M18XCope123

Hi guys,

Is there anything i can do to unlock the BIOS admin password on my 17 R2, it sounds like it's stored in the NVRAM which is why the "clearing CMOS battery " trick wont work, really appreciate any help on this one  

Hi guys can anybody be so kind to help please I gave a 120hz 17x r5 and I have a 7970m I installed to replace my 780m as it was sold, now when I install the card its recognised in the bios but as soon as I install drivers I get a blank screen, can anybody help does it need a flash to a 8970m or m290x, appreciate any help 

Anybody know of anybody working on a modified bios to unlock the GTX 1080 full power.

i would be happy to pay especially to the likes of the pro @Prema for his work, i am sure there is tonnes of others who would also pay for an unlocked version

7 hours ago, aaronloveweed said:

hello, i'm on your system too, first please specify OS version and gpu's driver in use.

 

in multiplayer gaming at 20°ambient max gpu temp is 75° with fan spin occasionaly, or 65° with fan on half speed (win10 vs win7, every os and driver seems to use in  a different way the fan)

 

Beside the possible software issue, are you ever clean or repaste system and gpus?

 

If i remeber right, ec control is embedded or in bios or in card but not very moddable (bugged hwinfo control give only 2 safe choose) so i'll suggest you to try out different driver version for your 7970m CF.

Here the best drivers for my games(bf4, skyrim, AC, etc.)

if on win7 try 16.12.2whql

if on win 8.1/10 try 15,6b

 

Before a driver install i use displayDriverUnistaller (DDU) in safe mode.

 

regards,

 

luca

 

 

P.S.:

 

try to reflash your bios too, I'm on unlocked v11 from NBR's forum magical user

7 hours ago, aaronloveweed said:

 

I have flashed with Swicks modified bios - that is the only bios that seems to resolved the fan table issues, the machine is now working perfectly ! PHEW  i did try all official bios and a few other unlocked etc, but Swicks was the one that has resolved this for me

Hi Guys, 

I have a similar but slightly different scenario, i hope it's ok i paste the info below from another forum

I purchased a new card from Ali express supposedly for the M18X R2.

I have dome some trawling the forums on this but i haven't seen anything where it mentions if you have a Crossfire setup.
I removed all drivers fresh installation enabled Crossfire - and ran a 3D Benchmark, the results were VERY poor, so it led me to investigate the bios etc



I have a Dell 7970M on the latest video bios.
BIOS Version - 015.022.000.001 - BIOS Part Number = 113-C42904A1-119

The new second GPU appears to be a Clevo card from what i have seen on the Vbios.
BIOS Version = 015.021.000.002 BIOS Part Number = BR42768.008

My question is , is there a way i can flash the second GPU to match the Dell Vbios ? ATIflash is refusing to let me flash the dell bios "hardware mismatch".
 

* Update i have managed to flash the Clevo bios to the same as the Dells but the FPS is really bad on 3D Mark 11 as a benchmark* 
 

Any help would be appreciated, before i send this damn this back. Why people list items that are not compatible ?

On 2/3/2016 at 9:54 AM, killerii said:

I got word from the repair agents and they said it was a video card issue. They have fixed it and charged $220 but i hope they are right and its all sorted.

i think i will keep the laptop. i am getting it back on monday so ill be able to see if its back too 100%.

as said before the new ones dont seem to hold a candle to the old 18XR2.

 

i also have an asus ROG G750 with a 780m and 24gb of ram ( typing this on it) and the build quality seems to be better than that of my friends 2014 AW17r2 and is actually faster.

one thing i have to say though his runs insanely cold!! i have NEVER seen it get over 62'C (143.6*F)

its the coldest running laptop ive ever seen!

the only other advantage i can think of it that you can easily change thermal paste and clean it as it have 2 screws and you at the GPU and CPU.

 

personally i LOVE the 18xR2's screen. its so clear and crisp. The one on my ROG is dull and shabby in comparison to it.

speakers are also incredible compared to the new AW and the ROG G750

 

That's good , have you gone for a reball / reflow or a replacement GPU?

Err i am guessing he was using HWINFO and running a custom fan profile, as Dell got some serious flack for most of the Bios revisions they were releasing , the laptops fans would only kick in above 65 degrees i think it was? My touchpad area was very warm under general light use, not gaming,.

It was only on version AO6 they officially recognized the issue and released the bios below adjusting the fan tables slightly. Still in my opinion nowhere near what they needed to be.

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=1WTD5&fileId=3485796646&osCode=W764&productCode=alienware-17-r2&languageCode=EN&categoryId=BI

This model also suffered from a botched 180Watt adapter from the factory with a 980MGTX, in AO2 i think it was they made the extra juice up from the battery which is naughty in my opinion !

Hi there you said 8 beeps ?

8 beeps is a faulty LCD, these can be purchased from ebay pretty cheap now !

Even the 3 / 7 beep error code - motherboard chipset failure etc can be fixed by a professional who specializes in this area at a decent price.

I have had all 3 of the above beep codes on Alienware systems and had all fixed  cheaply. 

On 1/27/2016 at 0:28 AM, killerii said:

just an update the laptop is being sent away today. should be back in 3 weeks. when it gets back ill look into upgrading ill also look into getting an i7 3920mx installed while i'm at it.

 

off topic that do you guys think about the new alienware 17 R2s i like the way they look but i feel they arent built as well. anyone else feel this way?

I can also comment on the new Alienware 17 R2's  i have owned one of these. 

The main disadvantage for me was the build quality, it is appalling in comparison to the M18X R2. I also stripped it down to repaste the CPU/GPU, the motherboard and all internals appear very cheap as well as being BGA (cannot upgrade). The last main point, and a really irritating point.... THE HEAT !  even with the latest bios, The fan tables in the Bios are poor and the CPU and GPU get way 2 hot before the fan kicks in. The touchpad area is rather warm.

The main advantage is the screen which is lovely and the graphics amp you can buy.

Personally avoid and keep the R2, i have the R2 as  my personal rig and have owned in the past the below systems

M17X R4 - 3740QM  - 7970M

 M18X R1 - 2960XM - Dual 6990'ms

 M18X R2 - 3920XM - Dual 7970M's

 M18X R3 - I7 - Crossfire M290X's 

 Alienware 17 R2 , 4710QM , 970M GTX

Also recently had a Asus G751 JT with G Sync, pretty decent laptop. Build quality is much better than what the latest Alienware's.

Hope this helps !

I did read a while back that the crossfire cables from Nvidia were failing due to the heat being transferred into the cable. I did a mod once with some thermal strips placed under the cable to keep it from becoming too warm ! Might be worth doing if you are worried

You can pickup a used M18x r2 motherboard for around, £150-180 from USA with all shipping included. I got a R1 motherboard yesterday for £130. Brand new they are still in excess of £300-400. 

Have you tested the dedicated cards to check they performing properly ?
It sounds to me like 1 of your dedicated GPU's may have failed.

On 10/15/2015 at 11:22 PM, Homer_S said:

Yes, they will fit. I just did the whole hog upgrade from M18xR1 to M18xR2 with 980M's in SLI. Still waiting on safe drivers to update to more current than 353.30.

Homer

Same, i have done a lot of upgrades from 6990M's in systems to 7970M's and the 100WATT heatsink although PN is different, it physically looks identical

You can buy 0.5 and double up if you need to !

as long as it has a good contact with the heatsink it will be ok, remember when installing the 780M into the  M18X R1/R2 it is not supported naturally so you need modified drivers

Hope this helps 

I don't think this works with Windows 7.

You need to have UEFI enabled and Windows 8 / 10 for this to work

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/aw-m18x-r2-dual-980m-sli-upgrade.765169/

Huge thread here for you to read through.