GX640 PCI-E x16 @ x1 problem and other driver problems

I've recently purchased my GX640 and can say it's a great machine at a great price. Overall satisfied, however the biggest problem is the current driver support for the Radeon HD 5850.

Out of the box, the MSI Catalyst drivers are:

Driver Packaging Version 8.69-091211a-096612C-MSI
Provider ATI Technologies Inc.
2D Driver Version 8.01.01.994
2D Driver File Path /REGISTRY/MACHINE/SYSTEM/ControlSet004/Control/CLASS/{4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}/0001
Direct3D Version 8.14.10.0723
OpenGL Version 6.14.10.9252
Catalyst™ Control Center Version 2010.0302.2233.40412

These drivers seem to have some issues. The major one is the PCI-E x16 bus being stuck in x1. This problem on my computer occurs when I enable PowerPlay's "Maximum Battery Life", which forces the PCI-E bus goes to x1. However when I switch to PowerPlay's "Maximum Performance" the PCI-E bus stays at x1. This occurs even if I change the clock (overclock/underclock), in Max Performance mode. The only method that I found, to reset the bus to x16 is to keep PowerPlay in "Maximum Performance" and reset the computer. You can see that this can be pretty annoying in order to get full performance.

I've also noticed some other issues like:

- When I close my lid, the monitor turns off, however when I open my lid, the monitor stays blank. I have to sleep and resume to boot up the monitor.

- Sometimes when I resume from sleep, it seems the driver unloads and I can't sleep again, nor can I open GPUZ.

Now I have tried to install the latest Catalyst drivers (10.3) from the ATI website. These drivers are:

Driver Packaging Version 8.712-100302b-096986C-ATI
Provider ATI Technologies Inc.
2D Driver Version 8.01.01.1010
2D Driver File Path /REGISTRY/MACHINE/SYSTEM/ControlSet004/Control/CLASS/{4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}/0001
Direct3D Version 8.14.10.0735
OpenGL Version 6.14.10.9704
Catalyst™ Control Center Version 2010.0302.2233.40412

They install correctly, however when I reboot, the computer hangs on a black screen just before the login screen of Windows 7. I am forced to revert back to Last Known Good (LKG) drivers.

Actually this was a bit of a pain to figure out how. This is because F8 to force the safe mode screen at boot doesn't work at the regular boot screen. You have to go to the subsequent boot screen to get F8 to work (in some RealTek boot screen which is an option from one of the secondary boot screens).

I think I've read some others that trouble installing the Catalyst 10.3 driver, like me. And also have the PCI-E being stuck at x1 issue. What I want to gather is that if we all have the same problem. Or if we have different VBIOS's that give different symptoms of the same problem.

My VBIOS version is (from GPUZ):

VER012.020.000.002.036533

If any of you are experiencing all these problems or a subset of these problems, please state which ones and your VBIOS.

I think min2209 has suggested that he can install 10.3 Catalyst drivers.

Thanks guys

 

Thanks for starting this thead. Very informative (even through there isn't a solution yet!). I'm still looking to buy the GX640, but seeing as I'm not in a rush, I'll hold out and see how this pans out. I would think MSI could resolve this issues easily enough through drivers and/or bios updates.

Do any of the resellers have anything to report on this issue?

Also, has anyone contacted MSI about it?

 

My GX640 arrived today, when I get home I'll look into the driver issues. I had Ken at Gentech update the drivers for me before shipping so I can see what drivers are on their now and what problems still exist.

 

Ya uh, I was able to install, doesn't mean I don't have the same problems as you. I do.

 

I have the same problem and the same bios VER012.020.000.002.036533

I hope they fix this soon >_>

 

Hmmm. Considering you've found a way to get the PCIe to x1 or x16, can you test if it's a reporting error, or if it's actually affecting performance?

 

Have you tried modding the driver?

 

In another thread, people said 10.4 is out. Try updating and see if that fixes anything?

Thanks for your sharing this with us.

 

I have, indeed, confirmed the performance slow down when running @ x1 vs x16...

I did this by using Unigine, and benchmarking using min2209's settings:

Hardware
Binary:
Windows 32bit Visual C++ 1500 Release Mar 7 2010
Operating system:
Windows 7 (build 7600) 64bit
CPU model:
Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU M 430 @ 2.27GHz
CPU flags:
2260MHz MMX SSE SSE2 SSE3 SSSE3 SSE41 SSE42 HTT
GPU model:
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850 8.690.0.0 1024Mb
Settings
Render:
direct3d11
Mode:
1280x800 2xAA windowed
Shaders:
high
Textures:
high
Filter:
trilinear
Anisotropy:
8x
Occlusion:
enabled
Refraction:
enabled
Volumetric:
enabled
Replication: disabled
Tessellation:
normal

So for PCI-E = x1 at stock clock I got this:

FPS:
14.1
Scores:
356
Min FPS:
8.2
Max FPS:
39.3

So for PCI-E = x16 at stock clock I got this:

FPS:
20.1
Scores:
506
Min FPS:
4.0
Max FPS:
55.3

Which matches min2209's scores as well (even though I'm using the MSI stock driver vs min2209's 10.3 Catalyst)

So there is a significant performance hit.

Haven't tried modding, and haven't tried any versions > 10.3.

From what I've read, I think 10.4 only fixes the Bad Company issue, so unless these two are related, I'm pretty sure the new version will do nothing for us.

 

It's a little strange that the minimum framerate was higher with PCIe at x1.
Would it be possible for you to test with 3DMark Vantage as well? That's the benchmark where I first saw strange results for the GX640.

In particular, the score was ~5k in Performance mode, but I'm pretty sure the GX640 should get more like ~6.7k.

 

I wouldn't worry about min/max frame rates as those are dependent on a lot of different variables at the time of the benchmark (ie. stuff running in background). I recall on the benchmark that I didn't turn off monitor dimming, so this could trigger different instantaneous behavior of a specific part of the benchmark), however the average would not be changed and hence should be accurate.

 

In any case, I thought there was a performance issue with the PCIe being at x1, and it's nice to be proven right. It's good to hear that the cause has been established, though it's annoying that the fix requires a restart.
Once I get my hands on my own GX640, I'll look into it as well.

 

I have the same issues as you mentioned with these drivers buff-daddy.
I have the european version "MSI GX640 086NE".

Have issues with installing any newer driver for testing, because the driver have: "Installation Verification Software will prevent driver download on certain notebook products." Had the same problem on my old HP laptop with ATI graphics card so.
However, I got to install a beta driver of 10.3, since it didn`t have this software.

This morning I experienced the issue with black screen when booting up logging screen in Windows. So I had to boot up in safe mode to reset the drivers. The same thing happend when I either closed my lid, or set it in sleep mode.
Also, my bus speed seems to locked to x1 as you stated with the stock drivers.

My vBIOS is the same version as you have: 012.020.000.002.036533.

 

Does the GX740 have this problem from what we can tell?

EDIT: Apologies for asking again, has anyone followed up with their reseller and/or MSI directly? These issues are pretty significant.

 

new issue, when I restart the machine my GPU-Z says 16x, after I run vantage and check again it's back to saying 1..... any ideas?

 

That's weird. What result did you get, though?

 

6000-6200s forget the exact number

 

Yeah, that still sounds a little lower than it ought to be. The HD 5870 gets almost 8k GPU score on stock clocks and 700MHz is only ~12% faster than 625MHz.

 

yea I think it definitely should be higher, even tried overclocking to see if it would stay at 16x and no luck

 

I've noticed some inconsistent behavior with the out of box MSI drivers. I sometimes start the computer on max performance @ x16, but then when I run a full screen 3D app, it goes to x1.

I've now just uninstalled the entire ATI Catalyst drivers and CCC. I'm using the basic Windows 7 one, this keeps it consistently at x16. However now you can't use any of the other CCC features (ie. PowerPlay, Overdrive, etc.)

But this keeps the PCI-E consistently at x16.

Guess I'll just wait using the Windows 7 ATI drivers until they fix this.

 

The question is, what kind of performance do you get with the Win7 drivers?
We should probably contact MSI about this (though I don't have my GX640 yet).

 

yes im also experiencing what you said. Once i close the lid, and re-open, the screen stays black.
And the notebook wont go into suspend/hybernation mode.(dont know the word in english but its writing ram to hard drive and power notebook off.)
any fixes for this problem?
bios update maby fixed it?
i love to hear.

 

No fix yet, fixed my earlier problem just reinstalling drivers

Well I guess the one good thing about these situations is we have the community here at NBR to figure it out. If I have a standard consumer don't know what i'd do, then again i probably would never notice this problem then either.

 

Yeah i think all thats needed is a bios update, keep eying the MSI site, they're quite regular and fresh with releases.

 

mmmh, their drivers are not really new.
how old is the GX740 and GX640 on the market and when was their latest bios update?

 

Bear in mind, they are MSI branded components, and the 640 and 740 are brand new,

 

and another problem: my girlfriend cant hear me...the mic is dead???

 

Hmm maybe try the camera button? not sure if its active or not but if not, check your recording volumes (Actually the mics can be pretty naff on msis, thats for certain.)

Right click the sound icon in the bottom right and hit recording devices, see if your microphone is responding to sound and then see if a db boost on your mic will help you out.

 

Haven't tried benchmarks with default Windows 7 drivers, but I'd imagine they are approximately the same as the MSI drivers @ x16.

I say this, because I've played Crysis Warhead, COD:MW2 and SC2 with them and haven't noticed any difference from when I played them with the MSI drivers @ x16.

I haven't had any problems with the microphone or Webcam, both have been tested with Gtalk's video conferencing. They work fine.

 

Hey, I am looking at purchasing this laptop but this thread has me a little worried. There seems to be numerous relatively serious driver-related issues. Do you all think that this will eventually be sorted out?

I have a few weeks until I need to purchase a laptop so hopefully all of this is straightened out by then.

 

it's the 5850, not the msi. it will be worked out by ati.

 

Some of it is the 5850, but MSI's power management tools likely also have some problems.

 

I had the same problem with my EX625, I was able to fix it by installing the Vista driver

 

All new laptops will have these issues, just press MSI to press ATI for a fix. I worked at ATI before fixing these problems and can tell you it's very common.

Personally I wouldn't let this deter you from buying this laptop.

The absolute worse case scenario is this thing never gets fixed. This just means you have to use the Windows 7 driver to get PCI-E consistently @ x16.

This also means no CCC which means no overdrive/powerplay/other specific monitor settings/etc.

Also this means no hibernation and standby modes.

This is the absolute worse case scenario, but none of this affects performance.

 

I'd like to see benchmarks with the Windows 7 driver for further comparison, though; especially the Vantage GPU score.

 

Like others have said, EVERY new laptop has problems in some form or another. These for the Gx640 are relatively minor.

ASUS G51 had the BSOD, that never really got solved (surprising considering ASUS reputation and all). The Sony Vaio CW (and other Sony laptops) suffer from a battery drain problem that still hasn't been solved.

I'd worry more about those other laptop problems than I would what's going on with the Gx640.

 

For the BSOD issue with the ASUS laptops, it isn't ASUS' fault. I think it's a hardware design problem/flaw with many of nVidia's cards (I forget which generation). For this reason alone I didn't get the G51V series. Otherwise I wouldn't have waited for this GX640.

 

yes db boost helps, but then she heared other crackling sounds....

 

Thanks for the replies. You two have reassured about this quite a bit. I don't really mind it running at x16 since it will be plugged in the whole time, but I would like it to be able to go into hibernation for lugging the laptop around between classes / meetings and such. But if everything is as you say then I would be surprised if that is not fixed.

 

Yes these problems aren't major and should be solved in the next couple weeks-months. These aren't deal breakers since they can be fixed. Most likely, you're not in need of 16x when ur unplugged anyways

 

Ok, just ran 3DMark Vantage with default settings on my Win7 ATI drivers.

GPU Score: 7086
CPU Score: 7151

So...not much performance difference with Win7 drivers.

 

i tried realtek again to get bass out of the subwoofer. please tell me the settings you guys are using, because i cant get any luck.
I also have the sound sleeping issue again, now that i reinstalled the realtek drivers.

 

the 640 doesn't have a subwoofer.

 

The Federation has thwarted the Borg Queen's plans yet again LOL.

 

Yep, but his 740 does

 

While Ill agree with you 100%, not being able to hibernate, sleep or have some CCC features is quite painful for a large purchase like this. Granted one day it will get fixed, but until then those features I use on a daily basis will not be there to use. Fr me that is a huge turnoff until they are remedied.

 

Hibernation and sleep issues are very common with notebooks. My current asus and my friends Sager were both fine when we bought them, were unable to wake up from sleep or hibernate after a driver update (mine's a nvidia card, his is ATI), then fine again after another round of driver updates.

 

bankergolfer has just been assimilated.

 

PEW PEW PEW

 

Someone needs to go into the bios and look around please,

Also try the advanced key combos.