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L@@K: Alienware 18 System BIOS A04


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[FONT=arial][FONT=arial black]Alienware 18 System BIOS A04[/FONT] [ Download ][/FONT]

Release Date: 2/6/2014
Importance: Recommended
Fixes & Enhancements

[FONT=arial] [BIOS] Fix:[INDENT]1. Fix CPU can't keep at low speed after resume from S3 with Speedstep disabled. 2. System lack brightness setting feature with AMD card. 3. System Logo display three icons after resume cold boot only AMD Gfx card. 4. System logo display on the left after resume cold boot only AMD Gfx card.[/INDENT] Modify:[INDENT]1. Fix sometime RAID OROM UI disappears after boot mode change. 2. Force disable the bus master bit at first time initial for Win8.1 requirement. 3. Update Intel GOP 5.0.1035. 4. Update Intel VBIOS 2178. 5. Disable VGA ASPM L1. 6. Dynamic control ASPM for AMD&NV Graphics.[/INDENT] Add:[INDENT]1. Add Admin password authentication in Boot Manager. 2. Add new MXM AMD Neptune support. 3. Add New Nvidia N15 MXM Card support. 4. Add N15 MXM SIS for Nvidia New MXM Card.[/INDENT]

[EC] Add:[INDENT]1. Add AMD MXM: SMBus address:0x98 for thermal.[/INDENT] Modify: [/FONT]

[INDENT]

[FONT=arial]1. Modify AMD MXM address to 0x52 for new AMD MXM card. 2. Add AMD MXM OCP action for 100W card. (let's hope that "OCP" is not "overclock protection" for those that want the new red cards)

[/FONT]

[/INDENT] [H][/HR]

[FONT=arial]No mention of correction for faulty fan tables or default CPU power settings, but release notes are often not complete. Will need to flash it to find out.

Downloading now... will flash and check for improvements in system behavior tomorrow. *crosses fingers*[/FONT]

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[MENTION=119]Mr. Fox[/MENTION] hopefully there's some CPU improvements but I wouldn't hold my breath. From the looks of it they just fixed a lot of issues that plague AMD cards. What caught my eye was this one: 2. System lack brightness setting feature with AMD card. which is something that was problematic in prior AW + AMD GPU combos.

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@Mr. Fox hopefully there's some CPU improvements but I wouldn't hold my breath. From the looks of it they just fixed a lot of issues that plague AMD cards. What caught my eye was this one: 2. System lack brightness setting feature with AMD card. which is something that was problematic in prior AW + AMD GPU combos.

Yeah, flashbacks when I saw that one... brightness control has been an ongoing issue for AMD for way too many years. Not sure what the deal is with that, but it will be interesting to see how those cards perform. The OCP could mean "overcurrent" protection if the PCI-e slots are pushing more power to 780M cards than the AMD cards are designed to handle. Let's hope it's that and not "overclock" protection that cripples them. If it does mean "overcurrent" then let's hope it doesn't adversely affect 780M performance just to accommodate the installation of AMD cards... that would suck for everyone.

On another note... Unfortunately, there is sad news, boys and girls. They only got 1 out 3 fixes that were needed.

  1. Crippled CPU Fan Speed - Fixed - CPU Fan Now Runs 4100 RPM (unknown if fan reaction latency was corrected)
  2. GPU Fan Control - Not Fixed - Hit 101°C and Thermal Shutdown During Test
  3. CPU Processor Current Limit - Not Fixed - Still Set at 55.000A by Default

This is just a basic test. More extensive CPU performance testing will follow. Time for this old man to hit the sack.

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The stock fans tables do seem to behave better. The profile is not as aggressive as I would like it to be, but based on the benchmarks I just ran the fans are actually ramping up now and the system is running cooler. While it is not manual fan control that Alienware 18 owners want and deserve to have like owners of earlier models, it is a step in the right direction. Minor improvement is better than no improvement. Of note, I am not experiencing the CPU having to hit 96°C before the CPU fan kicks in any more. That is a very welcome change. The Vantage run I just completed would have ended in a thermal shutdown with the A03 fan tables. The fans were not roaring as I wish they would, but seem to be working better.

I really do wish they had fixed whatever is stopping us from using HWiNFO64 to set up our own fan profiles to have these machines run the way we want them to instead of taking a one size fits all approach. If they don't like the idea of us using a third party fan control utility they should at least update Alienware Command Center to include this feature. It's hard to get excited about a machine that prevents you from having complete control of everything important. It does not truly fit the definition of being a high performance system for enthusiasts when you cannot assume absolute control of system behavior.

Here are some overclocked benchmarks. Just testing fans/cooling, not trying to beat my previous best scores. Remember that Fire Strike doesn't require an especially powerful CPU... it's primarily a GPU test and you can get a good Fire Strike score with a pretty wimpy CPU. It is the 3DMark11 and Vantage CPU temperature test results that truly count for something here. Credit where it is due... it is better than before. It really is a terrible shame that they have capped the stinking CPU fan speed below what it is designed to run. That sucks.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-4930MX,Alienware 01W2J2

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-4930MX,Alienware 01W2J2

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-4930MX,Alienware 01W2J2

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@svl7 - when you have time to look at A04, would you be able to determine if the reigns have been loosened with Secure Flash, or if they left a new back door for an exploit to expose hidden menus through an EFI shell command? Not sure if you can determine this from looking at the new BIOS package or if we need to run some commands to see if we get the same errors as before about read-only ranges.

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Aha, happy days are(Almost) upon us. If only dell had taken care of the major issues with the Fans and stock currents instead of releasing a new graphics card... Mr.Fox, Have you had any luck with the Fans in HWinfo64? When i check my machine my fan's say that they are running at 100%, constantly. Although i have never seen my GPU's get anything over 76ºC, Nor have i noticed them kicking in. My set-up came with A04 Prior to release online, I am curious to know if any "Beneficial" changes/fix's came about this round pertaining to the previous issues.

Cheers

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HWiNFO64 will cut the power to the GPU fans and they will overheat... at least with 780M SLI. I tried it after flashing A04 and it is the same as with A03. With Google Chrome open my primary GPU hit 101°C in 3 or 4 minutes and the system shut down using HWiNFO64 manual fan control profile.

- - - Updated - - -

Will check the UEFI Vars when I get a chance. Still in the mountains, :Banane49:

Can you run my prr utility and let me know what it says?

:72: See attached...

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I've read it some post that one of dell engineer said alienware 18 is working perfectly as it is designed....

Might be that is meaning there will be no fix for these main problems?

It's hard to say. If they honestly believe it is working perfectly (and they might believe so) as it is designed then: (a) they are not paying attention; and, (B) it is probably not going to ever be fixed.

If acknowledgement and recognition of the fact that it doesn't work right is ever going to be achieved, then more folks need to be posting and complaining at Dell Community Forum and IdeaStorm. Otherwise, they will continue to say the same thing and not correct it.

The power-handling limitation on the new Alienware 18 is the most serious problem it has. At this point it is not even clear if this issue can be fixed without a motherboard redesign. Without this being fixed having an unlocked BIOS is not going to be as valuable because you won't be able to push the envelope on performance any more than you already can right now. We still need it unlocked to control other important settings that are not available, but there are reasons beyond overclocking where the unlocked BIOS adds value.

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