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Ah, I see. Yeah, usually though its AUTO selected to SG , which is optimus capable. in worse case you get 8 beeps until you turn on and off your computer enough it resets everything by default.

Which gpu do you have? The problem is that my f7 (I/d gfx) didn't work anymore so I had to put unlocked bios! And is also great for oc feature

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  • 2 weeks later...
Absolutely no problem! Just use the file from dell. It will downgrade to a11 (I think is beacayse a13 is almost the same) and you can flash with prr in the main post. It's easy and safe as far as I know! If I had tried this before I would have save my other mobo without downgrading to a5. 300€ gone!:/

I understand that first time: you downgrade fro A13 to A05 and mobo was dead and you replaced it?

second time: you downgrade from A13 to A011, then to A11 unlocked, install 780m and its ok now? this time you use prrtool?

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  • 1 month later...

I just cant download it... ://

Dell has hidden a lot of options in the BIOS of the Alienware M17x R4, the modified BIOS versions here will show you all the hidden menus and allow you to further tweak your system and optimize its performance.

Don't change anything you're not familiar with. There might be functions available which don't work on your system, so use this BIOS with care. It should only be used by advanced users.

In case you mess up and your system refuses to boot after applying the changes you make, remove the AC adapter, battery and coin cell battery in order to clear the non-volatile ram of the BIOS. This should fix most issues.

***********************

Instructions:

If you're on A05 or an earlier version, you can flash the modified bios by simply using the InsydeFlash utility provided with the official bios update on the Dell support site.

However, once you're on a version newer than A05, things get a bit more complicated. There are two options then:

- Method 1:

Revert to stock A05 or earlier by using the Insyde USB bios recovery method, and then flash the modified bios by using the official tools (InsydeFlash).

- Method 2 (recommended):

Flash the modified Bios from DOS by using the FPT tool:

NOTE: The flashing from DOS as described above will only update the BIOS, not the rest of the firmware. Therefore I strongly advise you to first flash the stock version of the bios you want by using the official update provided by Dell, and once that's done you can go ahead and flash the modified version of your bios by following the instructions above.

Download links to the unlocked M17x R4 BIOS versions:

  • M17x R4 - BIOS A05 [unlocked]
  • M17x R4 - BIOS A08 [unlocked] - see attachment
  • M17x R4 - BIOS A09 [unlocked] - see attachment
  • M17x R4 - BIOS A10 [unlocked] - see attachment
  • [FPT] M17x R4 - BIOS A10 [unlocked] - see attachment
  • [FPT] M17x R4 - BIOS A11 [unlocked] - see attachment

Donation link, in case you want to buy me a beer ;)

Here some pictures of the menus (thanks a lot for the pics @deadbydawn!)

[ATTACH=CONFIG]4705[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]4706[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]4707[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]4708[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]4709[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]4710[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]4711[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]4712[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]4713[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]4714[/ATTACH]

I want to thank @widezu69 for testing !!

It's hard to find users who are willing to risk their system in order to test a mod, I greatly appreciate this! Thank you!!

*********

Flash and use at your own risk. I don't take any responsibility for any possible damages on your system.

The software which I provide here ('prr tool') comes with absolutely no warranty to the extent permitted by applicable law.

___

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  • 1 month later...
I understand that first time: you downgrade fro A13 to A05 and mobo was dead and you replaced it?

second time: you downgrade from A13 to A011, then to A11 unlocked, install 780m and its ok now? this time you use prrtool?

absolutely exact! byt from a13 to a05 it was a blind flash

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  • 2 weeks later...
I just cant download it... ://

Yeah Santz we try and make sure you stick around abit longer, and not take off once you get what you want haha !

Make a few posts, tell us your issues and concerns, maybe there is more to it then just silently downloading what you need and then being quiet. We all help each other, thats the whole point in being a community.

You know what I mean. Anyways, welcome to tech Inferno !

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I've bought myself a GTX 980m to upgrade my m17x r4 ( a12 BIOS ) with, but I've had some trouble getting it to work as appearently more people did...

Now I've found a guide a while ago made by Woodzstack which I've followed step by step, but it still doesn't seem to work in dedicated. ( The card does show up in Optimus, but once I switch to Dedicated it doesn't even appear anymore )

After quite a bit of reading on this forum I've noticed everyone talking about the unlocked BIOS versions to get this card to work even though it was never mentioned on the guide I've read ( Made by Woodzstock ).

So all I'll have to do is download and install the unlocked A11 BIOS so I can turn off the Integrated Graphic Chip and it will work? I'd like to run in dedicated only.

This is my first attempt to work on laptops ( I've been modifying / building desktops before though ), also my first post so I'll got a couple to go before I can download anything...

English is not my first language so I hope I've read / understood everything properly so far lol.

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@Plaegdraegherit depends on what operating system if your on windows 7 it will only work with optimums. Its a problem with the UEFI. to get it to work with dedicated & optimus you need to bee running in pure UEFI with GPT. with win 7 its need part of it self in MBR to boot.

it can be done on win 8 & above but you will need to have your drive formatted as GPT

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Hey,

I made a post on NBR about this, and there were a few posts in this thread about it, but I didn't find a definitive answer.

No matter what I do, I can't get the TDP to unlock. I've tried XTU, bios, and Throttlestop, but everytime I benchmark in XTU, it caps at 55w or so, give or take a few. Highest I've seen was 57w maybe.

Am I the only one with this problem?

3940xm CPU

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  • 1 month later...

first, I want to say THANK YOU for this wonderful BIOS hack. It's really great to have all these menus unlocked!

For those trying it for the first time: it Beeps a LOT flashing in DOS, mine did for about 5 minutes. Let it run for a while and don't turn it off!

Now, I did this mod because my GPU fan is not responding on my M17X R4 except for when I use HWiNFO64. So I know the mobo works, but I don't understand the unlocked thermal settings. As far as I can tell, these are only for the CPU. Is there a tutorial on this section I could read? Has anyone managed to adjust the GPU fan in these settings?

Thanks!

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  • 3 weeks later...

I will try right now, i have strange case, m17x R4 was flashed with new bios and after that he dead, but before he have "unlocked" bios and he have mod with unswitchible GPU, all cards intel adn amd 7970m work in one time, now i resoldeer bios and EC chip and system works fine but settings from previos chips stay there and i can use laptop properly, when i install drivers on amd all system freez, because two cards work in one time.

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how come i cant install the a10 bios on my m17xr4 keeps on telling me invalid frimware..

Edited--

i tried doing blind flashing keeps telling me error 28 protected range users

any tips how to by pass this?

i need the unlocked bios badly to install GTX980m on my m17xr4

thanks

2nd Edit--

weeew noob mistake guys i forgot to run prr2 before flashing.

A11 works fine now thanks

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how come i cant install the a10 bios on my m17xr4 keeps on telling me invalid frimware..

Edited--

i tried doing blind flashing keeps telling me error 28 protected range users

any tips how to by pass this?

i need the unlocked bios badly to install GTX980m on my m17xr4

thanks

2nd Edit--

weeew noob mistake guys i forgot to run prr2 before flashing.

A11 works fine now thanks

[emoji106]

Sent from my SM-G928F using Tapatalk

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  • Brian pinned this topic

hi i have bought a 880m for my m17x r4 to upgrade my old 675m. all i had till now were only problem. first when i installed new card (i hadoriginal dell  a13 bios and uefi mode setup in bios)

 

i had the message no card found. so i tried with windows 10 because i thouth it was a uefi problem, but all was the same. after reverting back to windows 7 ,i was a bit able to install the cardd with the mod inf, but after the rebook video card disappear. now i have downgraded from a13 to original a11 to try ith this a11  unlocked, but im not able to download.  anyone can confirm that 880m wont work with original bios ?

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On 2015. 9. 30. at 1:52 PM, danyune said:

Hey,

I made a post on NBR about this, and there were a few posts in this thread about it, but I didn't find a definitive answer.

No matter what I do, I can't get the TDP to unlock. I've tried XTU, bios, and Throttlestop, but everytime I benchmark in XTU, it caps at 55w or so, give or take a few. Highest I've seen was 57w maybe.

Am I the only one with this problem?

3940xm CPU


No you are the only one.

@j95 and I have mentioned the problem a few years ago already.

No one has solved it. There is no way to unlock the true "TDP lock" in m17x R4.

That's why it is very important to use "good" CPU in m17x R4. The max TDP it can handle is 68w.

 

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On 12/23/2015 at 3:16 PM, Naberius said:

Hi, @svl7 - can you check the secondary files attached to your post? (the prr tool and dos fpt). I'm getting 404s on them.

 

I'll answer this one for myself: the tools are still properly linked in: https://www.techinferno.com/index.php?/forums/topic/1870-flash-modified-biosuefi-which-are-digitally-signed-circumvent-secure-flash/

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  • Founder
15 minutes ago, PCNixSupport said:

Running A11 on M17x-R4 and I just installed a 780M - Can't download the custom bios and computer owner is leaving country tonight.

 

See here: https://www.techinferno.com/index.php?/announcement/4-user-account-promotions-please-read/

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