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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.

Hi guys. As with the title, is there any way to get a m17x r3 to use UEFI or is this just a pipe dream? I read over the internet that this requires Dell company itself to refactor the BIOS and release it to the public. Well if that's the case many believe it would be easier to land a man on Mars then to get Dell's help on this issue. Does the hardware itself plays a roll in updating to UEFI ? Well if the motherboard itself doesn't support UEFI and its more of a hardware limitation rather than a software, please let me know and I'll let this dream go, once and for all. Well if not, does anyone else knows of any other way to get a m17x r3 to UEFI-capable ? Imagine fast-booting into win10 and more importantly, a chance to get a 980M working in a m17x r3. (from my understanding 880M is as far as the m17x r3 can go as the 980M requires UEFI-capabilities) I know my laptop is approaching 7 years old and by now most m17xr3 are phrased out but i still believe there are some owners out there still kicking about with their madly modded-out r3s (like me). Thanks for the read

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 !

Okay here is what's going. I have a alienware m18x r1 running an amd 8970m, I wanted to upgrade it to crossfire but I could see a 8970m was more expensive than a r9 m290x So I decided to buy a r9 m290x and see if I could make it work in my alienware and also run crossfire. Even though many shops refused to sell me one because the didn't think it would work in an alienware m18x r1 only in the r2. Here is the whole process. 19/08/17 23:15 No post bios showing when booting, so impossible to enter bios menu, but can boot into windows 10 with no problems. 19/08/17 23:20 Because I haven't deleted the old AMD 8970m the r9 m290x shows as a 8970m with no problems. 19/08/17 23:34 First performance test was a success. The r9 m290x changed p-state normally. The gpu fan start spinning normally. But because of no thermal paste, the test lasted 20 seconds because the temperature raised fast. 20/08/17 00:00 Created a backup of the vbios version 015.032.000.004.044450 20/08/17 00:10 Flashed a new clevo vbios version 015.032.000.003.044465 Caused the card to be corrupted and resulted the 8 beep code. 20/08/17 00:35 Finally managed to flash the back and return the graphics card to its original state. 20/08/17 00:50 Flashed a new dell vbios version 015.046.000.014.045579 No change in behavior 20/08/17 01:07 After trying multiple vbios with no luck I finally found one. Dell vbios Version 015.041.000.000.044966 Brings back the post bios screen and I can now enter the bios menu through the r9 m290x. Note: This vbios reduce the cards performance from 900 mhz to 850 mhz 20/08/17 01:21 After more testing I found one that is working with no limits. Clevo vbios version 015.036.000.005.044618 Brings back the post bios screen and I can now enter the bios menu through the r9 m290x. This will be the vbios I will keep at the moment. 20/08/17 01:56 I completely uninstalled the previous driver and installed the newest driver. The graphics card is recognized as a 8970m but works normal. 21/08/17 20:15 I have inserted my old 8970m in the secondary slot and will start testing crossfire. 21/08/17 21:45 I have found out that the fan for the secondary fan did not spin. The is a cable that have felt out. I will fix it now. 21/08/17 22:00 In my try to test crossfire compatibility, I installed the newest AMD driver 17.7.2 but as soon it installed the driver for the secondary card it caused black screen. Only booting the computer in safe mode brings the screen back. 21/08/17 23:02 After many frustrating hours I finally managed to get crossfire working with the r9 m290x as the primary card and my old 8970m as the secondary. I have flashed the same vbios on both cards so the r9 m290x shows up I device manager as a 8970m. I first installed AMD driver version 16.2.1 Then installed AMD driver version 16.6.1 in order to play battlefield 21/08/17 23:20 First test run in battlefield 1 21/08/17 23:40 Battlefield 1 is flickering bad, this can maybe be solved with a new patch or driver. Other games I have tried is working perfect with crossfire on. Now what I would like to try is somehow force the r9 m290x driver to be installed and see if it will make it possible to run the latest AMD driver without getting a blackscreen. I have tried to edit the .inf file like you would do with nvidia but no luck. I have also tried to figure out how to edit the device id in the vbios, but I find it too complex.

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

Good day, looks like I`ve successfully bypassed the BIOS lock, to flash custom BIOS. https://firmwaresecurity.com/tag/ru-efi/ http://ruexe.blogspot.com Can someone provide an unlocked BIOS *.rom file of these one https://ufile.io/wb6fc what is the point of unlocked BIOS? 1)PSU can provide 330W(I`ve one from M18X R2), but laptop can utilize only 210-215W and hits powerlimit, what limits GPU overclock, extra 20-30W will be enough to handle i7-6820HK@ 4.1GHz and GTX 980M 1.2V @ 1430/2750 2)custom memory timings can do more from this laptop, but customizing is available only when modules with XMP is installed 3)When Graphics Amplifier is connected, GTX 980M is disabled, if internal GPU can keep running with desktop GTX980 reflashed with GTX 980M BIOS SLI could be tested.

Hi all, I own an Alienware MX17 R4 (from 2012/2013 don't remember well) running with the official A12 bios and I am planning to change the discreet NVIDIA 675M because unfortunately it died. First and as I don't have so much money to spend on this, I am planning to change it by a 680M 4GO. Is this one a "good" choice ? Don't hesitate to propose me another GPU. Is the installation of a 680M 4GO will require a unlocked bios version ? (A11 unlocked ?). Do u know any website on which I can buy a 680M 4GO, I am really not a big fan of ebay... Thank you in advance.

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.

Hi guys I've had great luck with some help from your clever minds in the past, and i hope someone here has a good idea for this issue aswell. If not, thanks for stopping by I work at a PC Repair shop, and I'm helping yet another customer with a GFX upgrade, but I'm encountering some issues. While we are waiting for the GTX 980 in the mail, that we want to install, I am installing a GTX 770M in the customers PC while waiting for the other one. Here's where I'm stumped. So. GTX 770M is a native card in these models and it installs driver fine and runs well. However, when the computer gets on standby or goes to low power mode (with the screen off), it crashes without BSOD, just shuts off. I can see in the event viewer that the computer has crashed with a Code 41 - Kernel Power Error. I did get a BSOD once, and debugging it in Windbg pointed to iaStorAV.sys (the Intel Rapid Storage drivers). I've tried several versions of IRST, installing in AHCI mode, removing the SSD mSATA cache drive and so many other things. I dont know what to go for now. Should i try a VBIOS update on the card? It works flawlessly when stresstesting and harddrives have no errors either. I really hope someone have a great idea or if i should just declare the SATA controller on the motherboard defective? It must be some low-power S3 standby or whatever thats causing it. (I'm not a total genius as you can read, but i have picked up a lot of things in my time :D) Thanks once again *Forgot to add, the previously assembled GFX was a GTX 780M, that completely burned out Regards Marc

Hi All! First thread poste here! Very happy with my beast ..again! m18x R2 on modded bios (SG mode needed, optimus mode igfx+dGpu) So my msi 1060 from alezka.com (Woodzstack thank you) was arrived yesterday, fast, very well packaged , and with a bit of icdiamond7. Removed (not very well..buyed and used a dremel for first time) the tiny metal square on heatsink , that touch ram on 1060. put thermal pads everywhere to match heatsink space. Absolutely do not tight or strengt too much the gpu because has on his backside a big squared capacitator that push on motherboard Here 3dmark11 to start benching msi1060 (stock clocks) + 3920xm(4.2Ghz) on m18xR2 . http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/12179815 Score 13581 GraphicScore 14934 Physics 10877 CombinedScore 10396 Max GPU temp 71° (at 24° t.amb). And Here 3dMark http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/19968894 Score 9849 GraphicScore 11547 Physics 11182 CombinedScore 4318 Max GPU temp 71° (at 24° t.amb). Superposition benchmark GPU max temp 72° Now I'm start to look if performance is aligned with other 1060's powered laptops. All suggestion are very welcome! Bye All!

Hi @ all, i whant to use an EXP graphic adapter with an GTX 1050Ti with ExpressCard on my M18X R1. I startet with the Adapter and i can install the NVIDIA driver. The GTX was normal detectet. But i have 2 exclamation mark one by the Card and the second by the PCIe adapter (after installing the driver). I have a GTX 780m with modded driver so i cant switch to onboard graphic (with my older 6990m i can do this). Error Code 29 (GTX) and Error Code 43 (PCIe). I want to use the GTX with the Alienware Monitor but i also testet it on an extern Monitor. So have anybody an idea what i can do? I'm using the Beast Version 8.4d!

Hello recently I have attempted to boot my PC from USB device during this time I have gone to F12 boot options and attempted to do this at one stage I have selected a option to boot from legacy then the system rebooted. But now it seems I am stuck it keeps showing a new boot bios page when the system boots from premamod and then goes black screen and beeps 8 times over and over. I have attempted a bios reset I have removed the watch battery and main battery and held down power for 60secs but I still cannot get back to my normal bios in any way. Please, how can I get rid of this and go back to normal boot? Here's a pic of the boot screen. https://imgur.com/a/sptWN

Hi, i was preparing for a gpu replacement, so i decided to flash my alienware m17xr3 A12 bios into an unlocked version. I removed the gpu, put "PAR00X64.fd" in the root of a FAT32 usb. i unplugged the power cord, inseted the usb drive in the esata port, and held the end button before replugging the cord. the fans kicked in, and i heard 30 beeps, then it restarted. after that, it wouldn't stop resatarting. it kept rebooting even when i held the end key for more than 20 mins. i'm really confused right now as of what to do to fix this issue. i would really apreciate any help you have to offer me.

Hi guys! I just recently got a used m15x (with a gt240m gpu...) and have swapped it out for a gtx880m (msi) which is not working currently. I have updated the bios to a09, and then installed the unlocked a09 bios to unlock all options to make sure something there wasn't to blame. The laptop boots and gets to windows just fine if you're plugged into a monitor via VGA, but windows does not recognize the gpu or let you install drivers for the card. Additionally, if a monitor is not plugged in the laptop screen goes white and emits one very loud beep every few minutes. Aside from this, the laptop behaves as expected. I'm having trouble finding any support online regarding this issue and was hoping that somebody here could give me a bit of a pointer on where I should look to next. as a side note, forgot to add that I originally purchased the card after finding a list of people showing off benchmark scores for different cards in the m15x, one of which was the 880m, which could be purchased cheaply online. I'm currently looking into how to flash vBIOS as it was mentioned in one of the few posts I could find on the subject, but am waiting to hear if this is the right course of action. thanks in advance for any assistance you can provide!

Hello everyone. I've been reading the forums for quite a while now, and I can't even describe how helpful everyone at techinferno is. It's time for my first post and my question is towards the GPU vBios and Alienware/Clevo gurus here at techinferno. I've bought a barebone Origin EON 15-X (Clevo p750dm) it's the Skylake version. I also have an MSI GTX970m 6GB which doesn't seem to be working when installed in the 15-X (black screen not even backlight, only the keyboard backlight is working, no fans are spinning and there are no beeps). I think it might be due to the MSI vBios. I want to try to flash the card with a Clevo vBios (thanks to Prema) and see if the card would then work. I was hoping I can use my trusty M18x r2 for that task. In the primary GPU slot I've got my 7970m and in the slave slot I've put the 970m. When I power the laptop and go to the bios, it only shows "ATI GFX" for "Discrete Graphics 1 and for "Discrete Graphics 2" shows "Not Detected". I've tried booting to Windows and checked the device manager, same thing only the 7970m is listed. I'm not sure if what I'm trying to do is even possible. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

Hello guys, how are you? I got today a new graphics card for my Alienware 17 R1 (2013). The newer card is a gtx 970m. Before, the Alienware had no dedicated graphics card, but only the integrated Intel HD 4600 from processor. After I put the new card on laptop, I realized that the laptop wont turn on anymore. If I remove the graphics card, laptop turns on normally. Another thing that I noticed, is that with graphics card inside when I plug AC adapter, the blue led of it (AC adapter) turns off. Without the card, this behavior dont happens. I already reseat the card a lot of times without success. My Alienware is a R1 Model (2013) or M17x R5. PSU: 240w Processor: 4910mq RAM: 32GB Battery: OK. Graphics Card: Alienware GTX 970m 6gb - G16E-A1 Bios: A14 (lastest from Dell WebSite) I dont have another card to test. Thank you guys. I hope anyone can help me.

I posted about this over here, but that has not gained much traction, so I figured that this might be a better place to ask. The full details are in the Reddit post, in case I forget something here, but essentially, I am having trouble with what appears to be a CPU TDP throttle restricting my 3920xm overclock when the package power reaches 55W. My specs are: System: M17x R4 CPU: 3920xm GPU: GTX 980m RAM: 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 1333MHz OS: Windows 8.1 64-bit (MBR/legacy boot with Optimus) PSU: 330W BIOS: A11 Unlocked No matter what multiplier I set in the BIOS or Intel XTU for any combination of 1, 2, 3, or 4 cores active (currently trying 42x for all) my CPU still throttles back to 3.6GHz under a benchmark. Moderate loads of around 50% see a max ratio of 40x~41x but still not meeting the overclock I set. Under a full load at 3.6GHz my CPU is only reaching about 88º C with both an upgraded CPU fan and a repaste, so I don't think that thermal throttling is causing this trouble at the moment. ThrottleStop lights up the "TDP Throttle" indicator when this happens, and looking under TPL shows that ThrottleStop is reading a Turbo Boost power limit of just 55W (which is Intel's factory max). I do have "Turbo PWR Limit MSR Lock" disabled in my BIOS, and current limits maxed. To be fair, though, this BIOS is still very unfamiliar and difficult to navigate for me, so I could very well have incorrectly adjusted some values. Is there a way to force the (Turbo) TDP limit higher than 55W? Is my system actually capable of sending more power than this to the CPU? Is there maybe something wrong with my CPU that causes it to ignore my BIOS settings?

Hi all, I want upgrade my GPU but I have doubts about wath to get: FIREPRO M6100 --> 150EUR GTX 680M --> 250EUR I think that the best choice is the GTX680M but the price is more expensive but I don´t know if the performance&compatibility difference between them worth it. ALIENWARE M15x PSU150W 8GB RAM Thank you.

I release here today my personal BIOS for the M18x R2. It is based upon svl7's unlocked A11, Swick's mods to A11, and I have changed back the boot images to default Alienware and Intel logos, as well as reverted the atheros LAN oprom back to the default version that does not take up extra boot time. All other modifications done by swick and svl7 remain intact. Copy files from zip to root of usb in a usb-dos environment, run flash.bat. Simple. Tested by me on two of my M18x R2 systems, works without issue. I take no responsibility if you brick your system, flash at your own risk. Only thing left to do is to somehow enable 2133 for sandy bridge CPU in M18x R2 motherboard. Remember, give thanks to svl7 and swick for their initial work on this. I release this freely to the public, nobody should pay for this. Download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5dGmVHDQ7iuNERzYkMwMW1RMDQ/view?usp=sharing

Hey people i have some nvdia driver problems with my alienware m17r4 gtx 870m !So can you tell me how could i run 375.76!When i try installing it doesnt recognise my gpu! I have disabled my DSE!I cant install any new drivers pls help!!At the moment im with 344.75

Hello all. First sorry for my english and my words (i don't know same words) I have problem with my Alienware m18x r2. I cant turn him on with POWER button. I check with "ENDE" and it turn on. That means mobo is working. Now I don't know what can be broke. I think about 4 options: 1. Button on that motherboard 2. motherboard when is that button 3. cable from motherboard to nest/impute/connector/join on main motherboard 4. nest/impute/connector/join on that main motherboard Now my question is that someone know how to make short circuit/close pin on that nest. That why i will know what is broken step by step. It have 6 pins in that nest and I don't know which is for what. I don't want to burn that nest/impute/connector/join Thank you all for you help and answer

how to oc the ram?