Going to test clevo 980m in alienware m17x R4, m18x R2, AW17

[Cloudfire]

There's no Dell vbios. Anyway, I don't have a card yet, but if anyone is willing to flash some stuff, let me know. Can't guarantee functionality though since I can't test anything myself atm.

Huh, isnt it Dell that atleast edit the vbios to work in their machines? Do you have any theories why the vbios you find in 980M/970M Clevo cards is a no go for AW18/M18x?

I`m in the process of getting two GTX 970Ms for AW18. Willing to give you some $$$ if you can get it to work regardless who you help if you make it work

[Peter18x]

There's no Dell vbios. Anyway, I don't have a card yet, but if anyone is willing to flash some stuff, let me know. Can't guarantee functionality though since I can't test anything myself atm.

Thanks for input svl7, you can have a look at this NBR thread for log. Aw m18x R2 Dual 980m SLI upgrade!!

Actually im really tempt to flash somehtin, unfortunately i got cards without warranty. Anyway if you can mod. it then im willin to take risk.

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here is 980M stock vbios V12.

http://www.filedropper.com/13d7980mv12

[svl7]

Just tell me what the current status is, I don't have time to go all the posts of a random thread. Currently have to do some military service and I already need enough time to catch up on other things that have been going on during the past weeks.

[Peter18x]

Alright, connect both 980M cards in SLI to my Aw M18x R2 > Black screen at start up and 8 beeps, system restart and keep repeating it

Connect single card still same 8 beeps

Before replacing cards i did switch graphics output to iGPU, installed both cards 980ms still 8 beeps n black screen.

Johnksss log.

Hummm, that was interesting. It actually finally booted in sg with both cards. And i was able to enable sli, but it ran flakey. Could be user error though. Then messed around and re enabled igpu and of course sg failed. So i removed one card and went to boot and black screen and 8 beeps. Even after 5 reboots. So I did a bios reset and all is back to normal......This would be really weird if the 980M's worked in reverse of doing this. Where as the 780 beeped out the 980's in turn ran. It's a bit more to this but that was the short version of the story.

godfafa_kr log.

From my experience of testing 980m in m17x R4, m18x R2, AW17(non3D and 3D) and AW18 for many many hours, I have concluded these.

- 980m only works with iGPU enabled (=SG enabled, AKA=optimus) wherever it is installed. (in alienware)

- Thus, PEG only, 3D model (in which iGPU is disabled), SLI dont work with 980m. (in alienware)

- There are three vbios that I've tested, v10/v12 of clevo and v0A of MSI. All of these work the same in alienware.

- If iGPU is disabled (=PEG only), 8 beeps.

And to answer your question, yes it works with your suggestion in m18x R2 and the device manager shows two gpu (igpu and 980m) which basically is "optimus".

I dont know why this is happening. It may be vbios or bios or security problem. I really dont know the reason of these behavior.

I just hope some one can fix this.

I've disabled the iGPU in the unlocked bios, And if I do this, 8 beeps when I put 980m.

If I just disable iGPU without installing any dGPU, I also get 8 beeps. But this is fixed automatically by turning on and off several times. (and of course the iGPU is enabled again)

Hence, 980m in Alienware only works when Optimus is enable, user reported that 980m works fine in Aw 17 or Aw M17x R4 NON-3D. It does not work with Aw18 or Aw m18x R2.

[Cloudfire]

Fixing our computers are far more important than running around in the woods playing war SVL.

I think it goes like this:

- M17X computers with Clevo 980M doesnt boot when Optimus is disabled. You can't even access BIOS.

With Optimus enabled however, the computer boot properly. You have to edit INF to install Nvidia drivers.

Those who have tried to make Optimus disabled to work have tried two different Clevo vbios + MSI vbios for 980M.

- M18x beeps 8 times when using 2 Clevo 980M cards. Same applies to 2 GTX 970M cards. Then it goes in a reboot cycle where you cant access BIOS. Same applies for AW18.

The people with M18x R2 tried johnksss trick with using unlocked BIOS, set it to boot as Optimus with only 1 GTX 980M Clevo installed and it sucessfully boots up.

Edit: PeterX reply was much better lol

[lechonman]

Fixing our computers are far more important than running around in the woods playing war SVL.

I think it goes like this:

- M17X computers with Clevo 980M doesnt boot when Optimus is disabled. You can't even access BIOS.

With Optimus enabled however, the computer boot properly. You have to edit INF to install Nvidia drivers.

Those who have tried to make Optimus disabled to work have tried two different Clevo vbios + MSI vbios for 980M.

- M18x beeps 8 times when using 2 Clevo 980M cards. Same applies to 2 GTX 970M cards. Then it goes in a reboot cycle where you cant access BIOS. Same applies for AW18.

The people with M18x R2 tried johnksss trick with using unlocked BIOS, set it to boot as Optimus with only 1 GTX 980M Clevo installed and it sucessfully boots up.

Edit: PeterX reply was much better lol

my aw17 freezys when i try run 3dmark, my vbios version is v10, bought at eurocom, I use last nvidia drivers moded and w8.1 pro 64bits, fresh install....

[SHINODA]

I've read all what's on this thread but unless I've missed something I haven't seen anyone post this link to a seller on eBay who is selling aw18 with the 980m in sli Alienware 18-HID19 NVIDIA Dual SLI GTX 980M Gaming Laptop | eBay and they say that they are ready to ship so it looks like they've solved the issue and have the vbios

[Cloudfire]

I've read all what's on this thread but unless I've missed something I haven't seen anyone post this link to a seller on eBay who is selling aw18 with the 980m in sli Alienware 18-HID19 NVIDIA Dual SLI GTX 980M Gaming Laptop | eBay and they say that they are ready to ship so it looks like they've solved the issue and have the vbios

They are selling them allright but haven't gotten the cards they are selling to work...

People have asked them but they always say check back in a week. There exist no 18" Alienware machine that have 980M SLI working. Eurocom are working on it but admitted it would take quite some time to fix it.

Whoever that make a fix will be praised. There are probably many people waiting to upgrade due to the difficulty

[SHINODA]

With them putting "in stock ready to ship" makes it look like they have solved the issue, I was considering ordering one even though the customs tax for importing to the uk would have been expensive, guess I'll just have to be a little more patient

[lechonman]

more issues on my aw17

no screen power safe, always on

when close notebook, doesn`t hibernate

3dmark make laptop freezy, i will try farcry 4 in a few minutes....

[godfafa]

With them putting "in stock ready to ship" makes it look like they have solved the issue, I was considering ordering one even though the customs tax for importing to the uk would have been expensive, guess I'll just have to be a little more patient

I do not know if they succeeded or not.

But "in stock ...blah blah" has been there from the begining before they even knew 980m would not work with stock vbios.

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I dont know who succeeded but someone just did.

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/8962412

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/8962389

It was done yesterday. (in my timezone, the day before yesterday)

No secondary GPU shown, meaning no optimus.

Alienware 068R5X = AW17, meaning we dont need unlocked bios for it. = just PNP or very easy to make it work

The days of darkness has gone. God bless Alienware.

Now, can someone get that vbios?

[lechonman]

I do not know if they succeeded or not.

But "in stock ...blah blah" has been there from the begining before they even knew 980m would not work with stock vbios.

- - - Updated - - -

I dont know who succeeded but someone just did.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-4940MX,Alienware 068R5X

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-4940MX,Alienware 068R5X

It was done yesterday. (in my timezone, the day before yesterday)

No secondary GPU shown, meaning no optimus.

Alienware 068R5X = AW17, meaning we dont need unlocked bios for it. = just PNP or very easy to make it work

The days of darkness has gone. God bless Alienware.

Now, can someone get that vbios?

I have aw17 and I cant make it works in 3dmark, when i launch 3dmark, in secound test laptop frezzys.... I must turn off with power button, I have same system aw17 and no works great when any app required 980m power, laptop freezys

[octiceps]

Just tell me what the current status is, I don't have time to go all the posts of a random thread. Currently have to do some military service and I already need enough time to catch up on other things that have been going on during the past weeks.

Cue Switzerland neutrality jokes.

[Cloudfire]

I do not know if they succeeded or not.

But "in stock ...blah blah" has been there from the begining before they even knew 980m would not work with stock vbios.

- - - Updated - - -

I dont know who succeeded but someone just did.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-4940MX,Alienware 068R5X

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-4940MX,Alienware 068R5X

It was done yesterday. (in my timezone, the day before yesterday)

No secondary GPU shown, meaning no optimus.

Alienware 068R5X = AW17, meaning we dont need unlocked bios for it. = just PNP or very easy to make it work

The days of darkness has gone. God bless Alienware.

Now, can someone get that vbios?

ZOMG, great find!

Someone hunt this person down for vbios. But who knows, maybe its Dell?

[Guest]

Maybe it is just an Optimus run without Intel video driver installed?

[Cloudfire]

Maybe it is just an Optimus run without Intel video driver installed?

Doesnt IGP run with native Windows drivers? Or doesnt the 3DMark software detect whatever it is called without proper Intel drivers?

[lechonman]

what I cannot understand, is that I have same system, same specs on my aw17, and I cannot run 3dmark, laptop freezys in second test, we need that bios if all that bench is true

[Castiel]

@lechonman

Can you run any game using 980m on your AW17? Is the card is visible in the device manager?

[lechonman]

@lechonman

Can you run any game using 980m on your AW17? Is the card is visible in the device manager?

yes card is visible in device mager, the game can see by your own...

game crashes

3dmark crashes

Always the same... I try 2 versions of nvidia modded driver

[Castiel]

Have you tried to use nvidiainspector? Please try to decrease (not increase) base core limit and memory core limit for your card and see what happens. Of course, only when you are able to change the values.

[lechonman]

this is what nvidiainspector shows

[Castiel]

I expected this. Unfortunately, the only way is to wait for modified vbios :/

[lechonman]

There isnt any other thing, jejeje, for this reason I told those images from 3dmark, I believe isnt true

[J95]

There isnt any other thing, jejeje, for this reason I told those images from 3dmark, I believe isnt true

@godfafa

Alienware AW17 i7 4930MX@4 Ghz, 24GB crucial DDR3L 1600Mhz, Plextor SSD 128gb Msata, OCZ Vector 512gb, WD 2Tb 7200rpm, Nvidia GTX980M 8gb, 17`3" FHD 3D 120Hz

Try Download TechPowerUp GPU-Z v0.8.0 | techPowerUp dump the vbios (second option Download NVFlash 5.190.0.1 for Windows | techPowerUp) and post a screenshot of the card IDs/device manager.

cmd

cd Desktop\nvflash_windows_5.190.0.1
nvflash.exe -b backup.rom

@lechonman First reinstall drivers.

Enable F8 boot option

• cmd (Admin)
  

  bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy

  
  

• Reboot -> F8 Enter "Safe Mode"
  
• Run DDU/third option
  
• F8 -> select "Disable Driver Signature Enforcement"
  
• Download GeForce 344.65 WHQL
  
• Extract driver w/ 7-Zip
  
• Display.Driver folder -> copy/overwrite nvcvi.inf
  
• Extracted driver folder -> run setup.exe.
  
• Reboot.
  

nvcvi.inf_v344.65_AW_GTX_980M.zip

[Cloudfire]

So are anyone working on a fix???