*OFFICIAL* Alienware 17 R2/R3 Owner's Lounge

Thanks for the reply. I am assuming there is an additional slot for a 2.5" drive since I already have a 1TB drive.

Also, no special instructions or caveats? Any videos or threads of installation?

 

Unfortunately there is only one 2.5" slot and two m.2 slots. I made a bad assumption when I bought the drive before the laptop arrived, and now I have a 1TB drive laying around unused (for now).

 

Hey guys,

My previous gaming laptop (MSI GT60) had a feature where one usb port would charge devices quicker I think it was called msi supercharger. Anything like this available for the AW? Was looking in bios settings but couldnt find anything.

Thanks!

 

Looks like you are not the only one. I thought I could add 2.5" drive as well.

Guess that 1 TB drive is coming out.

 

Interested in upgrading your processor? http://www.aliexpress.com/item/100-New-CPU-i7-6920HQ-SR2FT-i7-6920HQ-BGA-Chipset/32615735063.html

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/group/Chips/1948678_504702095/3.html?SortType=new_desc

 

4 x USB 3.0 ports, one of which has PowerShare technology for device charging, even if your system is turned off. One of the ports, in AW 17 r3 (the first on the right side ) it's supercharger.


USB 3.0 and PowerShare Technology

The AlienWare 17 R3 has 4 x USB 3.0 ports that operate at speeds up to 5 Gb/s and can be used to connect USB-compatible peripherals to your system, such as external storage, optical drives, printers, memory card readers, and more. One of the USB 3.0 ports has also been equipped with PowerShare technology and doubles as an always-on charging port, even if your system is turned off

 

Hi Alejandro,

I am fairly sure I disabled Powershare in the BIOS as it's not something I need. It might be worth checking for the setting in the BIOS if people need it enabled or disabled.

 

The bios is very poor, do not have many options.

 

I recently ordered a 17 R3 and having been out of the loop a number of years had a few noob questions I hope you can help me out with.

1/ I plan to add the AGA at a later date, however I've read that the latest system BIOS update sets the PCIe link to x1 lane rather than x4. If the laptop arrives with this problematic BIOS revision will I be able to downgrade easily?

2/ Having been out of the hardware scene for a while, I'm not sure whether it's still worthwhile to replace factory thermal paste on some components for appreciable gains in thermal conductivity. What sort of effect would it have? Is it a big job to disassemble and reapply thermal paste to a 17 R3? What paste would you recommend?

3/ OC'ing wasn't really a consideration during purchasing, although I'd be interested to know whether it's possible to OC either the CPU (i7-6700HQ) or GPU (970m) either in the he BIOS or with software. I realise the CPU isn't a K variant so it might not be possible to OC the CPU, but I'm wondering whether the GPU would benefit from a custom VBIOS and / or moderate OC.

Thanks!

 

As far as I know only the HK CPU can be OC'd.

Prema Mod has modded vBIOS images for the 17 R3 GPUs that unlock the clocks.

From what I've seen there isn't a lot of overclocking headroom in the 17 R3 CPUs/GPUs - at least with the stock cooling solution.

 

My Alienware 17 R3 won't turn on!

It was working fine an hour ago. I shut it down, went away for a while, and came back only to realise that no matter how many times I press the power button, it just show no reaction. No LEDs blinking, the Alien head power button doesn't glow (doesn't glue when connected to charger either), nothing
I then tried removing the battery cable after removing the base panel, held the power button for 1 minute, connected back the battery cable. No luck. The laptop simply doesn't turn on. No reaction. As if it has been bricked.

Any reason why this might be happening? Any fix?
CC says it's a motherboard issue, but one hour ago, it was perfect. I turn it off and turn it back on, boom. Doesn't turn on

Any help will be appreciated

 

Bios 1.2.12? Because there multiple cases like this now with this bios.

 

Exactly what I suspected!!
Because this is the second time something like this is happening

First time it didn't turn on, then out of nowhere turned on an gave me INACCESSABLE_BOOT_DEVICE.. Somehow, I don't know but somehow, AHCI was changed to RAID! wow!

So, what could be the fix? I think I'll just let them replace the motherboard and never update BIOS again.

 

Can you turn your system off? I got it to turn on as well bt it wouldnt turn to sleep or turn off anymore and just reboot. Only a hard power off with the powerbutton would work. I had a motherbaord replacement after.

 

Nope. Not about turning off, but my system isn't even turning ON! As I said, it looks like the entire system is bricked. No LEDs working, no lights glowing, fans spinning..absolutely nothing! Just got a call from CC that they will replace the motherboard. Hopefully should fix the problem but it's surprising that there is a buggy BIOS!

 

Sorry I misread about your first boot. I thought you could turn it on eventually like I was able.

The Bios 1.2.12 should be pulled. I saw now 5 cases this week like this.

 

In any case, does Dell replace the motherboard with a new motherboard or a refurbished? It would be quite horrible to have a refurbished one. Was yours new or refurbished?

 

Mine was new. I had a 980M 8GB 6700HQ motherboard. Those are not that common though. So they had to order those for me.

 

By replacing the mobo, do you mean they replace even the processor and GPU? Since processor is soldered onto the mobo...

 

Yep, new motherboard means a new CPU and GPU.....

 

Exactly the issue I had with mine when I bought it.

I updated to 1.2.12 , it was fine for a day. tried turning it on next day -nothing, dead as a dodo. Called support and had the board changed.

Once the board was changed I updated the BIOS again to 1.2.12. (Not realizing it may be buggy) Next day, exact same thing - dead.

Ive since had the board changed again but I am sticking with 1.2.2 that it came with just in case.


.

 

Hah! My only worry now is if Dell replaces them with a refurbished motherboard. It would be awful since mine was working perfectly till this morning.
I have had the worst of worst times dealing with refurbished products in the past

 

Both times mine were replaced with brand new boards so yours may be too. Fingers crossed

 

Can someone confirm me about Alienware's replacement policy? I'm worried if they replace mine with a refurbished one. I would like to know what they actually state in their legal replacement policy

Thanks

 

Yeah. And if you were lucky in the silicone lottery first time, you need to be lucky a second time

 

Depends the country where you ask for service. Just call them and ask. But I received only new parts, never refurbished parts.

 

Yeah. I hope he live in a country with new Dell parts. Not in Similar countries as @VICKYGAMEBOY I think he tried 4 or 5 refurbished motherboards from Dell tech support.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/alienware-15-r1-cpu-issue-warning.788446/

Ps. Remember to tell Dell tech team that they must flash the correct bios version if the motherboard have the wrong version.

 

Oh my! I live in Bangalore, India too! Getting a crappy refurbished replacement for a perfectly good mobo sucks!!
I hope they can just fix the BIOS somehow and not replace the entire setup. My laptop had no problems whatsoever! Damn!

 

Dang. I can not imagine They can fix the bios. Most probably a motherboard replacement.

 

The best I can do is, if they send me a refurbished mobo, ill reject it and ask them to fix the bios IC instead. Cant accept a refurb for a perfect mobo just because of BIOS! Damn man!

 

Maybe you are lucky in both. In the silicone lottery and you receive a brand new motherboard

 

Silicon* lottery Silicone is a elostomer-polymer made of Silicon, Carbon, Hyderogen and Oxygen!

And I heard that there is a famous alienware tech guy on twitter who helps resolving issues. What s his name?

thanks

 

I don't know, but there used to be @Alienware-L_Porras on these forums, but haven't seen him in ages!

 

That was the combo I originally ordered. Came with a bad GPU.

Dell swapped the entire laptop out for one with an HK CPU and the same GPU, which is pretty cool.

 

I received three faulty refurbished mobos back in the r2 days and they finally replaced with with a R3 with maxed gpu and cpu.

 

Does anything in the dispatched parts suggests that Dell is going to send me a refurbished mobo?!

 

OK. Am I screwed?
They are sending me a refurbished motherboard! God damn!

 

You know a lot can I see . Thought you knew what I meant. Sorry for that. You who have huge knowledge probably know that there is no guarantee to obtain the same <good > chips in a new or refurbished mobo. This applies cpu or gpu. Or even worse (Ouch ) both cpu and gpu. Ps I don't use twitter
Refurbished mobo... As expected. Just wanted to warn you about this before you got it in your face. There is a reason why they have numerous of these Refurbished mobo... Not only in India.

 

alienware l porras?

 

Nope, Alienware-L_Porras is the user name.

 

Okay! Somehow, Dell technicians got my laptop to boot up and I immediately flashed 1.2.2 BIOS. After that, I noticed that there are two windows boot options! "Windows Boot Manager" and "WINDOWS". Is this normal?
And after the laptop turned on, there are all sorts of problems like mouse stuttering, wifi is gone for good, unable to install any other operating system like Fedora or Ubuntu gnome. Whatever happened!

 

Do a fresh re-install.

 

Hi, i use the notebook (17 r3 nvidia 970m) for watching movies (hd and and other qualities) with Graphics Amplifier + gtx 980ti greatly improves image quality? movies would look better? or only improves 3D graphics games?

 

Alienware uses Intel HD graphics card while not playing Graphics heavy games(while watching movies, normal work etc). So, it doesn't matter if u have a dedicated GTX 980Ti, it will never be used unless you are playing games.

 

OPTIMUS And No G-sync with internal screen

 

when using the HDMI connector, i use the card gtx 970m. I can change Windows to use the nvidia card by default, also when I make color adjustments, brightness, etc. I make from the nvidia control panel.
that tells me that the movie plays with the nvidia 970m. or I'm wrong?

 

greatly improves the image on TV connected with hdmi? I want to increase the image quality

 

Hdmi does not improve the image quality on your Tv, only if your Tv have better quality than your internal screen. Hdmi is connected with Intel HD graphics card and not dGPU.

 

So, using a GA not change anything in image quality?

 

Only when you are playing games or use a much better external screen.
Edit: There is a reason why many gamers do not like Optimus. Zero G-Sync support, everything is linked towards iGPU, often trouble to connect the correct graphics and who game on iGPU?