Alienware 18 upgrade to 980m SLI issue

[i.bakar]

i did this upgrade a year ago and i experienced this issue that time but then i lost my motherboard so i let it go however a few weeks back i replaced my motherboard and restored the machine , fresh installed every thing and again i experienced the same issue ! 

 

the issue is this... once i install NVidia driver the desktop wallpaper in-print in any app that i open. i attached an image to demonstrate this.

 

 

has anyone came across this issue with this upgrade or with any other driver or GPU ?

 

here is what i did to diagnose :

- install older driver , new driver and microsoft recommended driver.  the issue remains.

- disable the SLI  the issue remains.

- replace the screen with another one from my friend Alienware 18.  the issue remains.

- reflash the bios with the stock one.

 

i'm running UEFI on the unlocked bios A12

 

 

 

[Jerryzago]

Weird. First time I've ever seen this. I also have an 980m SLI. Mine is a m18x R2 though. Seems the problem is following the GPUs. Maybe Since you disabled SLI and the problem  is there, maybe the GPU in slot one has the problem. 

 

Swap them maybe, or flash a different vbios. Flash the one from DELL to see if that makes a difference

[i.bakar]

thanks @Jerryzagoi did swap the cards between the first and the second slot . i also tried one card only.  the second card in the first slot with the second slot empty . the same issue .

i also used the official dell vbios for the SLI setup ( 2 different bios ) same issue . 

its realy weird ...

i noticed my card missing some items here is a picture to compare it to urs if u have a picture .... ( look at the chips at the left side of the picture)

[Jerryzago]

Maybe try another OS. Try running Ubuntu from CD or even Chrome Flex OS and see if the problem persists. Both of the can run without installing them to your hard drive. I belive you have made a clean install to the drivers with DDU, prior installing anything?

[ssj92]

Try windows 7, 8.1, 11 and se if issue exists. 

980m sli is officially supported on aw18 

[electrosoft]

Does it do this too on an external display?

 

 

[i.bakar]

 

 

i tried the external monitor ( TV) 

On 3/11/2023 at 10:40 PM, Jerryzago said:

Maybe try another OS. Try running Ubuntu from CD or even Chrome Flex OS and see if the problem persists. Both of the can run without installing them to your hard drive. I belive you have made a clean install to the drivers with DDU, prior installing anything?

 

good idea i tried garuda since i'm familiar with it and the shadows disappeared!!! which means its a driver issue ( i guess its one of nvidia options that needs to be disabled or enabled )  anyone have any idea where i start ? 

 

  yes driver installation was done after DDU cleanup on safe mode

 

On 3/12/2023 at 2:24 AM, ssj92 said:

Try windows 7, 8.1, 11 and se if issue exists. 

980m sli is officially supported on aw18 

 

this issue shows on windows 10 and 11 both

 

23 hours ago, electrosoft said:

Does it do this too on an external display?

 

 

i just tried the external display (TV) using HDMI and its also there on the TV which means its related to the data which is transmitted from the GPU somehow ....

[Jerryzago]

2 hours ago, i.bakar said:

good idea i tried garuda since i'm familiar with it and the shadows disappeared!!! which means its a driver issue ( i guess its one of nvidia options that needs to be disabled or enabled )  anyone have any idea where i start ? 

 

  yes driver installation was done after DDU cleanup on safe mode

As I said, I haven't got this issue, and possibly we are the only ones to still run SLI systems, I can only say that now I have 512.95 version. Perhaps try this version instead?

 

I am running Prema Vbios, But I also had Dell Vbios from the Alienware 18 model and never had this issue.

 

So maybe trying the 512.95 version to see if the problem is there?

 

Or maybe the last supported driver for our systems 419.17?

[i.bakar]

7 hours ago, Jerryzago said:

As I said, I haven't got this issue, and possibly we are the only ones to still run SLI systems, I can only say that now I have 512.95 version. Perhaps try this version instead?

 

I am running Prema Vbios, But I also had Dell Vbios from the Alienware 18 model and never had this issue.

 

So maybe trying the 512.95 version to see if the problem is there?

 

Or maybe the last supported driver for our systems 419.17?

i tried drivers from 336. something upto 528. something and the only driver that doesn't Couse this is the 336 but this driver doesn't support GPU rendering on V-ray 3ds max

which after doing some digging it turs out this is because the lack of CUDA support for this driver so theoretically this means that CUDA driver is the couse od the issue but after trying linux with nvidia 525 driver ( which support CUDA ) i'm not sure anymore and i'm more confused.... 

[Jerryzago]

6 hours ago, i.bakar said:

i tried drivers from 336. something upto 528. something and the only driver that doesn't Couse this is the 336 but this driver doesn't support GPU rendering on V-ray 3ds max

which after doing some digging it turs out this is because the lack of CUDA support for this driver so theoretically this means that CUDA driver is the couse od the issue but after trying linux with nvidia 525 driver ( which support CUDA ) i'm not sure anymore and i'm more confused.... 

Try doing a DDU and intalling the 336 driver. After this do an upgrade without clean install to the latest driver and see what will get you.

 

I updated mine from NVinstall to the latest 531 and it seems to work ok.

 

Could be a hardware problem though...