AW15 R1 / AW17 R2 BIOS A06

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us...de=alienware-15&languageCode=EN&categoryId=BI
Fixes & Enhancements
System BIOS :
1.Modify Secure Boot Logo Test.
2.Update Intel ME FW 9.1.30.1008
3.Update Intel VBIOS 5.5.1039 & GOP 5.5.1033
EC :
1.Modify thermal fan table.
2.Add OS type "Windows 10".
This is a continuation from the Beta BIOS thread. I'm making a new thread so the opinions of each don't mix in and confuse new users.

 

i know what means fan tables ... but i dont understand the other things about intel ... someone can explain me please.

 

A couple updates to the Management Engine and the integrated video card's vBIOS.

Does any of you have any complaints/feedback about this new BIOS? I'd like to collect it and share it with PG.

 

TIll now everything seems good, I received my machine wih the A05 bios which also worked fairly well but ran a bit hot with mild productivity. Hard to say if it is really bette rnow but it does feel like it.

Gaming performance in great with moderate fan noise, the palm rest doesnt heat up too much.

But can you confirm if this still have the whole PSU+battery function when the laptop exceeds the 180watt from the PSU? Thats a function i rather see disappear.

 

I'll be back home in 1 hour and a half, I'll give this new A06 bios a try about my throttling issues. I'll let you guys know about my tests in a few hours.

Hope this will solve forever those thermal throttling concerns.

 

I don't think that function is gone. But that's just what I think.

 

I don't think it's possible to make it go without side effects.

 

Yeah I understand. But I rather have power throttling than that my battery has a shorter longevity. BUt for me that is easier to say considering I have the Geforce 970 version which is not surpassing the 180watts often.

 

I rather have power throttling than That my battery has a shorter longevity... In a high end gaming laptop. You joke now? The choice between pest or cholera. Neither of the two THANKS...

 

Hey
AW 17 R2 june 2015, 4980HQ; nvidia 980M, psu 180w, A05

A06 installation:
-when updationg bios the 2 fans start fast
-update runs fine

At reboot, i got the follwing message:

AC power adapter wattage and type cannot be determined

clic F3 if you don't want to see the message before F1 or F2

i select F1,
reboot was done well,
battery icon says full and ac power on,
so i guess ac adapter is "on" and determined ?

then i reboot, same message again, i select F3, before F1

AC adapter seems working.

now, running games ....

 

Check how much the battery drain during heavy use.

 

Its the first time a laptop GPU is this powerful compared to its desktop peers. I did expect some throttling ofcourse with a 180watt psu if I would have a 980. Dell should have shipped the 980m versions ofcourse standard with 240watt psu. But this function shoul dnot be enabled for 970m users who probably wont hit the 180watt limit often, but when it does I rather have throttling.

I know a lot of you guys are really negative towards Alienware because they changed their focus, but I am happy that for once the laptops are more portable, have great battery life and killer performance for the price. Back in the days the machines where bulky as hell, had no battery life to speak off and still only performed like 60% compared to its desktop peers which is now more like 80%. I couldn't care less for throttling in some situations then because the performance is still higher than the bigger machines in the past. It would be a real problem though when the machines where bigger and truly ment as desktop replacements.

 

I got stuck update from A00 to A06, what do i do now

 

You should do 1 by 1. What's the current status of the machine?

 

Stuck at one red dot, can't do anything. Can't force turn off. What is 1 by 1.

 

A01, A02, A03... etc. Restarting the machine or forcing a shutdown could break down your PC.

 

You don't miss a lot of things.

My thermal throttling is even worse with this bios.
T°C is 15°C outside, I ran a Furmark : from the 1 sec a had a huge spike of the green thermal throttling.

Power limit is now almost always UP, my processor frequency is 1,4 ghz.
Launching steam and GTA V take a while.

This is getting a bit frustrating.

 

So what can i do now, i got stuck?

 

Can you post a picture from your phone or something that shows the screen you are stuck on?

 

Here it is, i seriously need help right now.

 

I let the laptop drain out and restart, now my keyboard light is up but the screen is pitch black, nothing, not even black light, so my laptop is brick now. Please, i need help guys.

 

Maybe add an option to allow the user to decide whether to enable hybrid power in the bios

 

Try connecting to external display maybe ... if it don't work then call a dell technician cz this should be covered under warranty as it is their official bios

 

Indeed, if the machine is in warranty I could send the replacement motherboard myself. Unless you wanna try a blindflash first.

@suyash691 Will note that for sure!

 

There are instructions to recover the BIOS which should help you possibly fix your machine without having to wait on a motherboard replacement.

Looks like the flash failed half way through.

Recovery instructions here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/bios-flash-issue.778528/#post-10051222

 

Read the last post from @Lord Zog in the thread. https://eu.alienwarearena.com/forum...t-1/alienware-17-r2-bios-update-issue-a04-a05

 

Here are my first feedbacks :

Somehow, my thermal throttling disappeared almost completely. I haven't used any dynamic offset preset or throttle stop program. I just played one game of HOTS (I know, no the most representative game), I used to have thermal throttling, with this A06 bios : just a very small spike.

But, because there is already something I dislike in this new bios : the T° : my cores are now going up to 85°C with a brand new repaste this week end (Gelic GC Extreme) : the fans do not blow much air in order to cool everything down. On A00, I used to get no more than 77°C.
So on the contrary of most people, I got my temps which has gone up.

Overall, I can see some improvements but still, this is not perfect.
Feel free to ask anything if you want me to test for you. Seems like my upgrade from A00 to A06 worked.

PS : while using Furmark, I got a TDR nvlddmkm BSOD : had to restart my comp.
Is it due to the latest Nvidia drivers 355.82 ?

Thx a lot.

 

Recommend no one run Furmark... Test rather with Heaven / 3DMark 11 / 3DMark Sky diver in loop. You must have the payment version of 3DMark to do that.

 

Thx for the answer.

I confirm that playing GTA V for a 4-5 missions is now almost at 60 fps constant ;D
Actually, I'm quite happy with this 106 bios.

I've been monitoring with XTU : indeed, just a very very small spike but overall, I do not have for the moment the big variations as I used to.
My max T° have increased though : I used to use A00, and I believe that those new max temp are due to the fact that the fan now put more time before getting at their efficient rotation to cool the CPU.

One more thing, I still have my TDR issue on Furmark.
What version of Nvidia drivers you guys are using ?

I'm on Win10.

Thx mates!

EDIT : before I go to sleep, I ran a 3Dmark on steam (complete version) : so far, 0 thermal throttling.

I have a 240w psu : my max temp is 80°C, my stable ones are 59-64°C.
Overall, I'm happy with this new bios

 

1 by 1?

Is it true?

 

I did a direct flash from a00 to a06... it didnt have any problems. I believe maybe the user downloaded a bad copy or some conflicting app was running on his pc or what lord zorg said

 

Usually, the 1 by 1 method is the safest. It's not the only option, but if you don't want to to risks, you go with the 1 by 1.
Jumping to the latest from the first BIOS or from a middle revision isn't always a bad idea (like with down-flashing to A00). Just not the safest.

 

Recommended to disable the junk from Dell "Support Assist". May start unexpectedly.

 

So did some testing:-
1)Core now sticks to 3.4 ghz clock. Maybe might go to 3.36 but not below(a00 was 3.16).
2)Windows 10 increased my temps even on a00(dunno why?). After this idle temps increased by 2 degrees.
3)My Nvidia GPU is always on even if there is no application running(weird?). If anyone on a06 can confirm this on their pc's as well?

Gpu by suyash691 posted Sep 16, 2015 at 7:30 AM

Earlier GPU on Idle would be 135 core and 350(?. Dun recall precise mem clock) mem. Now it just stays at boost clock forever. I hate optimus but i find it weird to have my GPU running at all times in a optimus system.

 

your Nvidia Gpu is active because you have opened a program that use it, like msi afterburner, Nvidia control panel, some programs that check temperatures like AIDA64.

 

I can't seem to shut off the Intel firmware update command prompt this time since the touchscreen is disabled too. Since it still appears for me while flashing under Windows (whether from A06 beta to A06, or A06 back to A05)... after cycling through the battery overnight, I flashed in DOS via USB and it worked successfully in one shot. Just sharing in case anybody has the same symptoms.

 

So what you say is 100% confirmation that the hybrid BIOS that uses the battery to add extra power is something that cannot be removed and solved by a software update? Does that mean it is a design flaw?

 

I used afterburner before bios update and previously afterburner would show 0 degree temp and clock to be 135mhz (GPU disabled) until i ran a game or photoshop or something like that, then afterburner would show 1037 mhz clock and temp.

 

Hey do you mind telling me how you flashed in DOS? I'm also on A06 beta and got stuck on the intel firmware window when flashing to the beta.

There's a lot of old info on the net about booting with a DOS usb key, what tools did you use to create the bootable USB? And can you run the .exe straight from there in DOS?

Cheers!

 

I used the program found on this Dell article. After following the instructions, I simply dropped AW15A06.exe on to the USB as well. Reboot and F12, then select the bios flash option, use tab and enter to navigate (you might need to fiddle with it slightly, to get the bios selected before it can flash).

 

Cheers thanks!

I had to flash back to A05 from A06 BETA before I could flash A06.

I took some pics in case they would help anyone!

Flash went without a hitch.

 

Doing it now, hopefully it's turn out ok. My laptop still have the warranty so if it brick, can i get a motherboard replacement ?

 

If i get my laptop back on, first thing i do is remove the "Support Assist".

 

Well...

 

You saved my life, i mean it, thank you. I would give you a medal right now if i can.

 

Happy Days, I'm glad that worked! Really @Lord Zog should be thanked for writing that original post on how to do it!!

 

No. None of the BIOS's from A00 to A06 have a newer bootblock. A06 will write everything it needs from A00 to A06.. Unless there is a new bootblock that isn't compatible with an older revision, all BIOS Rom files are FULL ROM's, not incremental (They're ALL the same size for a reason, they're FULL flashes.). You can go from A00 to A06, and A06 to A00 if needed.. No need to go up every version, or down.. It flashes whats needed, you'll see it will skip a lot of blocks near the end with just green's..

Any BIOS flash is a risk as any app in the background can cause an issue during flashing.. Even support assist can cause a bad flash if it decides to test the machine during a flash.

Going from A00 to A02 can cause a freeze just like A00 to A06, it's not the ROM that's bad, its the background crap in Windows. It's always recommended to flash in DOS from a bootable USB. The AMI flash tools can do this on ANY machine flashing.

 

I have also did some testing. So this is how this looked like on my Alienware 15 (4710HQ + 970M).

First, I started 3DMark on A05 bios. After full pass (I have only demo version) I measured (using XTU and HW Monitor)

CPU MAX TEMP: 97C
Thermal Throttling: MAX 64% AVG 1%
AVG Clock: 3.11 GHz
GPU MAX TEMP: 82C

Then I flashed A06. Went without any issues. Then I started 3DMark. First of all I got 3DMark crash during 1st or 2nd test with DXGI setFullScreen issue. I think it was an issue with XTU or Steam set to active window. This never happen again. So I finished test with 3DMark and the reseult are:

CPU MAX TEMP: 96C
Thermal Throttling: MAX 13% AVG 0%
AVG Clock: 3.27 GHz
GPU 82C

So much better (in case of thermal throttling which is significantly improved). However still 96C is too much.... Then I switched to Witcher 3. First I started some demanding scene on swamps. Temps where high, around 88-95C and some thermal throttling. What I discovered this was because of Windows, that decided to install updates in this time I was up to play.... I love you Windows 10 Home..... After this was finished temps where around 86 - 92. No thermal thorttling. So temps are better. Not great, but better. But....

During Witcher 3 active and temps around 88-90C I put my alienware on Enermax Aeolus Pure. And guess what? Temps where down to 80-87C. Not reach 90C by any means. I got sharp 3.30GHz - 3.40GHz clock. To be more important. I even not started fan on Enermax. When I started fan temps where more to 80-85C. So to conclude my long post. Fan tables are better for sure. Keyboard is cooler. But notebook need better ventilation. If you put back of notebook up, you will see even better temps.

I will today try to test 3DMark with Enermax Aelous to have better comparation and try to check other games (WoT and Battlefield, maybe HOTS). So far a step in right direction, but MAX temps should be lower.

All in all I am glad Alienware listen to us and do anything with crippled fan profiles. Hope this approach will be continue.

 

With A06 and Gelid Extreme thermal paste, my max temp was 86'c from 3dmark firestrike.
With A00, it would be 79'C.

 

What A06 brings over A00 with a 240w psu??
Apparently the temp with A00 are still the best