Cannot install drivers 770m SLI upgrade on M18x r2

Windows 10
A13 bios

Installed 2x 770m in SLI.
Device manager shows 2x "Microsoft Basic Display Adapter."

The correct 770m for Win 10 x64 NVIDIA driver is "425.31-notebook-win10-64bit-international-whql". However, it says "This NVIDIA graphics driver is not compatible with this version of Windows. This graphics driver could not find compatible graphics hardware."

Display adapter properties shows Nvidia chip with 8MB gram which is the SLI combined RAM.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

You need a modded driver to run anything later than the 680M in the M18x R2. Once you install the modded driver you'll get them running.

Try this one from Eurocom first just to see how it works and then you can work on learning how to mod your own newer one. I can't see if it's for Windows 7,8 or 10 though. You have to disable Driver Signature Enforcement before installing the driver. On Windows 10, hold down the SHIFT key and press restart. Go into Troubleshoot, Advanced, Startup Settings and then check what key you need to press to disable the signature enforcement then click restart. I think it's F7. Once it restarts press F7 (I think) and it will restart again.Now you can install the driver. If a red warning pops up while the installation is finishing then it's worked. Just click yes or accept and the driver will install.

http://downloads.eurocom.com/support/drivers/upgradeyourlaptop/Alienware/M18xR2/

EDIT: It's always a good idea to run DDU in Safe Mode before installing the new driver.

 

Thank you !!!!! You are a gentleman and a scholar.

 

Happy to help. Got it working?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Unfortunately, not quite working.

Started up in safe mode and ran DDU.
Restarted with Disabled Driver Signature Enforcement (BTW it is 7 or F7 as you said and I tried both).
Ran the Eurocom moded driver (its labeled for Win7/Win8).
Got error: "This NVIDIA graphics driver is not compatible with this version of Windows. This graphics driver could not find compatible graphics hardware."
Restarted with DDSE, ran mod in compatibility mode and got only first part of the same error "This NVIDIA graphics driver is not compatible with this version of Windows."

Do you think it requires a Win 10 compatible driver?

Thank you again for your support.

 

So you have Windows 10 then? I'll try and mod one for you and post a Dropbox link, I'll just need your hardware ID.
Device Manager - Display Adapters - Right Click on your card - Properties - Details - Select Hardware ID from the dropdown list. There will be 4 lines of Hardware ID. Just the first or second line is all I need.
I already have a modded 445.xx driver done for someone else's card so I will try to include your GPU into that one. Technically the 770M support ended with the 425.xx driver but hopefully it will still work.

 

Hi @DoubleHelixx

Your other option is to flash my version of the unlocked bios which will give you native driver support for the 770m's.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...well-legacy-bios.800447/page-11#post-10999961

Javers

 

Thank you @Maxware79 My hardware ID is:

PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_11E0&SUBSYS_05501028&REV_A1
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_11E0&SUBSYS_05501028

Many thanks!!

 

@javers I will keep that bios on hand. I'd like to try the modded driver first. Many thanks. Stay free.

 

I just got to work so I'll have to re-mod the driver tonight. As soon as it's done I'll post a link. If it doesn't work then I'll have to re-do the 425.xx driver that's technically still supported

 

@Maxware79 I greatly appreciate it. What a fantastic community this is. Thank you very much.

 

No problem at all. Once I put the kids to bed I'll be able to sort it out. I modded the driver for another guy last night who had an 880M and I was hoping he had tested it to see if it worked but I haven't heard yet. I've never tested a modded driver that wasn't officially supported with the particular GPU so it's new ground for me.

 

Try this. If it doesn't work then I'll have to mod the 425.xx driver. Go into the International folder and the setup.exe is at the bottom. Don't forget to Disable Driver Signature Enforcement again. It only works once so if you restart your machine is defaults back to normal. Good luck!

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/zaeo09kc7dgao2n/AACIbOdgsnlrfAIcsF-09H8Aa?dl=0

 

Any news??

 

I'm dying over here......

 

So sorry for the delay. Downloading now...

 

@Maxware79 I thought I was getting email notifications from this thread. Evidently not. If there is a way to enable that I'd love to know. I didn't realize you had posted the link. Thanks for doing the work on this. I'll let you know the results shortly.

 

There's a Watch Thread icon at the top of the thread page at the right hand side. When you select it you can choose whether or not to allow email notifications.

I had also modded that driver for a guy running an 880M in an M17x R4 and he said the driver worked great for him so I'm hoping I did your code right too. Just remember to disable driver signature enforcement or it won't work.

 

@Maxware79 SUCCESS!! The driver works. THANK YOU!!! We have risen above the best efforts to thwart us of our right to use what we own, to even own anything. You are a champion @Maxware79 and we remain free.THANK YOU!!

BTW, because I was inactive, I had not reconfirmed my account and was not getting the email notifications I had set in preferences. I apologize again for the delay.

If you have a recommendation on the best way to monitor the new, second GPU fan I've installed and keep an eye on GPU temps, I'd appreciate any recommendations. See below:

 

Nice! People say that HWinfo64 is a great monitoring tool so I guess give that a try. It also includes fan control so you can actually set fan curves to help keep things cooler. I believe there is a detailed thread in the general forum here (not the Alienware forum).

EDIT: I'm probably going to do a 'How-to' video on driver modding so people can easily learn how to do it. Once you learn it's really quite simple.

 

That would be a great video. I meant to ask you where the best place to start learning how to mod drivers. It would be a great thin to have. Please post a link if/when you do the "How-to."

 

Here is a thread that I was given that I used to teach myself if you want to have a practice. Not sure when I'll get a chance to make a video.

https://null-src.com/posts/nvidia-notebook-driver-inf-mod/post.php

Just note that in [2] Extract Driver it tells you to close the installer once it fails. If you close the installer the Nvidia files are removed from you PC. You leave the installer open and find the Nvidia file in your C drive and copy it. Then you can close the installer and the original files will disappear but your copied version is left for you to mod.

EDIT: One of the biggest mistakes people make is in part [5]. They find the first group of Device ID's and insert their new line in there. For cards that can be used in multiple Windows versions there are two more large groups of ID's below the first group. They are easy to miss is you do a quick scroll with the slider bar. Basically there is one group for each OS (7,8 and 10). I put the line of ID in each group just to make sure. Some people just throw it in the first group and then do the String at the bottom and the installer doesn't work because they didn't add the ID into the correct OS. The newest drivers for the 10 series cards only have a Windows 10 group so it's a little simpler.

 

Thanks! That's perfect. I'll take a look.

 

@Maxware79 I just noticed your in Adelaide. I'm a Sydney-sider from days past. Thanks for helping us out.

 

Yeah good old Radelaide. I lived in Sydney with the family back in the 80's and my sister moved back there and is in Bondi now.

Did you try your hand at modding a driver? It looks like Nvidia may have released a new driver so I think I'll try doing a 'how-to' video soon.

 

Hi @Maxware79 I updated Win10 last night and am having trouble. The moded display driver wasn't working after the update. Was the one you sent me 445.87? That is the driver I am trying to reinstall. I may have gotten confused and saved the wrong file. With Driver Enforcement disabled, I am getting an error (see attached screen shot). Do you think you could take a look and see if there is a way to get 770M to work with Windows 10 version 10.0.19042 build 19042?

 

Hey. Did you reinstall Windows or just update it? Just updating Windows shouldn't have changed anything so that's really weird if it did. Is the GPU listed in Device Manager?

 

100% only updated. Seems like a big update. But afterwards the display was all messed up. So I switched to integrated, ran DDU in safe mode, and tried to instal the moded driver (with driver signature enforcement disabled) and am getting the error.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

 

So is the 770M still listed in Device Manager as a Basic Display Adapter?

If you are using the same NVIDIA folder with the modded driver as before then it should work, if the system detects the card. Nothing would have changed how the driver works.

If you can confirm that the card is recognised then just do a quick hardware ID check. Right click on the card in Device Manager and select Properties - Details - Select Hardware ID from the dropdown.
Copy and paste this ID on a Notepad.
Open the NVIDIA driver folder and go into the display.driver folder and find the nvdmi inf. Scroll down the list of hardware ID's in the .inf until you can find one that has the same numbers as your 770M ID that you put on the notepad. I can't remember what the 770M hardware ID is, possibly 11E0

It should look something like;
%NVIDIA_DEV.11E0.0550.1028% = Section066, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_11E0&SUBSYS_05501028

The driver is probably an older one that supported Windows 7, 8 and 10 so there may be three long identical sets of these device ID's in the .inf. You have to check the first big list and then scroll down to find the second set and then the third.

If the card is nowhere to be seen in Device manager then you have another issue. Either the card is dead or the Windows Update screwed it up and you may have to roll back the update.

 

@Maxware79 Thanks for the reply. Just so you know, I am trying to reinstal the moded driver that you made for me last year. Its been working perfectly up to last night. I switched to the cards (dual 770M SLI) and I see Microsoft Basic for both in Device Manager. I got device IDs, but cannot find an NVIDIA folder anywhere. FYI, when I try to reinstall the driver you made for me, I get and error saying it will not install. But I'm not 100% sure I'm using the one you sent. I may have saved the wrong file. Anyway you can confirm the one you made was

 

Oh Man!! I realized I was trying to install the driver while I was on integrated graphics. Rookie mistake. Its installing now. All is good @Maxware79! Thank you for all your help. Sorry, mate!

 

Man, I apologize for that. I didn't realize the driver wouldn't install if I was on the integrated graphics chip. Your post helped make the connection, so I do appreciate it. It's working now, thanks again. Wierd that the update seemed to corrupt the driver.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

 

Hahaha all good. We all do things like that


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Hey Maware79, thanks for your help over the years. How can I stay in touch after the Notebookreview forum closes?

 

Hey. You can get me on Alienowners.com at MattyB or on one of the new pages that has started. I’m Maxware79 on both of them.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Thanks! While I've got you here, I have an issue with M18xr2. I have 16GB HyperX Black 2300 GHz RAM running in the 2 slots under the keyboard. When I install another 16GB in the back 2 slots I get 4-beeps on startup. Any thoughts?

 

Not sure you can run that much RAM at those speeds in the R2. It will run 32gb 1866Mhz but I've heard if you go 2133 or higher then 16gb is the max. Haven't tested this myself though

 

I just tried to install the 4 sticks of original RAM (total 16 GB) and I'm getting 4 beeps. Is it possible something is unplugged. I think I checked all the cables. Otherwise, are those 2 slots damaged?

 

Yeah it does sound like those slots could be faulty, which is pretty rare. Did you make any changes in the BIOS to run the high speed memory? Maybe resetting to default will clear the error. Be careful changing anything in the BIOS though as it may affect something else, like resetting back to Legacy Boot.