M11x graphics drivers (General Discussion)

The page to get the most recent driver provided by Dell (a beta 197.12) is *HERE*.

The original driver from Dell (188.55) can be found *HERE*.

lksing78's method for switchable 197.16s can be found *HERE*.

Below is the original old post that no longer applies (since 197.16 are better than Dox's 195.62).

This isn't anything I have a problem with, and this thread is intended to be informational. I had the original graphics drivers installed and for whatever reason was only able to switch to integrated/discrete using Fn F6. When I would either left or right click the taskbar icon it wouldn't have the options to choose "Save power" or "Increased performance". It just gave me an option to open a "how to change gpus" type thing (which told me to do what I just did which of course doesn't work). I went to laptopvideo2go and got the Dox 195.62 drivers. They also had a patch available to use hybrid graphics which all worked. It took me a few tries and now everything (well, close enough) is working correctly. Now Fn F6 doesn't work, but the taskbar icon does. Pretty much I find it funny that Dell's drivers are just as messed up as an unsigned modified one.

I have no intentions of switching back, but has anyone else had trouble with the Dell's drivers ability to switch gpus from the taskbar, or is this just my unit?

 

Dell stock 335m driver does not feature taskbar switching cause then it would make the FN+F6 feature completely useless marketing lol.

 

Ha good catch, I never noticed taskbar switching doesn't work! I saw it there, but I was like "why would anyone use this when you can just Fn+F6"... .

BTW, did you get any improvement in FPS/benchmarks with new drivers?

 

I didn't even bother to measure anything since I already know how beneficial this driver is for certain games. I've used it on my old 8600m GT as well as a GTX 260m, and have always liked it.

The only downsides are the loss of the Fn F6, which is just replaced with the taskbar icon working. I don't care about that much, but Soviet Sunrise has mentioned that these drivers aren't the best for source games and GTAIV.

@villosa Dell really broke it intentionally? I don't get why they would do that. I think "along with" would make better marketing than "instead of".

 

Are you sure your battery life didn't get affected when you switched drivers? Other people have also tried it, but it seems even if they switch card in the task bar, both cards still seem active, and battery life is decreased.

 

That has more to do with bios and was already present on the Dell driver. On my first day with the M11x I was switching back and forth between gpus, and I was somewhat surprised at the relatively short amount of time Windows reported the battery having left. I read somewhere on here that to actually have the GT 335m off, and not just idling, a reboot is required.

 

/\ The scary part is that being the m11x is rocking the old hybrid tech it could very well be true that this happens. /\

 

I'm pretty sure that is true. There is still a little power going through the 335M, but not as much as if it were operating.

 

So why isn't there an option in bios to use 'integrated' graphics only? That way one could switch between the two cards in bios, and not having to bother with special drivers that are outdated or troublesome.

If Alienware is releasing a bios update, this would be on the wish list:

1) Integrated graphics only. When Windows is booting up it sees the integrated Intel card only, and can use the latest drivers for that card.

2) Discrete graphics only. When Windows is booting up it sees the discrete Nvidia card only, and can use the latest drivers for that card.

3) Switchable graphics enabled. When Windows is booting up, it sees both cards, and ... well, uses the driver supporting switchable graphics, if possible.

Any thoughts on this?

 

If you get stuck on GeForce, put the computer to Sleep then wake it up back on - poke the Alien head. It works for me just fine. It's not that big of a deal.

 

I am using the 195 Dox drivers with the hybrid "fix", and both cards show up, but I'm about 99% sure that with these drivers the Nvidia GPU never turns off. Both GPU's show up, and we have the option to change over with the taskbar switch, and it does change between the two, but both are still running. Battery life reflects this as windows is showing a life of ~4.5 hours, where as with stock drivers and fresh bootup with the integrated enabled, life is ~8+ hours.

Even with stock drivers though, once I switch to the Nvidia and then back to integrated, the life never goes back up either, as others mention. So once enabled, the Nvidia GPU never is disabled with even the stock driver.

So, for now, as I am playing some games that need the newer drivers (namely Metro 2033), I have the bios set to only use the Nvidia, so integrated is completely disabled, and never shows up period. That for me right now is an acceptable solution for the added performance and support of the newer drivers. As a side note, the newer drivers do downclock to lower clocks properly when at desktop, idle, etc so power usage/heat isn't too terrible.

Dell does need to fix the problem they have with their drivers of GPU switching. It's clearly broken.

 

Apparently 197.16 is official now on Nvidia.com. I'm going to try them out.

 

I have found on stock drivers that once you switch back to intel it does keep the 335m enabled. If you put the laptop to sleep and bring it back it is then properly disabled and you will get decent battery life again.

I tested this with a kilawatt meter and got results as follows:
intel/min brightness/wifi on/idle = 11w
switch to nvidia/min brightness/wifi on/idle =20w
switch to intel/min brightness/wifi on/idle = 20w
sleep then resume still on intel = 11w again

 

Ohh I didn't notice this thread before.

Hybrid Graphics on Doxs driver is a bit buggy which is the discrepancy you may have noticed with switching. You guys are saying with the M11x the taskbar switch is not working with Doxs driver?

I am Dox and LaptopVideo2Gos Hybrid Graphics guy BTW. <- Do not post when half asleep kids. What I meant to say is that I am the Hybrid Graphics guy at LV2G. I am not Dox (Tho Dox does post on NotebookReview.)

 

Hi Nautis,

Thanks for popping in. As far as I understand the tray does switch with your Dox drivers but you cannot use the M11x switch hotkey. this is not really an issue.
The problem is when the driver switches from nvidia to intel it doesnt shut off the nvidia card. Therefore the unit generates more heat than it should and battery life drops through the floor!

I dont know if this is something you could look at or if its an Alienware BIOS issue?

 

I hope someone takes a look on this as well. Switching gpus should power on/off the cards, not keep both of them powered on, right?

 

I am currently trying to install the latest gfx drivers on my M11x (197.xx) but I keep running into problems. Once I install the driver my on board gfx stops working all together, I can't get my 335m to turn on and I am stuck in 800x600 resolution.

This is what I am doing:

1. Download from Nvidia
2. Double click and let it auto-run
3. Reboot

After reboot all hell breaks loose. Though I am never prompted to reboot. Only way to fix is to re-install the old driver.

Can someone give me a step by step on what to do?

Cheers

 

That's because you can't, technically, use the drivers from NVidia - only from Dell's support site (i.e. the older drivers). The M11x has a Hybrid Graphics engine. If you want use the latest drivers without issue - probably the only option you have is to force the laptop to enable discrete graphics only (via the BIOS) and install the latest drivers. Problem with that is that you're going to end up with a very large overall impact to your battery life/performance.

 

Thanks, I will try and work around this later. Might be a case of driver jumping when I go travelling.

 

Thanks for that info... hmm.

 

I installed the 197.16 drivers from Nvidia last night and ran 3dmark06 and GTA IV benchmark.

3dmark06
Stock: 6500 197.16: 6495

GTA IV:
Stock: 25FPS 197.16: 30.5FPS

3dmark didnt change, but I did see the FPS higher in some areas while it was running.

The GTA IV benchmark was 4-5 FPS higher and noticeably smoother, evne though at 25 fps it was playable, but now its even better.

 

Wow let me fix that sentence and clear things up I guess that's what I get for posting when half a sleep. I am not Dox. What I meant to say is that I am the Hybrid Graphics (and probably optimus) guy over at LV2G. (I am Nautis1100 over there.)

I am the guy that has shown Dox how to implement Hybrid Graphics and I am the guy that released the patch. Sorry for the confusion. I have been primarily behind the scenes until recently.

 

Thanks for all your help!
I think I'll transition and test your Optimus drivers later this week.

I noticed you put up 197.13 INF, did you mean 197.16?

 

Hah.. geeze. No more late modding nights for me. Yes I indeed did mean 197.16.

 

can we comb through the nvidia and intel gpu drivers on Dell's site to see what we need to hack in so that we can toggle with F6 and the taskbar all while the GPUs actually switch on/off and use a newer driver version?

lol that sentence is a disaster.

 

hey Nautis, thanks for dropping in here... I was running Dox's 196.25 with the Hybrid fix, but the problem is that even though it technically "switches" with the taskbar icon, the Nvidia GPU never powers off, so we get about half battery life. This is after sleep, reboot, etc, simply has BOTH gpu's running all the time.

So, I selected Discreet only in bios and cleaned everything out and am using the newest 197 Nvidia drivers just fine, but this obvious has completely disabled my IGP, and gives me about half battery life than with true hybrid working.

So, not sure how to fix it, but that's the current state... Dox's will load and switch, but doesn't disable either. AS a side note, as others have said, even the Dell drivers don't disable the Nvidia GPU without sleep or a reboot, so is an issue across the board, but atleast with Dell drivers a reboot with IGP or sleep will disable Nvidia.

Thanks for all the help! Looking forward to a possible Optimus option that you are working on!

 

@be77solo I've also found that there isn't any way to disable the Nvidia gpu with the Dox 195.62. I'll still take it for the performance though.

Dell definitely has work to do since theirs isn't even working right. What I really don't get is why they created the switchable driver from such an old one.

If anyone has used both the Dox 195.62 and Nvidia 197.16, what differences did you notice? (something got really messed up with my drivers and it took multiple uninstalls/reinstalls to even have the correct clocks. I didn't have any time to test once I just had them working, I was getting 4xxx 3dmarks in 3dmark06 lol, and was more worried about the fact that any driver I tried would stop responding every few minutes.)

Edit: now I have the 197.16 drivers and the Intel gpu disabled in the bios. I'll just wait for something new to come out before messing with the Intel gpu again. I'd rather lose the battery life and take the performance/compatability. Even on the GT 335m the M11x still gets respectable battery life.

 

update:

After installing the 197 drivers and running some tests, I shut down and went to bed.

When i rebooted, the resolution would only go to 1024x768, and no intel graphics worked, no sys tray icon or anything. I tried a reinstall, manual driver update, clean install, etc, but always got that result with the 197 drivers.

Had to use the dell stock drivers again..

 

You have to run 197s in Discrete mode, integrated won't work with them installed.

They provide a decent performance boost over the DOX drivers, so far every game I've tried since installing them earlier today has been smoother and/or had better overall frame rates. I'm not really away from a outlet often enough for the lack of Integrated to bother me, which is really the only major issue with them (you also can't put the laptop into sleep mode via closing the lid, you have to either using the start menu or power button).

 

That is interesting that the Nvidia part never powers off even in the official drivers.

How it has traditionally worked with Hybrid Graphics:
Intel = Intel seen in device manager Nvidia gone.
Nvidia = Both Nvidia and Intel seen in device manager.

Believe it or not your M11x has the newest official version of Hybrid Graphics drivers released. I haven't been able to get anything above the 191 series of drivers switching GPUs properly. (so far)

Which brings me to a quick question for those of you that used Doxs latest in Hybrid Graphics mode. Did/does it switch properly back and forth from Intel to Nvidia and back?

 

I've tried Dox several times - and each time, while it "worked" and showed noticeable improvements in overall FPS during various benchmarks and/or gameplay - it also significantly degraded the battery life/performance when switching back to the IGP.

Additionally - the switching (via the taskbar) between the 2 modes worked very well (really could care less if it's via button press or software driven) - however, the Dox drivers for some reason typically hung at times when switching back to IGP from Discrete. It wasn't consistent - however - but annoying enough, at least to me, to warrant moving back to the stock drivers.

In short (at least for me) -

Stock drivers = good/great battery performance, solid switching (few/no issues), average performance.

Dox Drivers = decreased performance, questionable switching (sporadic hanging requiring a forced reboot), improved performance.

And I've tried various ways of installing the Dox Drivers (uninstall stock, re-install dox or install/leave stock, re-install dox over stock, etc.).

At this point - I've come to the conclusion that I'd rather wait (and hope) that Dell and/or NVidia provides an updated set of drivers soon that include the latest driver revisions which address the performance impact.

 

can anyone post a tutorial on how to install this "dox" drivers or whatever the latest nvidia version is.. (shud be able to switch to intel after installing?)
I need the latest driver for "optix" to run on my machine.. as it keeps buggin i have older drivers and it wont run my programs
thanks,
Noob

 

with the Dox drivers and the hybrid fix, it does let you "switch" with the taskbar icon, and it does go back to the intel gpu, but the nvidia doesn't power off; ie it still shows up in device manager and hwmonitor, etc, and the battery life is cut just like running in discreet mode.

The only difference is, with the stock dell drivers, after a reboot with the intel gpu enabled, it truly turns off the nvidia gpu. With Dox's/Hybrid Fix drivers, the nvidia gpu never is turned off, even after a reboot with the intel gpu enabled.

So, currently running in discreet mode with intel completely disabled and using the latest nvidia 197 drivers.

 

Since the Dox one isn't really a fix at this point, just get the latest driver from Nvidia (197.16). Download it and go to the device manager. Uninstall the current driver from there and reboot. Go into the bios and disable the switchable graphics, reboot once more, and install the 197.16. There might be one more reboot after that, but then it's all set.

 

With the new drivers, I know there are performance gains, but what about the fan. Does the fan stay on constant high or with these new drivers does the fan calm down once the temps lower?

As you know there are threads about the fan issue when switching with different scenarios. With only now using discreet graphics, is the "fan issue" gone?

 

That had something to do with command center being open. Just close it after making the lights the way you want them (close it from the tray). The fan hasn't been an issue for me with any driver I've used on it. I did notice the fan was always on the first day I had the M11x, but I always disable as many startups as possible.

 

Sirhczor, I was not the one who stated the command center being open cause issues.
My question was regarding the new graphics drivers if they improve or correct the fan issue aside from their performance gains.

 

I haven't had fan issues. Get CCleaner and disable the startup, stock, Dox 195.62, and Nvidia 197.16 have all worked fine for me as far as the fan.

 

For some reason I can't get the HDMI out to work once I switched to Dox's modded drivers. Very annoying. Also when switching from performance to save power using the taskbar, it pretty much crashes the machine.... doh.

 

This strictly for M11x user only..and do at your own risk

Ok i manage to install nvidia latest driver 197.16(duh) and I can switch between intel graphic(wow ok)


here's the trick
download Nvidia driver from Dell web M11x nvidia graphic driver
download Nvidia latest driver from Nvidia web

1.extract Dell driver to ur c:/ ...don install them just yet..just exit by click cancel
remember this part c:/Dell/drivers/R253896/display

2.now extract the nvidia driver that u download from nvidia web
so ur extraction will be on c:/NVIDIA/DisplayDriver/197.16/Winvista_Win7_64/international

3.Now copy all files inside c:/NVIDIA/DisplayDriver/197.16/Winvista_Win7_64/international and paste them inside
c:/Dell/drivers/R253896/display
replace them with the new one

4.uninstall nvidia graphic from the control panel (in Nvidia graphic mode)
(I'm gonna skip this part cause i assume u guys know how to uninstall a software or a driver)
restart ur alien lappy

5.after u successfully restart ur lappy, go to c:/Dell/drivers/R253896 ,there u can see setup.exe
click them to install ur new display driver

6.sit back and relax ,enjoy your new driver with switchable one.

 

How is your battery life when on IGP using this solution? Does it last the normal 6+ hours or only 3-4?

 

yes all back to normal...battery life 6 hours on intel graphic.
u can switch between nvidia and intel graphic like normal
I using it now myself...

 

I'll try this out now then.

I'll post back in a bit.

 

step 4..make sure your in Nvidia graphic mode when u do the uninstall driver
i hope u guys understand my english

 

lksing78. Nice job. Good findings.

Itarus method for the Asus Hybrid Graphics notebooks is more or less exactly the same he includes a slightly modified inf though.

More info on Hybrid Graphics and the critical info to mod yourself.

EDIT: Attached proper INF for the M11x and 197.45 using lksing78s method.

Waiting on word on Nvidia power down issue. Is it fixed?
Also wondering on switching back to nvidia from intel.

 

do post the outcome guys.much appreciated

 

I messed mine up by uninstalling both the Nvidia and the Intel drivers. Downloaded the driver in Nautis' signature and now I have to reboot.

 

so you're saying that if we follow the step you gave

by switching from GT335 to IGP, the GT335 will truly turns off and not shown on the HWMonitor anymore?

 

It won't show up in hwmonitor even when it is on if the Intel is enabled. What really matters is the device manager.

 

sorry but i haven try them till there yet
all i know is when i ran 3Dmark it detected intel graphic when i'm on IGP
and when i switch them to nvidia 3dmark detect Nvidia GF335