The 9400M G

I've received a few questions on the 9400M G and whether or not I have it enabled. Figured I would post this here for everyone.

The 9400M G can be a very handy asset in the M17x's arsenal. By switching to the 9400M G chip when on battery, your battery time will increase significantly.

NVIDIA has made this easy for us with Hybrid SLI. Essentially, all you have to do is unplug your AC Power and you will automatically switch over. Once you return to AC Power, your Discrete GPU(s) will enable and power up. For most users, this is fine and there are no issues associated with this switch.

I have chosen to disable the 9400M G via the M17x's BIOS. This is done by disabling both Hybrid Graphics and Integrated Graphics.

When I know I will be off AC Power for an extended period of time (off site meetings, travel, etc.), I will re-enable both Hybrid Graphics and Integrated Graphics in the BIOS in order to take full advantage of the battery using the 9400M G as the active GPU.

I choose to disable the 9400M G for for two reasons:

The current drivers (be it Dell's releases or the 186.24, .82, 91 releases), seem to get along better when the 9400M G is disabled. Benchmark runs I have conducted usually score higher with it disabled. I also would rather not see the chip under more load than is needed.

When the 9400M G is enabled, as the OS is loading the Windows Log in screen, there is a distinct flashing/refreshing of the screen. The screen can flash/refresh several times before loading. With the 9400M G disabled, this is not an issue.

Following is a description of the Hybrid Graphics & Integrated Graphics options via the BIOS:

Hybrid Graphics - Disabled / Integrated Graphics - Enabled:
M17x will use the integrated video card only. Video output to external displays will be disabled.

Hybrid Graphics - Disabled / Integrated Graphics - Disabled:
M17x will use the discrete video card(s) only. Regular SLI mode will be available for systems with 2 NVIDIA discrete video cards.

Hybrid Graphics - Enabled / Integrated Graphics - Enabled:
Hybrid SLI will be enabled. Maximum performance available.

For additional info on HybridSLI and the underlying technology, see the following:

NVIDIA's Hybrid SLI Tech brief (1.26 MB PDF)

NVIDIA's HybridSLI Video

Basically, it all boils down to personal preference. I just wanted to share my reasons for having it disabled while on AC Power. If you feel you want to keep it enabled, then of course, please do so. This is not a critical issue.

Reference Source: AW KB

187.66 and the M17x

As some of you know, LV2Go posted up the Fujitsu-Siemens 187.66 driver a several days back. The stock INF does not support the GPUs in the M17x and the modded INF had issues with the M17x Hybrid SLI, BluRay playback, etc.

You can use this driver with the M17x however a few changes have to be made. I have chosen to use the 186.82 Windows Update driver with the 187.66 release but you can most likely use the 182.91 INF if you want to.

Here is the process if you want to try this driver:

Open up the 186.82 INF (nv_whql.inf)

Open up the 187.66 INF (nvfm.inf)

Look at the DriverVer entry in the 187.66 - this entry is at the very top of the file, a few lines down. Once you have found it, copy the entire line.

Now, find the same line in the 186.82 INF. Overwrite the line with the line you copied to your clipboard.

Once the change has been made, save the changes and place the file in the 187.66 directory.

Next, copy the nv_whql.cat file from the 186.82 directoy.

Finally, remove the original INF and .cat (nvfm.inf and nvfm.cat) from the 187.66 directory - you do not need them.

That should do it. Do a clean install of 187.66 after performing an uninstall of your current driver.

Be sure to install in Hybrid Mode (enable the 9400). You can disable it after install if that is how you run your system.

EDIT:
An issue did come up during my testing:

Deal Breaker: The NVIDIA Control Panel will not retain settings for individual game profiles. I prefer to set all of my game profiles to 'Single Display Performance Mode' rather than the default of 'Multiple Display Performance Mode'. You can make the change and then click APPLY, however once the NV Control Panel is closed and re-opened the changes will revert. This should not be an issue for users of nHancer. Not sure since I do not use nHancer.

Due to the NV Control Panel 3D Game Profiles issue, I am choosing not to add the driver to the Driver Lists. Back to 186.82 for me.

Dell releases 186.64 NVIDIA display driver (Vista/W7)

Thanks to Douglaz over @ NBR for the heads-up on this release.

Today Dell posted the 186.64 WHQL display driver. This driver is a WHQL certified driver and can be used with Vista and Windows 7. This driver also includes the current version of PhysX. As always, when installing a new display driver, be sure to install with Hybrid Graphics and Integrated Graphics enabled in the BIOS. I have added this driver release to the Current Vista / Windows 7 driver pages.

Note: My recommendation for install is as follows:

1. If you have Hybrid Graphics / Integrated Graphics disabled in the BIOS, reboot and enable. If they are already enabled skip to next step.

2. Uninstall the NVIDIA Display Driver ONLY using the Programs & Features Control Panel. Reboot the system.

3. Once you are back at your desktop, reboot into Safe Mode using the F8 Key @ BIOS screen). (The reason why we boot into the desktop and then exit/reboot again is that the OS needs to install the Standard VGA Adapter driver for each GPU - just to keep the install clean).

4. Once in Safe Mode, run DriverSweeper and scan for NVIDIA DISPLAY files ONLY. Remove any found. Next, open CCleaner's Registry Scan Module. Fix any left over registry entries from the Display Driver uninstall. Once complete, reboot normally.

5. Once you are back at the desktop, run the 186.64 installer. Once install is complete, reboot.

Direct Download Link

I am currently testing all compatibility aspects (wake from sleep, AC to Battery Hybrid functionality, etc.) of this driver and will add my findings later. So far, no issues and the driver is very stable with the same low thermals.

Sleep Mode and the M17x

I have found that using sleep/suspend mode on the M17x has been problematic at best. Most of the time when waking the unit up, I am greeted with a blank LCD and no way to work around it short of a hard reset (holding down the power button). I have observed this behavior with 179.85, 186.12 and the 186.24 drivers. I know from past experience this is almost always a display driver issue.

There is currently no work around to this that I can find. I have tried disabling the 9400M G (motherboard GPU) prior to putting the system to sleep (via the FN+F7 command) has met with poor results. Sometimes it will work and wake properly, other times it will not.

I will be testing the current line of drivers (190.xx) series this weekend. I plan to disable the mGPU (via the BIOS) and install the 190.40 driver from xfastest.com and see how it fairs. If sleep is still an issue, then I'm going to label this as a severe problem. If the unit enters and exits sleep mode without issue then it will confirm its poor driver implementation.

Bottom line, my opinion is this: A laptop is used for portability. If you cannot put the unit to sleep and transfer it to another location (i.e. conference room to office, etc.), then what is the point in having a laptop? One of the selling points to the M17x is the integrated GPU (mGPU). The mGPU provides greatly enhanced battery time but at what cost? A non-functioning sleep mode? Not acceptable in my book.

I can only hope that Alienware/Dell resolve this issue soon. If this is truly the 'All Powerful' laptop, it should function properly out of the box without having to cripple certain features. Most would agree.

More to follow on this 'bug'.