GeForce Go 7950 GTX SLI Owners (Alienware, DELL, Clevo etc.)

[ATI ---> Nvidia SLI]

Unbelievable! But I'll test this out...by the way Crysis Demo does not support SLi. Hope the Game will...

[Guest Professor_Spank_It]

It will. They said it will have Quad-Core and SLI support either at launch or through a patch within days of its release...although it looks like we'll have to wait for a Patch since word is the retail version lacks quad-core support (but does enable at least 2-cores) and states in the Readme that support is "planned."

[Gershalom]

umm hi all.... i have the m9750 with xp 32 bit, t7600 c2d and 2x7950 GTXs at 512 mb. i enable all the sli options in nview control panel, and i check the show load balancing, and it works at 94.23, with the load being evenly distributed between the two gpus. but a lot of the games state that i am running old drivers and that i need to update or not get good functionality. however, i am running the cod4 and ut3 demos (and cod4 full version) at maxed settings without problems. i set crysis demo to high settings and i ran at about 25 to 30 frames. timeshift flatlout refuses to work and BSODs on startup. i read the 7 step method on how to fix the profile files (.xml) but i dont understand any opf the steps. any advice?

deepak

oh yeah my video bios was 5.71.22.49.20 ( based on nvidia control panel) good or bad?

Edited November 8, 2007 by Gershalom

[Guyver1]

The Crysis demo doesnt support SLI, the full game will. (check your priv messages, i replied to you.)

1. copy your Alienware 94.23 drivers into a folder on your laptops hard drive ( for example C:\Drivers\Alienware 94.23

2. download the latest driver version for XP 32bit from these forums (169.04 for example), create a new folder on your hard drive C:\Drivers\169_04 . Double click the file once downloaded to unzip it and specifly the new 169_04 folder as the unzip location.

3. in this new 169_04 folder there will be 2 files: nvapps.xml and nvwsapps.xml. Copy them and paste them into your new C:\Drivers\Alienware 24.23 folder, it will ask you if you want to overwrite existing files, SAY YES.

4. goto Add/Remove programs in windows control panel and remove your nvidia drivers.

5. reboot laptop.

6. (optional) download Driver cleaner Pro or any other nvidia driver 'cleaner' and reboot your laptop into safe mode (to boot into safe mode, when you turn the laptop on keep pressing F8 until you get a menu system, choose safe mode or safe mode with networking). once you get into safe mode, run driver cleaner to clean out the remaining files and registry entries.

On this note I've never really found any need to do this as the uninstall process works perfectly fine, some people do however seem to get problems if they dont use a driver cleaner.

7. reboot into windows normally and cancel the 2 pop up windows saying that windows has found new hardware, just press cancel both times.

8. goto your C:\Drivers\Alienware 24.23 folder and run the setup.exe and install the drivers as normal. you will now have the 94.23 drivers but with ALL the SLI profiles for all the latest games from driver version 169.04.

9. Ignore any game telling you your drivers are out of date

[Guest ikaruga]

What about 8700m GTs on the XPS 1730 w. vista?

[Guyver1]

you can use the same trick of taking new .xml files from newer drivers on any drivers on either XP or Vista, the xml files are the same file for both OS and are not OS specific.

[jessi3k3]

UPDATE:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=185060

I recentlhy stumbled accross this fix, and it seems to work. It involves downloading and installing the latest drivers along with the modified .INF file from LaptopVideo2go, but seems to solve the problem of the Black Screens with an easy fix:

1) Download the driver you want along with the modified .INF, and replace it (I used the latest 169.04 XP 32-bit "Crysis Demo" Beta drivers).

2) Uninstall old driver, reboot (preferrably use Driver Cleaner Pro in Safe Mode).

3) Install new driver BUT when it goes to install the second card (i.e. The 2nd Continue/Stop installation prompt), STOP THE INSTALLATION FOR THE 2ND CARD.

4) Reboot.

5) Navigate to the Device Manager and notice the second card is uninstalled. Update it's driver by manually selecting the driver folder for the one you just installed.

6) Reboot.

7) Voila!!! Successfully installed drivers.

If you were using Alienware's 94.23 drivers, you'll notice that you have full access to the nVidia Control Panel and SLI works just fine once you enable it. I ran 3dMark06 using the 169.04 XP 32-bit drivers and scored 8816! The Crysis demo showed only an improvement of 1 FPS, but had less random freezing, and most importantly I noticed improvement in just about ALL of the other games I tested (COD4 Demo, BioShock, Battlefield 2142, World In Conflict, Unreal Tournament 3 Demo, Medal of Honor: Airborne).

This easy trick fixes all of the Black Screens that occur from attempting to install drivers the usual way. I do not know why it works, but it does. I haven't got a clue as to why you must install any non-Alienware driver one card (i.e. one boot) at a time, but hey, I'll take anything I can get. I haven't tested this on any other drivers, but according to a couple of other testers, the following drivers successfully worked, all tested in XP with 2x7950 GTX cards - 163.76, 169.01, 169.04

My m9750: T7600 C2D, 2 GB Ram, XP Pro, Dual 7950 GTX 512.

Can anyone confirm if this works?

[ATI ---> Nvidia SLI]

Sorry, it does not work for me...after installing the driver manually there is no Sli option... :)

[Grey728]

Did you check to see if the second card driver was installed? I installed the first card using the normal setup method but cancelled installation for the second card. After rebooting, one card should be installed but the other will still need drivers. You'll have to go to device manager and manually install the second card. After a second reboot, both cards should be there and you should be able to enable SLi.

BTW, thanks for giving me credit Professor_Spank_It ^^

Edited November 12, 2007 by ®®®
Removed Full Quotation of Previous Post

[whitetigerx7]

This is still bad really for anyone with non-nForce SLI laptops still. I hate to say it but unless drivers or at least newer drivers are located with SLI capable nForce-100 support built-in. You really are going to wade through pure muck to get drivers or harass your OEM to the point of restraining order.

Just to let all you frustrated users know and the people buying or thinking of buying an SLI laptop I have started a thread here to list a new classification me and Guyver are dubbing "Guaranteed SLI" and not just "Certified SLI". These Guaranteed laptops use real NForce chipsets also and not 3rd party stuff from Intel, VIA, SiS, or anyone else claiming to have SLI support. Just to let you know ahead of time. There are not many makers out there using real NForce chipsets for SLI and at best we have listed about only 4 or 5 models from only a handful of OEMs.

I will say this... if you want gaming look at SLI as an OPTION for experimental purposes and not a requirement for the best gaming.

I will say if you have the right motherboard chipset such as an NForce 4 or such SLI is going to be a viable fast solution, but if you have anything else just stick to one card with the fastest option they have.

[Kobe]

New to the forums here, I've tried every driver under the sun for the Dell M1710. They all suck nuts under Vista, either that or the graphics chip is sucky I don't know.

Games that run poorly:

FEAR - Slow down in open areas

Company of Heroes - Slow down when tanks start shooting

Oblivion - Slow down in open areas

Half Life 2 - Is OK, except when a lot is going on

Medieval 2 - Again, terrible slow down, my X850 on my old desktop computer could handle it better

STALKER - Same thing, slow down in firefights or when looking at wide open scenery

Basically, anything which uses 3D (OpenGL). Tried turning my graphics down - nothing, still the same, lower resolutions do help a little, but not much. Tried 162.22 drivers, corruption to high heaven and terrible slow down. Tried tweaked drivers, Vista shut the laptop down due to overheating. Tried all the 158.xx drivers, they work, but again slow down during intense battles. I got none of this on my X850 on my desktop that computer which was nothing compared to my M1710!

All I can think of is that it has to be Vista!!! Is there anyway somebody at NVIDIA or Dell can pull their fingers out and actually create some drivers that don't suck balls for laptops? I feel like I've been left out in the cold here. Its like they took my £1500 and left me face down, pants around my ankles, with a sore a******* in a deserted alley!

Not a happy camper!!

It's vista that's the problem. I had my computer sent to Alienware twice to change my video card twice, because I thought it was the problem. But, it turns out to be vista. But, every runs fine now that I dual boot with XP.

[Grey728]

This is still bad really for anyone with non-nForce SLI laptops still. I hate to say it but unless drivers or at least newer drivers are located with SLI capable nForce-100 support built-in. You really are going to wade through pure muck to get drivers or harass your OEM to the point of restraining order.

Just to let all you frustrated users know and the people buying or thinking of buying an SLI laptop I have started a thread here to list a new classification me and Guyver are dubbing "Guaranteed SLI" and not just "Certified SLI". These Guaranteed laptops use real NForce chipsets also and not 3rd party stuff from Intel, VIA, SiS, or anyone else claiming to have SLI support. Just to let you know ahead of time. There are not many makers out there using real NForce chipsets for SLI and at best we have listed about only 4 or 5 models from only a handful of OEMs.

I will say this... if you want gaming look at SLI as an OPTION for experimental purposes and not a requirement for the best gaming.

I will say if you have the right motherboard chipset such as an NForce 4 or such SLI is going to be a viable fast solution, but if you have anything else just stick to one card with the fastest option they have.

I don't have a problem installing drivers from here and can pretty much do it at will now. Even the Beta 169.04 drivers installed, but I'm using 169.01 since it has better stability in UT3.

Alienware m9750 2.33gHz w/7950 GTX Sli

Windows XP Pro

120 GB Hard Drive 5400RPM

4 GB Mushkin RAM (2.5 GB Available to system)

SLi is certainly enabled as I run UT3 with a maximum FPS of 60 at 1900x1200 resolution which never drops below 30 with 20 bots roaming around. I don't have AA or AF on though as I never really felt a need for them. When using a single card, I get a max of 45 fps with a low 20ish when things get heavy.

Need Proof? Ask me what you need and I'll do my best to provide it.

I don't know how relevant this is but I noticed in CPU-Z that both my cards had a different BIOS installed on them. One ended in .42 while the other ended in .47?

[Guest Pantharian]

Can anyone confirm if this works?

I tried this on my Alienware mAlx (Dual SLI (7900 GTX) and it worked too. You must reboot after installing the drivers manually for the second card (even though XP does not tell you to). Without the reboot the option to enable the SLI mode is not available - but it is after rebooting.

These drivers are much better than the previous offical version I had (v86.14) which blue screened every time I tried to play the Timeshift demo with everything maxed out. With the new drivers there is no blue screen and I get 50-60 fps.

I am very happy. Thanks for the tips guys :)

[Grey728]

I tried this on my Alienware mAlx (Dual SLI (7900 GTX) and it worked too. You must reboot after installing the drivers manually for the second card (even though XP does not tell you to). Without the reboot the option to enable the SLI mode is not available - but it is after rebooting.

These drivers are much better than the previous offical version I had (v86.14) which blue screened every time I tried to play the Timeshift demo with everything maxed out. With the new drivers there is no blue screen and I get 50-60 fps.

I am very happy. Thanks for the tips guys :)

Woot! Awsome! Yes, you MUST reboot before insatlling the second card. Glad it worked for you. :)

[ATI ---> Nvidia SLI]

I reboot every time, after and before installation. But in the new control center is no Sli option. I don't get it. I've the nforce4 chipset and can't use the drivers in Sli mode. What did I wrong?? Why can Alienware users get Sli to work on their machines. Maybe there is a difference between our problems. Is it possible to use the old control center instead of the new one which comes with the newer drivers. I just want back the Sli option form the 94.23.

Please help me because I'm nearly hopeless.....

[Grey728]

1st check to see if both cards are recognized by your device manager (right click "My computer" select "Properties", click on "Hardware" tab and finally "Device Manager"). If not maybe you picked an incompatible driver. OR worse yet, one of your cards is not seated properly. Test this by installing your laptop manufacturer's default driver and if you have sli, then your cards are seated properly.

2nd If both cards are recognized, Does it say "Enable SLi" or "Enable Multi-GPU" in the Nvidia Control Panel This is after you've verified both cards are installed and have rebooted)? If multi GPU, both cards are not being recognized as the same product. Try to manually re-install one card's driver.

If Both are recognized and no multi-GPU or SLi option is available, then it *might* be that your sli cable is not seated properly. I don't know your model laptop so I can't help you there, but it should be a ribbon type cable attached between the two cards, gently unplug and replug the cable at each vid card. You *should* be able to access your cards via the bottom panel of your laptop, but again, I don't know your laptop model.

[ATI ---> Nvidia SLI]

Big thx for your reply grey. I tested for about 5 month to get a newer driver than the 94.23. from Alienware. My notebook is from Gericom as I write into my profil on the right side :) The cover is the same as yours, without the Alien of course.

It's maybe an Arima modell, I guess but I'm not sure.

I got two go 7800 cards. With 94.23. everything runs fine untill the day when bioshock was released. The game runs slow and only playable under 1024x768. Every driver I've tested increased the performance of one card. But there was never the Multi GPU or Sli option as it was in 94.23. Installation was fine and without stopping. It asked me the installation question twice and showed me both cards in system info (Control Center and Device Manager). After this long period of testing I was so happy to read about the manually installation trick. I did everything how it was told. But now there isn't the Sli option again and I'm really irritated and p***** off.

I'm frustrated... :)

[Grey728]

The sli option doesn't show until yet ANOTHER reboot of the system after the second card is installed. I'm assuming you've rebooted between now and then?

Also, one more thing. If you are using your laptop screen AND another attached monitor to extend your desktop, this will also stop SLi as an option. IF this is on, you'll have to disable extending your destop to the other screen, possibly reboot again and Sli should show up. You can have one or the other but not both.

Edited November 12, 2007 by ®®®
Removed Full Quotation of Previous Post

[Guest Professor_Spank_It]

Grey's solution DOES work. Just remember that you need to reboot TWICE: a) After installing the first card (cancel out of the 2nd "Do you want to continue" crap); and :) After manually updating the driver for the 2nd card through the Device Manager.

I've tested with 169.04, 169.01, 163.76, 163.75, and a few others that I can't think of...all of them work fine, and SLI works each time (although I'd stick to 169.04 since it's the best one). You can still do Guyver's trick of copying the 2 .xml files from each newer driver that's released to get the new profiles, but I suggest you update period since Alienware's 94.23 are ancient.

Works 100% and I'm running Gears of War, BioShock, The Orange Box, Crysis Demo (no SLI support), Call of Duty 4 (needs patch to fix SLI support), Medal of Honor: Airborne, Battlefield 2142, and World In Conflict, and they all work beautifully. This is the solution us SLI m9750 owners have been waiting for.

[Guest K]

I have 2 geforce go 7950 GTX and it shows it in the device manager, BUT when i am installing the driver, i only get the red warning popup once...

probably related to my thread about sli problem.

[ATI ---> Nvidia SLI]

It must be another problem. I reboot and reboot and reboot and after hours of rebooting I cant find the Sli option. It is weird and like a curse. :)

I tried the 169.04 and will now test the 156.80 which has mobility support. Maybe I have some luck this time...

[Guyver1]

its not a curse, its an inconsistent work around. it doesnt work on every laptop, it doesnt work on every driver version. its a hack/workaround. technically it shouldnt work at all on an intel chipset without the correct DDK unlocked driver code. Again im more inclined to put it down to sloppy coding from nvidia.

[Grey728]

So far, the problems that have come up are from an Nforce AMD Arima (from Ati->Nvidia SLi) or Vista. Both of which are difficult for me to troubleshoot as I don't have either here in front of me to work with.

As far as I know, Vista just isn't ready yet and there are others at www.notebookreview.com forums that say they have it working under normal installation methods. You should probably check with them.

As for the AMD NForce chipped Arima. That should by theory be one of those Guaranteed Sli systems. There should be another solution For Ati->Nvidia Sli in which he can use that we're not thinking about.

For Ati->Nvidia SLi

1. Please tell me if Sli has worked for your system with at least one type of driver. Old driver from your laptop vendor or not and does it work now after you use them and install them now?

2. Do you use an external monitor attached to your laptop? If so, Do not extend your desktop to it. Use the laptop display or the monitor, but not both at the same time. Extending your desktop by DEFAULT disables Sli.

3. check your Sli cable. You'll need to do this by removing the bottom panel on your laptop. Check the following link:

http://4help.alienware.com/cgi-bin/alienwa...hp?p_faqid=5555

Your system should look similar to this. The Sli Bridge is the black cable. Remove and reinstall.

4. Check and see if you have the latest BIOS installed. Alienware uses two types of BIOS one for XP and another for Vista. Check your vendors support site. Kind of a long shot but still might help.

5. Also a long shot. On desktop motherboards, they used to use a jumper type card to enable/disable Sli capable motherboards. You might have this type of board since it is a 1st gen Sli laptop. You might want to ask your vendor and see if that's the case or not.

Edited November 12, 2007 by Grey728

[ATI ---> Nvidia SLI]

1. Sli is active after Rollback to 94.23. It works with 84.15. and 84.74.

2. No external monitor attached

3+4. Sli works with older drivers, so its not necessary to check the cable.

Again no Sli option in 156.80.

Will dry my tears and go to bed...good night

[Grey728]

Again no Sli option in 156.80.

Will dry my tears and go to bed...good night

Try 163.76 to start.. When installing drivers, be sure to overwrite the newer files that pop up as well.

http://forums.laptopvideo2go.com/index....showtopic=15367

I dunno.. I wonder if it's a bad language thing where it wasn't programed right for German language ><. Stupid, but it has happened before ><.