VGA Snooping with Dell BIOS.

Feep · Feb 26, 2006, 01:27 AM

I've been seeing a greatly decreased performance in my gaming applications since a few months back, when I did a reinstallion of Windows. I got fed up with it, so I ran SiSoft Sandra. The only major problem that I could discern was that I have an option called "VGA Palette Snooping" enabled on my ATI Mobility Radeon 9700. Every thread I can find has the same answer: "Go to system BIOS and disable it." Well, that's nice, except that I have a Dell Inspiron 9100, and the BIOS are complete and utter crap. I can't change anything in there. Can anyone direct me to a new set of BIOS, or a way to get around this lock? Thanks.

mkk · Feb 26, 2006, 06:05 AM

It's a compatibility setting for older cards that I guess the Dell engineers left on just to be on the safe side. For what I know it shouldn't really hurt the performance, and unfortunately with a Dell you'll just have to stick to what was given you.

mikey42 · Jun 8, 2006, 10:34 AM

I had performance degradation on my 9100 and went thru months of software upgrades/tweaks but couldnt fix it.

I even rebuilt from the ghost image on the hidden partition but still no good.

Eventually I found an article which said the problem was a build up of dust in the fans and associated heat syncs. I didnt believe it but removed the fans and sure enough they were clogged up.

Cleaned them....and yep it worked. Now flying again.

Needlees to say dell support was useless and didnt know this.

Check the user manual if youre not sure about removing the fans, but its only 5 screws.

Hope this helps.

Feb 26, 2006, 01:27 AM	#1
Feep DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 1 Rep Power: 0	VGA Snooping with Dell BIOS. I've been seeing a greatly decreased performance in my gaming applications since a few months back, when I did a reinstallion of Windows. I got fed up with it, so I ran SiSoft Sandra. The only major problem that I could discern was that I have an option called "VGA Palette Snooping" enabled on my ATI Mobility Radeon 9700. Every thread I can find has the same answer: "Go to system BIOS and disable it." Well, that's nice, except that I have a Dell Inspiron 9100, and the BIOS are complete and utter crap. I can't change anything in there. Can anyone direct me to a new set of BIOS, or a way to get around this lock? Thanks.

Feb 26, 2006, 06:05 AM	#2
mkk Cthulhu/Dagon 2012 Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Gefle, Sweden Posts: 4,384 Rep Power: 120 System Specs	It's a compatibility setting for older cards that I guess the Dell engineers left on just to be on the safe side. For what I know it shouldn't really hurt the performance, and unfortunately with a Dell you'll just have to stick to what was given you.

Jun 8, 2006, 10:34 AM	#3
mikey42 DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 3 Rep Power: 0	I had performance degradation on my 9100 and went thru months of software upgrades/tweaks but couldnt fix it. I even rebuilt from the ghost image on the hidden partition but still no good. Eventually I found an article which said the problem was a build up of dust in the fans and associated heat syncs. I didnt believe it but removed the fans and sure enough they were clogged up. Cleaned them....and yep it worked. Now flying again. Needlees to say dell support was useless and didnt know this. Check the user manual if youre not sure about removing the fans, but its only 5 screws. Hope this helps.