[Bios Mod] M18xR2 - Legacy Support now Available

[Solace21]

I've downloaded and installed the new BIOS.  However, my M18xR2 alienware laptop still does not detect the Nvidia GTX 980m graphics card.  I have downloaded the proper driver from Nvidia, but I can not install the driver because the system does not detect it.  I thought once this new updated Bios was installed I would be able to install the new driver?  Please advise.

[Siplast]

Is the bios set to peg or what is your bios setting for graphics?

[Siplast]

Are you using MSI 980gtx? and If so please refer to page 6 of this string and follow my posts.

[Solace21]

I tried both Legacy and UEFI for boot modes.  Neither seems to make a difference.  I have disabled driver signing and that does not help.  From what I understood, though maybe incorrectly?, is that I did not have to modify the INF file for the graphics card thanks to the latest Bios update.  Is that not the case? I've tried with the most recent drivers for the GTX 980M and I've also tried with an older 362.0.0.  The graphics card was a Clevo, that is allegedly compatible with Alienware devices.  I'm at a loss.  I read through page 6 of this forum and I don't think the pins are the issue as the card is seated properly.  Any thoughts on needing to mod the INF and if so, any idea where I might look for directions to do so?  Thanks!

[Siplast]

You have still not stated whether or not you have the bios set to peg. To do this reboot to bios go to the 2nd advanced tab and then to graphics. This will open the option to set to peg igfx etc. set to peg save and reboot. It sounds like you have no issue booting to operating system. you should see GTX in the bios now, if you don't let me know.

[Solace21]

Sorry, I've been on these crazy 16 hour days.  It happens more then I'd like since I'm in the medical field.  Let me try that when I get home next.  If that's all it takes I will literally wake up half the neighbor-hood with a victory cheer!

[Solace21]

Negative success.  I tried changing it to PEG.  Just to cover my basis, I then tried changing it to PCI.  Is there a specific driver I should be trying?  I've tried the latest one, 390.7.7 and I've tried the old one, 360.0.0.  The GTX just does not show up in the BIOS, or in the control panel under hardware, and can not be detected by the GeForce experience software.  Any other thoughts?

[Siplast]

Until the bios recognizes the gtx card or cards, drivers will be of no use. Are you using one or two 980's? As a preliminary step you could try clearing the cmos and boot to bios and select peg again reboot to bios and see if gtx is listed on the main page. At this point I would want to test the card on another laptop or at the least make sure of a good connection to the motherboard. Perhaps it was not fully seated or has jarred out of good connection with the socket. Until the card can be seen as gtx in the bios you can not move forward. If you tear the unit down again it would also be good to test the socket with an older card If you still have one available. If you put a card in that you have had working in the past and you are able to see it in the bios that would mean the  980 you have is probably not functioning correctly.

[Siplast]

If you are using a single gtx 980m, which socket did you place it in? Are you sure it was placed in the primary socket?

If placed in secondary socket the card will not register or be seen in the bios.

Please give me the specs for your M18X R2 ( what you have in it now) along with what operating system and which graphics card you were using prior to the update and If you still have it.

 

[Solace21]

One of the PCI slots is no longer working.  This prompted me to look for a single card.  The "new card" is an 8 gig GTX 980m.  Here's the old hardware configuration:

 

225-2944 : Alienware M18X R2 - Direct225-2944 : Alienware M18X R2 - Direct

Part Number Quantity Description

320-9497 : Dual 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675M SLI Enabled320-9497 : Dual 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675M SLI Enabled

Part Number Quantity Description

3GRJR 1 ASSEMBLY, CARD (CIRCUIT), GRAPHICS, GTX675M, W/CBL

X0TYN 1 ASSEMBLY, CARD (CIRCUIT), GRAPHICS, GTX675M, M18XR2

342-4400 : 512GB Solid State Drive SATA 6 Gb/s342-4400 : 512GB Solid State Drive SATA 6 Gb/s

Part Number Quantity Description

HHCWG 1 SSDR, 512G, S3, 7MM, LATIN/LATIN AMERICA, M3S-M

318-2003 : Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ra y Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD- RW)318-2003 : Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ra y Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD- RW)

Part Number Quantity Description

23RM2 1 DVDRW/BD-ROM, 6X, 12.7, Serial ATA, HITACHI LG DATA STORAGE

496GG 1 LABEL, PART NUMBER, BLU-RAY, WORLD WIDE

331-6865 : Alienware Documentation331-6865 : Alienware Documentation

Part Number Quantity Description

KJKGJ 1 KIT, DOCUMENTATION, AW SERI/WSI, DAO/BCC

421-5830 : Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit Serv ice Pack 1, English, w/Media421-5830 : Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit Serv ice Pack 1, English, w/Media

Part Number Quantity Description

DYHHR 1 KIT, SOFTWARE, W7U64SP1, MUL17, ANW

T5FWH 1 LABEL, CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY, OPERATING SYSTEM, W7U3/6

430-4709 : Killer Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3 x3 MIMO for Gaming and Video a nd Bluetooth 4.0430-4709 : Killer Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3 x3 MIMO for Gaming and Video a nd Bluetooth 4.0

Part Number Quantity Description

7WCGT 1 CARD (CIRCUIT), WIRELESS, KILLER, 3X3

CMYKC 1 LABEL, REGULATORY, WIRELESS, KILLER, WORLD WIDE

320-3263 : 18.4 inch (467.36 mm) WLED Wid eFHD (1080p) display (1920 X 1 080)320-3263 : 18.4 inch (467.36 mm) WLED Wid eFHD (1080p) display (1920 X 1 080)

Part Number Quantity Description

HGT3J 1 LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY, 18.4FHD, WLED, TLF, SAMSUNG

331-6910 : English Keyboard, 101 Key, M18 X R2331-6910 : English Keyboard, 101 Key, M18 X R2

Part Number Quantity Description

93M0G 1 KEYBOARD, ANW, 6, ADDITIONAL, WORLD WIDE, AVENGER

8GWD6 1 KEYBOARD, ANW, 101, ENG-US, W8, AV MLK

430-4704 : Internal Wireless Bluetooth 4. 0430-4704 : Internal Wireless Bluetooth 4. 0

Part Number Quantity Description

3YX8R 1 CARD (CIRCUIT), WIRELESS, 380, BLUETOOTH, HF

WXK2J 1 LABEL, WIRELESS, BLUETOOTH, 380, WORLD WIDE, CSMB

317-9708 : 32GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600 MHz317-9708 : 32GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600 MHz

Part Number Quantity Description

8H68R 4 DUAL IN-LINE MEMORY MODULE, 8GB, 1600, 1024X64, 8K, 204

331-6854 : Alienware M18x 330W A/C Adapte r331-6854 : Alienware M18x 330W A/C Adapte r

Part Number Quantity Description

5120P 1 CORD, POWER, 125V, 6FT, SJT, UNSHIELDED

Y90RR 1 ADAPTER, ALTERNATING CURRENT, 330W, DELTA - AC ADAPT, 3P, PWA INTEGRATED, WORLD WIDE

319-1455 : 3rd Generation Intel Core i7-3 840QM (8MB Cache, up to 3.8GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0)319-1455 : 3rd Generation Intel Core i7-3 840QM (8MB Cache, up to 3.8GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0)

Part Number Quantity Description

YMT57 1 PROCESSOR, I7-3840QM, 2.8, 4C, IVY, E1, P

KT2TK 1 LABEL, INTEL, NO BIOS, CI72

X4KPF 1 ASSEMBLY, HEATSINK, CENTRAL PROCESSOR UNIT, QUAD CORE, M18X

331-6858 : Placement, M18X R2331-6858 : Placement, M18X R2

Part Number Quantity Description

FX8M5 1 PLACEMAT, ANW, AVENGER, M18X, R2

630-AABX : Microsoft Office Home and Stud ent 2013630-AABX : Microsoft Office Home and Stud ent 2013

Part Number Quantity Description

X7F3W 1 KIT, SOFTWARE, OFCHS-2013, MPI, DELL AMERICAS ORGANIZATION

312-1333 : 96WHr 12-Cell Primary Battery312-1333 : 96WHr 12-Cell Primary Battery

Part Number Quantity Description

FCPW3 1 BATTERY, PRIMARY, 96WHR, 12C, SIMPLO

331-6908 : Resource DVD, M18X R2331-6908 : Resource DVD, M18X R2

Part Number Quantity Description

49N

 

 

Sorry if that's bulky...  did you need anything else??  You think the card is just bad?  Or a proprietary issue?

[♛eQual!zє87♛]

The Bios from Swick is awesome and works well but i have a problem. I am using the Prema v1 Bios mod on my GTX980m SLI. But to install newer drivers i need the Prema v2 or v3 Bios mod. Can anyone provide me the Bios please?

 

regards

eQualie87

[Siplast]

I have read Clevo cards work fine. Most likely a bad card If you are positive the card Is in the primary slot. It is possible your Primary socket is bad but If working when you pulled the original card I would not think this likely. I would still reinsert the original  GTX 675 to test it out and see if the older card is seen in the bios. Wish I had better advice, but if its not seen by the motherboard It should be a problem with the card not working or a problem in the motherboard. One last thing is if the 980m is a g-sync card from clevo then you would have issues. You seem to be able to boot to your operating system fine in both legacy and UEFI ,and you have not experienced 8 beeps. I would clear the cmos making sure all has reset to the original settings and manufacture date in the bios and run DDU through your OS, reboot again and hope for the best. You might pm Mr.Fox and see If he might have any further thoughts. Let me know If you have any luck or what the problem might be after you reinstall the original card.

[Solace21]

I have surrendered.  I uninstalled the GTX 980M.  I reinstalled one of the original GTX 675M cards and it works properly in the slot.  Either the card I got out of China off of Ebay was bad, or there was a proprietary issue I was unaware of.  I don't feel comfortable trying to modify any of the pins on the card, and I feel it was seated properly even though it was not detected in the Bios.  In any event, I will get a refund for now and run my laptop as is.  If I can find "new" or American sourced parts, I may try this again.  Thanks for all your help!

[MonnieRock]

Where do I find the Intel Management Firmware v8.1.64  for Swick's A11 Unlocked BIOS?

 

Thank you,

Monnie

[mithras_0]

On 23/02/2018 at 6:43 AM, Siplast said:

I have read Clevo cards work fine. Most likely a bad card If you are positive the card Is in the primary slot. It is possible your Primary socket is bad but If working when you pulled the original card I would not think this likely. I would still reinsert the original  GTX 675 to test it out and see if the older card is seen in the bios. Wish I had better advice, but if its not seen by the motherboard It should be a problem with the card not working or a problem in the motherboard. One last thing is if the 980m is a g-sync card from clevo then you would have issues. You seem to be able to boot to your operating system fine in both legacy and UEFI ,and you have not experienced 8 beeps. I would clear the cmos making sure all has reset to the original settings and manufacture date in the bios and run DDU through your OS, reboot again and hope for the best. You might pm Mr.Fox and see If he might have any further thoughts. Let me know If you have any luck or what the problem might be after you reinstall the original card.

I am having similar issues with Solace21.

The difference is my integrated card is missing but nvidia gtx is there. But when I boot to windows 10 there isn't any gtx under control panel. Could not install nvidia driver. 

[godlikemouse]

Hi Everyone,

 

I've recently run into an issue with my Alienware m18x R2 and I'm hoping someone might have some advice.  I think this may be due to updates of Windows 10 itself but I'm not sure, I reinstalled Windows 10 and wiped everything just to be safe.  I've noticed that the GTX 980M GPUs throttle like crazy when running any game or 3DMark, this happens when in both SLI and single mode.  Thinking this was a PSU issue I went and bought the Eurocom 780w PSU.  I noticed however, that the entire machine bottlenecks around 300w and throttles back.  I'm not sure a modded vBIOS would help or if there's something else I should try.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.  I'm currently running Swick's A11 BIOS and stock vBIOS.  I've attached my GPU-Z info in case it's of any help.  Thanks in advance.

[Siplast]

Have you solved your GPU throttling issue ?

If not follow the procedure in the early part of this thread by Mr. Fox on page two.

[godlikemouse]

Hi Siplast,

 

I've tried everything I could find in this thread including reboot, switching from igfx to peg and nothing works.  Thanks for checking though.

[Siplast]

Have you tried modifying a different driver? What driver are you using? Do you know which update caused your issues?

[godlikemouse]

Yes, I tried several different drivers including relatively new and very old ones.  Didn't seem to make much difference.  There were minor performance boosts but in all cases throttling still occurred.  Unfortunately, I don't know which specific update caused the issue.

Edited February 12, 2020 by godlikemouse

[MattyB]

There are fewer and fewer of us M18x guys round these days. Have you been over to NotebookReview? There are still a few of us over there keeping the dream alive

[Siplast]

One thing I noticed is you are using a different V-bios. Have you tried the V-bios mentioned in the early part of this thread or are you using a later premamod bios for the graphics card?

[godlikemouse]

@MattyB Yeah, unfortunately.  I've searched everywhere but have had absolutely zero success.

 

@Siplast I haven't been able to get any of the vbios to work with my cards due to the difference in RAM manufacturers.  If you notice, my RAM is using Elpida.  If you know of a vbios that works with Elpida please let me know.  I'll definitely give it a try.

 

Thanks guys

[Siplast]

Do you have a seperate drive and an earlier version of windows such as 8 or 8.1 ?

It would be a good test to see if you could get your set up to run correctly with a different OS so as to rule out the OS as the culprit. I am not a fan of what i've seen and read as to windows 10. Just to re-cap, your sli was running correctly at some point without throttling using windows 10 and at some point your throttling issue became prevalent ?

[godlikemouse]

Yes, I tried rolling back to Windows 7.  Same issue, just a bit slower performance.  The throttling has always been an issue, just recently it has gotten really bad.  Part of the issue could be the SLI cable, but I'm not sure.  I've had to replace that cable a few times since owning the machine, so that could be a contributor.  Every once in a while a reboot would get it so that the throttling wasn't as noticeable, but it has always been present in some form especially when running very heavily under load.