Alienware 15R2/17R3 BIOS 1.6.1

Fixes & Enhancements
Implement MEFW/TXEFW for security issues : INTEL-SA-00141, INTEL-SA-00142, INTEL-SA-00125, INTEL-SA-00131

I will test it tonight and update you if there is any improvements, or performance hits..
@Vasudev @Papusan @Pete Light @judal57

 

New C6 Microcode and INTEL ME version 11.8.3510 hotfix 55.. need to see if there are any other improvements, like initial BIOS time, Game Load, etc etc.. probably will do the full test with stock drivers this week.. for now its all good.

 

i am 99% sure it is a performance drop update if that update is coming from Intel

 

I'm on BIOS 1.4.4 and my HWinfo page looks similar to @ VICKYGAMEBOY .Am i affected by the problems you guys are having?
I don't have any problem with boot times,no shutdown problems.....only some crashes once in a month....





Please let me know if i'm affected by the bugs you guys had.
Thank you

 

Or Dell added something extra in the package

 

just to confirm, they did not update INTEL RST rom, VBIOS or anything, only the Microcode Update, not even any thermal management stuffs.. becuz its EOL..

 

Time for Benchmarks and then compare with what you had from before.

 

That BIOS works fine for me. But I also never had problems due to thermal management or regarding the boot time etc. Everything works like it should.

 

@Papusan Yes im reinstalling OS again with default WHQL drivers.. will update with current + newer benchmark soon, while meantime, i want others to report if any weird stuffs showsup.. are u selling ur 17 anytime soon ??

 

I will probably keep it. i9-9900K is on it's way brother and my 17 have LGA socket http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...e-lake-cpus-z390.811225/page-13#post-10772092

I will probaly keep it even when I buy the new coming Clevo model with next gen Nvidia and mentioned Cpu.

 

@VICKYGAMEBOY once you have done your test and benchmarks. Please also try if the bios is locked. Try if you can roll back to bios 1.3.12. Thanks..

 

I flashed the new BIOS and all seems good. But my only concern/question is that when I first ran the bios exe file it said that I should run the bios exe file again after the reboot. Apparently to confirm that it flashed to 1.6.1. So I did and it asked if I would overwrite 1.6.1 with 1.6.1. So I canceled the bios flash since the flash from 1.4.4 to 1.6.1 was successful. Any other who flashed got this message upon first running the new bios exe file?

 

for me it dint ask whether to replace the older bios or not.. it only happend when i tried to reflash 1.6.1 with 1.6.1, so may be something bugged when it creates the temp ami file..

 

rollback is still locked, only way to go back is by flashing through USB method, it was posted on alienware 13 forum somewhere, but even with that u cannot go back to Older Intel ME, ur ME once flashed will stay the same.. i recomend not to rollback once u update ur ME firmware, it creates lots of conflicts with ur other stuffs, like TPM etc etc..

 

Hey, guys i also have an 15 R2 but, The intel ME drivers are not showing up int the Hwinfo software and ive tried to install them also but I was unable to do so. Can you please help me regarding these. And I am also facing the shutdown and booting up issues.

 

You have to install the Intel ME driver from dell website, 11.7.5 i guess, once u install the package reboot and check again, and try to flash bios using USB, copy the file to your USB main folder, press F12 when you see the boot screen, go inside BIOS flash>select USB drive>then use the 1.6.1.exe file.. and what kind of shutdown issues you are facing ??

 

That was my initial thought also. Glad I canceled the reflash.
I did delete the temp ami file after det reboot. Should this file disappear automatically? I think I have manually deleted it before as well.

 

I have tried again to install ME drivers but now also they dont get installed, Showing that "THIS PLATFORM IS NOT SUPPORTED". And it is also not shutting down completely, the AlienFX just keeps on lit up and the motherboard is also on, I have to force shutdown to turn it off

 

it doesnt disappear automatically, you have to manually clear it out..

 

btw can u post ur system specs once again, and make sure you downloaded the correct drivers from dell website.. use ur service tag if its confusing..

 

Thanks for confirming.. It seems I'll update bios once I am ready to buy a new gaming laptop.. hahaha.. Anyways thank you very much for being the GP.. ^_^

 

For me since the 1.4.4 TPM works but suddenly stops working and requires clearing it sometimes .So i disabled it in bios. Also i am not sure if this is what you guys are facing also but when i boot the laptop, the lights turn on but the screen takes a little bit longer to turn on. Its long enough to be noticed.

 

Do you use Crucial RAM sticks?

 

i have vengeance.. i want to buy new sticks soon, just recieved my B156HANO4.2 120HZ IPS panel, its gorgeous.. no brightness controll, thats the only drawback

 

My ram stick went bad. So, I'm looking at Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 2400MHz. 2600MHz is possible on our PC.

 

if im right it should support upto 2666mhz, or just 2400..Yes ballistix is good if u can find it for cheap on amazon, its expensive here in local market as well..

 

Hell, all are expensive ₹16k for 16GB is absurd. HyperX costs ₹18k.

 

lol 18K for a perf RAM, totally not worth the improvement you will get, but try from aliexpress or see if u can get it from UK, if someone can post for u..

 

Downloaded MEFW from win-raid. Still on 1.3.12 with C6 ucode and latest MEFW.

 

Few days ago i updated my bios to 1.6.1 and i reformated my Alienware 15 R2 (6700HQ,980M 4GB) and now my laptop is behaving like brand new.Restarts in under 15,shutdowns and turns on in under 10 seconds.No bluescreens or crash yet. Previously i had crashes (without bluescreen ) once in two weeks. Now everything seems normal. I also didnot installed Kionix drivers and also disabled it in device manager. Other than that what i did is right after reinstall of Windows i quickly reinstalled all dell drivers and then connect to internet and updated Windows.

Also i have undervolted using XTU core offset -170 .Never repasted or opened the back cover.Temp 66 to 70 in XTU stress test
Also i play a lot of Skyrim (temp always between 60 to 70)

My laptop is 2.5 years old. Should i repaste?

Should i undervolt the Intel GPU??? Anyone have a best undervolt voltage for Intel GPU 530???

Also in bios should i enable "CPU Performance Mode" in bios???

Any help would be highly appreciated.Thank you

 

Hi, how did you update your micro code? Through MS update? Whats the difference between the previous one and the latest? Also about intel MEFW whats the benefit of updating to the latest? Thanks?

@VICKYGAMEBOY Do you have any benchmark of previous bios and new bios? Is the new bios reducing performance to ypur machine or the same as previous bios? Thanks..

 

no perf hits.. its good to go.. im also on latest drivers.. 8.4 thermal drivers from R4, 1803 Intel ME driver from winraid.. and 16.0.2 preload IRST, and other latest drivers for Realtek Card, Kionox, Chipset driver etc..

 

Daz did it for me. I already shared that version with vickygameboy. I managed to get 693 in cinebench on single channel RAM.

 

Hi,
I have 17R3 updated successfully but the ME not changed why?

 

You can try HunterZ0's method of CLR pin based reset and try updating the BIOS once again, hopefully it should work. http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...-17-r3-or-possibly-other-bgas-as-well.813803/

 

Hi, sorry for the noob question but I wanted to ask and confirm.. The bios update will update your intel microcode from c2 to c6 then also update your ME firmware.. is that correct? Thanks

 

Yes.

 

Thanks..

 

I was also wondering this as I am on bios 1.3.12 and need the Spectre update, glad to know it will get updated.

 

If you have updated please share if everything works fine or not.. Screenshots would be great..

 

Ok, tried to update to 1.6.1 (from 1.4.4) and it will reboot, blue lights, no display and nothing will happen for a little bit, then shut down.

So I boot up, try to run the update once more and I get a reboot into a aptio BIOS update, but it says "Rom Image is not loaded. Rom image update denied." and that there was an error and press any key to reboot. Do that and it boots up back into windows 10 just fine.

I can repeat this process using either SSD or the HDD.

On a clean shutdown/reboot and attempt to update it will show the "Rom Image is not loaded. Rom image update denied." consistently.

Any ideas?

I saw a post where someone said their drive was near full, that is not the case.

 

I might add when I updated from 1.3.12 to 1.4.4 I had no issues at all. Nothing has changed on my system since.

 

I had the same problem with 1.4.4....when i press restart after few seconds the screen goes black all lights off except the power button light and few seconds later the alienware logo comes up and starts windows. I updated to 1.6.1 and still had this problem but after a fresh install and update of W10 everything is fine.

 

Ok, so I did a BIOS default, then the update and it worked. Only option I had set was CPU Performance Mode.

I am on BIOS 1.6.1.

But, I did the BIOS update twice (as it says in the first window that pops up) and I am still on Intel ME V11.0, Build 1194???

Any ideas how to get the ME to update?

 

I installed this ME driver first "Chipset_Driver_0P4C7_WN32_11.0.0.1173_A02"
Then installed "Intel-Management-Engine-Interface-Driver_7CDG2_WIN_11.7.0.1054_A02"

 

Just wanted to say that the problem you described, I had it on my Alienware 17 r2.. I was not able to fix it and ended up with a mobo replacement.. Good job for sorting it out and thanks for sharing your experience..

 

I did not run the BIOS the second after the first reboot like @95TA.

During the first run of the bios 1.6.1 file it gave the message to run the bios exe file again after the first reboot. To my understanding as a way to confirm that v 1.6.1 was correct flashed. When I ran the bios file after the first successful update from 1.4.4 to 1.6.1 it asked me if I would replace 1.6.1 with 1.6.1, so I canceled.
I have all the correct updates to Intel ME drivers etc. I dont see any reason to flash the bios twice.

 

The update went fine, so far everything is running smooth without any hiccups. My ME version was updated to 11.8 from 11.0.

 

Glad to hear.
Did you run the bios exe file just once? Any message during the first running of the bios file regarding running it a second time after reboot?

 

how did you update it? through windows or via usb and pressing f12 on boot.. thanks