jimmy_grimble

just successfully revive my m17x r4.

for those who bricked their laptop by following these guide:
https://www.techinferno.com/index.php?/forums/topic/1525-m17x-r4-bricked-bios-fix/
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/m17x-r4-bricked-bios-recovery-not-vbios.683080/

you guys still have another method to bring back the motherboard alive without replacing the motherboard.

the process in quite straight-forward but require additional hardware.
u can get from here
1. USB Programmer
2. SOIC Test Clip

You need to tear down your laptop to access the BIOS chip and EC chip.
Use THIS guide until step 26.
The location of chip can be found in this image 
https://ibb.co/mwFYFG

Use test clip to connect the chip with the USB Programmer.
the BIOS chip (at U48) can be connected easily but the EC Chip (at U36) need extra adjustment to connect all pins to the test clip. 

run the usb programmer software. read the content of both chip and save them as backup (its a good practice mention by t456)
after saving the original binaries, you can write the working binaries obtain in here: (thanks again t456)
M17x R4, bios and ec A11, A12 and A13.7z

choose filename containing bios for U48 chip and EC for U36 chip.
please verify the content of the chip with the loaded binary to make sure the content is the same.
in my case, the EC chip failed to store the working binary. thus i need to find new EC chip and replace it. 
you can get the chip name from the USB programmer software if you guys also face the same problem.

after successfully write new binaries to both chip, you can assemble back the laptop and turn it on. 

*i choose A11 bios and its working well. 

I think thats all for now. total cost for this method is less than 30 dollar. changing whole motherboard will cost around 270 dollar.

i posted this first in notebookreview forum and shared it here in case others wanna try this method.

sorry for reviving this thread.

i follow the process to blind flash my m17x r4 bios and failed. 

now the laptop does not power at all.

I have done some research about reprogramming the bios and ec chip.

just wondering if anybody here successfully got their m17x r4 working back after reprogram those two chip?

anybody here got problem with integrated web camera after latest windows 10 creator update?  

I'm using m17x r4 and got many problem after that update. 

i got a problem enabling 3D vision in my m17x r4. I already do re-install my windows but the nvidia stereoscopic 3D usb controller is still missing from device manager. nvidia control panel also dont detect my display as alienware 3D vision notebook. 

any idea on how to solve this problem.

I'm planning for the same thing. currently i have problem with 3D stereoscopic usb controller. it appear to be missing from my device manager. wonder if i downgrade the bios to A09 might solve the problem.