FifthHorseman Posted March 28, 2009 Report Share Posted March 28, 2009 (edited) First off, I'll make the foreword that this is an Alienware mALX and I hate their support (plus it took them 4 months past expected delivery date to get my computer to me). That being said I never plan to buy from them again, but for the time being this is what I have to work with. [1] Aurora™ mALX Processor: AMD Turion™ 64 Mobile ML44 2.4GHz 800MHz FSB 1MB L2 Cache Motherboard: nVIDIA nForce 4 SLI Memory: 2GB Dual Channel DDR SO-DIMM at 400MHz - 2 x 1024MB Video/Graphics Card: Dual 512MB NVidia® GeForce™ Go 7900 GTX SLI Enabled Stock mobo/video BIOS drivers. I ran the provided 32-bit Win XP Pro for the past few years but after recently breaking my sound drivers in a (radical) attempt to fix a game error I had to format and opted to install my x64 version instead. After some scrounging on manufacturer websites I managed to get 64-bit drivers installed successfully for pretty much everything... and then it came to video drivers (coincidentally one of the primary solutions to my original game problem). Alienware does not provide any 64-bit drivers for this video card setup. In fact, the latest drivers released for the mALX notebook by Alienware is 86.14 (almost 3 years old now). Those drivers even are not compatible in any way I have attempted to install them to see if they'd even work. The new nVidia-provided 179.48 drivers for mobile systems does not properly recognize the Go 7900 GTX either and instead sees it as a Quadro NVS 510M. Is also causes the black screen problem. I have attempted to install various drivers from LV2Go from 185 back to late 160-series drivers and every version I have tried (over 20 different variations within this range, desktop, mobile, and ones intended for both and from various releasing companies) ends in the same result... A "successful" install, the Go 7900 GTX (both of them) being properly identified in Device Manager, and the request to reboot to finish installation. I reboot and it loads BIOS, a black screen with a flashing cursor int he top left, the Windows 64-bit loading/splash screen, and then black. The monitor backlight is still active for a short period and the computer "working" indicator flashes as it continues to load Windows normally in the background, but instead of loading the user selection screen the backlight turns off and the moniter goes lifelessly black. Windows continues to load and if I wait long enough for it to load the password screen I can even type it in EXCEPT... it will not load Windows at this point. I have to wait until the (still active) sleep / standby kicks in (about 10-15 minutes). Once it is in standby if I press the power button to resume it plays the Windows loading sound and seems to enter Windows normally, except the screen is still completely black. I have read posts on forums from people with similar "black screen on restart" problems and the general consensus seems to be upgrading video BIOS drivers... except I have yet to find somewhere online that has these available for my particular cards. (DEV_0229&SUBSYS_05901558) -- A card that isn't even selectable in this forum's user computer specs section. I'm fairly familiar with software inside Windows but I know a vague amount about hardware issues. The standard Windows VGA drivers are working to be able to get online for troubleshooting, but otherwise my computer is not gaming-capable (the sole purpose of buying it). Any help, ideas, or suggestions in this matter would be GREATLY appreciated! Thanks. -Ryan Edited March 28, 2009 by FifthHorseman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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