15 r2 optimus issues on Windows 7

So I have an Alienware 15 R2, with the 6th gen intel processor, and the 3gb gtx 970 graphics card. I can list detailed specs later if it helps.

The system came with Windows 10, and Dell only officially supports 8.1 and 10 on this laptop. However, I use this laptop for work so I needed it to be Windows 7. It wasn't an easy process but I got Windows 7 working on the laptop.

For normal every day stuff I don't have any issues. It works fine all day when I am doing 2d work with dual monitors hooked up to it (one in the HDMI, one in the thunderbolt/usb thing).

However, 3d is a whole different story. I don't know if there is just no way to make this laptop's optimus configuration compatible with Windows 7 or what it is but no matter what I do I have the same issues. I've scoured this forum and others for possible fixes.

So the issue is if I don't have a monitor plugged into the thunderbolt port, the NVidia card will never work. Some NVidia drivers I've tried installing will cause a bluescreen shortly after login too, likely due to this.

If I boot up without a monitor in there I will get that error message after logging in that the NVidia card cant be removed and then it's gone. If I try a driver install, it doesn't see an NVidia card. If I do a GPU-Z it doesn't see an NVidia card. No NVidia control panel. etc etc etc. Even gone from device manager.

If I have a monitor connected to the thunderbolt and it is working and I remove it, Ill get that error about the NVidia gpu not being removable again and it will not work again until I reboot with a monitor connected again (the monitor wont work either).

As long as I have a monitor in that thunderbolt I can do all the 3d I want with the NVidia card, without it Its gone. Which to me defeats the friggin purpose of a gaming laptop.

What I've done so far to try and resolve:

-I've tried using DDU to remove and start over (installing the Intel driver first then NVidia) like 100 times with tons of different Intel and NVidia drivers to try and fix this. I've also tried dell's NVidia driver (since the windows 8.1 one on there also supports windows 7).
-I've changed the vbios to the PremaMod bios. I don't care about OCing but I thought maybe it might do something to help this (it didn't).
-I've set the "preferred graphics adapter" to Nvidia in the NVidia control panel.
-I've set the "preferred graphics adapter" to NVidia for like a bunch of early startup programs like internet explorer and some stuff that starts up pre-login.
-I have not yet tried a sledge hammer, but I am considering it.

I don't know if this is just 6th gen Intel with GTX 970 not being compatible with Windows 7 or if it is an actual hardware issue. I never used the Windows 10 install that came with it so I don't really know for sure if it even worked on Windows 10, but I would guess it did.

So I've given up on trying to fix this myself, given up scouring the internet for answers, and have come here to you guys/gals in desperation for a solution. I am hoping someone here will know of a driver combo that can work for me, or some kind of software to force optimus off, or some kind of bios/vbios mod that can fix this etc. I currently have the latest version of the motherboard bios as well. I'm pretty sure the dell tech support that supports Alienware will not assist me with this at all since I am using Windows 7.

halp

 

Hey, so you're not the only one with Nvidia+Win7 issues with the AW15 R2. I stumbled across this that might help:

"However, everytime I installed the latest NVidia driver, after reboot I would get a bluescreen every time. Tried the last 3 NVidia drivers, the dell driver, and even the windows update driver. The windows driver and dell driver wouldn't bluescreen but after the reboot it would just make the NVidia card non-existant, no control panel or anything.

Almost gave up until I tried 353.62 driver from NVidia's site. Full cleaned off the intel and NVidia video drivers off again with the DDU utility and installed the latest intel driver again and then the 353.62 NVidia driver with clean install checked and only the driver + PhysX driver and boom. Worked perfectly."

Then a bit further in the thread:

"FYI the latest NVidia drivers aka 358.87 (released nov 4) work fine for me so far. I don't have the blue screen issue I had with the other drivers that were past version 353.62"

Courtesy of this thread if you want to give it a read:

https://eu.alienwarearena.com/forum...l-support-1/windows-7-with-new-alienware-15/2

I use Win 10 on my machine so unfortunately I don't have first hand knowledge but seeing as you have it installed ok, I suspect it would be a driver not playing nicely.

You won't be able to turn Optimus off though I'm afraid, all video is passed through the Intel chip, even when using the Nvidia GPU.

I hope this helps

 

edit: One other thing, because of the way Optimus works, you will need the Intel GPU drivers too...

 

Amusingly, your quote/linked post is actually one by me haha. I hadn't notice my issue yet when I posted that.

I also just deployed my stock windows 10 image that was on the laptop prior to me installing windows 7 on a spare hard drive to find out if its a software or a hardware issue.

It worked fine on Windows 10. Was using just the laptop screen and it happily used the NVidia card full time. Irritating, but it does rule out hardware. So either there is a driver combo I can use to make it work properly on Windows 7 or I am simply SOL on it ever being compatible I guess.

Also I do use the intel GPU drivers. I have to get them direct from intel though as the dell ones don't install on windows 7. Ive tried several different versions of it and several different NVidia official drivers and dell NVidia drivers (always using DDU to remove in between and installing intel first).

:X

 

Hahaha! I didn't realise!

Yeah, seems like a lot of trial and error for something that might be flaky at best. If you absolutely have to use 7, have you tried a VM?

 

A VM wouldn't work for me as I need windows 7 all day at work. I only need the 3d/gaming ability for after work lol.

I could dual boot windows 7/windows 10 probably but that seems like a pain in the arse to deal with.

Hoping there's someone else out there running Windows 7 on the R2 without this issue or some way to fix it before resorting to that.

 

Hmm I am afraid you are a bit out of luck. Skylake isnt supported anymore by WIndows 7. So it becomes fairly unstable by default now.