javers

Hi @Klem Sorry to dig up an old thread but could you send me a copy of the this unlocked vbios for the 970m 3GB E90B board id. Many Thanks, Javers

Hi, The files and a guide are located over at Notebook Review http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/alienware-17-r5-r1-ranger-emergency-recovery-bios.811870/ Cheers, Jon

Hi naightmehr, You wouldn't think this would make much difference but try putting the laptop into hibernation, give it a few seconds and wake it up again. You might find the power throttling has gone. I've seen this a lot with m17x r4's and the 980m so the same might apply here. I've tried no end of vbios / driver combinations and never solved the problem other than using this hibernate workaround. My guess is its something between the EC and the VBIOS throttling the card, almost like its under the impression its running on a low wattage psu or something and not letting the gpu run at full power. Jon

If this project is not dead @Swick1981 I can help testing - have a spare M17x R4, GTX 970m and eeprom programmer so can easily recover from any bad flashes :-) Kind Regards, Jon

Hi Cryplz, I would say the preference would be non g-sync. I have a 970m gsync and I only get a blank screen if I boot it PEG but it does work in SG / Optimus. Also worth noting latest NVidia hotfix driver now officially supports the 970m / 980m in the M18x R2 so no more driver modifying, but only standard cards not gsync ones. Jon

Hi, The thread below should have the files you need. For some reason the ec files in that archive are 1MB instead of 128KB, but if you look at them everything beyond 128KB is just null / blank anyhow. Think the ec chip is located at U36? http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/official-alienware-m17x-r3-r4-owners-lounge-thread.669251/page-568#post-10403810 Jon

Hi, Does the battery get seen ok in the bios diagnostics and get reported as healthy? With the laptop off but the charger connected does the Alienware head pulse? Sounds like the bios may not be able to detect the id chip in the charger which could be faulty charger / charger cable / connector on motherboard. Jon

I'm not sure, but from memory I think the AW17 uses the lvds display interface by default, and the AW17 R3 uses edp. If the AW17 has an edp output on the motherboard and you can get an edp cable that fits, it will probably work. Again I think im right in saying the onboard intel gpu on the AW17 is only connected to lvds so you would probably loose optimus and possible have to unlock the bios (which you need to desolder the chip and program on an eeprom programmer) so it can be configured to boot "peg" straight to the gtx 880m and output to the 4k panel over edp. Javers

Not that it helps but just to update, I never did get my AW17 gtx 765m working in the R3. Ended up installing a hd7970m which works not problem with display set to PEG. Jon

Crash I've got exactly the same problem with a 765m trying to install into M17x R3. Unlocked bios A12, IGP disabled and display set to PEG. Upon boot just get black screen (lcd backlight on but no alienware head / bios / post). I removed the 765m and put in into an AW17 and flashed the vbios with svl7's unlocked version. Put the card back in the R3 and now upon boot I get slv7's custom post message "Modded by SVL....." which comes up before alienware head, but still hangs at this point and no alienware head / bios / post. My best guess is a vbios issue with the board version of our 765m cards (mine came from an AW17 originally, maybe the people on here had the AW14 versions? as I know they are different vbios versions). I've not tried flashing the AW14 vbios version onto my 765m as I'm guessing will probably brick it. Jon

Hi, I'm having exactly same issue. Got a dead GTX 675m in my M17x R4 so trying to install a GTX 260m. Card showing in device manager and I'm using drivers from LaptopVideo2Go all installed but like you when use the hotkeys to enable I get the 8 beeps and have to pull the cmoas battery to reset. So far i've tried: Revert Bios back from A12 to A11 Install the unlocked A11 bios Video Configuration -> disable onboard intel Video Configuration -> set primary display to PEG Video Configuration -> Pci Express Graphics -> Always Enable PEG Save and reboot - still get the 8x beeps Hopefully someone here can chime in, my guess would be the vbios on the 260m is too old? Jon

Hi Don, The bios will only be unlocked once flashed with the modified unlocked A12 file. http://forum.techinferno.com/alienware-m17x-aw-17/2279-[m17x-r3]-bios-a12-unlocked-sata-tweak.html <strike></strike> Jon

Also worth checking what driver you are using for the monitor / lcd panel? As this can limit which resolutions the graphics card will / can use. If all else fails guess you could use something like NirCmd to change the resolution on startup NirCmd - Windows command line tool Jon

Yes think the latest you can use is the GTX 880m and you may also have to flash vbios on card. Jon

Hi fldanger, I presume your 880m shows up ok in the bios? Strange if it does but yet doesn't show in device manager or do you mean its showing in device manager but just as a standard vga adapter? Jon