Toshiba X205-SLi1 Video Card Problem !

[Ishiaki]

Recently I decided to purchase an X205-SLi1 from Toshiba. I've had it for about three weeks, running Vista in SLi mode with updated drivers from laptopvideo2go (169.09) and enjoying the performance and apparent stability of the unit very much.

But, a couple of days ago I noticed that the nVidia control panel was no longer showing the SLi option (no option to enable or disable). I checked under device manager and, to my surprise, Vista was reporting only one 8600GT M under display adapters (prior to this time it had shown two as expected).

I've done a reinstall to factory settings from the Toshiba DVD, clean install of Vista Home Premium with backup media and just recently a clean install of XP Pro, thinking that it might be some sort of strange Vista quirk. Unfortunately, the result is still the same and the OS is reporting only the one card.

Now, the curious part (at least for me): I had installed Everest Ultimate (full) to take a look at the system (did this under both Vista and XP, same result), and Everest appears to report the two 256 mb 8600GT M's. :)

Anyone have any ideas as to what might be the problem? Solutions would be nice too Thanks in advance!!

[Ishiaki]

Well, I've got a request now that perhaps someone on these boards can fill :) If someone that has an x205 with both 8600s reporting and in SLi could check something for me in device manager and report back here, I would appreciate it.

Open up device manager and change the "View" to "Devices by connection." Expand "Microsoft ACPI...", "PCI bus," then "Mobile Intel PM965...PCI Express Root Port - 2A01." Driver version for the PCI-e Root Port is ver. 8.3.1.1004 (05/18/2007).

Under this tree I have "PCI standard PCI-to-PCI- bridge." Expanding it reveals two additional PCI-to-PCI bridges. One of these two additonal bridges can expand to reveal the 8600GT M. The other cannot and, upon closer inspection (double click), is missing a "Resources" tab in the properties listing.

I'm curious as to whether the both 8600s (in a working system )fall under the same PCI bridge or something else.

[Guest DV]

You might want to check this link. a review posted on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/review/RUCKBX913YT5/...nt#RUCKBX913YT5

Might help

Good luck. I'm considering this machine for myself.

DV

[Guest Rodolfo]

Hi i have the same notebook,

i will check that as soon as i get home to help you out.... if u need any help contact me on MSN:r4i@hotmail.com

one question for you does it run better the FPS on winXP than VISTA ? i am thinking about changing it...

[Guest TenBlinkers]

Well, I've got a request now that perhaps someone on these boards can fill :) If someone that has an x205 with both 8600s reporting and in SLi could check something for me in device manager and report back here, I would appreciate it.

Open up device manager and change the "View" to "Devices by connection." Expand "Microsoft ACPI...", "PCI bus," then "Mobile Intel PM965...PCI Express Root Port - 2A01." Driver version for the PCI-e Root Port is ver. 8.3.1.1004 (05/18/2007).

Under this tree I have "PCI standard PCI-to-PCI- bridge." Expanding it reveals two additional PCI-to-PCI bridges. One of these two additonal bridges can expand to reveal the 8600GT M. The other cannot and, upon closer inspection (double click), is missing a "Resources" tab in the properties listing.

I'm curious as to whether the both 8600s (in a working system )fall under the same PCI bridge or something else.

I just got my x205-sl1, and I can expand both bridges, each reveals an 8600GT M. I did, however, notice that the device driver I have for the PCI-e Root Port is older than the one you listed. Mine is 8.2.0.1000 (9/15/2006). Perhaps that's causing the difference. Are you seeing both cards performing? Is there a way to tell?

I bought mine to be able to run games when I travel. I play MMORPG's, and so far the performance is REALLY REALLY AWFUL. My 2001 XP Athlon machine performs better and more reliably than this does. If I try to run the games in windowed mode, I crash. If I stay in full-screen mode the game runs, but very poorly. The graphics specs should allow me to run at the highest or near highest levels of quality...instead I'm running at the lowest quality level there is just to keep my framerate tolerable.

Which brings me to why I came to this site. I'm hoping there's a useable graphics driver here that will solve some of these issues. It looks as if some were addressed by NVIDIA nearly a year ago (Feb 2007), but Toshiba hasn't incorporated those changes in the x205's drivers yet.

Anyway, hope that info helps you.

[®®®]

A hint for better performance: uninstall all that preloaded crap or fresh install the OS.

[JDLM]

Hi! I also have a X205 SLi1,(pardon my english) I checked what you asked but i also have an older driver, 8.0.2.1000 and displays the 2 graphics cards. When i bought my laptop i had the problem that it only found 1 HDD, I used the add hardware tool from control panel and used the automatically search and install harware, and the problem got fixed, maybe it can help you because the device manager didn't show the 2nd HDD in my case and after that it showed up. Maybe its a stupid advice but it could help. Also i use the 171.16 drivers and get very good performance, dont know why people complain about this toshiba series, they are great, y got 8161 3dmarks06. dont know if its good but i play my games COD4, Crysis in med-hi quality, Bioshock and Gears of War with all at top settings and with very good frames at full 1440*900. just get the right drivers.