Alienware M17x R4 (@2012-13) 680m with 417.69 Mobile/Notebook Drivers

[danger007]

Well I am back, sort of.

 

Reminder of Stats

*Alienware M17x R4 (bought June 2012) w/ Intel i7 [email protected] (Ivy Bridge) including the igpu Intel 4000 HD series

8GB Ram, 17 Inch, SoundBlaster software only Recon 3DI, and the normal stuff that comes with it

*Graphics Card:  Originally shipped 660m, upgraded to 7970m, 7970m died early, with community help moved to MSI 4GB 680M (flashed to Dell thanks to @svl7) and installed I think 314.xx drivers with help from many (sorry can't remember everyone but notable was @J95), was running 7970m in whatever they called their hybrid drivers, the 680m is run in Optimus)

*OS:  Windows 7 64bit Service Pack 1

*Storage:  Msata 1tb Samsung 850 Evo, 2 Hitachi 1TB 7200 rpm 2.5" drives (yes I used all 3 GB or will)

 

So what will you read.  What got me started on this project and then using all the resources on the net, from @J95 and legions of others I owe all credit for the project too.  Please note I take no credit, take no rights, this is simply something to help others out based on working with what has already been laid down for us.   Installing the latest Nvidia 417.67 mobile/notebook drivers for a 680m for Windows 7 Service Pack 1 on Alienware M17x R4

 

When I got things up and running back in 2016/2017 with the noted people above I saw a new driver and with the STO game having a driver issue I upgraded to it.  Now I didn't notice anything wrong, the game worked and so paid no attention.  When I started to get unable to eject 680m error messages I thought great who got this, ejecting a gpu, wrong.  I then tried the uninstall Intel, Nvidia, use DDU in Safe Mode, disable AV/Firewall, disable driver enforcement, etc then reinstall intel, nvidia (removing certain folders) with the modified inf but now the game said it couldn't find any feature set and wouldn't let me play.  Finally removing the Nvidia drivers allowed at least the iGPU to run the game.  Used Unigine Heaven 4.0 to encounter more errors with Nvidia.

 

I moved back to my msata install of windows 7 that I haven't had a chance to work on since 2017 (i know pathetic) that only had system drivers, expired Norton, and not yet registered/activation.  Seems fine.  Tried to run Heaven, same error.  Well after 3 days of trying to duplicate what I had been instructed to do, I finally sat down with a nice big bottle of Fiji Water (courtesy of lovely lady at the Oscars in almost every background pic) and decided I was determined to fix things.   I downloaded the 419.67, copied the nv_dispi.inf & nvdmi.inf to get to work.  After reading the content and using comparisons once again from the noted individuals and the legions of other, I had them modified and decided to give it a try on the clean win 7 install from 2 years ago.  After the uninstall, ddu, deleting folders, copying mod. inf to their directory (also included the change to setup.cfg - credit once again goes to individuals like @J95), gyrxiur, DeathAngel , creator of Notepad++, sora and many others) I was able to launch the Heaven 4.0 Benchmark.  So I am assuming that I have the new 419.67 working on my system.  I did a benchmark of the 680m in 419.67 with unigine Heaven 4 to go with the files I am posting.  Please note the bios was provided by I believe @svl7 (sorry if I got wrong person) and no overclocking of it other than what the changed vbios did.

 

I am attaching below the following:

Nvidia 419.67 modified inf and config - nvdmi.inf, nv_dispi.inf, setup.cfg (no credit to me all credit belongs to others)

The Unigine benchmark results (txt file).

 

Now the shortened legalize warning

Please remember you are to take all risk when using modified inf files, I take no responsibility (no virus or other dildrus included) if they don't work with your GPU.  The usual.

 

This was tested and used on Alienware M17x R4 running the last bios they released A12 or A13 and so it the system bios is not modified at all, the card is a MSI 680m 4Gb flashed vbios to Dell 680m 4GB, and installed in Windows 7 64bit Service Pack 1.  Hopefully if you have only a different card you can make any minor adjustments you need to.  

 

Please let me know how they work.  I will also be reporting back on the reinstall on my other laptop install I use to play Neverwinter/ Star Trek Online - was suppose to be a temp solution till new install was finished, and if they worked on it as well.

Alienware M17x R4 680m 419.67 Mod Inf and Setup and Heaven 4 Benchmark.zip

[danger007]

Just reporting back in.  The drivers installed on the other win7 install as well.  So I feel confident in the reliability of what I have uploaded as shown above in:

Alienware M17x R4 680m 419.67 Mod Inf and Setup and Heaven 4 Benchmark.  I haven't tried a suite of different games but figured the quick test at leasts confirms they are installed.

 

Below I have attached the results of the benchmark on this install (remember top is msata install fresh win 7 but never finished back in 2016 - just the hardware drivers, av/malware/firewall and 1-3 basic programs, while this hard drive I am reporting on is a 7200 rpm HDD and has games from the company that makes Star Trek and Neverwinter Online.  As well as testing out new software I bought to see how it is affected by being installed on a laptop and so it is more cluttered).

Unigine_Heaven_Benchmark_4.0_20190402_0300.html.zip