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XPS: Trouble in "paradise".... - Page 11

post #201 of 279
3/11/04 at 1:42pm
Thread Starter 
To all of you having the problem, I have a test I want you to run...

1. Install Powerstrip (www.entechtaiwan.com)
2. Right-click the Powerstrip icon in the systray and select "Performance Profiles" then "Configure"
3. Drag your engine clock and memory clock controls to the LOWEST level possible in Powerstrip, then click APPLY and OK. Confirm the warning that you're changing your settings. NOTE: clicking the option to turn off floating point precision helps out here...

Now...... here's the important part:

Repeat steps one and two, but this time, slide the engine clock back to the default 9700 mobility engine/memory timings (445/263).

Retest your games.

I just did the above, and now i'm not locking up.

-Karl
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post #202 of 279
3/11/04 at 1:45pm
Damn, I'm going home at lunch to get my power cord! I want to run that test ASAP.
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post #203 of 279
3/11/04 at 1:58pm
Thread Starter 
Just tested the DEFAULT 3dmark03 benchmark (score: 3351). No lockup, and the score indicates that my card is clocked appropriately.

I'm now going back to my "stress loop" of running "Mother Nature" at 1920x1200 with 16 tap anisotropic filtering. So far, 2 loops have passed, no corruption, no lockups..... Sure would be nice if this "fix" survives a reboot...

Edit:

Well, the "fix" doesn't survive a reboot, but simply loading Powerstrip for me fixes it since it saves the previous values I configured (446/263 core/mem). I have been running 3dmark03's Mother Nature demo for the past hour with no lockups, 1920x1200 res, 16 tap anisotropic filtering and max settings in the driver.

It looks like we might have ourselves a workaround!
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post #204 of 279
3/11/04 at 3:15pm
So does this mean the GPU could be overclocked from the factory? I guess this would be a BIOS setting?
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post #205 of 279
3/11/04 at 3:19pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by nethervoid
So does this mean the GPU could be overclocked from the factory? I guess this would be a BIOS setting?
I wouldn't say it's "overclocked". when you first load powerstrip, it reports a setting of 445.X and 263.X, which seem valid...

But then when you use powerstrip to dump it down as low as it will go, save the config, then try to reapply 445.x and 263.x, I can't get those values configured again exactly. I'm now clocked at 446/263 on the nose (tiny bit over on core, tiny bit under on memory). But with this config, I'm working fine with no corruption or lockups in 3dmark03 (havent tested bf1942 since i'm at work and can't connect to my railbait.com servers from here).

My theory:

The bios config on the 9700 is invalid, and as a result, it's actually clocked much higher than reported.
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post #206 of 279
3/11/04 at 3:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Karl
Just tested the DEFAULT 3dmark03 benchmark (score: 3351). No lockup, and the score indicates that my card is clocked appropriately.

I'm now going back to my "stress loop" of running "Mother Nature" at 1920x1200 with 16 tap anisotropic filtering. So far, 2 loops have passed, no corruption, no lockups..... Sure would be nice if this "fix" survives a reboot...

Edit:

Well, the "fix" doesn't survive a reboot, but simply loading Powerstrip for me fixes it since it saves the previous values I configured (446/263 core/mem). I have been running 3dmark03's Mother Nature demo for the past hour with no lockups, 1920x1200 res, 16 tap anisotropic filtering and max settings in the driver.

It looks like we might have ourselves a workaround!
Have you tried radclocker?
Because that program has the function to set a "new" bios clock, so you don't need to start the program everytime you restart.
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post #207 of 279
3/11/04 at 3:24pm
Yeah I'm really interested in that BIOS thing because Gordon XPS support had me flash mine back to default, and I'm wondering if that would unsnag the "overclocked" problem.
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post #208 of 279
3/11/04 at 3:26pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by dennis88
Have you tried radclocker?
Because that program has the function to set a "new" bios clock, so you don't need to start the program everytime you restart.
I'll give it a shot! thanks!
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post #209 of 279
3/11/04 at 3:41pm
Thread Starter 
INTERESTING!

Setting Radclocker to as close to what should be the default settings causes 3d apps to corrupt and lock up MUCH more quickly than before!

OK, at this point, the problem simply looks like the 9700's BIOS is NOT set to the correct VCORE/Memory values. More to come, still researching.
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post #210 of 279
3/11/04 at 3:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Karl
9700's BIOS is NOT set to the correct VCORE/Memory values
You mean system BIOS or that the card has its own BIOS?
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post #211 of 279
3/11/04 at 4:08pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by nethervoid
You mean system BIOS or that the card has its own BIOS?
Mobility radeons also have a BIOS.
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post #212 of 279
3/11/04 at 4:24pm
Thread Starter 
OK, so far using Radclocker is a bust. If I configure radclocker to boot with the clock speed set in Powerstrip, I still see lockups.

However, turning powerstrip back on alleviates the lockup, which is strange as it has the EXACT SAME FREQUENCIES configured.

So, it seems that thus far powerstrip is required as a workaround. Has anyone else been able to test this or add more insight?
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post #213 of 279
3/11/04 at 4:43pm
I wonder if Powerstrip has some setting that is affecting the 9700 even if you leave the frequencies alone?

I have been able to replicate my SoF2 lockup problem on the Alienware 51m I have here. I loaded Powerstrip on there and cranked up the core and mem clocks a little. SoF2 then locks up on there exactly as it is locking up on the XPS! So it really looks like it is a clock frequency setting, or something associated with it, that is causing all of the problems.

-Geed
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post #214 of 279
3/11/04 at 5:36pm
Well, there goes that idea. I just tried to play SoF2 with the Powerstrip settings set as low as they would go and I still get lockups! This is whats begining to drive me nuts. You think you find a soultion and it seems to work for awhile and then all of a sudden you have problems again. This issue is not consistant at all.... I can't narrow it down to a single source.

-Geed
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post #215 of 279
3/11/04 at 5:55pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Geed
Well, there goes that idea. I just tried to play SoF2 with the Powerstrip settings set as low as they would go and I still get lockups! This is whats begining to drive me nuts. You think you find a soultion and it seems to work for awhile and then all of a sudden you have problems again. This issue is not consistant at all.... I can't narrow it down to a single source.

-Geed
This is really starting to look like Dell got a bad batch of Mobility 9700 boards.
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post #216 of 279
3/11/04 at 6:01pm
Posted initially in 2nd day thread in response to a question, since this thread is still getting hits, posting over here.
-----------------------------------
I'll help you out here, I created a poll on the below thread to tally.

http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=18100

You can click on the number of people to see who voted for that selection
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post #217 of 279
3/11/04 at 6:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Karl
This is really starting to look like Dell got a bad batch of Mobility 9700 boards.
Maybe thats what the graphics card replacement is for
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post #218 of 279
3/11/04 at 6:30pm
I don't know if this will help at all but I came across this little ATI overclocking program...

http://atitool.ocfaq.com/

What it does is slowly raise the clock speeds and test the settings via a spinning 3D cube on the screen. When it detects defects in the 3D image it notifies you and sets the clock speed accordingly. I ran it on the XPS and after awhile the laptop locked up. I could still move the mouse around but nothing else was working. Then all of a sudden the screen changes to 640x480 8-bit color and there is a message saying that Windows has recovered from a hardware failure. I rebooted and everything went back to normal.

What is still bothering me is the fact that I CANNOT get any other game or 3D app to lockup on me besides SoF2.

UPDATE: I used this program to under-clock to 250 core/200 mem - I played SoF2 for about an hour strainght but then got a lockup.

-Geed
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post #219 of 279
3/11/04 at 7:04pm
LOL! Yeah, I tried that program almost as soon as I reinstalled the OS...locked up INSTANTLY!
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post #220 of 279
3/11/04 at 8:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Geed
What is still bothering me is the fact that I CANNOT get any other game or 3D app to lockup on me besides SoF2.
I get consistant locks on Shadowbane and Eve Online.
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