Nvidia Geforce 335M not working all the time

[DI0BL0]

So, I have had a laptop that has had problems running things that it should have been able to run for some time. Only after getting a new one and learning much more about computers did I realize that the problem was that the graphics card was not working.

I thought that it was an obvious hardware problem that involved a broken graphics card. So I ran my games and programs at the worst quality possible, and scraped by. But then when I was playing a game (league of legends) I noticed threw the build in FPS checker, that I was getting my caped 60 FPS.

This was very strange so I tried changing the in-game graphics options. I turned them to the highest they could go. And my computer still got 60 FPS. I discovered that the NVIDIA card was working! And I had fun for a while. Then going back to it later, It could hardly run the worst graphics again.

My question is, obviously, is there a way to fix this? What is the reason that It only works some of the time? And by the way, I know everything about graphics options, THATS NOT THE PROBLEM. And the drivers are fully updated, THAT IS NOT THE PROBLEM.

I would be thankful for responses.

 

[dovah-chan]

Try to go into the nvidia control panel to force your computer to only use the 335M and disable the igpu

My best guess is that it is incorrectly measuring work loads and is throwing loads onto your igpu that should be processed on your discrete card. I always forget what the technology is called for nvidia but it's powertune for AMD. They both do the same thing; they measure workloads and when a stressful one is encountered it should be putting it onto your card. Light loads such as videos and web browsing are supposed to dumped onto your igpu to lower the power consumption of your idle discrete card. Seeing how you have a 335M which is a pretty old card, you have one of the first modern iterations of this power saving technology so it's not surprising you've encountered a bug that is still prevalent today.

 

[DI0BL0]

Try to go into the nvidia control panel to force your computer to only use the 335M and disable the igpu

My best guess is that it is incorrectly measuring work loads and is throwing loads onto your igpu that should be processed on your discrete card. I always forget what the technology is called for nvidia but it's powertune for AMD. They both do the same thing; they measure workloads and when a stressful one is encountered it should be putting it onto your card. Light loads such as videos and web browsing are supposed to dumped onto your igpu to lower the power consumption of your idle discrete card. Seeing how you have a 335M which is a pretty old card, you have one of the first modern iterations of this power saving technology so it's not surprising you've encountered a bug that is still prevalent today.

Thanks for the reply, but I had tried this before and it did not work. I gave it another go just to try, but it still was not the solution.

 

[dovah-chan]

Have tried disabling it from the BIOS?

 

[DI0BL0]

Have tried disabling it from the BIOS?

I have not, I just disable it from the device manager. Do you think it will make a difference? Because now, when I do disable it, it obviously does disable. The only problem is that the NVIDIA card does not take over.

But if you think that would change things, can you give me instructions on how to do it please.

 

[dovah-chan]

Oh did you also try uninstalling/reinstalling your drivers in=depth? This guide shows you how to do it. Its just deleting a bunch of folders and registry entries.

 

[DI0BL0]

Oh did you also try uninstalling/reinstalling your drivers in=depth? This guide shows you how to do it. Its just deleting a bunch of folders and registry entries.

I have gone one step further and re-installed windows totally, then installing drivers. So I don't think they are the problem.

 

[dovah-chan]

Oh I was not aware. I'm still certain it still lies within the realm of GPU boost acting up (the nvidia powertune equivalent who's name I just remembered). What specific laptop model do you have?

 

[DI0BL0]

Oh I was not aware. I'm still certain it still lies within the realm of GPU boost acting up (the nvidia powertune equivalent who's name I just remembered). What specific laptop model do you have?

An Alienware M11X R2

 

[dovah-chan]

My m11x r2 runs best with NVidia Driver 332.21 new ones then that caused problems that resolve as soon as I rolled back to this one. Mine is a beast, a space heater for sure but a beast non the less. Don't forget the NVidia control panel tweaks. twcom m11xr2/m18x r2

I found this on a thread on the alienware support forum.

 

[dovah-chan]

My M11x r2 has a Core i5 running in it. I read in forums that the i7 has a slight advantage than the i5 does, at least the M11x r2 models.

However, to all of your amazement (most likely) I might have found a solution. I updated the BIOS, and both GPU's drivers to the latest on Dell's site. Alienware is rather proprietary and they say they "optimize" driver updates to their system. I think thats a load of crap, hence the proprietary statement. But here's the point, the issue is with Optimus. Nvidia's optimus has issues with certain games on when it should turn their GPU on, even if you have a profile set. So I set profiles for all the .exe files in the RIFT game folder and unchecked "Show games only on my system" in the profile manager.

Believe it or not, not im getting 20-25 FPS on high setting, no low rendering.

Again, I believe that the issue is with optimus and just wait until nvidia supports a new driver.

I found this on some WoW thread. Maybe give it a try. This user was having the same issue as you concerning the low performance problem.

 

[dovah-chan]

All fixed then I suppose?