LSudlow Posted March 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2006 March 2, 2006 update: Added new nv4_84_disp.inf for new nvidia 84 series drivers. All other infs unchanged. As always, please let me know if something doesn't work as it should. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Steve Posted March 8, 2006 Report Share Posted March 8, 2006 Guys - Great work on this site, it is extremely helpful in the abscence of OEM updates! Things to try for Inspiron 5150 owners: Jan 05 - BIOS Flash Update from version A23 to A38 can be found on Dell driver download page. Start here and then move on to the video card drivers! Ludlow, I'm going to try to upgrade to the 67.66 driver version (from the Dell released updates -- 2004 blech!) when I get in, seeing as my tests yesterday seemed successful. I had major problems playing games such as Rise of Nations, Command & Conquer Generals, and Warcraft III. The nVIDIA GeForceFX GO 5200, while not the best chip for gaming, still should be able to handle these games without crashing (my system would just lock up, requiring manual shutdown... no blue screen, nothing, just complete lockup). I also purchased a laptop cooling pad (one produced by Targas seems pretty good. It draws power from your USB and acts not only as a buffer between your CPU and furniture surface, but also provides 2 cooling fans in the pad itself which is controlled by a simple switch). I notice on the i5150 that the fan on the underside goes NUTS after about 20-30 minutes. If you are experiencing this, clean out your fans with condensed air (this requires opening the chasis, DO NOT DO THIS UNLESS YOU ARE COMFORTABLE HANDLING OPEN CASES!) and maybe try one of those pads. I have some more tests to run, but it seems C&C Generals ran skirmish mode for an hour with no significant problems. There were 2-3 times that it seemed like it was going to lock, but pushed through and continued (lag maybe 2 seconds, but to me it was noticeable -- only because I was looking for it :) Another dimension to think about - It seems a lot of my problems stem when I am playing newer games in multiplayer mode. This, to my knowledge, should not make a difference in the games ability to run without crashing, in terms of video settings. Am I wrong about this? Thanks for hearing and I hope I have provided at least a little insight for i5150 owners. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSudlow Posted March 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2006 Thanks for a great post! Multiplayer shouldn't make any difference unless it works the CPU hard enough to raise heat to unacceptable levels. As you noted, heat is a frequent problem with the 5150 and 5160. If you're still having trouble, try my new infs, which I'm uploading in just a few minutes. I've made quite a number of changes that affect both stability and framerate. Maybe they'll help. Also, give driver 71.44 a try. It's a brand new driver that's fully compatible with the 5150/5160 machines, including PowerMizer. So far it seems lilke an excellent driver. Use it with the new nv4_disp.inf that I'm about to upload. And thanks again for your most helpful post! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSudlow Posted March 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2006 March 8, 2006 update: I've completely gone through each inf and removed lines that don't apply to the Go5200, changed settings that were possible causes of instability, and have improved 3D framerates a bit the process. - Removed Core Slowdown line. - Changed BandwidthFactor from 4 to 2 (a much better setting for the Go5200 and probably the reason for the improved framerate). - Change the NvCplConfiguration line to conform with the setting most other laptops use for Windows XP. - Changed the line that enables Vista Glass to conform with the February Vista beta. - Vsync now defaults to game preferences. - Changed PowerMizer preferences, which may or may not help with missing sliders in drivers above 72.14. There are quite a few changes here, so please let me know if I've broken anything. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ultima Posted March 8, 2006 Report Share Posted March 8, 2006 Hm... do you recommend 71.44 over 67.66? What are the pros and cons of each one? Thanks in advanced =] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSudlow Posted March 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2006 It's a little early to say for sure, but so far 71.44 looks like a winner. It's a bit faster than 67.66 in benchmarks and, being a brand new driver, should be compatible with the latest games and apps. We'll have to run it a while to see if there are any problems, but so far it looks great! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest Posted March 9, 2006 Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 Larry - Its not a problem for me to share my problems with you as long as you're willing to fix em! =) But really, thanks for all your help, I really think this is going to make this machine run lean! I appreciate it! (This is the i5150 guy from a few posts up -- I'm too lazy to register! =\ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Brophis Posted March 9, 2006 Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 Where can I get the 71.44 driver? I saw a post on the forum for it with for the toshiba? Will that matter once I replace the inf? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest Posted March 9, 2006 Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 Where can I get the 71.44 driver?I saw a post on the forum for it with for the toshiba? Will that matter once I replace the inf? Thanks A little Google goes a long way :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest Posted March 9, 2006 Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 Or do some searching through the forums... its there. Try the 70xx threads Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSudlow Posted March 9, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 "Guest" is right - it's in the "Release 70's" forum section. And once you've replaced the inf it will work fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Brophis Posted March 9, 2006 Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 Thanks but I found it in the forum, the toshiba one. Just wanted to know if that toshiba one was once the inf was replaced. From LSudlow's last post I'm taking it that it is ok. Great work with the infs by the way, much appreciated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Brophis Posted March 9, 2006 Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 Sorry to double post but the link for the download doesn't seem to work. Just turns up a page with my browser details. Anybody else have this problem or am I missing something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSudlow Posted March 9, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2006 You're right, there's a problem with that link. I'll report it and try to get it working. Thanks for alerting us! :) Edit: It looks like it's fixed now. Let us know if you have any trouble with it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest Posted March 10, 2006 Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 "Guest" is right - it's in the "Release 70's" forum section. And once you've replaced the inf it will work fine. The mystery guest! =) This is the i5150 guy. I just wanted to report that the 71.44 drivers, in conjunction with all applicable BIOS and chipset updates provided by DELL, in conjunction with overheating-prevention strategy, has yielded a positive result. I am happy to report that I stress-tested Rise of Nations on the specs laid out-of-the-box for an i5150 and while the frame rate was not the greatest, even with many of the graphic options turned down to low (25-30 FPS), there was no system lockup, minimal amounts of video lag (hardly any) and all this on a direct IP connection to a friend @ 10 miles from here. The multiplayer experience was the best I've had in months! The only problem is, I totally suck at all these games now.... :) So thank you Larry, your hard work has really improved my system and I am indebted to you! Too bad Dell doesn't do this kind of leg-work... considering, you know, thats what they get paid to do. Oh well, I'm just psyched I have an operable system now capable of running intensive video applications. Thanks again and good luck to you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSudlow Posted March 10, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 Thanks for the good words! I'm glad it's working... That's what we're here for! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coyote Posted March 13, 2006 Report Share Posted March 13, 2006 Hello and Thanks for all the info you have here. I tried each driver and mod inf for my 5150 3.06 ht . got the best I could out of it and youre right the 5200 is not a gaming card. At least now when cs starts I dont get the out dated driver nag. Thanks again for the great info coyote Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Newb4ever Posted March 14, 2006 Report Share Posted March 14, 2006 Hey LSudlow, I'm having a small problem getting your drivers to work >.< I am running vista 5308 on a 5160. I have watched the video and installed drivers before ect. but when I pick the driver that I wish to install I get a error from windows stating "It cant not find the file" and I am stuck with the default windows version. Any thoughts? -+>Aaron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSudlow Posted March 14, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2006 That error happens when the inf calls for a file not included in the driver set. Which driver and which inf are you trying to install? I'll take a look at them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Newb4ever Posted March 14, 2006 Report Share Posted March 14, 2006 I have tired both nv4_PMX_disp.inf and nv4_disp.inf. These are the only files I need correct? :) I'm not clear at understanding if you need to download a existing driver set and replace with this inf file or not. -+>Aaron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Newb4ever Posted March 14, 2006 Report Share Posted March 14, 2006 Yeah I'm a complete idiot. I just basicly answered my own ?tion. I guess I needed drivers to go along with the inf file >.> Downloading them now :) -+>Aaron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSudlow Posted March 14, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 14, 2006 No problem. Let us know if you have any trouble with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Newb4ever Posted March 15, 2006 Report Share Posted March 15, 2006 Hey, I download the 77.77 driver pack from guru3d.com and everything seemed to be going ok except it came up with a black screen. I then restarted the laptop and windows booted but the whole gui was flickering. I couldn't access anything. I had to jump into safe mode and do a driver roll back. Any thoughts? -Aaron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest Posted March 15, 2006 Report Share Posted March 15, 2006 I have an Inspiron 8600 with a Go5200. Are these files specific to the 5150/5160, or can go ahead and use them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest Posted March 30, 2006 Report Share Posted March 30, 2006 Tried your latest inf. with 7144. Works ok until I play Combat Flight Simulator 3 - aircraft have ground textures on them and there's blurry rainbow patches on the terrain. Any ideas? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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