Alienware M17X - Video Cards

I could be wrong but it seems to me that if the program worked correctly before and now doesn't then the problem lies with Windows, not the hardware. I would be more inclined to reinstall Windows and all my drivers before taking the drastic action you have suggested.

Running a clean Windows install is a pain in the butt in terms of having to backup then reinstall your programs/games and restore all your data however the upside is that the system runs like a new machine again and that feels great!

Well, this is what happened. I bought the laptop Used, didn't know it had dual video cards. I figured out how to switch between one and two of them. It worked fine up until I started the laptop up without the AC charger plugged in. On boot-up it said using the battery it will use Integrated graphics, if I wanted to use discrete graphics I should plug the AC adapter in. So I went on using only the battery, and when it started up my nVidia program to switch between one and two cards never showed up since then. I tried re-installing the drivers, programs, nothing works. It's a pain now because I can't control them when I need the extra to be enabled.  Any suggestions?

i beleive you can disable the onboard card entirely in the bios been a while since i had an R1  but from what i remeber when i had my dual 280gtx's in my R1  is to post on the 280 with battery u need to disable the hybrid and onboard in bios otherwise it will default to onboard for power saving reasons the same should apply for you with your cards

Plaxiotic, are you using BIOS release A10?

I beleive the latest BIOS for the R1 is A07

I'm using BIOS A02. I'm guessing that's pretty old? Is there a way to update it or does it have to stay that way?

i would go to the support and downloads for your particular service tag, and start checking on all the updates available.  Some are pretty significant.

I'm sure it's a R2. I went to the Drivers page under BIOS and it says A07 is available. Do I have to upgrade to that first?

You'll need a USB stick to flash the BIOS with. If your M17x is an R1 you will be offered A07 but if it's an R2 you'll get A10.

if it says A07 then you have an R1