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G.R.A.M.P.S.

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G.R.A.M.P.S. last won the day on April 29 2019

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About G.R.A.M.P.S.

  • Birthday 05/01/1959

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    G.E.E.P.S.

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    Male
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    South Carolina

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  1. If your not allowed to repair it,

    If you are told you can't upgrade it,

    Do you really OWN it?

    Don't support THOWAWAY culture.

    Don't buy BGA crap!

  2. Cats don't like 8 beeps.

    Nobody does.

  3. You will need the A11 unlocked Bios by Swick found on this website. If you are running a single 980 an upgraded vBios is in my mind not necessary. If you have dual 980's its another story. You can (and should) download from this site once you have met the minimum qualifications for membership (i.e. posts) or you have purchased the Elite Membership. I did both and I am glad I did. If you are new to the M18x R2 you can learn all about it on this website. Enjoy! P.S. -You might be able to search and find an unlocked Bios download on other sites but there is no telling what your outcome will be. Always backup and know how to restore your Bios from a backup before you proceed. Hope that helps.
  4. I don't know if you ran across this but Mr Fox found a solution that helped me once: https://www.dell.com/community/Alienware-General-Read-Only/Solution-M18x-R2-Fails-POST-with-8-Beeps-Switching-Graphics-Mode/td-p/5626678
  5. Glad to know the M18xR2 is still alive despite "End of Life" from Dell. To my knowledge (limited though it may be) if you want Maxwell coverage (and you do) you will need the A11 Bios by Swick on this site pretty much guaranteed to work. Don't waste your time with the A12 on the Dell web site. Unlocked A11 works like a cool breeze. Please, you don't need to pay. Just post questions and you get access, just read the rules. Simple. This site is a gold mine for your Rig and many others. I have trolled many hours and cured many ills, solved many problems. Trust me, there are a great many authors here who stepped in whatever problem you are having and walked out unscathed and smelling like a rose. Its worth it to post a few questions. Worth It. Look and Ye shall stumble upon. Or not. Your mileage may vary. Good Luck. BTW, why only one 980M? Your Rig was made for two?
  6. When you installed the modded bios it might be set to IGFX by default. Try switching to PEG.
  7. Those clips are easy to break. Replaced my motherboard when it it happened to my R2. You might search for a fix but Dell did not make these clips replaceable. But If you do find a fix, be the first to post it. Thanks.
  8. I love Windows 7 and my R1 works just fine. I am not sure how UEFI would work in the R1. I hear others have done it. I'm just not ready to make that transition.
  9. The above trick worked for me. Once you clear CMOS, settings go to default. You should be able to see your card on the first page of the BIOS when you hit F2. I am assuming your card is brand new. You should NOT need to change the voltage settings; it should run with the default BIOS settings to POST. If you do not see the new 580m and your 560m works just fine you may have a bad card or the vBios may not be compatible with the M18xR1 (e.g. MSI) and needs to be re-flashed. These are possibilities. The 580m should be PnP if the setup works for your 560m which leads me to think there is something wrong with your new card or it is not seated correctly in the primary slot. I am out of ideas at this point. I would re-trace your steps and graze more threads.
  10. Try this: With your 560m up and running, go into the Bios and take a picture of all your settings (this may seem obvious but it is important; I have mine in my phone for reference). Once you have your M18xR1 running with the 560m, shut it down and install the 580m in the Master slot. After you have it assembled, try starting it up again. If you get the 8 beeps before you have a chance to hit F2, power the laptop down with the power button and try the following fix posted years ago by renowned Mr. Fox (thanks @Mr. Fox): https://community.dell.com/thread/6037 Remember when you clear CMOS all settings go to default and your new 580m should be listed in the first page of the BIOS. Then you can set the time and date and put in all the settings that you recorded earlier prior to install. If you new card does not show in the BIOS page, check to see if you video setting is set to PEG (not IGFX). Hope that works. -G *PS -Refer to the Benchmarking threads on this site and NBR (and there are pages and pages to read) to help with any overclocking adjustments and tweaks.
  11. Master is located to the left of the CPU slot.
  12. I don't see your sig but I assume you have a M18xR1 running fine on the 560m and you are trying to replace it with the 580m. Installation should be PnP. The M18xR1 is designed to have two cards, but will run on one card IF that card is in the Master slot. I think both the M18R1 and M18R2 will give you 8 beeps and a black screen if you try using only one card in the secondary. Perhaps with more details about your Rig and there might be a work around somewhere. Also, if you have the unlocked A05 Bios make sure that the Turbo Flex Support is Disabled; this a known issue causing 8 beeps and a black screen.
  13. Hello there. Yes AW18 is a very different animal compared to the M18xR2. Up to just recently, an unlocked Bios was only available in the latter. Looks like someone finally unlocked the AW18, found in NBR just today. Sounds interesting: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/release-alienware-18-bios-a12-unlocked.802249/ I would tread carefully before you unzip any files or execute any commands. Read about the warnings. May only benefit the MX cpus. Worth looking into BUT I would make sure to back up your bios first.
  14. This post has cob webs: Any follow up? Did you ever get your Rig up and running? Im just wondering since I just went through the same deal. Best Regards
  15. Yes, I was concerned about that too. But that problem has been addressed and if you look into the link in my previous post. You will see that each post by @J95 he methodically removes the offending folders PRIOR to hitting the install button. Let me back up and explain: You may notice when you first double click on the Nvida driver install, it automatically copies the install programs to the hard drive and looks for matching machine numbers (in the .inf folder). When it does not find the right ID number on your M18xR2, you will get a message that your 'system is incompatible'. You then close out the program and go your hard drive and find the Nvidia folder and from here you should put in the modded .inf in the display folder and then removed the offending folders indicated (repeatedly) by @j95 and finally THEN click the install button. You may find that this not only protects your screen from sudden death, it may also make you feel better and boosts your overall self esteem (LOL). But seriously, I too was reluctant to upgrade because of all the fear and loathing involved with doing something really wrong. But I did my homework, read each post carefully and in the end I can say nothing spontaneously exploded; everything worked as it should. And I was glad I upgraded: the newer games play much smoother and faster than the previous cards, the AMD 7970CF. True there is just a little CPU throttle every now and then (probably due to limitations of the PSU), but I can't really tell its happening and it doesn't affect gameplay. Take your time and do it right the first time. Good Luck. Have Fun!
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