M18x: Installing AMD Reference Drivers? Questions and discussion here...

Guys,

I'll have my system tomorrow but if anyone else figures this out before and is willing to write something up then place it here. Opening the tread as Batboy had a great idea. I've worked in IT for the past 16 years so trust me if there is a way to get this done I will get it done. I've worked at custom modifications of ini's and even had some luck reversing some custom coded drivers with the proper source so I'm no stranger to using creative solutions.

For all I know it may be as simple as installing Dell's then upgrading ATI's reference. Either the community will have an answer for it!

 

im sure we just install after uninstalling the stock drivers or install on top of the stock drivers.

 

Well from the individuals who have the laptops in their hands as we speak it doesn't sound like you can just download them stock because they do not load. Not much other details have been given by anyone else. At least this way we will have a central place to discuss any issues if they come up and if they are simple then we can just post how and close the thread.

 

thanks for creating the thread. Will leave the AMD Reference Driver Install to the AMD fans...


**

Adding process for IntelHD Graphics Driver in case the AMD Reference driver does not install it automatically....

As I previously posted in the clean install guide, this process works for the Dell drivers...

Install your AMD Driver first and once complete and back at the desktop -

FN+F7 to initiate the switch call. You will be greeted by a dialog box:

The system will shutdown. Once the shutdown has completed, power up the system. When you are back at the desktop, run the IntelHD driver installer.

Once the driver is installed, reboot and when you return to the desktop, hit FN+F7 again (dialog box will display). Once you power back up you will again be in discrete mode (AMD GPUs active).

Done - iGPU driver has been installed.

----------------------------------------------------

Current Drivers as of this post date:

AMD v8.80.6.1
Drivers and Downloads

IntelHD 3000 Graphics v15.21.7.64.2321
Drivers and Downloads

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Great info BatBoy. That's a really great start and good info.

 

AMD reference drivers work, one dude that said they don't install got them working eventually because he posted benchmarks using 8.850 which is Catalyst 11.5: Result

 

Not sure what AMD driver Sarge installed, but he had to follow the above to restore the iGPU functionality. Guessing since he was speaking with support to resolve his RAID issue, he installed the Dell AMD Driver.

Either way, this thread will be a good place for the AMD owners to fall back to if they run into issues when attempting to install Reference driver from AMD's support site. Just need a process or a confirmation that no modding the catalyst install is necessary.

 

Yeah I saw that but there was never any reference on how he did it.

 

Yeah I agree, an install process will be needed. Especially since many people have no experience with how to handle driver installs for a triple GPU system. Even I was confused at first with the M17x-R3.

 

I am not sure if this is relevant or not. I was having a glitch with my crossfired m17xr2 in Starcraft where my mouse cursor kept corrupting. I download and installed non Alienware Catalyst drivers drivers (from guru3d). I did a before and after and the .sys files in the drivers folder and noticed that they did not change version numbers. However when I manually extracted the contents then expanded the .sys files from the archive, they were newer versions. So to all those that think they are installing new drivers, you may be just installing the superficial stuff and not the actual drivers.

I did some research and wound up finding this tool and after using it, noticed the new .sys files took effect. My Starcraft 2 cursor glitch went away after this.

Mobility Modder - ATI Version, Install the Latest Drivers on your ATI laptop

 

Noob question alert: are there specific reasons to use the ATI reference drivers over the ones Dell provides at this time? I can understand upgrading for future reference (Dell loves to laaaaag behind the manufacterers when it comes to driver updates), but what about now?

 

Well so far trying to install over the Dell Drivers or Install fresh fails on both occasions.

I'm going to do some inf modding and see what I can do.

 

TTJ: I had no problem installing Catalyst 11.5 on mine with a fresh Windows install. Are you sure you're downloading the mobility 11.5 and not the desktop driver? There's no modding or anything needed, they install right away. @evilmike: The Catalyst 11.5 are a lot newer and a lot faster than Dell's driver.

 

interesting so you get the desktop version for these cards?

 

i knew it, awesome news

 

I must have had a bad download it was 85mg not 93 but redownloaded and they went right in and they are much faster with less issues than Dell's.

 

The AMD driver says it's incompatible. Where do you download 11.5a?

Just did a benchmark on Shogun 2 on max settings. Steam says average FPS is 27.4

 

You have to remove the Dell driver first. I recommend using driver sweeper as well.

 

Good thread here! - I was wondering how easily we would be able to use reference drivers on the M18x - especially after all the crap with trying to get them to work on the R2 prior to the R2 vbios update....

Good to see that we can just uninstall Dell, maybe do a spot of cleaning and bung the AMD set straight in....NICE!

 

Several people have requested the download link for 11.5a rc3 but still unanswered.

I think the link is: AMD Catalyst 11.5a hotfix

 

I did get my RAID issue resolved and they did have me install the drivers from the website. The lady on the phone argued with me in fact about using the drivers provided on the CD. I haven't yet updated to the AMD drivers. As to the iGPU, do as BatBoy says. Install your discreet GPU drivers and then switch over to the iGPU using the FN+F7, click yes in the dialog box. Computer will reboot using the iGPU and then you can install the iGPU drivers. FN+F7 to go back into discreet dual GPUs.

 

yes that is the correct link

 

Where i can download ATI High Definition Audio Device for Windows 7 x64 ?

I have found: ATI Catalyst HDMI Audio Driver but seem only for XP.

and ATI HDMI Audio Device R2.55 from Realtek website.


I have installed ATI 8.85 (11-5_mobility_vista_win7_64_dd_ccc.exe) and no ATI High Definition Audio driver detected.

Thanks.

 

If that is a screenshot of your Device Manager that shows it installed.

 

Screenshot taken from the original installation.

AMD Catalyst 11.5b hotfix is out and seem to include the HDMI Audio driver.

 

i cant for the life of me instal the ati drivers. cc installs but no graphic drivers? so far only the dell drivers are installing for me. I cant believe im having issues with simple driver install, i must be rusty at this stuff

 

Same thing here!!! Got any solutions?

 

I uninstalled my reference drivers, did a driver cleaner pro, installed the new 11.6 drivers and all is working fine

 

After a lot of trouble here, I got this:



Am I with the latest drivers or not?

 

If i understand what i'm seeing, your using the Dell standard drivers, most of us (i think), are using the new drivers, the 11.6, that came out from AMD.

But i might be wrong, will wait for someone to correct me.

 

Nope. Your right. He's using Dell Drivers.

 

Could someone please post a working link of 11.6 that installed for him without problems.

 

Me too, we need help please.

EDIT: I managed to get it installed. All I did was remove dell drivers and perform a driver sweep in safe mode then reboot and install 11.5 then 11.5b hot fix then 11.6 with reboots after every install. Make sure you're downloading the mobility driver as there are many versions all over the web. Also, leave the suit, since it gave me a compatibility message everytime I tried it. Download catalyst center individually.

 

Can someone post a guide on how to install 11.6 with download links, all in one nice & neat post with working IGP switchable graphics coming from the factory setting?

 

download: http://www2.ati.com/drivers/mobile/11-6_mobility_vista_win7_64_dd_ccc_ocl.exe

uninstall current drivers using express uninstall followed by a reboot

install the drivers you just downloaded and reboot again

youre good to go.

 

I grabbed my 11.6's from Guru3d (asder) as the crappy AMD link (1.1mb downloader) didnt wanna install on mine....kept saying "no AMD adapter found" or something like that....I was like...hmmm, ive got two of 'em lol

Anyway, the ones from Guru3d, here ,worked for me, also got 11.6 CAP1 here, direct from AMD.

All I did was express uninstall all AMD stuff. I did a driver sweep from safe mode for AMD display and rebooted. Installed the drivers above, reboot and good to go. Then popped the CAP's in....Job Done.

Regards switchable GFX, I have tried it and it works with this method. I do get a message window from AMD upon reboot with integrated GFX....but everything works.....

Any one else get a pop up message after switching?

 

How did you reach that download link?

Tried to copy the URL but it referred me to AMD site which provides me with another version of 11.6.

 

edit: nvm its just a settings tihng

 

Thank you +1 rep.

Thank you. Is it a warning message? I really hate warning messages. I tried to rep but it says I must spread some around first.

 

Yeah, I get a warning that CCC is not comatable with chosen graphics. Only option given is to just click OK. Havent noticed any problems though.

Would be handy to know if anyone else gets this "compatability alert" when switching from AMD to Intel GFX

 

awww........man. The one thing I hate more than old video drivers is error/warnings at boot or upon the launching of programs.
If you/anyone finds a way around this please let me know asap!!!!

 

probably involves disabling CCC at startup, i wouldnt recommend that. the whole process isnt even an officially supported feature. its a dell exclusive so im sure dell will release drivers in the future that MIGHT fix this issue.

 

interesting..............from my experience with Dell they rarely update their video drivers. I hope you are right.

 

Scook also mentioned about disabling CCC at startup to prevent the same message (see the owners lounge p.76 - last post).....i wonder if by doing so, it just means that the options within CCC are not available to change until you manually open CCC.....or wether there is any other impact on disabling CCC via msconfig at startup....

 

why can't amd just add full support to the monthly releases?

 

I never got this message with the method of installation that I followed. Switching to IGP is working as intended. I'll try to uninstall it and install 11.6 directly and see what happens (not asking for trouble but I'm going to format it anyway, so might as well test things lol).

 

Did a quick uninstall-Reboot into safe mode
Driver sweeper in safe mode-reboot
Installed new drivers from AMD site No warnings, working great

Also did the same with with my G73

 

I installed 11.6 with no issues but this was on a clean install of windows 7 with no prior AMD drivers present.

 

The ones from AMD dont seem to work for me...

 

I presume as there are a lot of different files from 11.6 amd drivers, some of them are getting us headaches.

Fortunately, this one I haven't tried yet, but will and will let you guys know. Probably that will work as it did with you guys.

Thanks for the help.