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Hello, I'm on an alienware m17 r4 and am trying mod my vbios for a 970m 3GB msi. I've managed to get the max boost with an increase in voltage, however I believe my voltage settings maybe unstable. When attempting to load programs capable of high gpu usage capabilities, the gpu begins to become pretty unstable. would anyone be able to provide assistance? I have both my edited and original roms as well. *update I'm not sure how to delete this thread but disregard this please. I've figured out the issue.

I've read a lot of conflicting posts about thermal pads for the CPU and GPU on the Alienware m15x. There are a lot of pictures out there detailing all of the different sized thermal pads that you need. In my experience, 1.5mm pads are perfect for everything on the Dell 980m and the 920xm. I was using 0.5mm pads at the time that I replaced both, so having the exact sizes was important. I think that I might have actually fried my 5850m in part due to not having thick enough thermal pads. I discovered that they had had not been making contact with the heatsink at all. I tried following the guide on techinferno and noticed that my gpu was actually bending (a lot) and certain areas weren't even making contact at all. I tried different layering of thermal pads through trial and error, looking for imprints of vrms and such. 1.5mm on everything worked the best. Some people are putting thermal pads on things that the manufacturers don't even put them on. I can't say what thicknesses are needed for these, but it will be more than 1.5mm. Anyway, I hope that this helps someone. I was using Arctic brand 0.5 thermal pads and stacking them in my testing. I have 1.5mm pads on the way now.

Hey all, I'm going to be upgrading my m18x r2 from dual radeon hd 7970m's to a single gtx 980m. Ordering an upgrade kit today from here that should arrive in 3 days or so. I've taken it apart before but all parts are original thus far. I've noticed this is a pretty common topic here on TI but haven't found a straighforward guide. I'm planning to document the upgrade as I go along to serve as that guide. My plan as it stands right now is this: Flash swick and SVL7's A11 unlocked BIOS, teardown and replace the cards more or less following this guide, rebuild and check that I didn't screw anything up too terribly, and flash prema's vBIOS. As of now my next step is downloading the latest nvidia drivers and modifying them for my system following this guide, but if that doesn't work I may just revert to using j95's modded drivers. My specs are: PC: Alienware m18x r2 OS: Windows 10 Home CPU: Ivy Bridge Intel i7 3630QM RAM: 12GB Dual Channel DDR3 HD: 1TB RAID 0 GPU: 7970m Crossfire (sadly dead) BIOS: A11(stock) For flashing the BIOS and vBIOS you have to create a bootable dos usb. I found a great guide for that here.

I'm going to be upgrading my Alienware M18x R1 with a GTX770m I purchased from ebay; 770m has a Dell P/N: HW6C9 for reference. I have a couple questions about performing this upgrade: -Is the /unlocked/ version A05 bios necessary? I am receiving 8 beeps on startup with the dell factory A05 bios installed w/ the 770m -Is a vBIOS flash required for basic functionality and driver installs? -If so, is there a link to a compatible vBIOS for this card, finally, a guide for installing the new vbios? Any help is vastly appreciated, I've done some homework but I am new to upgrading MXM modules on laptops.

Hi all new to these forums, i have been pondering for a bit about OC the gfx card in my laptop, from all the internet i can only find one person who is part of this site that claims his bios unlocks this card, anyone else used this and is it worth me paying for an elite membership to download this file ? Thanks Daemo

My Alienware M17xR4 has started shutting down immediately after the fans start spinning loudly. This has happened even before the OS boots. I have Windows and Linux in dual boot using Refind. Sometimes even as it reaches the Refind menu the system freezes, fan noise gets loud and the unit immediately shuts down. Once when I managed to get to the OS I ran the Dell CPU stress test, the test started properly and even the fan got very noisy. I left the system alone and after 15mins with the test still running thought to check the status and when I tried to move the cursor found the system was frozen and it immediately crashed. The fan ran loud the whole time. How can I find out if the issue is the CPU or the GPU or the motherboard? It seems to behave properly when running on battery, compared to running off the charger. Could this be an issue? The way I see it, with cpu, gpu, ram and hdd upgradeable, this as an awesome unit and I'd rather not see it go.

Hey guys whats going on? I have an M17X R3, been running the 780M perfectly fine for about 7 months now. I've updated the driver once before, but it seems I'm having problems with all of the latest releases. Whats happening is when I download the latest driver, I run the setup so the 398.36 folder gets saved on my computer. Well thats what is NOT happening. Every time I run it, I see the folder pop up, but once the Nvidia downloader fails (as it should), the 398.36 folder disappears! I cant figure out how to make it stay there permanent! I've disabled driver signing and everything. Any suggestions?

So I bought an older model M17xR3 with 6990 AMD GPU in it. When I turn on the PC the Screen blinks, image get crooked until I boot into the system. Also it won't load the video on YouTube. I can view the pictures on google just fine and load pages as well. Can anyone help me out ? Is it bad GPU or what should I do ?

Hi all. Total noob here. I just traded for a M18xR2 alienware laptop and I tried to boot a bios following a guide from http://techinferno.com/haven/threads/4/ I beleive i used the G74VW GTX660M bios Version 1 not knowing if it was the exact match I needed and said yes like a jackwagon through all of the warnings. My system rebooted to what I believe was a secondary GPU intel something or another which was not half as fast as the GeForce GTX 660M. So a bit frusterated I did a little digging and found a guide to do a blind flash at htt://www.techinferno.com/ under the thread how to recover from a bad flash Alienware M18XR2. I went to Dells website and downloaded the original A03 bios M18R2A03WIN.exe and added the file to 7zip and found the file called QBR10EC.fd and renamed it o M18R2.hdr then placed the file on a 2.0 usb stick formatted fat32 (did not check the DOS box while formatting). I took out the battery put usb into esata port pressed end then plugged in power released end then she started to beep like the guide said it would. I counted around 140 beeps then just a black screen and ever onece in a while the fans would rev up a bit. I let it go all night like that and was still like that in the morning. Now I try to press the power button and nothing happens... So I am stumped and would love some advice please before adding another brick in the wall !

Hey all, I updated my Alienware 17 R5 Ranger (2014) to the latest Dell bios "AW17A14". I went around to look for possible fixes, I found that I should be uploading the last Bios I had through a USB stick formatted to FAT32. Now that's pretty simple so far (keep in mind the laptop only turns on the LED's and CPU/GPU fans at full speed looking for a bios file). I downloaded the Bios file from Dell but they have it as an .EXE program. I need it in the proper format to be read by InSyde Bios. I have no idea how to convert it from EXE to the right format. I tried using CMD to run AW17A14.EXE -writehdrfile, but that wouldn't work. This happened right after Dell replaced the MB for the same reason. The second time, my warranty had just expired. I don't wanna pay Dell 359.99$CAD for a new MB because of an issue inflicted by them. Thanks,

Hi. I need some help!I want to change my gtx 860m whith 880m. The laptop it's a Alienware m17x r3 2011. I will buy this premium account only to download a12 bios unlocked, now I have A08 unlocked. The card it's second hand and it come from a clevo laptop. I need to modify the bios,download some custom bios for the card? Thank you! Sorry for my bad English.

Hi all, I just installed a used 980m into my Alienware 17 R1, and I'm noticing benchmarks that are ~12% below what others are reporting online. I'm wondering if this is just meh hardware, if it's a vBIOS problem, or if it's a problem with my computer and not the card. I noticed that the GPU is getting throttled under load... like, under any load. Here's the clock and temp during 3DMark Firestrike: Here it is with the voltage as well: The "perfcap" reason in GPU-Z is power. Specs: Alienware 17 R1 i7 4900MQ 4x4gb 1600Mhz Win10 My card: A pre-emptive thanks for any help.

Hey guys, I recently upgraded my M15x with a i7 920XM and a GTX 780M. Flashed the modified vbios, got a 330W brick, pulled the pin, installed newest drivers and did some gaming. Everything worked pretty well, only sometimes the 780M reached 93C and clocked down, but still ran stable, never crashed. Therefore I decided to get a finer TIM and repaste. Bought the Noctua NT-H1, carefully repasted and voila, temps dropped around 15C. But here comes the catch: when trying Furmark or some very intensive game, the GPU reaches 88C and screen immediately turns a random color. No downclocking, no limiting, just a sudden crash. Only thing I can do is a hard reset. This doesnt happen on any other occasion, can game on 80C for an hour. Do you guys have any sort of idea why the laptop crashes at 88C, while before it worked at 90+ without a problem? Things I tried: Used DDU and reinstalled the drivers, also tried older version. CMOS reset. Cleaned everything, no dust left anywhere. Carefully checked the GPU for any visible damage or old TIM residue. Tried undervolting and underclocking, only took longer to get to 88C and still crashed. For the sake of it I actually strapped a Corsair H45 AIO to the GPU heatsink. Now i get to max 55C with furmark, but the laptop still cashes after around 2 minutes. I would be happy for any suggestion, thanks!

Since a lot of weeks, I am looking on the Internet for a VBios for my Alienware 17 R3 GTX 980m 4GB.But i found nothing. The Prema Site ist Down at this time.Pleas Help to unlock my vBios.Here is the file from my vBios: https://www.sendspace.com/file/an0dqvGPU-Z Screenshot: https://www.sendspace.com/file/v9wd03Sory for my bad English.

After upgrading my HDD to corsair ssd, my OSD no longer works properly. I tried re installing the OSD application from the CD multiple times, but it just doesn't work. Is this a common problem?

I’m running an Alienware M17xr4. Problem is when I change my A11 bios configuration to PEG and disable my igpu, my screen reboots to a blank screen followed by 1 beep. Then the screen lights up but is all black and seems to remain that way until I run out of patience. Does anyone know what is happening?

Just recently puchased a Clevo Gtx 780m on ebay and inserted it into my Alienware m17x r4. I'm terrible dissapointed to find the BIOS a12 unlocked and device mananger doesn't detect it at all. Are there some steps I have to undergo to make it work?

I have an M18x R1 running WIN7 PRO NV580M SLI, however second card was removed due to possible issue. I am running Ahmeds Unlocked BIOS A04. Since I removed the second card I am getting a power cycling issue, the battery charges fine and the system runs fine off AC power but when connected to AC with the battery in and as soon as the battery reaches 100% it starts cycling between on battery power and on AC power. I have performed a system restore. Restored to stock BIOS then back to unlocked BIOS. Pulled battery connected AC and then put battery back in when windows boots. Ran a power drain by holding the power button three times. Booted on battery alone, then booted on power alone. Nothing has worked. I am hoping someone has run into this issue and can help me. This is a new system to me and has some differences of the M15x I used to have.

Just recently puchased a Clevo Gtx 780m on ebay and inserted it into my Alienware m17x r4. I'm terrible dissapointed to find the BIOS a12 unlocked and device mananger doesn't detect it at all. Are there some steps I have to undergo to make it work?

Hi there, I have a strange problem with my Alienware m17x R4 (i7-3610QM, Nvidia GTX675M 120Hz 3d display), if I use the laptop with battery there is no problem but if I connect the AC adapter at few minutes screen powers off and after the computer powers off. Does someone know what could I do ? Has someone had same problem ? Thanks in advance

I received early in the morning a couple of 7970Ms and a cfx cable from MXM Upgrade Home Page 3DMark11 Unigine If you are upgrading from the 5870Ms, the screws are a bit bigger in diameter and they won't fit the backplate of the 7970M (probably a clevo card? I will find out soon). Other issues I encounter is that both display and HDMI port don't work so I attach my Dell 2410 with a VGA cable... Temps are fine and I am idling at 56-58 C with the external monitor attached (which brings the clocks up to 300/1200 @0,825V) so not that bad. 7970M.zip

This is my first post and I'd appreciate any help you guys can offer. I've been using my AW M18x r1 since I bought it new. Basics: I7 2760qm sandybridge Bios A5 16 gb ram Radeon 6990m 2gb I used to run 2 6990m's, but the primary died 3 yrs ago and I replaced it with the secondary card. Been working great until this week. I'm using hwinfo64 for fan monitoring. I started having lock-ups to black screen, grey screen or black with white vertical lines. I noticed my shader temp on my GPU was running out of control whenever I start game or even run a video. The other temps seem to be in the normal range. The shader will jump from 39 C to 70 C almost immediately and then upwards from there. Over 100 C when I 1st caught it. I assume it's thermal shutdown. I'm using the legacy driver for my card 15.7.1. I'm willing to buy a new card, I'm looking at a 780m, but I want to figure out if it's just an issue with the card. Any suggestions on testing for other issues? Why would it be the shader only, or is that just an issue with Hwinfo64? Thanks in advance.

Good day, I am the owner of a used m18x r2 struggling to build it back up into a functional machine. The previous user had his system installed in RAID mode which won't suffice for my desired SSD boot speeds. I've ensured that both AHCI and UEFI are active in the A11 BIOS. I have also ensured to clean the main drive via diskpart CMD upon custom installing my copy of Win 7 Ultimate. Oddly enough, when the setup completes, I'll get an error message stating windows can't finish configuring and needs to restart. Heeding this message will only cause it to happen again on the next reboot, so CMD to the rescue and creating and off to making user account I go. Unfortunately, boot speeds are as slow as ever and I've verified that no RAID controllers have been left installed in the device manager. So far, my only potential lead is that I've noticed during each boot, Windows mentions that "Setup Is Updating Registry Settings" after about of minute of Starting Windows. I've been researching this exact string but I can't say I've found a concrete solution to attempt just yet. So here I am, requesting for advice as to what I should check next. Thanks in advance! EDIT: I've tried out a new install accessing the CD through legacy but still keeping the SDD Boot drive on UEFI mode. So far haven't had to mess with CMD anymore to proceed nor has the Setup needed to Update Registry Settings. I also remembered to install the intel rapid storage driver. Alas, I'm still left with 2 minute boot times(particularly on the Starting Windows screen), so the problem still remains. EDIT2: Diagnosing with a Boot Manager, I discovered it takes about a minute before svchost even starts running. So with that, I ruled out it wasn't a software problem. I then decided on the possibility that maybe the other drives could be interfering with booting. Pulling out the other HDDs had no effect, but the actual culprit was the mSATA SSD that was left in from the last user. Now I can enter windows in 3 seconds! Even fishier, this mSATA drive says its 32 GB but Speccy says its a 1GB drive. But that's a problem for another time, at last my 850 EVO is showing off its expecting speeds.

Hey Everyone, I'm looking for some testers to see if we can get LEGACY SUPPORT for the m17xR4. Furthermore, I've also done MANY updates on this bios, too... I updated RAID (EFI & LEGACY) to v12.9.0.2006 (This may need to be downgraded as the chipset you have may NOT support this raid version, but this is the latest version that will work IF youre running RAID. It also supports TRIM in RAID0. If you are not running raid, I can update to v13 if you want, but we need to test one at a time!) Updated GOP Drivers & GOP Policy Updated vbios from 2098 to 2171 Updated Microcode for all cpu's Added M.2 Support Added NvMe support Updated Atheros Lan Firmware & PXE Boot Firmware Updated To Possibly Give Legacy Support, BUT....... I NEED TESTERS!!! Please contact me if you want to try. Understand, HOWEVER, that am NOT responsible for ANYTHING that happens to your system if it goes wrong. (Just a SMALL disclaimer, heh) Thanks, Swick