Going to test clevo 980m in alienware m17x R4, m18x R2, AW17

[godfafa]

I GOT IT!

Mr Fox and friends I just tried booting 7 on my girlfriends 17 since I don't have my m18x with me and it was also getting stuck at starting windows.

Here's what I did. First go to the bios and turn the boot setting to uefi. Now turn off fast boot and secure boot. Then turn ON legacy option rom.

The next step is important. Insert your dvd/usb and press f12 to open up the boot selection device. Make sure to select the dvd/usb under UEFI boot and not legacy boot! This will boot the windows 7 install in uefi mode.

Now let windows install. Once it has completed 100% you may go back to the bios and disable legacy option rom. You should end up with a true uefi windows 7 install at the end. I think this may have been how I also installed on my m18x in uefi but I don't exactly remember, I'd have to try it out.

See if this allows the 980M to work.

That doens't work for me again.

Actually, I have always installed windows 7 in such way.

I always used my DVD with UEFI (/w legacy rom load).

But if I disable legacy rom load, windows stop at loading, just showing "starting windows blah blah"..

[ssj92]

That doens't work for me again.

What exactly doesn't work? It stays stuck on starting windows or what?

[Guest]

OK thanks, I am going to try that. I did not know it was necessary to do that manual selection of the boot device from the F12 menu. I hope that's the ticket. I'll be back with a report. I don't have 980M yet, but if this is successful there is no reason it won't work. It's the legacy settings in the BIOS that is messing up 980M.

[godfafa]

What exactly doesn't work? It stays stuck on starting windows or what?

yeah you got it correct. Stuck on starting windows.

I googled alot and people say it is impossible to install windows 7 without CSM or legacy support.

Because the graphic driver or vbios is not on the UEFI bios of alieware, it will stop loading windows without legacy rom load.

[Guest]

Well, I'm trying again. It appeared to be frozen, but the process seems to be EXTREMELY slow. It is not frozen. The white bar to load setup files took about 4 minutes and it has taken about 10 or 15 minutes for the "Expanding Windows Files" to reach 10%.

I do not have any never-used drives, nor should that be necessary. I ran a diskpart "clean" and "convert gpt" command on the drives and let Windows Setup create new GPT partitions in unallocated disk space. I going to run to the corner store and let it run a long time to see if it actually finishes.

By selecting the boot device from F12 instead of letting the BIOS choose what to boot I am seeing Alienware wallpaper in Windows Setup, which I have never seen before. Until now there has never been any reason for me to NOT USE Legacy Boot options. Honestly, I am a little bit pissed that 980M would require this kind of bullcrap. I don't have any reason to dislike or not use Legacy Boot. This new "secure" feces merely gives Micro$hift too much control over things. I SPECIFICALLY DO NOT want anything to require a digital signature or certificate, LOL. That kind of stuff is just garbage that has no place on consumer or enthusiast machines.

[Guest]

@ssj92 - Nope! Thanks for the tip, but... No bueno. Using EFI boot took Windows Setup almost three times longer than normal to complete. It completed successfully, but as soon as Legacy Option ROM is turned off Windows goes into a black screen with cyclical BSOD/reboot mode. The option to repair Windows comes up automatically, as expected, and the repair starts to load then the screen goes black and nothing ever happens at that point. Just stays black.... no reboot... nothing.

I may try flashing down to A10 just to confirm there's not something that was goofed up in A11. Peter and @godfafa, are you guys on A10? If so, that may just be a waste of my time.

[godfafa]

@ssj92 - Nope! Thanks for the tip, but... No bueno. Using EFI boot took Windows Setup almost three times longer than normal to complete. It completed successfully, but as soon as Legacy Option ROM is turned off Windows goes into a black screen with cyclical BSOD/reboot mode. The option to repair Windows comes up automatically, as expected, and the repair starts to load then the screen goes black and nothing ever happens at that point. Just stays black.... no reboot... nothing.

I may try flashing down to A10 just to confirm there's not something that was goofed up in A11. Peter and @godfafa, are you guys on A10? If so, that may just be a waste of my time.

The newest unlocked bios for m18x R2 is A10, isn't it?

So I am with A10.

[lechonman]

3d screen is wrking for anybody with 980????

[godfafa]

3d screen is wrking for anybody with 980????

3D screen should not work.

But 120hz works. I confirmed with my two eyes.

[TBoneSan]

Brother Fox, I didn't know GPT partitions were bootable?

I have A03 bios and am trying to get time between looking after my 5 month old boy and sick wife to try and give it a go on my end. No promises any time soon

[J95]

@ssj92 - Nope! Thanks for the tip, but... No bueno. Using EFI boot took Windows Setup almost three times longer than normal to complete. It completed successfully, but as soon as Legacy Option ROM is turned off Windows goes into a black screen with cyclical BSOD/reboot mode. The option to repair Windows comes up automatically, as expected, and the repair starts to load then the screen goes black and nothing ever happens at that point. Just stays black.... no reboot... nothing.

I may try flashing down to A10 just to confirm there's not something that was goofed up in A11. Peter and @godfafa, are you guys on A10? If so, that may just be a waste of my time.

[MENTION=119]Mr. Fox[/MENTION] I did this long time ago, can't remember if it was stock A13 latest BIOS (power lock issue). Anyway, Backup your current win7 installation and try what I mentioned before (crappy video quality). @ssj92 your 'trick' (BIOS mode) won't create the necessary partitions UEFI installation, HM77 AW / A11 Unlocked BIOS.

.

[rewben]

That doens't work. Tried that already.

We are not talking about UEFI with legacy load but UEFI without legacy load.

oh. i missed that sorry. i tested it just now. yes w7 sp1 in aw18 uefi (stock bios) can run only with legacy load on. with legacy off, it booted to the desktop, but the boot screen never go away. i could type in my password blindly and went in the desktop, and then press alt+f4 to shut the machine down.

[godfafa]

oh. i missed that sorry. i tested it just now. yes w7 sp1 in aw18 uefi (stock bios) can run only with legacy load on. with legacy off, it booted to the desktop, but the boot screen never go away. i could type in my password blindly and went in the desktop, and then press alt+f4 to shut the machine down.

Yeah exactly. It's not a matter of partition or GPT thing. It's the graphic that matters in native UEFI of win7.

Screen doens't work. That's the point.

[Guest]

@Mr. Fox I did this long time ago, can't remember if it was stock A13 latest BIOS (power lock issue). Anyway, Backup your current win7 installation and try what I mentioned before (crappy video quality). @ssj92 your 'trick' (BIOS mode) won't create the necessary partitions UEFI installation, HM77 AW / A11 Unlocked BIOS.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]13262[/ATTACH]

.

Brother @J95, I don't remember reading what you said. Was it in this thread?

[lechonman]

3d will work anytime??? and optimus disable????

[J95]

Brother @<u><a href="http://forum.techinferno.com/member.php?u=3012" target="_blank">J95</a></u>, I don't remember reading what you said. Was it in this thread?

Well done. All necessary steps to convert current installation, even using installation media, last step...

[godfafa]

Well done. All necessary steps, even installation...

Thanks for the video.

But isn't that method just moving the pre-installed windows to GPT partition?

I am saying this because, if we clean-install windows in UEFI without legacy rom load, the windows will be installed in GPT partition.

That's not the problem.

The problem is when you run windows 7 in UEFI (without legacy rom load) which is already installed in GPT, will not load graphic driver.

And the results are it looks it is stuck somewhere at screen but actually it is booted.

We can even alt - F4 to turn off the laptop though the screen shows "starting windows".

[TBoneSan]

This I didn't know. A03 (unlocked) has no option to switch between Legacy and UEFI and all the other boot options? Something I'm missing?

Perhaps this is a chance for me to update and try one of the other BIOS others haven't.. thoughts ?

[godfafa]

This I didn't know. A03 (unlocked) has no option to switch between Legacy and UEFI and all the other boot options? Something I'm missing?

Perhaps this is a chance for me to update and try one of the other BIOS others haven't.. thoughts ?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]13264[/ATTACH]

Yes you definitely need to update your bios. At the time of A03, I guess there was no UEFI? or UEFI wasn't that popoular.

[TBoneSan]

Anyone recommend a bios? I know they are all pretty much the same..

I'll go with A08 .. http://forum.techinferno.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=31

I thought we had A10 unlocked..?

[Guest]

Yes you definitely need to update your bios. At the time of A03, I guess there was no UEFI? or UEFI wasn't that popoular.

If the PC gods (or the people making all of the important decisions at Alienware) had brains, that level of BIOS complexity is exactly where we would be today instead of seeing urinary tract infections like this messing up our lives. You can't have something broken that hasn't been fixed since before the problem was invented. Today we have an example of what the "bad new days" look like... more to follow.

@TBoneSan - first thought I had was to try A03, but it was attempted and no dice. Guess what that means? NO 980M for M17xR3 or M18xR1... that just so wrong. *inserts another needle into voodoo doll*

Brother Fox, I didn't know GPT partitions were bootable?

There was no reason for us to bother knowing, or to care, before 2TB volumes. It just didn't matter, period. That was before doctor evil got his foot in the door.Anyone that needs more than 2 or 3 partitions on the same drive needs to see a shrink

- - - Updated - - -

So for my old m17x r2 who hasn't got uefi bios it's not availible , sad news :[

I wish the whole industry had no such thing as a retarded BIOS to stand between the customer and the hardware of their own choosing. "Progress" my a$$... with a strong emphasis on emphasis on $$. The inventors of this butt crust can bite my butt.

[jallar1234]

so a final summary is that gtx 980m sli will work in both the alienwar m18x r2 and the alienware 18 if running uefi enabled without legacy support? the vbios must be v12 right? and for drivers, where can i get those?

Thanks

[tanzmiester]

let me see if i got this right. no luck with uefi on m18x r1? no chance for 980m or 970m?

and you guys with Uefi will have to take the cards out in case the bios resets to default?

does that mean that this is not a 100% solution and just a workaround?

in my Clevo i use legacy bios with 2x980m with no problem.

now i have these another 2 gtx980 that i bought for my m18x r1 and had no luck booting them.

possible the solution is still out there? with modded vBios maybe?

it's not possible to adapt m18x r2 bios to fit m18x r1 with some modding, isnt it?

[TBoneSan]

No luck getting UEFI to play ball with windows 7. I was running A10 Unlocked. I used an bootable ISO of the Alienware w7 install.

I got as far as the windows load screen too.

[etienne51]

Ok guys, first of all, this is really a great job you all did here. I read everything from the beginning. Kudos to everyone in this topic for what you've achieved!

So for the moment as far as I know this is what we've got:

- GTX 980M running (along with the integrated graphics) with Optimus, on either Windows 7 or 8, so no SLI, no 120Hz or 3D possible in this configuration, and Optimus is not really interesting

- GTX 980M running (alone) without Optimus when the BIOS is set to TRUE UEFI mode (no Legacy). In this case SLI and 120Hz are working (no 3D), but until now, it was limited to Windows 8

I just got Windows 7 to boot fine to the desktop on my M17x R4, with the BIOS set to TRUE UEFI, with Legacy disabled, Secure Boot disabled, and Fast Boot disabled as well.

Here is the video: Windows 7 UEFI boot on Alienware M17x R4 - YouTube

As you can see, I don't have a GTX980M to test everything at the moment, I only have the integrated HD 4000 (something went wrong with my AMD months ago, it's not working anymore).

I hope I'm going to get one soon, next month probably, for the moment you guys can try this method and tell us if it's working well on Windows 7.

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So, now how I did it...

1. Get a disk or an ISO of Windows 7 x64 SP1 (I used the Pro edition, but it should not matter anyway). Be sure this is not an upgrade disk, because those ones kinda have some issues with booting in an UEFI environment.

2. Either burn it to a DVD, or create a USB boot key with Rufus (I used the latest 1.4.12 version).

Download here: Rufus - Create bootable USB drives the easy way

If using Rufus, you need to select your ISO first (or it will reset all the other options set before). Then select your usb key, GPT for UEFI, FAT32 for the filesystem (and I used 4096 for the last option). Leave the last 3 options checked, hit the Start button and wait until it ends. You key is ready to be plugged to the Alienware.

3. Now get into the Bios (I have revision A11 unlocked). In the boot menu, ensure those options are set correctly.

Boot List Option => UEFI

Load Legacy Option Rom => Enabled (for the moment)

Secure Boot => Disabled

Windows 8 Fast Boot => Disabled

Save the changes. Okay, now the Alienware is ready for Windows 7 install.

4. Insert the DVD or usb key, reboot the computer and hit F12 to choose the UEFI version of the DVD or usb key to boot from.

5. Once you get to the installer, you have to ensure your hard drive is empty, and in GPT partition table.

To do so, you need to go to the "Repair your computer" menu, "Use recovery tools [...]", and select "Command Prompt".

Then type in those commands.

> diskpart

> list disk (Check that your hard drive has "GPT" checked, and remember the disk number)

> select disk # (# beeing the disk number for the drive you're going to install Windows 7 on)

> clean (erases all partitions on this disk)

> convert gpt (only if the disk needs to be converted to GPT partition table)

> exit

You can now close the commamd prompt, and start the Windows 7 setup.

6. Do a fresh install, select the empty disk and let things go on until you get to the desktop.

Now you have a working, clean, Windows 7 you can work on, but it's still booting in Legacy mode. The thing is, now you can try to disable Legacy into the BIOS, but you will notice that the system boots up, gets to the desktop in background, but you will still see the "Starting Windows" screen showing up. So it's still not working. Get back to Legacy mode, there are still some things to do to get rid of that issue.

7. Let's install all drivers needed EXCEPT Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver!

8. Now, connect the laptop to internet if not, and refresh Windows Update. Let the computer download and install all the updates needed until it says "No important updades available". Double check with "Check for updates".

9. Then, you need to download the Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver and software from Intel website here. It's the file named "iata_enu.exe".

IRST: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&ProdId=2101&DwnldID=22194&ProductFamily=Software+Products&ProductLine=Chipset+Software&ProductProduct=Intel%C2%AE+Rapid+Storage+Technology+%28Intel%C2%AE+RST%29〈=eng

Install it, reboot your computer

10. Now you can reboot again to the BIOS, and change this option.

Load Legacy Option Rom => Disabled (finally we get to it...)

Save the changes. Reboot to Windows 7, everything should now be fine. You should be able to boot to the desktop again, and your operating system is running in true UEFI mode. Congrats!

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So now let us know how it works on your laptops!