[*Resolved] "Prototype Test-NVIDIA Confidential" Error Message [See posts #283, 319]

[bar-code]

Here it is...anything out of the norm?

Nope all looks good except you still have the old vbios instead of the new one besides that all is good you must have another problem.
Are the games your trying to play at least being launched playable
Otherwise, im at a loss and as mentioned above contact Dell.

[lubu]

Yea all the games played fine besides that annoying warning, same thing happened with 3D movies, but no issues with 2D. Do you reckon the new bios will fix it?

[bar-code]

Yea all the games played fine besides that annoying warning, same thing happened with 3D movies, but no issues with 2D. Do you reckon the new bios will fix it?

Nope the vbios will not fix it, but the rev 2 is better then the current one you have, also you can try a motherboard bios reset default settings might help.

Otherwise the last suggestion would be to uninstall the nvidia drivers and install the dell ones and see if it's still occuring. Then you can ring Dell.

Good luck!

[Alienwhere]

I've got a 560M that says its a GF106B chip (instead of a GF116) at the vbios boot screen, with a similar "For engineering use only - not for production use" disclaimer. No warning or anything comes up during games, and it's detected in Windows as a GF116 with the right clocks.

I'm still debating on contacting Dell to see what's up. Selling engineering samples to customers as production models is a big no-no.

Since yours is interfering with your user experience, I would say contact them ASAP. You deserve the producton chips you paid for, and probably some compensation for the hassle.

[24usedtorock]

Download the latest NVIDIA drivers and you should be all set. Also maybe try installing DirectX 11.

[lubu]

I've got a 560M that says its a GF106B chip (instead of a GF116) at the vbios boot screen, with a similar "For engineering use only - not for production use" disclaimer. No warning or anything comes up during games, and it's detected in Windows as a GF116 with the right clocks.

I'm still debating on contacting Dell to see what's up. Selling engineering samples to customers as production models is a big no-no.

Since yours is interfering with your user experience, I would say contact them ASAP. You deserve the producton chips you paid for, and probably some compensation for the hassle.

Yea Im gonna call them later today, this really p*sses me off. I cant believe they send engineering samples to end users on such a highend machine.

Download the latest NVIDIA drivers and you should be all set. Also maybe try installing DirectX 11.

It didnt work, I tried everything I can think of from latest Nvidia driver to Dell's to older driver, latest vbios, directx11 like you suggested, motherboard bios etc..

Heres a pic of what Im talking about...sigh*

[Alienwhere]

Oh wow.

That is a prototype alright.

Make sure you document EVERYTHING. You may want to take photos and even keep this thread going with updates to document whatever happens.

Hopefully they take this seriously and at least offer to replace the GPUs, but I would say a new notebook is what's needed here, unless you'd rather keep what you have and just have two new GPUs.

If Dell/Alienware does nothing or gives you a hard time, the next step would be to contact Nvidia directly and let them know you received engineering prototypes in a production notebook. I think they'd be pretty interested in that.

[ARGH]

he doesn't have to document anything or do anything because he is still within the 21 day return policy. call dell and have them send you a new system. it won't be an issue.

but before you do this i would overvolt and overclock the crap out of these cards to see if they throttle.

[lubu]

Haha yea will do...I'll post the update once it's done. This should be interesting...should I keep it of the cards don't throttle?? Lol

[Alienwhere]

Ah, didn't know you were still within the return window. I would still try and get them to do a genuine exchange rather than having to return it, possibly incurring a restocking fee and all that.

If they don't throttle...I'd say sell the system to the highest bidder and buy yourself another and pocket the profit. I'd bet there are some hardcore mobile gamers with deep pockets who'd pay through the nose for some non-throttling 580Ms, prototype screen or not.