GT555m problem (having failed following other threads)

[Smurray1987]

Hi all, I've ony recently got myself the Alienware m14x R1. At first i thought everything was fine until i installed Skyrim and tried to play it with the settings on 'High'. It then came to light that my M14x was using the Intel onboard graphics card for games. I then looked into installing the nVidia graphics drivers but the setup could not locate the graphics card.
I then checked in device manager and the only display driver showing was the Intel onboard. I followed through some guides on this forum (http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m14x/635211-m14x-not-detecting-gt555m-anymore-after-failed-driver-install-3.html) and various others with no success.
Here's the funny thing......after flashing the bios to A08 my m14x recognises the GT555m and allows me to install the latest drivers. After playing games after this 'success' the next day i'll turn on the laptop and i'll be back to square on again with no GT555m.
Just last night i tried a fresh install of windows 7 64bit and i was able to install the latest drivers again but this morning when i turned on my laptop the gt555m was missing again.

Has anyone else had the exact same thing happen?
Has anyone managed to correct this?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[jebelious]

May be being a bit thick here (nothing new) Can you load the Nvidia control panel? Worht starting with the simple things (how my head works) my Nvidia GT555m did not show in device manager however it is present. Also it should show in the Bios

[Smurray1987]

Sorry i forgot that i cannot load 'nVidia Control Panel' so i am unable to force to use GT555m 3gb. I'm pretty sure the GT555m doesn't show in my bios i'll have to double check when i get home (5.30pm). I wish there was a way to disable the intel graphics and just use the gt555m. Damn their energy efficiency! lol

[CGSDR]

Sorry i forgot that i cannot load 'nVidia Control Panel' so i am unable to force to use GT555m 3gb. I'm pretty sure the GT555m doesn't show in my bios i'll have to double check when i get home (5.30pm). I wish there was a way to disable the intel graphics and just use the gt555m. Damn their energy efficiency! lol

I wish there is a way too, but there is none, as the LCD display is directly hook with the Intel iGPU the only way you directly hook with the GT555M is an external monitor using either VGA/HDMI cable.

By the way, have you try use a driver with a modded .inf file? I'll link you with a good stable driver:NV 295.73 WHQL with .inf, while you try that, if it still doesnt work then try do a system restore it might help you as one of the user is having problem with: M14x doesn't recognize Nvidia GPU; Can't install any drivers (Stock included)

[Smurray1987]

I've tried that aswell mate. Thanks for the help though.

When i get in tonight i think i'm going to fully wipe my hard drive then install my other Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit then install all the drivers from the resources cd. After that i'll try a couple games out and see what happens.
Then maybe look into the latest nVidia drivers with the modded inf. Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated.

** When i do the Windows reinstallation is there any specific order of installation for the drivers? **

[jebelious]

Yes from here:

HOW TO: Clean Windows 7 Install (Driver Install Order) Guide for Alienware Systems

[Smurray1987]

Thanks alot for that link, i'll give it a whirl when i get in and hopefully this will correct any software issues. I will post back and inform you of the outcome incase anyone else is suffering with this exact problem.

[timvoigt1]

I had literally the same issue as you down to every detail and this is what happened.

My NVIDIA wasn't even in my device manager. I called dell and as I was speaking it appeared. So I hung up.

Two hours later it went away.

Here's what I did to fix it with Dell on the phone....He told me to do the standard stuff. System diagnoses in BIOS and everything was green. Did a whole bunch of ther diagnostics and everything was green. I installed the new BIOS 08 and it recognized a GENERIC version of the GPU listed as "generic display adapter". Tried to install dell driver for NVIDIA and it couldn't find the order. Manager told me I needed a new MOBO...

However, as he was getting approval in the system I went directly to NVIDIA webiste and ran daignostic driver finder. Installed perfectly and then recognized the device.

So I think a combo of new BIOS and direct install of NVIDIA driver from their website should do the trick.

[Smurray1987]

Thanks for the help there timvoigt1 but here is the error message when i try to run the nvidia driver diagnostic......

NVIDIA Driver Downloads


Initializing/Installing Component...


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you use a pop-up blocker:
You may need to disable it to use this service.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you are using Firefox:
Click on the 'Run' button.



Scanning System...
Click here if the scan did not complete.
We're sorry, the NVIDIA Smart Scan does not support your system at this time.

Supported operating systems: Microsoft Windows 98, 98SE, ME, 2000, XP, 2003, Media Center, Vista and Windows 7

Supported browsers: Internet Explorer, Firefox & Netscape.


The NVIDIA Smart Scan requires the latest version of Java
Click on the 'Java' icon to install java


Unfortunately we were unable to detect your GPU.
Please Try-Again or use Manual Driver Search



The NVIDIA Smart Scan was unable to evaluate your system hardware. Please use Option 1 to manually find drivers for your NVIDIA products.

return_status:fail

[jebelious]

Could be a GPU failure - if after you have re-installed windows it does not detect it looks like a new Motherboard may be needed