New GX640 - What now?

Hello, I just got a new GX640 and to be frank it's smooth as heck
But I don't really know what to do... Am I supposed to update some drivers to gain maximum perfomance?
I've heard alot of things but myself was unable to connect the dots, yeah, not much of a techwiz

Any tips and tricks for this humble man?
Btw, that ATI Catalist thing, a buddy of mine says I do not have the newest version and need a 10.7 version, but how do I get that?
(and no, I will not get my friend to help... he's crashed some of his own laptops with his crazy acts of ... friendship)

With best regards, Mikkelmayn

 

You'd have to go into Control Panel > Device Management and right click + select 'update driver', which should only take a couple minutes.

The official MSI website should also have update packages for drivers if you run into any issues looking for specific updates (I know Asus did, I haven't checked the MSI website yet).

 

Hmm, my Alien Swarm is actually lagging a little bit on high settings..
It's Source, so I'm pretty sure this is supposed to happen, this laptop should be able to handle that game just fine.
I am in Gaming mode, so nothing there.

Any ideas?
When I check for updates in the devicer manager thing, it says I'm fully updated so I can cross that out.
But it would seem that I'm not..

 

Have you tried going to the official MSI website and updating drivers that way? If you're still experiencing issues, perhaps you could call tech support, give them remote access, and they could examine all your drivers. Usually takes about 30 minutes

It shouldn't lag on anything. Based on the benchmarking, it's supposed to handle everything on high setting, and Alien Swarm isn't really demanding.

 

MSI Global ? Computer, Laptop, Notebook, Desktop, Mainboard, Graphics and more

I suppose this would be the place to download drivers?
But which?
I'm being really cautious about this, they all seem harmful if I used them in the wrong way.

This is my driver versions I think, got these numbers from the Information Center in ATI Catalyst, maybe you could get something out from them?

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/ControlSet001/Control/CLASS/{4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}/0000
Direct3D Version 8.14.10.0723
OpenGL Version 6.14.10.9252
Catalyst™ Control Center Version 2009.1211.1547.28237

With regards

Btw, I live in Denmark, so I'm not sure that I could get the same service.

 

Since the ATI driver was posted a little over a month ago, I'd download it, and see if that improves your gaming quality. Once you have it installed, try testing to 2-3 games on max settings to see if there's any chance and if lag has vanished

 

first update your vga bios then install 10.7 from amd.com for the best performance. the difference is night and day.

 

I'm having a hard time updating my bios.
I download the "NB VGA Firmware" from this site MSI Global ? Computer, Laptop, Notebook, Desktop, Mainboard, Graphics and more .
Then I extract the zip to my desktop, and when I try to run the flash.bat file, it says I have a file incompatible with my version of Windows (64-bit of course), but it's not like I was given a choice to either download a 32 or 64 bit file.

Maybe I'm approaching this updating BIO's the wrong way, I've no clue what so ever.
BTW, is that the correct BIO to be installing even?
With regards.

 

You need to make a bootable DOS USB drive and run the .bat (batch file) from within DOS.

The utility for creating a bootable USB drive is on the official MSI forums and so is the procedure for properly flashing a BIOS. Remember, if you mess this up, it's game over. Do it right!

 

I've read into it (definitely don't wanna rush things!) and I think I get the general idea, as well as the way to execute it.
Only place where I'm lost is when you suppodesly "clear the CMOS".
Apparently I'm supposed to mess with the motherboard and other things inside my laptop... and yeah, I really don't wanna open this baby up.
Do I really have to?

 

I dont think that generally you need to rip off CMOS battery as such.
Just flash it via DOS and it should be good.

and BTw you were real lucky that the thing didnt start from within windows, coz I have seen ppl hit the forums saying they updated the BIOS from windows and now their "bricked" system cant boot, of course it wont boot if ya bricked it

 

The CMOS thing is for desktop motherboards. It's sort of a general BIOS flashing guide, not specifically targeted at notebooks.

After flashing the regular BIOS and the EC firmware, you need to unplug the power adapter, take out the battery and leave your laptop without a power source for 5-10 minutes in order to reset the EC. It's not essential, but MSI recommends doing that. I guess they know better.

As for flashing the vBIOS, you don't need to clear anything. It's very simple.

Create your bootable USB drive and extract the vBIOS files to the root of that drive. Shut down your laptop, plug in the power adapter. Start up the laptop with the USB drive plugged in, the notebook should detect it and boot up MS-DOS. Once you're in there, just type the name of the .bat file and hit enter. It'll take a few seconds to flash the BIOS and then you'll get a completion message. You're done, reboot the computer!

I remember when I did mine, the whole procedure took a minute at most.

 

You might take a look at this guide from MSI on how to easily update your VBIOS . . . as it's a pretty straight forward method.

Other than that, just update your video drivers . . . you can even use the drivers posted on the AMD/ATI page.

HERE are some other notes on first steps for new GX640's.

Cheers!

 

"After flashing the regular BIOS and the EC firmware, you need to unplug the power adapter, take out the battery and leave your laptop without a power source for 5-10 minutes in order to reset the EC. It's not essential, but MSI recommends doing that. I guess they know better."

This part is a way to clear the CMOS right? Just wanna be completely clear
And I am supposed to do this part AFTER flashing the vBIOS (making an USB stick bootable with that program, then rebooting and go into the BIOS menu (F11) and do something that makes my USB stick boot and thus (apparently) flash my vBIOS in the USB stick, right?)

Also, when you say flashing the regular BIOS and EC firmware, isn't that just resetting things to default inside of the BIOS menu from boot (F11)?

Sorry for being such a bother, but I'm really nervous about this!
Btw, if I were to somehow not do this right, and my laptop would be beyond repair (or after being recovered significantly weaker), will my warranty be void?

With the best regard, Mikkelmayn

 

The instructions from MSI are pretty general. there reference to BIOS is generic, in this case we're talking about flashing the VBIOS (for the video card), which is different, but the process is basically the same.

I'm sure exactly why they recommend unplugging everything after a flash, I did it, but didn't wait more than 30 seconds before turning it back on just under battery power. And yes, you'd do this AFTER flashing the vbios.

Flashing a bios is not the same as resetting the defaults inside the bios menu (which you can do in the menu already). It's actually updating the firmware (integrated software) that's built into the hardware components, and changes things at a fundamental level that you wouldn't otherwise be able to change through something like a bios menu.

 

I dont think the first step "clears" the CMOS. You know CMOS is the battert that keeps track of time even when your pc is shutdown, thats why you dont have to reset it every time you boot your PC.

Ever heard about ROM(Read Only Memory) it allows your PC to boot even when there isnt a single OS installed, now in flashing we make ROM phenomena false by writing over it a new set of instructions.

If you fu(k this up, then you'll have a $1099 brick on your table.

Happy Flashing

 

Hi, I'm back with a new problem (well, not really a problem so far).

Okay, so I used this guide here: http://www.msi.com/uploads/faq/faq_f7de5205157e274e4620683aeac43f66.pdf ---- This is btw a VERY good guide, clean and simple and with pictures.

And it all went seemingly smooth, rebooted my notebook, booted from the USB drive and all.
Then I got to step 5.
As you can see on the picture (the one on the next page, not the same page as step 5) it says:
"Welcome to the command promt. No drive(rs loaded)
A:/*>b:" and so on.
*the / is the other way though

The thing is, my USB drive is located at F: but when I enter F at the "A:/>" part, I get this thing where it says it can't find it?
What am I doing wrong?

With regards, Mikkelmayn

 

well I had bricks and they bricked just fine....... ;p

 

It will be like this A:\> by default.

To change it it will be : A:\>F:
This way it will switch to F drive.

 

I have the exact same problem and typing f: after A:\> won't change a thing. When I type "dir" on A:\>, It says that it contains 3 files and 2 datas (command, fdconfig, kernel and some else) but nowhere do I see flash.bat.

Oh, and when I type b:, it says something about switching A and B drives O_O

H~E~L~P

 

Hum. Weird. I tried on c:, just for fun (I know that usually, c: is used for harddrives) and it worked :O...

well... all the files of the USB key were there, including flash.bat, which I ran.

BUT... after running flash.bat, it said to me :

"result: the data is identical"

...

I don't know if my vbios is updated...

GPU-Z tells me that my version is 012.020.000.002.036533


Is it correct? If so, that's still not very nice because

I still can't put my computer to sleep and recover afterwise

...

 

Well... I think I just flashed the BIOS instead of the VBIOS. Were do I get the files?

Are they in the firmware section?

MSI Global ? Computer, Laptop, Notebook, Desktop, Mainboard, Graphics and more

 

Hurray! Everything is good right now. I went to the firmware section and flashed it no problem (the flash drive is under c

 

Hello, I am a new GX-640 owner and I just wanted to confirm a few details I've been reading in this forum the last few days.

When I received the laptop, the things I did (no particular order) were:

1) removed unnecessary software (Norton, Arcsoft, etc.)

2) Updated to latest Catalyst drivers (10.7)

3) Installed Avira AV, Comodo Firewall and Threatfire (disabled windows firewall)

4) Used msconfig and stopped some processes to help boost start up speed. (ie. Adobe Reader)

5) Registered my laptop on the MSI website to get the 3 year warranty.

6) Used ATI Overdrive and created 2 profiles:

A) A regular performance for when gaming (625 MHz / 1000 MHz) --> Is this the stock speeds? Can I increase this with Overdrive without consequences? My computer is around 71 degrees when playing Starcraft 2 on ultra.

B) Down-clocked profile for when just browsing net, etc. (400 MHz, 500 MHz) --> How much lower can I go with this? Overdrive still reads around 53 degrees when I'm in this mode.

Should I continue to use ATI Overdrive to help me change my clock speeds? Or should I use the AMD GPU Clock Tool instead?

I also started to get the hibernation/sleep black screen, where windows wouldn't boot up back to normal.
I read up and disabled Powerplay which seems to have fixed the problem.

I read that flashing the vBIOS to the most recent will help get rid of the powerplay problem and also help boost my performance. Is this crucial? I don't really want to risk killing my computer if I do it wrong.

Can someone give me a quick range of what temps I should be aiming for? (ie. browsing, watching movies, games)

Also, is there anything I missed that should be done?

Thanks,
Steve

 

Sorry accidentally double posted

 

Ok so I don't know which of Ati overdrive or AMD GPU Clock is best but I personally use the later, since thanks to the shortcut trick it allows me to switch quickly between my stock speeds and my underclocked one...

So for me the lower I get is 103/355 anything lower than 100 will work but then a youtube video will freeze my computer (or at least the monitor) and lower or equal to 350 for the memory clock gives me crazy artefact's ;-)

However this depends mainly on your own GPU many guys here manage to go to 100/100 without problem... Anyway not sure the temp is huge... Mine idles at 51 now (GPU)... When on the stock clocks I get temps around 62/65 and when playing anywhere between 80 and 100 (100 is the max temps I get and I guess the game runs more often around 80/90)

Concerning the vbios I can't advise you... I flashed it although I never did something similar before... It wasn't really difficult and I guess as long as your comp doesn't power off during the flashing you don't risk too much!

For testing how low you can go with your clock just go down slowly in the clock speeds (like no more than 100Mhz at a time) and whenever you see the first sign of artefact's just click cancel as quick as possible... otherwise you'll need to reboot ;-)

P.S.: I would be surprised if your GPU heats at only 71 when playing SC... this is I guess the instant value you read when switching to Overdrive but in the meantime your GPU had time to cool... Launch CPUID just before gaming to know what's the maximum level your GPU reached ;-)

 

Hi, even though it was complicated for me to flash the vbios (due to my miscomprehension), I don't think that there's a way to *miss it* badly except if you try to run it on windows. Just follow the steps and your hibernation problem will be solved 100%.