New BIOS for 15R2/17R3 v1.4.4

Well, it would look as if Dell decided that since Microsoft put out a software patch to stave off the reboot issues with the original CPU microcode patch that it would be a good idea to re-release the *SAME* flawed BIOS v1.4.4 that they did and pulled a few weeks ago...

As it stands I do not think anyone here would recommend this BIOS. It implements a knowing "flawed" patch that introduces instability in systems that are not running the Microsoft "patch" to fix the patch (and I can bet you can now see why this is "wrong")...

It is best to skip 1.4.4 altogether and wait until a comprehensive "fix" is determined and implemented properly in BIOS.

We can only hope Dell/Alienware has some sort of conscience and moral/ethical duty to their current AND previous customers to put out a proper fix for all older systems.

As it stands it is a marketing departments nirvana to have something like this pop up to invalidate older systems, not take direct blame, and have newer systems available for purchase that do not have the "flaw"... Talk about strong-arming your customer base to upgrade!

As of today the "newer unflawed systems" do not exist, but our systems are still vulnerable so we can only hope they produce a fix that doesn't impact performance greatly and doesn't require a software patch to keep your system stable.

 

It's just the spectre and meltdown protection. Performancewise on the CPU you won't notice a difference, however it seems to affect SSDs in terms of performance, again you won't really notice it but it is there.

 

There shouldn't be any performance changes, this will be to address the Spectre / Meltdown bugs.

 

@VICKYGAMEBOY Be my guest in testing BIOS.
Darn whenever I finished my modded BIOS with LocalME update enabled and was just gonna flash it. Suddenly Dell pushed an update.
Performance wise, the C2 ucode will cause minor stutters or slowdowns. Atleast for me, I felt reduced performance when using NVMe drive and SATA SSD/HDD.
Reduction of 10% on Reads and 10-20% writes in 4K.

 

SSD not so much here, NVME have the noticeable hit for me tho.

 

Maybe because I'm using Linux but boot time was really long after microcode patch by daz.

 

Well for me on windows machine and regular SSD there was no real noticable difference, however on my NVME SSD the boottime was noticably slower, but not to the ,point where I would call it slow or annoying.

didn't check out linux yet, so might indeed be OS related.

 

Apps on Linux loads faster but boot time is 2 secs extra. Used to boot into Linux in just 3 sec, now its 5-6 secs.

 

@HunterZ0 New bios has been uploaded by dell.

 

@VICKYGAMEBOY @Papusan I updated the BIOS and it contains only microcode. SA0086 is still vulnerable.
@Falkentyne Do I need to remove BIOS Lock to change MEFW Lock to be disabled for good?

 

Very nice. Is this meant as a JOKE from Dell? Maybe ask the boss himself WTF is this https://twitter.com/AzorFrank ? Or https://www.facebook.com/frank.azor - https://www.facebook.com/Alienware/

 

I don't use Facebook and Twitter at all. So, I hope Falkentyne can help in unlocking the BIOS and flash Prema's ME 11 Tool.

 

I expect it is other AW owners on the forum who use TW or FB who could ask the BOSS.

 

long awaited BIOS turns out to be bad.. there is no ME firmware update included.. may be they will do that in a separate installer, no stutters or what so ever, Yes the initial boot after the bios update was pretty long.. havnt gamed yet..

 

Reverted back to Daz's BIOS. I'll see if I can unlock the MEFW myself and all menus to update Prema ME FW and goodies.

 

I thought if you update this security bios update you wont have an option to roll back..

 

That is correct... Once the microcode is updated in the processor you cannot revert it back without another microcode update.

That is the whole issue with these "processor flaws" is that you have multiple layers of issues.

Primary is a processor microcode flaw that needs to be patched. This BIOS does that.

Secondary is a operating system flaw (that, quite frankly, is because of the way they wrote the OS, they took advantage of a processor "feature" and since it operated a certain way they felt it was "proper" for it work that way, when in reality it opened a hole) so they have to patch the OS to fix the hole in the OS.

I almost wouldn't trust these "tests" that tell you if your processor is vulnerable. They probably just check to see if certain functions are available, not really running a "hack" to see if real data is available (ie, they would not offer a "test" that would actually hack a system, in other words, they wouldn't give a running example of how to exploit these flaws to everyone).

The OS level patch is the one that will "fix" the OS to return an error or refuse to do the command chain that would result in a "hack".

The big issue here is the microcode update is known to cause system reboots. If that update is run, you are no longer vulnerable, but the OS can still exception and cause a complete fault and reboot because it hasn't been patched to deal with the exception the processor will assert when you depend on the functions that have been patched in the microcode.

Personally, until the OSes are patched, there is no reason to introduce instability in your system with the BIOS update.

The even bigger issue here is that any older operating systems that are unpatched will be unstable from the time you update the microcode.

Basically, all "system restore" images are unstable. All "out of the box" OS images are unstable. And, personally, I wouldn't trust an OS installation that reboots randomly when you are installing it. That is just asking for trouble.

If MSoft and the rest wanted a way to "eliminate the viability of older distributions" they finally have it.

From here on out there we are in a "post processor flaw" timeline.

 

I reverted back to 1.3.12 with microcode update C2.

 

sound complicated for me. LOL. would this mean if you update your bios, you must also update windows. As of the moment I dont have any issues with my laptop and I don't know how will I get hack or if anyone will bother hacking me. LOL. from the looks of it you know better than I do. so what would be the best option to do? Update bios and windows or I'll just enjoy using my laptop and try not to worry of this things?

 

I have updated both just to be safe.

 

I am still in micro code BA. Good or Bad?

 

I flashed 1.4.4 with zero issues. It contains only new microcode C2 which has noticeable slowdowns in CPU speed and NVMe speeds as well.

 

And that will NOT remove the microcode patch that 1.4.4 installed.

Microcode is not a "BIOS". BIOSes can be overwritten in whole, or in part. Microcode ONLY is updated in part. There is no source of a "complete" microcode image for any processor anywhere.

They only patch microcode. That is, a chuck is set to be changed, is changed and verified is changed and is done. Once that is done you need another "update" that will rewrite that area to change it again. There is no reverting back to a previous version.

 

Seems like I will be updating as well then. Hopefully my CPU won't throttle as I had bad experience when I updated my bios. Don't know what's wrong with it tho. I will try later tonight. Hope I won't brick this out of warranty laptop. LOL

 

Also, I may add, I find this Intel BS that older processors take more of a hit vs newer ones to be highly suspect.

Sounds more like they purposely added in slow code so that newer processors are more desirable. I hope that public and business outcry to protect our investments cause them to institute further "upgrades" to mitigate the slow-downs imposed by their "fixes".

 

The new win 10 updates has reduced the slowness caused due to the new ucodes.

 

I will believe that when it becomes public knowledge (ie, when publications start saying that the impact is minimal)...

 

I updated w10 creators to build 877.

 

Honestly, the impact of these "fixes" should be pretty small if done right... you will have certain things being heavily impacted if they solely relied upon these "features" but, honestly, the "exposure" to be able to steal "personal data" is very very low since "personal data" is relatively complex, relatively large-scale in comparison to what these hacks can have access to.

The big issue is they are taking a sledgehammer approach to trying to "mitigate the exposure" of the flaws, when a seriously surgical precision should be applied to protecting the really concerning "personal data" that everyone is worried about.

 

NVMe reads and writes are reduced by 20-50%.

 

Patches thrown out too early will never work optimal. And a golden opportunity to scam people to upgrade hardware and OS before they have to. Fits Micro$haft very well Kaby/Coffee = WinCrap X and Moron Store!!

 

Well Intel benfits greatly because consumers will be forced to buy new burgercake CPUs

 

They could of course opt for Ryzen. Micro$haft will most likely be the winner Not all wanna struggle with old OS and new hardware. As I said in previous post. Fits M$ very well.

 

Are you serious... that's a big hit. I'm unsure whether to update or not.

 

Only in certain file size loads.

 

@Papusan @Vasudev @rinneh I have updated my bios and my CPU is throttling and I have noticed my voltage is also low like its being undervolt. I am guessing the reason is intel speedshift is causing the problem. I was on bios 1.3.6 without this issues. How do you disable intel speedshift in TS? Help please.. thanks..
Edit:
It seems intel speed shift is already off as I can see in HWinfo SST is red.. I guess it means its off.. My problem after the bios update my CPU throttles to base clock 2.6ghz.. anyone can help?

 

@Vasudev @Papusan for me BIOS runs great, i had 0 reboot issues, desktop runs crispy, everything runs fine, gaming ive played bioshock for 1hour, there is no throtlling on CPU side, may be my system never went that hot, will test out someother intensive games tonight, must pressure NVMe drivers, PCH and memory modules and see if it throttles, but i ran Intel SA tool, its still vulnerable, how the heck they published a bios mentioning updated ME firmware, where in flashing bios i dint see the ME update screen at all, and in windows its the same old crappy 11.0 version build 1194.. did they forgot to implement the ME firmware update code ?? or just thot people wouldnt bother about that..

 

Its because MEFW local update is locked by Dell and even their FW update doesn't touch ME at all. Too bad I'm going for Prema BIOS for next gaming laptops and Rz 2/Threadripper 2 for my desktop rig. Pathetic support from Intel and its vendor for showing the middle finger for end users.

 

One of the reasons why I haven't updated yet, does this patch the vulnerabilities or not? This seem rushed and I'm out of warranty and don't want to end up with a bricked system.

 

I had to disable OS level mitigation after BIOS update to negate the performance impact. So I'm vulnerable.

Disable Speedstep,BD PROCHOT and enable Speedshift,C1E.

 

Even I'm out of warranty. I used Dell Gset application to flash it. You can put the exe file to usb drive and restart the pc. Upon seeing AW logo, press F12 and select BIOS flash Update. Use tab key to navigate to each and every buttons to select the file and flash it safely.

 

I have 8 more months warranty left.. so im glad i can test out for others.. intel is not delaying anything here, they uploaded the patch within a week time of discovery, where in OEMs are too lazy to implement, yes im more leaning towards RZ2 or TR2 for my desktops, its time to put my haswell chip to sleep.. btw im using AHCI, so i dint see any negative impact on SSD Reads / writes.. may be they are having isssues for my skylake models updating me firmware, like i had, so many random issues after updating to 11.8, windows activation issue, cold reboots, etc etc

 

Try enabling the OS mitigation http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...xes-index-post-1.779394/page-55#post-10666250

 

This is my set up. -175 mV cpu undervolt using TS. Also the screen shot was taken when I woke up early in the morning. As you can see no temp issues. My CPU clock just run on base clock when on light load. Last night I was playing PUBG my cpu clock was running fine and stable on 3.1 ghz. I have also tried enabling CPU mode in bios and has no changes made. I have been having this problem ever since I update my bios beyond bios version 1.3.6. Bios 1.3.6 has been the most stable bios version for so far. I hope someone can help me with this problem. If no other solution can be found I think I will just roll back to bios 1.3.6.
Edited:
Also to have I'm on high performance mode. My CPU didn't use to drop down to base clock on bios 1.3.6. Always stable on 3.1ghz..

 

Enable Speedshift EPP and disable Speedstep. Save TS profile.

 

Have you compared your fixed core voltage with your undervolt on newest firmware vs. what you used to run before?

 

@Vasudev should we tag someone from alienware ?? so that they knows that the new bios doesnt have the firmware update which fixes SA0086 issues.. ive already wrote a mail to few of them, @Papusan help tag us few if u you know..

 

Our option is to fix their BIOS ourselves using fpt tool as Falk said. Unlock all menus and change MEFW local update and re-flash to enabled for Prema's MEtool to work. I don't have a HW programer and I am scared as Hell to flash custom BIOS region.
I have everything incl. menu unlocked, hot plug SATA's like Prema. Though I don't know anything about optimal OC settings like @Prema does, but its a mediocre work.
With this I have a BIOS 1.3.12 with new microcode patch C2 {thanks to Daz}.
Darn, why do Dell makes everything complicated.
You can tag Wassemann but its been too long since they responded. Atleast Dell can give unlocked BIOS and we'll patch with new FW and uCodes.

 

well i just use to have a SPI flasher, my uncle gave it to me, but its not working anymore, well dell makes things more complicated, like the new alien FX controllers, may be they are creating something unique.. lets wait and see, until that im done, ive tweeted alienware reps.. about the issue, if they see, they might update driver page.. if not.. all hands on u guys..