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Can some one explaine me such thing....

I'm trying to set higher Bus speed in M17x R4 bios, but in the field can be entered only 9954 or 11002 (haven't tried the second one, cos it must be too high) My CPU is 3720qm.

Why so?

And the thing is that I can't make my Kingston hyperX run at 1600 with 7-7-7-20 timings....

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Can some one explaine me such thing....

I'm trying to set higher Bus speed in M17x R4 bios, but in the field can be entered only 9954 or 11002 (haven't tried the second one, cos it must be too high) My CPU is 3720qm.

Why so?

And the thing is that I can't make my Kingston hyperX run at 1600 with 7-7-7-20 timings....

Bus speed or rather BCLK- base clock it doesn`t work in alienware. There is leak of intel me libraries :( . I have msi gt60 also and there I can change bclk. I also noticed that overclocking/changing settings on memory doesnt work - no display after changing options. On msi gt60/70 overclocking works much more stable . Little shame for alienware.

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Can some one explaine me such thing....

I'm trying to set higher Bus speed in M17x R4 bios, but in the field can be entered only 9954 or 11002 (haven't tried the second one, cos it must be too high) My CPU is 3720qm.

Why so?

And the thing is that I can't make my Kingston hyperX run at 1600 with 7-7-7-20 timings....

You can change the BUS SPEED with Intel's XTU (Intel Extrem Tuning Utility), it works very well.

After changing ths BUS SPEED with XTU, you can see the new BUS SPEED also in BIOS too.

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So, long time since I've posted here, my logic board died from the USB recovery method of flashing, and I've been away from home since that time. Anyways, Dell replaced my logic board under warranty repair, and when I saw the new method of flashing via DOS, I found out I'll try to repeat my journey, which this time went completely perfect! Thank you so much svl7 and anyone else involved in this to make the Unlocked BIOS available and possible to flash!

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You should read the first post.

Thumbs up! It's incredible and disturbing how many people go ahead and try to flash something as important as a BIOS without even having a look at the readme. Unfortunately, this disturbing trend will most likely continue, one day ending up in people bricking everything they've got.

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  • 3 weeks later...

mcrgibb: That's locked on the CPU, not the BIOS. There's nothing you can do apart from getting something more expensive from Intel. The only "truly unlocked" CPU's are ones with "X" in the product name, like the "i7-3920XM". Ones with "K" are semi-unlocked; you can bring them up to 5.7 ghz or so. Ones without X or K are only overclockable via Turbo Boost, and, if that's not available, it's not possible. (Well, it is, but you'll need to do it by adjusting the Base Clock. This can bring up awkward problems, and depending on your arch might not even work beyond 10 mhz or so.)

...Then again, maybe slv7'll start making modified microcode. That'd be fun.

On a side note, woo! Just flashed his FPT A10 BIOS. I forgot to reset the settings before flashing and nearly had a heart attack when the system booted up funny. Luckily it's all okay and everything's running smoothly. Too bad it won't let me adjust the iGPU's rate, though; on my system the output of my dGPU is hooked up directly to the monitor, effectively eradicating nVidia Optimus and making the iGPU completely useless since it's not attached to any outputs. It'd be nice if I could downclock it and undervolt it since it still contributes to the 45-watt limit for Turbo Boost. That's pretty much the only reason I flashed it. Oh well, I'll probably find another use for it at some point!

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Okay I need some clarification please. I'm also getting:

[PMODE/W] Abort: 00

Exception: 0E

Error Code: 00000000

on attempt to flash (and even when just running the backup.bat)

I did run PRR and I've gone over all the instructions carefully so I don't believe I'm missing anything. DOS version on my USB stick is Win98 DOS v.4.1.1998.

Lighthalzen, I don't understand your post where you said you figured it out - "I also copied all the files from the folder..." I have everything where it should be on my stick. What exactly did you do to fix on your end? Thank you! -Angie.

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AngieAndretti: Make sure you copy the files from the folder you pointed the HP format utility to, to your stick. Don't just format and then not copy it over. If you don't understand what I mean, then just copy /everything/ from every folder to the root of the thumb drive (so there are no folders, except those that were already inside folders).

... I may have made that more confusing. My bad.

svl7: Is there an "un-prr.exe" somewhere? I'd like to re-enable write protection so LoJack isn't accidentally (or not-so-accidentally) overwritten. -Shifty eyes-

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All the DOS system files? Yeah, I have them all in the root of the drive; no folders anywhere. I think there may have been a CDROM folder with drivers in it but if so it came structured that way. I made everything as simple as possible to avoid possible compatibility/path issues. I know the drive works for other things cuz I've been using it as my 7970m BIOS update-by-DOS drive. I just added the necessary files (FPT DOS files and the A11 BIOS package files) to it for this new task of attempting BIOS update. Still I get the feeling we think it's DOS's fault, not the particulars of my laptop or a glitch in the update software, so I'll rebuild my thumbdrive from scratch tomorrow and see if I get anywhere...

Is Nofew referring to the theft tracking option in BIOS? Lojack? I never enabled mine but does this mean I've altered that capability permanently by running the PRR tool?

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My gut's saying that you might need a version of DOS older than the one Windows 98 runs on. That's the only other thing I can think of to help you.

Yes, that's what I'm referring to. I have it enabled on mine. The idea behind it is, assuming whoever steals your laptop formats your hard drive, the BIOS will re-install the tracking software. Since it's in the firmware its self it "should" be difficult to remove, though that task becomes a lot easier if there's no write protection. (Of course, it's not too hard removing it in the first place, but I'll take anything I can get if it means slowing a thief down!)

Regardless if the tracking's enabled or not, the custom bios should still work.

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svl7: Is there an "un-prr.exe" somewhere? I'd like to re-enable write protection so LoJack isn't accidentally (or not-so-accidentally) overwritten. -Shifty eyes-

It only unlocks the bios protection temporarily, after a reboot everything is default again (locked). You won't be able to overwrite the anti-theft stuff without a hardware mod anyway since it isn't part of the bios.

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Does the unlocked bios offer any help for those with problems with a 7970m throttling down when overclocking? Apparently it's something related to a a limit of how much current it can draw, because it fails very fast, before it gets hot at all, and it just throttles down (no BSODs so far, so I think it's not the motherboard failing to deliver enough current).

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svl7: Just got word from another forum that the M17x R4 won't accept an M18x's charger (which proves an extra 70 watts over the standard AC adapter). I saw some screenshots of another InSyde BIOS that let you select the kind of adapter you have. Is there any chance you'd be able to unlock that feature or, better yet, set it to just take any adapter? The extra 70 watts would go a long way..

GamerBR: Can you measure the wattage coming out of your wall? If it's fluctuating like crazy while you're benchmarking, but only when overclocked, then it's likely being throttled. Try underclocking your CPU and see if that fixes it. If it does then it's your adapter that's the problem and you're in the same boat as me. If it's not, then it's probably something in your BIOS or vBIOS.

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There's pretty much everything unlocked. I think you would need to do a hardmod in order to get it working, unless the check is really in the bios and I somehow figure out where exactly, but since I don't have an M17x I don't think that's possible.

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It's really in the BIOS. There's a modification on TechInferno over here that explains how to wire two M17x PSU's together in parallel to provide a total of 480 watts to the system. It actually does use the extra power. Note the special blue "signal" wire that identifies the PSU as an M17x adapter. I don't think you need to add support, but rather remove a check for that signal. This also means that it should be consistent across all InSyde BIOS's, so in theory you don't even need my specific laptop; any that is picky about which adapter to take a charge from should work. Probably. I hope.

Alienware is owned by Dell. I have an older Dell laptop that refuses to use any charger but the one specifically made for it, even if it gives the exact same voltage and amperage. Upon boot with an incorrect charger it displays a BIOS screen that says something along the lines of "the connected AC adapter is not recognized. This laptop will not accept current from the AC adapter. Please connect the correct adapter and press F1 to continue."

When you first attach a charger it gives a series of pulses or something that identifies its model, and the laptops use that to figure out if they "should" accept a charge from it. As it is, the M17x will boot up and run off the M18x adapter (meaning the specs are definitely correct), but it'll keep the CPU and GPU underclocked and won't allow it to charge the battery since it thinks it won't have sufficient power, even though it does.

What can I do that'll help you? I don't want to physically ship my laptop to you, but I work with discrete electronics as a hobby and I'm decently sure I have all the tools needed to test things.

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Been trying to find an unlocked bios for my m17x r4 for a while now, im really pleased i found this page. Thanks alot svl7 coz your guide seems very informative and helpful. Im on the A11 bios atm but my system is an m17r4 i73740qm with 3D gtx680m and 32gb ddr3 1600 corsair vengeance. I feel it is a waste to not overclock this somewhat beast with the hardware it carries so once my new usb arrives il be trying out this flash.

Oh quick question, im fairly new to flashing and this might be obvious to the more "in the know" but things like 3D screen dont affect the process i have to go through right? and any other suggestions anyone has on improving the performance of my system e.g overclocking ram and so on. Thanks in advance ;)

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You'll be fine, don't worry about it, but you don't need this BIOS for overclocking on that system. It won't help you one bit. It's mostly just for curious minds, I'd say. Really, I've had it for a while now and I've never adjusted any of the extra settings.

Contrary to what the pictures show you, you cannot downclock your iGPU on an M17x with this bios to free up more room for your regular computation cores. You can't on an m18x either, unless you've got the i7-3940xm.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Temisan Kpogho: This won't help you overclock your GPU. You just want a vbios for that. It might be worth doing your BIOS along with it if you want to adjust your fan curve, but in my experience so far changing those settings has no actual effect on the system.

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