Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
2 Posts
0
116574
Query about m17x, and switching graphics modes
Hopefully that title is descriptive enough.
I'm hoping someone can help me. I obtained my laptop on Friday and when I got it there was a small nvidia icon on the right side of the taskbar that would allow me to switch between discrete and integrated graphics modes. It was also there on Saturday when I installed windows messenger, office, and a couple of games.
As of allowing Vista(64) and mcaffe updates yesterday however, that icon has gone, and I can't work out how to get it back or how to switch between them any more. It may have had nothing to do with those updates of course, they were just what I allowed a couple of hours before I noticed the change.
The F7 function key also doesn't seem to do anything anymore (whereas before switching graphics modes would make the screen 'flash' once while it adjusted, or if I had mcaffee open at the time it would demand I close it first, it now does nothing).
In the meanwhile, going by my device manager which only has the Gforce 9400M G listed, I'm assuming I'm stuck in integrated mode. This doesn't change if I restart, and doesn't change if I set my power mode to high performance (which was my other hope), so I'm sorta stuck atm.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can get my graphics functionality back? :|
TrelawneyHope
29 Posts
0
August 10th, 2009 03:00
Hi Ephidel
Congrats on your purchase!
Off the top of my head - it could be one or more of the following :
Try this first and see if your icon re-appears. Hybrid gfx is clever in principle, but not as clever in execution it seems (at least for now).
Bon chance!
Trelawney
Ephidel
2 Posts
0
August 10th, 2009 12:00
Thank you Trelawney!
I checked the stealth mode first as I could do that without restarting, and I hadn't hit that by mistake, but then I checked the bios as per your recommendation and it turned out that the Hybrid Graphics option had somehow disabled itself. Still not sure entirely how it did that, but I was able to re-enable it with no problems so now everything is working properly again, icons, function keys and all.
Cheers for your assistance ^^
TrelawneyHope
29 Posts
0
August 10th, 2009 12:00
Coolio - glad to have helped, and thanks for letting us know!
Enjoy!
twoblokes
6 Posts
0
January 26th, 2010 11:00
hi Trelawney Hope, you sound like someone who KNOWS stuff! I had pretty much the same problem.....I went into the BIOS and enabled DISCRETE GRAPHICS. My problem is, after that my M17x doesnt boot to the desktop....all I get is a black screen with my mouse pointer moving around as i move the mouse!
My problem all started when I booted into a desktop that was black with white and coloured horizontal lines flashing on and off. I tried reinstalling graphics device drivers, no joy. then i deleted EVERYTHING graphics related and reinstalled the GeForce 9400M G. It doesn't show the two GTX 260M though. Thats when I went into the BIOS and they were turned off.....hope all this makes sense! i TRIED emailing Dell but my reply seems to have got lost. The only thing I got was a questionairre in German asking id the service was good!
Any ideas??
Thanks in advance
Ade
TrelawneyHope
29 Posts
0
January 27th, 2010 02:00
Hi TwoBlokes
Please try enabling HYBRID (i.e. both on-board and discrete gfx) and boot into Windows. Assuming this works ok - you will be running using the onboard 9400M graphics chip and default driver whilst doing basic desktop operations. The Discrete are the 260//280M which only kick-in when you play games, etc, unless you set them as default (always on). All other settings leave at page default.
What you then need to do is download the latest drivers from nVidia (or Dell) and install these (I use the 195.81 Betas from nVidia). There will be a lot of flickering as the system switches between each of your cards, setting up the drivers, and you may need to reboot.
Assuming this works on - try running a game to see if the DISCRETE (260/260M) kick in without issues. If you still wish to use these ALL the time, then you can go back into BIOS and disable HYBRID and force DISCRETE, but personally I think Hybrid works fine.
Remember the golden rule. ALWAYS turn on your M17x with power lead (and switched on!), else you will get a warning message when you first boot. If this happens. Press F2 - Turn the power on and re-enable Hybrid Graphics again. I say in this order as if you just turn power on and continue - the M17x will only work with the onboard 9400M and won't 'see' the discrete when you go into games. A pain, but once you know the rules you know what to watch out for.
Hope this helps!
Cheers
Trelawney
DELL-Chris M
Community Manager
Community Manager
•
54.9K Posts
0
January 27th, 2010 10:00
Alienware M17x Graphics options
The computer will have to be rebooted to switch from Integrated GPU to Discrete GPU or vice versa. The need for a reboot applies to all the cases listed in the table where Hybrid Graphics is off.
Vista Hybrid On, Integrated Greyed Out = Discrete Nvidia 260M/280M or Integrated Nvidia 9400M
Vista Hybrid Off, Integrated Off = Discrete AMD or Discrete Nvidia GTX 260M/280M
Vista Hybrid Off, Integrated On = Integrated Nvidia 9400M
XP Hybrid Off, Integrated Off = Discrete AMD or Discrete Nvidia GTX 260M/280M
XP Hybrid Off, Integrated On = Integrated Nvidia 9400M
Hybrid SLI Modes
* Hybrid SLI is only supported on the Windows Vista operating system
* Hybrid SLI is only supported with at least 256 MB dedicated memory for the mGPU
* All displays must be attached to the mGPU for seamless mode switching
* Hybrid SLI is only supported on OEM notebooks with specially developed software released for specific notebook configurations. Loading generic drivers on a Hybrid SLI notebook will cause hybrid features to disappear
* The two operating modes of a Hybrid SLI-enabled notebook are:
- Boost Performance Mode where the discrete GPU and system board GPU work collaboratively to provide higher performance
- Save Power Mode where the Discrete GPU completely shuts off and the Integrated GPU renders and drives the display (HybridPower)
twoblokes
6 Posts
0
January 29th, 2010 11:00
Cheers Trelawney but min'es KNACKERED! The engineer man replaced both graphics card and I STILL cant enable DISCRETE in the BIOS and boot up. Seems its now a fault with the motherboard! So, I wait til Monday and see what happens then! Cheers for the help though....I'll keep it in mind if and when its fixed!#
Twoblokes
TrelawneyHope
29 Posts
0
February 1st, 2010 04:00
Gosh - hope you get it fixed and are back up and running soon!
Soulpatch
6 Posts
0
March 21st, 2011 18:00
Perhaps the BIOS had disabled the RAID configuration that you had. After a bios update, RAID needs to be re-enabled.