Prasad

Please attempt to run Crysis 3.

Warning, you do this at your own risk and I am not responsible if your laptop bursts into flames.

You're joking, right? I played the entirety of Crysis 3 on my Alienware M17x R4 notebook. It was perfectly cooled by itself, yet I had with me my trusty Notepal U3 Cooler. Aside from the Ceph, nobody burst into flames

Is the nvidia-gtx-870m-oc-edition-rev00.zip updated from before? I remember downloading the first 870M modded vBIOS upon release by @svl7. Is this a newer revision?

People should buy Alienware simply because of Mr Fox

^ Truth...

I follow the instructions to the letters, but got error message.

1. Flash to A11 stock

2. Boot to USB stick

3. Type flash in DOS

Error 28: Protected Range Registers are currently set by BIOS, preventing flash access.

Please contact the target system BIOS vendor for an option to disable Protected Range Registers.

Are you using Windows 8 Secure Boot ?

dadealus, I followed all your instructions. Now that I'm in Windows 8, and having installed all drivers including Intel and AMD display drivers, I'm now unable to switch OFF Enduro. Pressing Fn+F7 changes nothing and just reboots the laptop with both cards once again. Any advice?

Very informative... Will give this a shot! Thank you.

Also, is the official Windows 8 Pro upgrade disc NOT UEFI formatted??

EDIT: Also, after using Windows 8 Fast Boot, would I be able to dual boot with Linux ?

I have a similar issue. I noticed the official Windows 8 upgrade disc contains an 'efi' folder, but not bootable with UEFI, only Legacy. The Windows 7 disc provided with my laptops boots both ways, and so does Ubuntu. I'm on the A09 BIOS as well. The only way I can see installing Windows 8 in UEFI now is on top of Windows 7, but I REALLY don't wanna perform an upgrade over a clean install... Any pointers, anyone?

Nope, as already stated several times, once you're on one of the newer bios version you won't be able to flash a modified version anymore. You can go back using the recovery method... it seems to work for some, but not for all.

Or you can contact me if you want to test something else.

Thanks! I'll give it a shot..

Being on the official stock A09 BIOS currently, can I flash the modified A09 BIOS now?

I am curious as to the release note, all i can guess is this A09 is more for the Windows 8 software, if anything.

Correct, most probably. Also, Dell doesn't seem to make any release notes available on their BIOS updates.

They removed it in A09.

I can see that, Mr. Obvious. What I wanna know from Dell is WHY. It makes sense if it's enabled by default and just not shown anymore though.

Interesting that it added airplane mode hardware maybe its able to turn off all radios in the system for use on planes.

Paranoid Galaxy S3 on Tapatalk 2

I doubt it's actually any hardware at all. At best, it would be software emulating hardware.

Thank you svl7! Phenomenal work, as always!

EDIT: svl7, I flashed the A09 BIOS over the A08 BIOS, and lost the "Windows 8 Fast Boot" option. Should I try a reflash? Maybe the option just isn't there anymore!? :/

This question has been asked several times, on NBR as well. Besides the higher-end top-of-the-shelf grade hardware, the prime reason why I opted for this device was good local warranty (in India) through Dell unlike competing brands like Sager and MSI.

I had similar problems on my M17x R4 whereby the brightness wouldn't reduce either by hardware button controls or software, no matter what I tried. A simple BIOS reflash got it working for me!

Indeed! After flashing the A08 BIOS, I noticed an unidentified device in Device Manager with strange hardware IDs. Then I noticed my touchpad doesn't work anymore! Eagerly awaiting a working A09 BIOS download link..

Turns out my touchpad worked after restart. Also, the unknown device was detected and installed as "DELL Airplane Mode hardware" after flashing A08 BIOS, using Windows Update on Windows 8 x64.

I take it no one has been able to acquire the A09 BIOS posted on the Dell site yet? Let alone mod it..

Ehm....something must have been buggy with the A08 I think, because Dell released A09 today !!!

Indeed! After flashing the A08 BIOS, I noticed an unidentified device in Device Manager with strange hardware IDs. Then I noticed my touchpad doesn't work anymore! Eagerly awaiting a working A09 BIOS download link..

It's real easy to do.

1. Open regedit (Click Start, type regedit.exe and press ENTER)

2. Navigate to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\OEMInformation

3. Create the following three String Value entries

1. Logo - Place a path to a 120x120 BMP image of your choice
   
2. Manufacturer - Alienware
   
3. Model - Your model here
   

4. Exit registry editor

I suggest we rename this thread to Alienware Windows Customizations - Restore Alienware's Look & Feel and sticky it.

Lots of good info here for those who reformat and want to keep the branded AW windows look.

Thanks a ton, mate! That was very handy information. I'm now using my Battlefield 3 avatar in .bmp format as my system OEM logo!