*OFFICIAL* Alienware 15 R1/R2 Owner's Lounge

guys, i just installed a SSD on my 2nd bay on my AW15 R1 (4720HQ, 970M)
i cloned my HDD to my SSD, now the question is,
how do i boot from the SSD? anyone can help please

 

You can adjust the boot order in the BIOS to put your SSD above the HDD in the boot order.

I would just disconnect or remove the HDD and see if it boots to the SSD and if everything is OK.

After a few days on the SSD and if everything is OK, then you can go about reinstalling the HDD and format it maybe if you want to use it as storage. It all depends what you want to do with the HDD!

 

I cant find the option to change the boot order... the alienware 15's bios is strange.. it is very different from others

 

Any link as to where i can buy that screen? Also, can any one provide me link to official R2 owner's lounge. OR is this the official lounge? As it started mainly for R1 till about 200 pages and then shifted to R2 and now kinda mix for both

 

Hello guys,

kindly Need your help and advice, do you guys have any issue with small window on fresh installation game with AW 15 R2 4K display, the word is unreadable, the words are scrambled inside the window. is there any thing to fix that. thank you

Spoiler: "Untitled.png"

 

Looks like your cracked game installer doesn't scale very well......... I doubt you'll get round that but you could try setting your desktop resolution to 1080 for the purpose of installing and change it back afterwards.

FYI, you'll probably find people unwilling to help those that use cracked software but if you need to ask question that is related then fine, I just wouldn't post pictures of cracked installers.....

 

How did you manage to do that? I thought dell won't replace after the 30 days deadline, and do you have any links to the alienware chat? Or to the person you talked to!

 

Good morning folks, i recently purchased an AW 15 R2 with the nvidia 980m GTX and 2 hard drives (Samsung 256 PCIe + 1Tb 7200 RPM). When checking the bios i observed that:
-Bios is setup in RAID mode whereas i only have 1 SSD ?
-If i disable Secure Boot i cannot boot windows anymore (says cannot find boot source).
-The fans get into maximum speed for 1 second (once per boot) then goes back to normal
-The CPU (6820HQ) during 3dMark11 in performance mode goes as high as 98 degrees then throttles (Cores 0 and 1) during the first run of benchmark (shows red in HWinfo64). During the following benchmarks it won't exceed 87 degrees ?

I am really new to the alienware word (owned Asus and MSI before), If any one can let me know if the above observations are normal for an alienware it would be appreciated.

 

The temps are too high.

That is not normal.

THe Bios is indeed put in RAID mode. You can change it by reboot your pc but notify windows you want to boot in safe mode. When it reboots select ACPI in bios, the safe mode windows will load up and install the Samsung NVME driver then. Reboot and everything runs fine after with faster SSD speeds.

 

Thanks for the quick feedback on this, just wanted to correct the temps for the CPU, it actually peaks at 92 degrees under benchmarking load (only during the first benchmark session though). I just performed 4 benchmarks in a row:
1st: CPU 0 and 1 peak at 92 degrees (CPU2 and 3 around 89)
2nd-3rd-4th benchmark: no CPU goes higher than 87
All tests: GPU never exceeded 75 (usually at 65 under load)

Still temperatures are too high ?

I went through a review of this laptop (trusted reviews) and they mentioned that temps can go as high as 92 with this CPU (6820HK not HQ).

 

65c under load for the GPU is a very nice temp. If during actual gaming the CPU is around 80c it is fine. But if it is near 95c constantly it is a real problem. Then I suspect a bad thermal paste job or way too much paste. The contact with the GPU is good. So I wouldnt suspect an incorrect installed thermal heatsink.

 

Ok, so i did a firestrike benchmark and added graphs for each CPU+the GPU. I just want to make sure there is no fault in this laptop (i still have time to return it at the latest end of today).
I think it will be more convenient for you to look at it and give your feedback.
Again thanks for the quick responses

 

All to high processor maximum temperature with a very low clock speed. Change thermal paste yourself, let Dell tech do it or return the whole laptop.

 

Absolutely, I was only hitting those temps when pushing 4.2 - 4.3GHz and I wouldn't say I had a "Golden" CPU........

 

Thank you guys, i think that i just confirmed the high temperatures are caused by the position of the laptop). It was put in a constrained place (at the side of the TV) with the wall just 20cm from the air exhausts.
Just did the tests again with unobstructed exhausts and bottom air intake. Major difference in temps (as in the screenshots). But still, do you think that previous temps were abnormal regardless of the obstructed laptop back/bottoms ?

Also not sure how you concluded for a low clock speeds which are not shown in the previous screenies.
I'm sorry to be insistent on this, just got it for a very good price ($ 2300 CAD, 3 months old wheres the price for this config is 3600 CAD) so i don't want to miss this unless serious issues are there.
Again thank you for your prompt responses.

 

I think @Papusan just meant that at your stock speeds (these would be low in his world ) your temps were too high, either that or he confused your GPU speeds for the CPU!!

In any case, your temps seem like a poor paste job, which is common I'm afraid. I doubt you have any hardware issue. I would definitely recommend re-pasting the CPU/GPU, with your current temps I would bet you would drop 10c+ with some decent paste.

 

HaHa. Yeah, I meant temp vs stock clockspeed. @slayer2333 should put maximum Oc profile and high performance in Win power plan and test his machine. Low clockspeed will give you wrong temperature numbers in bench.

 

Back with my weird issues guys, now i'm observing some weird temps on the Samsung Nvm PM951. During normal use (browsing, etc.) temps are around 50 degrees. On benchmarking they go up to 71 degrees (didn't let the benchmark continue fearing a burned drive).
Used to have regular SSD (840 pro) that did not exceed 45 degrees but i'm not familiar with this type of SSDs. Can anyone share his thoughts on this ?

 

NVME drives are known to get really hot. Even so hot they throttle when doing data benchmarking.

 

Alright, thanks mate, i'm relieved with this information

 

NVMe ssd's become much hotter in use than ordinary ssd's. It's by design... Don't be afraid that they will burn up, because they will Trottle down if the temperature go over a certain level.

 

Is it possible for you to make a disassembly video / pictures with a paste job. I have never done it before but want to do a proper paste job as you quote a 10-15 deg C difference. Which is huge!

 

Since NVME drives will throttle down, Is there any advantage of getting one over a regular M.2 850 pro. If money is not an issue what would you guys recommend going for a 950 Pro Nvme or 850 M.2

I have also read in the previous pages that Nvme had some post boot hang and windows wouldn't load at all. Is it specific to Nvme's only?

Also by getting an Nvme does the boot times/program loading times are reduced significantly over regular M.2 SSD?​

 

There is a great guide in this forum for repasting. I'll provide a link once I get back to the office.

Powered by: Quad Core Exynos + 6820HK

 

Looks like my story with this laptop is just starting... I did a clean install, wipe everything in the SSD and installed my own copy of Windows 10 pro. All good so far, better boot time, faster reboot (no more long time waiting at the post screen, etc.). Initially i was hoping with this clean install to solve an issue during Dell diagnostic ( NVM PCI express failure), but looks like the clean install did not solve that.
Then i performed the diagnostic from the bios (not the 4 hours one), everything passes without issues detected (so false positive on Dell's diagnostic?).
-Next i installed Black ops 3 and i started getting Kernel-power critical issues (happened twice): Each time it happens at the exact same place, the game starts with the Activision video then the system locks, i hear the fan check (each fan activates for a few seconds on high speed), then black screen and i have to force reboot.
Did a clean reinstall of the nvidia driver and tried again the game 10 times, played around 1 hour, no other problems.
The laptop is relatively new (29th January 2016) so really surprised at how many issues i had so far.
My previous laptop was a MSI Barebone and for 3 years not a single problem (and trust me, it went through 3 years of stress).
At this point i just hope it is a software issue (maybe the nvidia driver).

 

How does the palmrest behaves under normal use and when typing for longer periods of time? I had a quick look on a display and it looked like glossy plastic while Dell XPS was nice matte and more comfortable.

 

By anychance you upgraded your firmware? Can you provide your firmware number. whats the model of your NVME?

I see that NVME drives are creating a lot of problems, really concerned now.

 

Guys I need to ask something, does your Macro keys light up as well? Do they have any colors? Cause try as I might My macro keys has no lighting what so ever. I even ran the alienwarefx tester every key was lit up except the block of the macro keys? Is it a functionality or is my system screwed up?

 

Do you mean Bios ? If so i updated to 1.2.12 from Dell's website. I confirm that this new Bios doesn't address the problem with missing boot media when rebooting the laptop (with samsung's NVMe drivers).
I have the samsung PM951 256 Gig.
Also as a quick update, yesterday i performed the extended tests from the website and the NVMe tests succeeded. I suspect HWInfo64 to be the cause of previous failures (i repeated the tests after configuring HWInfo64 correctly - Disable EC monitoring, etc.).

 

Aside from that, can you guys let me know what's the best option for repasting the CPU/GPU according to your experience?
Some talk about grizzly kryonautic, other say IC Diamond is better so not sure what would be winner.

 

As for the paste, I have only used Liquid Pro and Grizzly Kryonaut. My machine currently has the Grizzly and it's good but the initial decrease in temps (around 10c) has reduced to around 6-7c so it does lose a bit of performance. When I next re-paste, it will be with Liquid Pro, without a doubt. That stuff consistently reduces temps like nobody's business!! I hear others have good result with Gelid Extreme but I have not used it myself.

The reboot issues you have are nothing to do with your NVMe drivers, this is totally a botched Bios from Dell and is confirmed by others, including myself. I had it with BIOS ver 1.2.7, others have it with 1.2.8 (I never upgraded) and now it is reported with 1.2.12. I rolled back to 1.2.2 and I have had no issues since. I have both the SM951 and PM951 in my system.

 

Looking at a video on how to apply the Liquid Pro solution. Do you proceed the same way or do you put more material than this video? (to me it looks too thin).

 

Pretty much. In this case, less is more. It is an all too common mistake to use too much paste! Remember, the Die (our laptops don't have a heatspreader like desktop chips) and the heatsink are in direct contact and the paste is there to fill in MICROSCOPIC scratches and imperfections, it's not meant to be a paste sandwich!!

In addition to this, you have to be ultra careful with this stuff. As you might have guessed, this stuff is liquid metal and as such, is conductive. With our chips laid bare, it would only take the tiniest drop on one of the exposed parts of the chip to fry the entire system..... Not what you want, I'm sure!!

Many use electrical tape and cover the chip, all but the Die of course! Others have sealed the exposed (Transistors I believe) parts of the chip with resin or clear nail polish.

So I need to be clear...... If you are not totally confident in using Liquid Pro and ensuring the safety of your chips then stick to a traditional paste. The last thing I want to hear is that your tried it and killed your machine.

Sorry if that sounds over the top but I know a couple of guys who have killed machines with Liquid Pro

 

Amazing explanation, thanks man ! Using electrical tape will probably be the way to go for me.
As long as the performance of this paste is proven i will go this route.

 

There is no doubt as to the performance of Liquid Pro, you can ask anyone who has used it and they will confirm that it is pretty much the best thermal paste available. I use it on my desktop currently and I will use it in my AW15 when I re-paste.

I look forward to hearing your results

 

Can anyone chime in to http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/hdd-removed-problem-wifi-15-r2.790666/

And also is it possible to change the panel on my FHD 15 R2? Can i put something with more nits or can i put the 4K screen? For example if i buy the ones on laptopscreen.com ?

Thanks

 

I will reply in your thread regarding your HDD issues, I have an idea....

Swapping the panel out for a better one has been done by many of us here, myself included. The best 1080 panel you will find is is an LG Philips LP156WF6 SPB1.

The 4K option can and has been done but it requires the entire lid assembly along with the eDP cable (40pin rather than the 30pin found in 1080 models). This is undoubtedly expensive unless you happen to have a dead 4K model with an intact screen. IMO, 4K on a 15inch just isn't worth the scaling issues, let alone the lack of GPU power.

 

Why exactly pro and not Liquid Ultra? Pro is much worse to remove before new application + does not provide better results in the long run. +95% of those who use Liquid metal on laptop hardware and overclock heavy, use Ultra and not pro.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/liquid-ultra-vs-liquid-pro.778668/

 

Right timing, i was actually looking at the Ultra one once i took a look at this thermal paste solution benchmark:
http://overclocking.guide/thermal-p...ted-with-air-cooling-and-liquid-nitrogen-ln2/

So for now my issue is about ordering this stuff (i'm in Toronto, Canada). In amazon it says free shipping but i will receive it in Mid-May lol whereas ordering from Newegg is +14 bucks shipping for 8-15 days to ship.
Sometimes i feel screwed up with laptop stuff when living in Canada.

 

Please can any one tell me does their macro keys on the left side light up as well?

 

They light up, yes. If I press the top left key they also change colors based on the 3 different "sets" of macros that can be set.

 

dammit that means I have got a lemon Ugh hating dell need to change the keys.

 

Fair point. I was basing that on my experience with my desktop where the Pro gave slightly better temps than Ultra. That said, I probably didn't use the Ultra long enough to get a good read on it.

I will try Ultra again on my next paste.

 

Can you please guide me little bit on this swapping panel topic? For example is this it http://www.ebay.ca/itm/LG-PHILIPS-L...908446?hash=item1ea04532de:g:16MAAOSwLVZVgS-M ?

And how is the swap is it easy? any guide that i can follow?

Thanks

 

Have a read through this thread, it is dedicated to the issues and subsequent replacement of the panel.... http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/alienware-15-r2-display-panel-mystery.783055/

As for a guide, I don't know of one off the top of my head but it's really easy. I took some pictures when I did mine...




The Bezel just pops off, I would start with the sides and round to the top. The bottom part where the Alienware logo is, is stuck with some adhesive. Just take it slow with a plastic pry tool (or similar but NOT metal) and it will come free. Unscrew the 4 screws holding the panel and lay flat on the keyboard. Unclip the eDP cable (again, use something plastic) and remove the panel. Reverse to fit new panel. The web cam may need re-seating when clipping the bezel back on so keep an eye on that.

I hope that helps

 

I just had a few questions in repasting with Liquid Ultra:
-Using electrical tape to protect exposed transistors or circuits around the die: So do you use the tape just as a temporary protection then remove it before putting the heatsink back in place (i may expect some liquid to spil out of the die when the heatsink is put back)?
-If you keep the electrical tape there to avoid any potential contacts, isn't it possible that heat would burn the glue in the tape and lead to worse results?
-Looking at several repasting videos, some people only apply the solution on the die whereas others use it on both the die on the heat sink then put them together. What would you suggest?

 

Always on die and heatsink. If you apply Clu correct, the Liquid will not squeeze out from the place. Either use electrical tape permanent or don't use it at all. If you are scared to use Liquid then maybe purchase liquid electrical tape intended for electronic. Or don't use Clu at all.

 

^^ What this guy said

3M PET Electrical insulation tape is good for 130c so that would be a good tape to use...

 

Do Any of you feel distortion in sound ? I feel sound and music getting distorted and pitch getting changed, I tried both the head phones slot and it happens even on speakers . As if the sound fades away and comes back. Also my laptop feels extremely sluggish. When I type it takes at times 3-5 seconds for words to appear on the screen. Like for this post it stutters and then the whole sentence come up. I don't know what the issue is.

Is it cause of chrome? Slow hard drives? Its supposed to a fast pc! I don't have an ssd, but my five year old xps l702x is blazing fast, atleast when I type the laptop keeps up with me not like this.

Is it normal?

 

That is definitely not normal, my machine does everything pretty much instantly so something is going on with your machine.

Have you done a clean install since getting your machine? If not then I would seriously recommend that you do, and not using the recovery image either. Get the media creation tool from Microsoft and clean install that way. Get as many of your driver's from the manufacturers, particularly the graphics and Killer networking as the drivers on the Dell site are way out of date.

Somehow Dell manages to botch stock install and I don't think anyone has figured out how they do it so the best way to rectify it is to clean install, that way you know your working from a clean slate and can troubleshoot more accurately.