otsego Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 I just got my M17x R4 a couple of days ago and have ran into a weird issue. When running the unit with integrated graphics, the laptop is working perfectly. Gaming Battlefield 3 for a couple of hours, no issue. However, the second I press the I/D GFX switch button and reboot, the entire screen gets a reddish tint and starts to flicker with several artifacts. How come the NVIDIA GPU works perfectly fine when the integrated is also enabled, but goes all haywire when integrated is disabled. Any thoughts?Alienware M17x, 680M, BIOS A09. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Founder Brian Posted December 31, 2012 Founder Share Posted December 31, 2012 Your system should have optimus so why would you try switching? Sent from my GT-N7000 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
otsego Posted December 31, 2012 Author Share Posted December 31, 2012 Good question. I've heard that you can achieve better performance by going dedicated GPU only, instead of sending everything from the 680M to the Intel HD framebuffer before viewing on the screen. However, apparently there seems to be something wrong with only the GTX680M running the entire laptop... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Founder Brian Posted December 31, 2012 Founder Share Posted December 31, 2012 Is it a 120Hz display?Sent from my GT-N7000 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
otsego Posted December 31, 2012 Author Share Posted December 31, 2012 Nope, it's not a 3D-display, just plain old 2D I'm aware that 3D-displays don't have the IGPU connected. Edit: I can actually see that another user is having the same symptoms (altough a different color) here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/700848-alienware-m17x-r4-igp-switching-problem-green-screen.html Seems like it went unanswered... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Founder Brian Posted December 31, 2012 Founder Share Posted December 31, 2012 Then I don't know since I haven't used an M17x-R4 before. If others are able to successfully switch to discrete only and you can't , then I'd call Dell and find out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 You need to change a setting in the system BIOS to disable using IGFX. Optimus and Enduro have never seemed to work as well as they should. From what I have seen posted, problems are much worse with Enduro enabled with 7970M than Optimus with 680M. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
otsego Posted January 1, 2013 Author Share Posted January 1, 2013 Mr. Fox, thanks for the info, however at least in BIOS A09 there is no option to turn of the IGFX. Maybe this is some crappy issue with the latest BIOS they have released seeing that others are experiencing the issue as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator BAKED Posted January 2, 2013 Moderator Share Posted January 2, 2013 To disable it I think you´ll need unlocked BIOS. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
titi974 Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 and what's the option ? I have unlocked version, but not sure what to change... thx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator BAKED Posted January 11, 2013 Moderator Share Posted January 11, 2013 In avance menu there should be an option named Video configuration where you can disable IGPU. Change primary display from SG to PEG, do not choose PCI though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wcdeardorff Posted January 13, 2013 Share Posted January 13, 2013 In avance menu there should be an option named Video configuration where you can disable IGPU. Change primary display from SG to PEG, do not choose PCI though!Agreed! Do not choose PCI. I choose PCI once, had to remove my video card to recover my system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dangarov Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 to otsegoDid switching off the iGPU from BIOS resolved the issue for you? I reported of similar issue on the other site Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zyron Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 In the M17xR4 Unlocked Bios Thread, svl7 posted a little "guide" how to disable your integrated Graphiccard. I'll try it and post my result here soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
failwheeldrive Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 I don't really understand this. I'm able to run solely off the 680m with factory specs. I did a fresh install of Windows onto an ssd and changed a few settings in the BIOS (mainly changed from RAID to AHCI) and after that the laptop wouldn't boot off the 680m when I pressed fn+f7. I did yet another fresh install, but reloaded factory BIOS settings, and now I can use fn+f7 to turn off the igpu/Optimus yet again. Weird situation. Not sure why fn+f7 doesn't work for some people (or why it stopped working for me for a while lol) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaise123 Posted February 10, 2013 Share Posted February 10, 2013 There should be an option to use 'PEX Graphics' or to disable the Intel HD Graphics in the unlocked BIOS (I know it's there, But I'm going from memory here) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeera Posted March 4, 2013 Share Posted March 4, 2013 Good question. I've heard that you can achieve better performance by going dedicated GPU only, instead of sending everything from the 680M to the Intel HD framebuffer before viewing on the screen. However, apparently there seems to be something wrong with only the GTX680M running the entire laptop...Agreed. Not sure about games performance, but WEI with optimus shows 7.4 and without is higher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
otsego Posted March 16, 2013 Author Share Posted March 16, 2013 After a time without my Alienware due to a botched flashing and lengthy logic board repair I once again tried to flash the unlocked version. There I proceeded to disable the graphics card according to instructions given here, and it now works perfectly. Thanks to all of you!EDIT: Also, I can see a real life performance improvement with GTX680M only. Using MPC-HC with LAVFilter and madVR I can actually upscale using Jinc 3 tap without any lag as opposed to Optimus where I only could upscale with Lanczos. Some of you may not have any idea what I'm talking about, but trust me, disabling internal graphics actually give a performance boost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thop1544 Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 Not to mention Optimus is FUBAR on Linux.Does the reverse work for you, that is disabling the dGPU to use only the iGPU and save power? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slayer305 Posted April 7, 2013 Share Posted April 7, 2013 EDIT: Also, I can see a real life performance improvement with GTX680M only. Using MPC-HC with LAVFilter and madVR I can actually upscale using Jinc 3 tap without any lag as opposed to Optimus where I only could upscale with Lanczos. Some of you may not have any idea what I'm talking about, but trust me, disabling internal graphics actually give a performance boost.This is most likely because madVR runs on the IGP with Optimus enabled and it's simply not powerful enough to support madVR with all the advanced filters enabled. With Optimus disabled it's forced to run on the 680m. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZEQ2Mapper Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 I've been having this same problem. 7970m works fine with the integrated graphics enabled, as soon as its disabled or removed, the 7970m doesnt work.You'll have to unlock your bios, and disable the integrated GFX card. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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