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8600M GT on Alienware M5500 (Centrino)


Guest ChrisC

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Guest ChrisC

Hi, I'm pretty sure I've read that an Nvidia 8600M GT graphics card will work on an Alienware M5500 (the older centrino model, 259EN1). I built this laptop a couple of years ago using bits from ebay, the only thing I'm missing is a graphics card. I tried an ATI X700 which is now in my Amilo M1451G, that didn't work. I then took an 8600M GT from a duff Rock Pegasus 670. With the 8600GT card in place the laptop boots, the screen lights up but no display and goes into windows fine. I've tried to blind save the bios from this card using nvflash, but nvflash doesn't detect an Nvidia card, just beeps a couple of times. I bought a 9600GT a few days ago and tried that - got a similar result only with the 9600GT card in place, nvflash detected it and saved the bios file ok. Also, with the 9600GT I get a display on an external screen, but not on the laptop itself.

Has anyone managed to get either an 8600 or 9600 GT card working in an alienware M5500? If so, what vBios have you used - any chance of uploading it either here or on techpowerup.com?

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Guest chrisc007

OK, here's an update. I've installed the 9600M GT card in the M5500 and I'm half way there! The laptop boots to an external display but not the laptop display. I installed NV 181.20 drivers with enhanced .inf (tried newer drivers but laptop went into boot loop). I've run 3DMark05 and it's scoring around 8800, pretty good for an old machine!

So now I just have the issue of the internal display to sort out and I'm a bit stuck. There is no option in the NV control panel for clone display, it's only showing a single display (ie. the external one). So close and yet so far!

By the way, when I switch on with the NV card enabled (the M5500 has dual graphics, onboard intel and MXM) I get the 30 seconds of beeping that others have reported on the Amilo M3438G!

Can anyone please help out on this one?

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If you can in laptop bios turn the onboard graphic off, try this.

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Guest ChrisC

Unfortunately, there's no reference to VGA in the Bios. On this model there's a switch on the front of the laptop to switch between the Intel & MXM video modes! I think the problem is with the main Bios. I have contacted Uniwill/ECS, the chassis manufacturer, asking if they can issue an updated bios to add compatibility for newer MXM cards, but I'm not holding my breath! Anyone know if there's any bios editing software so I can have a bash at doing it myself? It's AMIBIOS!

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