Dell posts NV beta driver to resolve DPC audio interrupt

Today Dell posted the 196.86 NV Beta driver. This driver implements the change which ManuelG of NVIDIA Forums spoke of here:

The fix does not disable Powermizer. The driver was in a DPC state for too long and this was corrected. It should not have an adverse affect on performance. Tomorrow (Tuesday) we will be releasing a new driver which unfortunately does not include this fix as it did not make it in time (the fix was added shortly after this driver was built). The fix will be in drivers following this. Once I get the exact driver versions, I will update this thread. Quote Source

Resident Evil 5 Benchmark demystified... FPS Drop FIXED

Notebookreview.com member Kade Storm approached me with an interesting issue. The Resident Evil 5 benchmark as some of you know has issues with Area 3 and Area 4. A very low FPS drop shows up in Area 3 and also slightly impacts Area 4.

NVIDIA 195.81 BETA Driver Released - Still needs work NV...

NVIDIA posted up the 195.81 BETA driver today. Their notes indicate the following:

This driver is identical to the 195.62 WHQL drivers except for the following:

Several bug fixes to support the new Adobe Flash 10.1 Beta 2 release. Learn more here.
Adds new SLI and multi-GPU profiles for Avatar Demo, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising Demo, and Wings of Prey.

NVIDIA Releases PhysX update - v9.09.1112

NVIDIA recently released v9.09.1112 of PhysX.

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.

186.91 now available

Another Windows Update release... 186.91 is now available. As with 186.82, HybridSLI is again fully supported. I have not had a chance to run any benches, but if this one is anything like 186.82 it will be a keeper.

Grab it direct from Microsoft:
Win7/Vista 64-bit
Win7/Vista 32-bit

LV2Go has also posted 186.91.
Win7/Vista 32-bit
Win7/Vista 64-bit

NOTE: You will need to run the executable to extract it. Once the driver is extracted, look inside the directory for the 'Additional INFs' .zip archive. Extract this and copy/paste the 'nv_whql.inf' into the top level of the 186.91 directory. Once this is done, run the setup.exe app to install. This is required for the driver to recognize the hardware in the M17x. The default INF (nvfu.inf) does not support the M17x GPUs.

Update: 186.91 was released roughly 10 days after 186.82. 186.91 also offers complete support for the M17x's HybridSLI setup. After a bit of testing, it is my opinion the 186.82 remains the better choice at this time. 186.91 produced slightly lower benchmark numbers compared to 186.82. I also noticed slightly higher temps (idle and load) for the 9400 mGPU. Again, this is just my opinion and I will be staying with 186.82 until the next release. You should conduct your own testing of course. Have fun!

186.82 - So far, the best...

Well, yesterday was fairly eventful in the M17x realm. We had a 186.81 driver release direct from NVIDIA. 186.81 installed without issues and was quite stable from a 2D perspective. HybridSLI was functional as well. After finally being able to get in-game and test this release I found what a lot of people had also reported... horrible performance. I encountered quite a bit of stuttering in Valve Source Engine based games. This killed it for me.

Shortly after the 186.81 driver was released, LV2Go posted a news post confirming that 186.82 had been located on the Windows Update site. I have always disregarded Windows Update GPU drivers in the past as I have typically found they were more of a compatibility driver than a performance driver. Not this time...

This evening I finally had a chance to download the 186.82 from LV2Go. As with 186.81, typical everyday tasks were quite stable with no issues. Temps were well within the normal M17x range (ice cold) ;). HybridSLI also had no issues and for the first time, pulling out the AC adapter automatically placed me into Save Power Mode. No more manual switching when going on DC power. Another plus! In-game performance was right on the money and I did not encounter any stuttering as I did before with 186.81.

I also cannot confirm this but the 'wake to a black screen issue' seems to be gone. This may have had something to do with the updates Dell posted (A02 BIOS and OSD update). It doesn't really matter I guess - as long as its fixed. :)

If you haven't already given 186.82 a test drive, I encourage you to do so. Download links appear below.

From Laptopvideo2go.com -

Vista 32-bit

Vista 64-bit

NOTE: You will need to run the executable to extract it. Once the driver is extracted, look inside the directory for the 'Additional INFs' .zip archive. Extract this and copy/paste the 'nv_whql.inf' into the top level of the 186.82 directory. Once this is done, run the setup.exe app to install. This is required for the driver to recognize the hardware in the M17x. The default INF (nvfu.inf) does not support the M17x GPUs.

M17x and Dell 186.24 Driver

Just finished tweaking the INF for the Dell released 186.24 driver. The driver was released for the XPS M1730. The driver did have support for the 280M and 260M however it did not provide support for the 9400M G.

I have added the support back in and it should now work with the M17x and you shouldn't have to disable the 9400M G at time of install.

I've included a modded INF file for use with the 186.24 driver only as well as instructions on how to install. You can grab this from: HERE.

Thanks to Mandrake of NBR for testing out the changes.

UPDATE (8/22/09): Please note, tonight while playing TF2 I noticed something interesting. After exiting the game (only played for about an hour) I checked HWMonitor to see how temps were doing. Temps were fine except I noticed that GPU#1 was running a bit warmer than GPU#2 - about 7 degrees warmer. I opened up GPU-Z and noticed that GPU#1 was not downclocking at all. It was locked at default clock speeds where as GPU#2 was sitting @ 200/120. I kept an eye on it for about 15 minutes and the clocks did not change. I ended up hitting FN+F7 to switch off the discrete GPUs and then re-enabled them. Clocks returned to normal, both downclocked properly.

This tells me that PowerMizer is not functioning properly with driver 186.24. Keep this in mind if you are going to test this driver.

We really need a new driver release from Dell/NVIDIA. *SIGH*