CynicalCS84 Posted August 11, 2007 Report Share Posted August 11, 2007 I am so fed up with this laptop at this point, it's about to become road kill. I made a post on notebookforums, which didn't yield any results. I tried searching here, but nothing that came up had anything to do with my search, and there's so many forums I don't know where to even start. I'm having some serious performance issues with my m5700. 2ghz cpu, 2gb ram, dual 100gb 7200rpm drives in RAID 0, 1920x1200 display, windows xp media center. My nvidia go 6800 got fried and I replaced it with the only video card alienware could sell me as a replacement - the go 7600. I was told I would actually see a performance increase out of this card, however that's far from the truth. But I'm not exactly sure the videocard is the root of my performance problems. I installed it myself, modified the thermal pads as they told me to, and added thermal compound where I thought it was necessary. I can't get more than 10-15 fps while playing any games at the lowest settings possible, whether in fullscreen at native resolution, or in 4:3 windowed mode. The cpu usage is always at 100% while I'm in game, and it's almost impossible to have 2 things running at once - like WoW and firefox for example. I have all the most current windows updates and I lost track of how many different drivers I've tried, from the super-outdated official alienware ones, to most of them here on laptopvideo2go. I just don't know what I'm doing wrong and now my $3000 "ultimate gaming machine" has turned into a $3000 ultimate paperweight. I have had so many problems with this laptop it's retarded. Needless to say I will never buy another alienware notebook ever again. I just want to get this one working properly because it''s all I've got, AND it cost a fortune. 2329 3dmark05 score. Didn't break 15fps throughout the whole test. Before I replaced the video card and updated the drivers, I'm almost positive there was some sort of automatic fan controls because I would hear the fan changing speeds occasionally. It's not doing this anymore and I can't figure out why! Right now the laptop is just sitting idle, and these are the temps everest pro is giving me. Field Value Sensor Properties Sensor Type HDD GPU Sensor Type Driver (NV-DRV) Temperatures CPU 51 °C (124 °F) GPU 66 °C (151 °F) GPU Ambient 54 °C (129 °F) HDD #1 47 °C (117 °F) Voltage Values CPU Core 0.99 V Isn't that high for a gpu that isn't doing anything? PLEASE steer me in the right direction. The people at alienware are wastes of oxygen. Their solution to everything is "Try taking the video card out and putting it back in." As if that would accomplish anything more than stripping the god ###### screws more than they already are. This really is my last resort. I need to know EXACTLY what driver I should be using, and how do get my automatic fan controls working again! Any and all help is appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P@radox87 Posted August 11, 2007 Report Share Posted August 11, 2007 have you tried to update the BIOS of your alienware? maybe the videocard is not fully supported by the current BIOS. i dont think that your problem can be solved by changing the videocard drivers. (or reinstalling the card as you said) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CynicalCS84 Posted August 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 11, 2007 (edited) I would if alienware actually supported their products and supplied me with a bios update. Edited August 11, 2007 by ®®® Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
®®® Posted August 11, 2007 Report Share Posted August 11, 2007 Try the NERD tool first to figure out what DEV_ID it's using and what other installation crap might block performance. Then do a forum search (you might need to read the search help for optimized results) to find a driver with an original supporting that device. Then do a INF analysis for figuring out what settings other OEM use for this. Write these down and insert them in Pieter's INF. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zipper Posted August 12, 2007 Report Share Posted August 12, 2007 I'd suspect bad BIOS support; I think Amilo X43X users that do have about identical hardware (re Uniwill) have used go7600 with good results - it's about as fast as go6800 but a little less power hungry. Ask Ice-Tea: http://forums.laptopvideo2go.com/index.php?showforum=67 The last resort: flash into Amilo, but then you need to confirm the driver/hardware compatibility; don't know if the optical drives etc. are similar. And does the AW bios include something that's missing in F-S bios - no idea. But somebody has tried AW bios in Amilo when trying to get rid of the lagging bug - with no effect to the lagging problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CynicalCS84 Posted August 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2007 (edited) Try the NERD tool first to figure out what DEV_ID it's using and what other installation crap might block performance. Then do a forum search (you might need to read the search help for optimized results) to find a driver with an original supporting that device. Then do a INF analysis for figuring out what settings other OEM use for this. Write these down and insert them in Pieter's INF. You sound pretty confident. Can you explain this to me a bit more in depth? I searched the forums for "nerd tool" and got nothing that tells me what it is, where to get it or how to use it. Edited August 14, 2007 by CynicalCS84 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
®®® Posted August 14, 2007 Report Share Posted August 14, 2007 Link is in my signature. Though NERD only works within OS up to Windows 2003 including XP and 2K (so no VISTA). Find out the DEV_ID and SUBSYS_ID then start a forum search (you might need to read the forum's search help for optimized results) to find a driver with an original INF supporting that device. Download the dirver and save the original INF found in that driver package as that's your starting point for the next step. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice-Tea Posted August 14, 2007 Report Share Posted August 14, 2007 7600s have been installed in a number of Uniwill P71 notebooks, no problems reported. It seems to be normal your fan doesn't rev up as much as it used to because it consumes less power. The statement that this card should perform better seems to be a bit uhmmm.. Performance is a bit worse probably, albeit not much. Furthermore: monitor your temps while gaming (use Rivatuner and NHC). Idle temps don't say much. Does your fan rev up when gaming? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Tucker Posted February 20, 2008 Report Share Posted February 20, 2008 (edited) The title of this thread fits me perfectly...so I hijacked it.. :) I have a M5700 that has been serviced by alienware (MB replaced). Now, the Geforce 6800 GO video 'module' appears to have gone south. Where can a 6800 GO or the 7600 GO that fits the alienware be bought? alienware is wanting to sell me ati for $300...remember: Friends don't lets friends buy alienware. Any help would be greatly appreciated, as my knowledge of laptop parts is NIL!!! TIA, Tim Edited February 20, 2008 by Tim Tucker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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