15 R3, Unable to update to newest NVIDIA drivers

@CSGeer,

Heres the latest Graphics Driver for your model:

https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=2j4vt&oscode=wt64a&productcode=alienware-15-laptop

https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=p8hd1&oscode=wt64a&productcode=alienware-15-laptop

https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=p04m6&oscode=wt64a&productcode=alienware-15-laptop

https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=r0d7d&oscode=wt64a&productcode=alienware-15-laptop

Thanks for the reply! Unfortunately this does not respond to my issue. I know where all of the updated drivers are amd have installed all of the relevant ones (BIOS, Intel, etc). The problem is the Nvidia driver. I cannot update past the A11 without the screen freezing immediately.

I decided to run the PSA diagnostic again and it throws a 2000-0321 error. Indicates a problem with my lcd panel. This confuses me because my panel is working fine and I have no problems playing games running the 1070 with the A11 driver.

Do it with an external monitor and try the update. It should make the screen black for a moment then it should display an image again.

Yeah, I remember they still haven’t updated my thermal dynamic platform from 2013.

But you should try it with an external monitor because if the internal one freezes and the external one doesn’t, then it’s a display issue. If both the external and internal display freeze its a bad gpu vBIOS.

If you are trying to update the driver through the Dell Support page then I would go straight to Nvidia and download from there. I have never had an issue installing the driver directly from Nvidia. Dell are always slow updating the driver.. 

Step 1: Go to C:\ProgramData\Nvidia Corporation\NetService and delete the NSManagedTasks.xml file;
Step 2: Enter the task manager, select Show all user processes in the process, and end the NVNetworkService.exe process;
Step 3: Press the WIN+R key, type services.msc in the run, and click OK to open the service;
Step 4: Find the option of Nvidia Network Service in the service, right click and select start;
Step 5: Click on the graphics card to update the driver and complete the update.

Hopefully that fixes the issue for him.

@mattyb3 I tried updating using the drivers directly from Nvidia and the same problem is occuring

@xiaomei It appears that I do not have the "NetService" directory or the NSManagedTasks.xml file (I searched the entire drive)

@Alienware Area-51 ALX 2006 both screens freeze when I update the driver so that means a vbios problem?

A further update for you all. The 1070 is giving me a Code 43 error after updating the to the newest driver.

I noticed another thing after returning to the A11 driver. When I go to Device Manager, right click on the GTX 1070 under Display Adapters, and go to the Events tab it says something about Device PCI\[numbers and letters] requires further installation.

Thanks for you help so far!

A Code 43 usually means one of three things. 
1. Bad driver

2. Corrupted vBIOS

3. Dead/Dying GPU

First thing to try is roll back to an earlier driver.

If you still get the Code 43 then you can try flashing the vBIOS

If that doesn’t work then your GPU is having serious issues. 

@mattyb3 Thanks for following up. I have rolled back to the Dell A11 (23.21.13.8799) driver and the machine works well with that driver installed. None of the newer drivers work. The frustrating part is that I cannot play games that require updated drivers.

Do you have instructions on how to flash the vbios? 

I don’t like to tell people to flash a BIOS’ because there is always a chance of something going wrong. Firstly I’d make sure that your system BIOS is up to date. It’s possible that the vBIOS is also available on the Dell site but if not then TechPowerUp is the home of all the GPU vBIOS’. You need to install NVFlash and watch some YouTube videos or read guides on how to flash. A bad flash can brick your card though. 

The only similar problem I have found on the web is this one:

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/forums/game-ready-drivers/13/304967/1070-black-screens-driver-update-issue-fix-ena/

but his "tempanent" fix doesn't work for me unfortunately. Especially with the Code 43 popping up. 

I have been trying to fix this on and off for two years and still haven't gotten anywhere with it. I wonder if it had to do something with the security update to Intel chips (due to the spectre problem?) in 2018. I cannot update to any nvidia drivers that were produced after that and I have come across a number of posts related to graphic cards failing due to that issue.

I’m running a 1070 in my old M18x and I can install the latest drivers straight from Nvidia (but I have to mod it first). There’s something not quite right with yours. It should install the Nvidia driver without an issue but it’s really hard to diagnose over a forum.