khenglish said:

@Kenter Have you tried installing a driver? You only mod a driver .inf if the unmodified driver says that no compatible hardware was found.

 

see i didnt know this im going to give it a shot can you recomend one of the drivers ? for win 10?

[Khenglish]

1 hour ago, Kenter said:

 

see i didnt know this im going to give it a shot can you recomend one of the drivers ? for win 10?

 

361.43 drivers are the latest and fastest, but some people have issues with them. The older 359.06 driver tends to more consistently work for people. I'd try the 361 driver, and if it does not work right then try the 359.

 

Also type with proper spelling. If you don't put in the time to ask your question, then people won't put in the time to give you an answer.

[syaiful7]

Hi everyone

i'm alienware user from indonesia ... i'm a newbie ...

i have alienware M18x R1 Windows 7 ultimate 64bit with single nvidia gtx 780m

my current driver is 347.88 (mr.fox driver)

i following this thread/forum today but i still don't understand ...

i have a question : how to update latest driver ? or there are a latest driver for my alienware in this forum,

i'm afraid update wrong driver cause system malfuntion ..

because latest game for example: assasin creed syndicate  require latest driver to work optimally

 

please somebody give me solution for my problem

regards,

(sorry for my bad english)