GUNpowder Posted April 2, 2010 Report Share Posted April 2, 2010 Hi guys, My name's Charles and I'm new here. The reason why I decided to register onto these forums is because it seems that you guys here are experts on nVidia notebook drivers, and I've been very frustrated with my notebook drivers lately... I have an Alienware Area-51 m15x with the 8800M GTX graphics, and I'm very frustrated with the fact that no recent drivers seem to function with my notebook. The latest driver installation that works is the official nVidia 186.81 driver, but everytime that I log onto the nVidia website to download the latest drivers (which they say they support) it doesn't work. I have tried to download generic tweaked drivers from the website here but they don't work either. I also tried the DOX ones since they say they support my video card as well. The problem is that I either get a blue screen of death on reboot, or the driver simply doesn't work properly and has an exclamation point on the icon in the device manager inside Windows. Anyway, I dunno if I'm boring anyone with this, but I'd just really appreciate the help with this issue. It's just nice to know that you have the latest drivers, especially with newer games. Where could I get newer drivers that work with my notebook? I am running Windows 7 x64 Professional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest oleGunner Posted April 3, 2010 Report Share Posted April 3, 2010 Hi theres chiefs, I have recently had a similar problem. All of a sudden drivers i tried wouldn't install and then my GPU wasn't even recognised anymore. I recommend trying to use driver sweeper in safe mode restart and then try to install one of the new drivers from here with the inf or the newest nvidia driver from here http://www.nvidia.com/object/notebook_winvista_win7_x64_197.16_whql.html I tried numerous drivers and driver sweeper, registry cleans all sorts of things but in the end I gave up and reformated the notebook and then reinstalled windows 7 x64. After the reformat everything was fine again I was able to install the latest drivers and everything worked fine. Cheers. Good luck mans!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUNpowder Posted April 9, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2010 (edited) Hi theres chiefs, I have recently had a similar problem. All of a sudden drivers i tried wouldn't install and then my GPU wasn't even recognised anymore. I recommend trying to use driver sweeper in safe mode restart and then try to install one of the new drivers from here with the inf or the newest nvidia driver from here http://www.nvidia.com/object/notebook_winvista_win7_x64_197.16_whql.html I tried numerous drivers and driver sweeper, registry cleans all sorts of things but in the end I gave up and reformated the notebook and then reinstalled windows 7 x64. After the reformat everything was fine again I was able to install the latest drivers and everything worked fine. Cheers. Good luck mans!!! Didn't work :) Thanks for your help though. PS: With the new driver, it detects the card properly but it says under properties that "Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43)" What does that mean? Edited April 9, 2010 by GUNpowder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buttseckz Posted May 31, 2010 Report Share Posted May 31, 2010 Gun, Im having the exact same issue. Have you found any solution to our problem? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUNpowder Posted May 31, 2010 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2010 No, never found a solution. nVidia just doesn't support our cards anymore, and well... that's just bulls***. ###### you, nVidia. I'm gonna get ATIs from now on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zipper Posted May 31, 2010 Report Share Posted May 31, 2010 So the latest official notebook OEM driver is 197.44 Windows NVIDIA Notebook OEM . It should have cards from 8.xxx and up - you just have to check which inf has your card included. Or tell what's the Subsys ID of your card. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Marley Posted May 31, 2010 Report Share Posted May 31, 2010 No, never found a solution. nVidia just doesn't support our cards anymore, and well... that's just bulls***. ###### you, nVidia. I'm gonna get ATIs from now on. Ironically, ATI is much worse at supporting older GPUs. Not too long ago, the dropped support for all pre-OGL3 GPUs. That would be like Nvidia dropping support for the 6xxx and 7xxx series, which they have not done yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buttseckz Posted May 31, 2010 Report Share Posted May 31, 2010 To be fair, the real problem is Alienware and their poor compatibility and s***ty customized system/bios. If you try to install the latest driver in another notebook with the same VGA, it works great. Ill try updating the bios to the A06 and will let you know how it goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUNpowder Posted June 5, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2010 Did it work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rim Scrimley Posted June 17, 2010 Report Share Posted June 17, 2010 Ironically, ATI is much worse at supporting older GPUs. Not too long ago, the dropped support for all pre-OGL3 GPUs. That would be like Nvidia dropping support for the 6xxx and 7xxx series, which they have not done yet. Any developments with this? I've read elsewhere that the problem lies in the switchable graphics configuration, which Nvidia apparently stopped supporting a while back. Of course, Alienware never released jack sh*t for drivers, and they want to charge you just to ask them over the phone about it. If there's some way to turn off switchable graphics (the BIOS doesn't have the option), I'm betting that would solve the problem. I just don't know how to do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mr_Paul Posted July 28, 2010 Report Share Posted July 28, 2010 I have the EXACT same issue. The latest driver Alienware has supported was some 175 beta crap, and I got that like 3 years ago. I'm starting to come to terms with my situation here. The way I see it is that I need to cut my losses, NEVER buy anything Dell or Alienware again, and just build a new computer. Honestly, laptops suck for gaming anyways. I could have built a comp 3x more powerful than this M15 pos for half the price. Alienware will learn their lesson about poor customer support in the long run. Obviously they are losing a lot of customers over this crap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rob Posted July 28, 2010 Report Share Posted July 28, 2010 Hi everyone, if you're having problems with the latest NVidia drivers (from their website) not installing properly you could try driver 257.41. It's a whql microsoft update release driver (just been posted on this website yesterday I think), and apparently it supports all notebook & desktop cards from 6000 series up. You can find it on the news page of LaptopVideo2go (which is the first page you come to on LaptopVideo2go website). Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Cannibaltree Posted August 1, 2010 Report Share Posted August 1, 2010 The problem is the the functionality of switching between graphics cards. Driver version 186.03 was the last one that did so, and every release since then has included this line: "The following are not supported in this release: - Hybrid Power technology with Intel chipsets." This obviously limits us to using the 18x.xx line or older, which means we're unable to make use of many advanced features supported by this card. In addition, many newer software applications were not written with older drivers in mind, further compounding the problem. There are many customers with this problem who would love to see the hybrid power support from version 186.03 with a newer release. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CapRandom Posted August 5, 2010 Report Share Posted August 5, 2010 The problem is the the functionality of switching between graphics cards. Driver version 186.03 was the last one that did so, and every release since then has included this line: "The following are not supported in this release: - Hybrid Power technology with Intel chipsets." This obviously limits us to using the 18x.xx line or older, which means we're unable to make use of many advanced features supported by this card. In addition, many newer software applications were not written with older drivers in mind, further compounding the problem. There are many customers with this problem who would love to see the hybrid power support from version 186.03 with a newer release. Funny you mention all this. This is the EXACT driver I've been reverting to every time I try to update my drivers, and of course fail. I've tried using the modded INF ones off this site with no luck either. I'm not using the original OS that came with my comp so any AW drivers on my system are only ones I put there. I tried calling tech support earlier but apparently they can't help you if you not under warranty anymore which I find completely ridiculous. Isn't a warranty for broken parts, defects, etc.? Is it possible to disable the switchable graphics function? I know that it won't work unless certain AW drivers are installed. Would uninstalling those drivers possibly let the nvidia drivers work or is it a hardware programed issue? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest madrabbit711 Posted August 24, 2010 Report Share Posted August 24, 2010 Is it possible to disable the switchable graphics function? I know that it won't work unless certain AW drivers are installed. Would uninstalling those drivers possibly let the nvidia drivers work or is it a hardware programed issue? I was thinking about this too as from what I can gather from 'the net' it seems to be this lack of support for the Hybrid Technology that causes the lack of compatibility with 190.x drivers upwards, and not the GFX card nor installation of these drivers...as laptopvideo2go offers modified INF to get around installation problems anyway...nor the OS (currently I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate). I couldn't find anything in the m15x BIOS settings to disable on-board/motherboard GFX card. It would be nice if could switch it off this way, but I assume to do this you'd have to mess with the x32 to x36 BIOS updates for the Alienware m15x motherboard. However even if you do manage to disable the on-board GFX on the Alienware m15x motherboard will the 190.X NVIDIA drivers run on a Hybird Technology system?! As far as my limited knowledge sees it there are 2 options to try and get around this problem: 1) Disable on-board/motherboard GFX and see if the 190.X NVIDIA drivers then work under Windows -> Mess with Alienware m15x BIOS files?! OR 2) Transfer features from the 190.X upward NVIDIA drivers e.g. CUDA etc. to the 180.X NVIDIA driver package so that these 'upgrades' work with Hybrid Technology. Perhaps experts on this website/forum could help with this last option (2)? I'm happy to be a guinea pig for modified drivers! mad_rabbit_@hotmail.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tony Posted October 7, 2010 Report Share Posted October 7, 2010 Same problem here, very annoyed with alienwares la-di-da approach for it's customers. I've looked through all your threads regarding this madrabbit and am surprised nobody has sussed it. I'm within my warranty and they wont even help me, the latest drivers on their website are designed for windows vista x64 - beta release 19/08/2008 7.15.11.7637 - I've paid for warranty until June 2011 and they still wont answer my questions about newer drivers for my newer software that needs it. Ashamed, loving the fact they say on alienware's own website 'five star customer service'... ...and you get microsoft & xp extending it's product support for god knows how long for, and alienware cant even keep a three year promise <- but they will still take your money for that warranty! Tony - ant_coe_@hotmail.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SerJaime Posted November 29, 2010 Report Share Posted November 29, 2010 Hi there! I'm writing here on the edge of total desperation (yes, it's that bad). I'm using an Alienware m15x with an 8800m GTX (vista 32) and i've been trying for weeks to install a new graphics driver. (f**ked up my notebook once while doing it and had to sent it to repair^^) it's running on 8.16.11.8681 by default but no other driver can be installed properly. After some calls to Alienware Support they found out why it's not working: According to them, in this combination of m15x and 8800 GTX they used some kind of modified nVidia chip (I didn't really know what he was talking about) but what i did get was this: No Standard driver will ever work! They said that if you know something about programming you can modify the nVidia drivers. This is the only way to get newer drivers to work. So, I have NO idea what to get. Can someone help me? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rim Scrimley Posted March 15, 2011 Report Share Posted March 15, 2011 I take it nobody has ever figured this out? I recently wasted $20 on BFBC2 and was reminded of why I switched to PS3 in the first place. These ancient 186.81 drivers are just awful with the game. I have to run it at 720p on all low settings just to get close to playable framerates. If anyone knows anything editing drivers, please chime in. I think we can all agree to boycott this joke of a company that stole almost $3k of my money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dlamard Posted April 2, 2011 Report Share Posted April 2, 2011 awwww!! I was hoping for an answer here :), I'm stuck with a CRapy alienware too, running a 8700GT and I need to update my driver because WoW don't let me put my setting higher! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest Posted August 10, 2011 Report Share Posted August 10, 2011 Hello everybody, I guess i will just join the club ^^ Im currently running 9100M GS with a 9600M G and the newer drives do not support my hybrid technology, so im f***** aswell. I'd love to support anybody who's trying to find a solution! Kind regards Inreality Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest HeMeZ Posted November 21, 2011 Report Share Posted November 21, 2011 Anybody tried Windows 8? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MSW Posted January 8, 2012 Report Share Posted January 8, 2012 :sad1: time to sell my alienware m15 r1 with 8800 gtx :( And what we learn about it? never buy high tech for high price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Overtime Posted March 19, 2012 Report Share Posted March 19, 2012 Reading through this thread was depressing. I have the exact problem other have. I bought BF3 a few days ago and couldn't quite figure out why I couldn't install the latest drivers I needed to run it. Spent most of the weekend trying to fix it. At least I know what's wrong now. The longer I've owned this Alienware the more I've come to hate it. From the graphics card overheating, the screen breaking due to poor build quality to the sub-standard customer service...Live and learn I guess. Never again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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