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[LSudlow]

Custom INF for Dell Inspiron 5150/5160 owners

October 24, 2005 update:
Vista Glass effects now enabled in all infs and all drivers. (Be prepared for slow performance and bugs with Glass effects enabled.) This only works on Vista - it should have no effect on XP.

October 21, 2005 update:
- All infs are now compatible with Windows Vista, so you can use any driver you want. (No Glass effects, though.)
- Removed Vista inf since the beta Vista driver no longer works with current builds.
- Added NV_80_Disp.inf for those who want to use 82.10 or other drivers that have the new Control Panel.

October 17, 2005 update:
- Enabled additional screen resolutions, primarily for games and viewing video.
- Corrected a mode-switching bug that some people have reported.

October 6, 2005 update:
- Updated overlay settings to stay current with Pieter's excellent settings.
- Removed the SpreadSpectrumFactoring switch entirely. It doesn't seem to help the 5150/5160 and may in fact cause a performance hit.

October 2005 update:
- Updated D3D, Overlay, and SpreadSpectrumFactoring settings.
- Reconfigured Control Panel settings to conform with current nvidia practice.

There are four new infs here:

nv4_disp.inf is a basic version, intended for all drivers prior to 7x.xx, as well as a few drivers in the 7x.xx series that don't require one of the following infs.

nv4_HV_disp.inf is for driver sets in the 7x.xx and 8x.xx series that include the standalone hardware video driver nvhwvid.dll. The older nv4_disp.inf will work with these driver sets, but will revert to the older form of hardware video support. If the driver set includes nvhwvid.dll, you should use this inf, unless you need the following one:

nv4_PMX_disp.inf is for driver sets in the 7x.xx and 8x.xx series that display the PowerMizer page in the nvidia control panel, but lack the sliders that allow you to make changes. This includes all driver versions higher than 72.14, which was the last driver that had working PowerMizer sliders. The problem isn't just with the missing sliders. Any loss of A/C power will reduce your GPU clock speed and fail to restore it until the next reboot. This inf disables PowerMizer and ensures the FX Go5200 runs at full speed at all times. (This includes times when the laptop is running on batteries, so be aware.)

NV_80_Disp.inf is for driver version 82.10 and other 80 series drivers that use the new control panel files.

All infs are fairly polished and bug-free and should work well for all Inspiron 5150 and 5160 users. All should be compatible with both Windows XP and Vista. These infs also let you use any driver you want (including the new 80 series drivers) with Windows Vista, including Glass effects.

Notes:

1. These infs are customized for the Dell Inspiron 5150/5160 and work with all 5x.xx, 6x.xx, 7x.xx and 8x.xx series drivers, as noted above. I've incorporated the latest changes from Dell and enabled all the options they've disabled except for overclocking. Overlay contrast and saturation now default to workable settings. All current DirectX and DirectDraw texture and surface formats are now enabled. VMR (Video Mixing Renderer) is now available and enabled by default. (NOTE: To take advantage of VMR, you must also enable it in whatever video player you use.)

2. Since I don't overclock, and since enabling it causes an annoying screen blink when you launch the Control Panel, I've set the Coolbits line to 1, which enables only the "Additional 3D Settings" page. If you want to overclock, find the Coolbits line and set it to 3. You also might find my overclocking tests, here, to be helpful as a guide.

3. You need to change the version number, near the top of the inf, to agree with the version number of the driver you're installing.

4. I've added a switch to force the driver to optimize for the 5150/5160's Intel chipset. Normally the driver detects the computer's chipset and optimizes itself, but for some reason it can't detect the chipset in the 5150. (RivaTuner spotted this problem and I've since verified that Intel's own chipset identification tool fails to identify the 5150's chipset. I don't know about the 5160.)

5. SideBand Addressing works fine on the 5150/5160 and I've enabled it by default. (Because SBA doesn't work on all laptops, Pieter wisely and correctly cannot enable it in his version.)

6. The NView Desktop Manager control panel and all TV Out options are enabled now. Please let me know if you spot anything that doesn't work correctly.

7. All infs are now compatible with Windows Vista, so you can use any driver you want. (Be prepared for slow performance and bugs with Glass effects enabled.) This only works on Vista - it should have no effect on XP.

I'm always interested to hear your results, especially if you spot any problems.

Attached Files

•  nv4_disp.inf   30.7K   492 downloads
•  nv4_HV_disp.inf   30.71K   352 downloads
•  nv4_PMX_disp.inf   30.71K   352 downloads
•  nv4_80_disp.inf   35.7K   408 downloads

[®®®]

Larry, what chipset has the 5150? And what switch did you apply to force better chipset detection? Sounds interesting.

[LSudlow]

The 5150 uses the Intel 852PM chipset, though Dell does something to hide it from diagnostics. You have to physically look at the chips to see what they are.

The workaround to force recognition is to use this switch:

HKR,, UseIntelCompat, %REG_BINARY%, 01,00,00,00

[mobilenvidia]

Larry what were the changes you made to the TV-out settings, I can add the Chipset tweak and TV settings to my INFs and then all Dells will benefit.
Seeing the TV-out is something most Dells experience.

I wonder why Dell have choosen this path with the Chipset and TV-out ?
It causes nothing but problems for them later on.
Especially when sites like us modify every driver known and the owners must hound them for fixes to problems they should have sorted from the start.

Good work Larry, there is room for you beside Teraphy and Ministeve in the hall of Fame.

[LSudlow]

Thanks, Pieter; it was a joint effort, with lots of good suggestions from everyone. It turned out to be a three-part solution...

- The DcbDevsAvailableStatus switch prevented TV Out entirely and had to be removed.

- Dell's setting for the NvCplConfiguration switch prevents Horizontal and Vertical spanning. It only allows Clone and DualView. Instead, I now use:

HKR,, NvCplConfiguration, %REG_DWORD%, 0

- I had to put the DevicesConnected switch back in. Without it, you had to use the Troubleshooting page to force detection of external devices. Now they appear immediately without rebooting.

By the way, you get credit for that last one. I found one of your posts on NVForum and it rang the right bell! Thanks!

[mobilenvidia]

I'll have a play with the INFs and might make a Dell section just with your tweaks.

Good work.

[LSudlow]

There are a couple of steps. Download driver 66.81 (or whatever driver you prefer) and unzip it into an empty folder somewhere, then copy my inf (or Pieter's) into that folder, overwriting the one that's already there.

Then run the Setup program included with the driver (if it has one) or follow the steps described here.

Let us know if you have any trouble with it.

[LSudlow]

I've made some changes to the hardware overlay defaults in the current version, to make them more compatible with the Inspiron 5150/5160. If your version is from before October 12, the current version might be worth downloading. You should see an improvement in video files played on Windows Media Player and other video players that use hardware overlay.

[LSudlow]

Three new changes as of October 30:

- Refresh rates of attached devices should now be controllable from the nVidia Control Panel.

- Removed the VideoBusMasterMode switch that could cause problems for some video controllers.

- I'm using some new overlay settings.

If anyone spots any problems, please let me know.

Thanks!

[LSudlow]

Try the new inf and make sure your PAL/NTSC option is set correctly, since this can cause the symptoms you're seeing.

For a more in-depth look at this issue, see this discussion.

[LSudlow]

November 8, 2004:

- Updated to version 66.93.
- Added new NvCplOverscanShift switch.

As always, let me know if there are any problems.

[LSudlow]

Thanks, Dan. Let me know if you have any trouble.

[LSudlow]

Glad it's working, Lee. That's why we're here!

[LSudlow]

November 16, 2004:

- Updated to version 67.02 (a highly recommended driver, by the way).
- Removed some obsolete lines
- Updated the [nv_ClearRegistrySwitches] section to include entries from more recent drivers
- Set the default resolution back to 800x600 to conform with older TVs and possibly help with some of the TV issues some people are seeing.

As always, let me know if there are any problems.