System Won't Use Dedicated Graphics, Defaults to Integrated

Laptop: Dell G3 3779

So a friend of mine updated their GeForce drivers a while ago and suddenly their laptop is using integrated graphics for everything, they get low FPS even on non demanding titles such as League that their laptop should and was able to handle just fine.

We sat through it for a whole day trying to figure out what the problem was, here's a short, possibly non comprehensive list of things we've tried to no avail:

• Update Windows + All drivers
• Uninstall graphics driver with DDU then reinstall latest
• Rollback to gpu driver before the problem started
• Try to force use of dedicated gpu through Nvidia control panel, game settings, and through disabling integrated gpu in device manager
• Scanning for viruses
• Checking temperature, airflow, heat
• Checking all processes and services
• Clean Boot
• Overclocking, benchmarking on Overwatch, no difference in performance whatsoever

Attached are some diagnostics taken today, hopefully we can work together to resolve this.

Not sure that this is the best possible description, but you may wish to read: What You Need to Know About NVIDIA Optimus

It may be best to use the latest drivers from Dell. I'm not sure which should be installed first; I'd probably start with the Intel drivers.

bobkn said:

Not sure that this is the best possible description, but you may wish to read: What You Need to Know About NVIDIA Optimus

It may be best to use the latest drivers from Dell. I'm not sure which should be installed first; I'd probably start with the Intel drivers.

We've tried the drivers from Dell first thing actually, no dice. The option to "run with graphics processor" doesn't exist correction: doesn't work, and the options in the control panel don't make a difference, according to Afterburner the gpu usage is still low even when running a benchmark.

- - - Updated - - -

So we tried to talk to League of Legends customer support, they suggested adding/changing the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\DirectX\UserGpuPreferences to 2, and that seemed to help vastly raise the average FPS from 40 to 70 dipping to 68 only once, posting this for anyone that stumbles upon this thread, hopefully it'd help out!

There were 3 missed BIOS upgrades.

Some computer models have BIOS options to choose whether to use Intel iGPU or Nvidia dGPU.

The notebook used to type this post had iGPU turned off in the BIOS.
Only dGPU is used.
This is fine as the notebook is used as a desktop replacement.
If it were used to get maximum battery time during travel it would be important to modify the BIOS settings so that iGPU could be used.

1) Upgrade the BIOS: 1.4.0 > 1.10.0
https://www.dell.com/support/home/us...laptop/drivers

2) Run Dell diagnostics Full test: (post images into the thread) (after modifying the BIOS to dGPU if available)
https://www.dell.com/support/home/us...aptop/diagnose

3) Run component tests: all video tests and other tests as needed (after modifying the BIOS to dGPU if available) > post images into the thread
https://www.dell.com/support/home/us...aptop/diagnose


Take Screenshot in Windows 10

How to Upload and Post Screenshots and Files at Ten Forums

Code:

[Display]

Item	Value	
Name	Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630	
PNP Device ID	PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_3E9B&SUBSYS_08861028&REV_00\3&11583659&0&10	
Adapter Type	Intel(R) UHD Graphics Family, Intel Corporation compatible	
Adapter Description	Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630	
Adapter RAM	1.00 GB (1,073,741,824 bytes)	
Installed Drivers	C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\ki127005.inf_amd64_753576c4406c1193\igdumdim64.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\ki127005.inf_amd64_753576c4406c1193\igd10iumd64.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\ki127005.inf_amd64_753576c4406c1193\igd10iumd64.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\ki127005.inf_amd64_753576c4406c1193\igd12umd64.dll	
Driver Version	23.20.16.4973	
INF File	oem40.inf (iCFL_w10_DS section)	
Color Planes	Not Available	
Color Table Entries	4294967296	
Resolution	1920 x 1080 x 60 hertz	
Bits/Pixel	32	
Memory Address	0xEB000000-0xEBFFFFFF	
Memory Address	0x80000000-0x8FFFFFFF	
I/O Port	0x00005000-0x0000503F	
IRQ Channel	IRQ 4294967279	
Driver	C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERSTORE\FILEREPOSITORY\KI127005.INF_AMD64_753576C4406C1193\IGDKMD64.SYS (23.20.16.4973, 12.22 MB (12,809,640 bytes), 3/9/2018 8:48 PM)	
		
Name	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 with Max-Q Design	
PNP Device ID	PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1C20&SUBSYS_08861028&REV_A1\4&6C98164&0&0008	
Adapter Type	GeForce GTX 1060 with Max-Q Design, NVIDIA compatible	
Adapter Description	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 with Max-Q Design	
Adapter RAM	(1,048,576) bytes	
Installed Drivers	C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvdmi.inf_amd64_e79560dc36a55254\nvldumdx.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvdmi.inf_amd64_e79560dc36a55254\nvldumdx.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvdmi.inf_amd64_e79560dc36a55254\nvldumdx.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvdmi.inf_amd64_e79560dc36a55254\nvldumdx.dll	
Driver Version	26.21.14.4120	
INF File	oem76.inf (Section049 section)	
Color Planes	Not Available	
Color Table Entries	Not Available	
Resolution	Not Available	
Bits/Pixel	Not Available	
Memory Address	0xEC000000-0xED0FFFFF	
Memory Address	0xC0000000-0xD1FFFFFF	
Memory Address	0xD0000000-0xD1FFFFFF	
IRQ Channel	IRQ 4294967280	
Driver	C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERSTORE\FILEREPOSITORY\NVDMI.INF_AMD64_E79560DC36A55254\NVLDDMKM.SYS (26.21.14.4120, 21.70 MB (22,749,640 bytes), 11/14/2019 6:29 PM)

Thank you so much, upgrading the BIOS worked! Marking this as solved.

Glad to read that it's sorted.

You're welcome.