*OFFICIAL* Alienware m15 Owner's Lounge

Main problem is the notebook manufacturers who creat thinner and thinner notebooks with not adquate cooling. You can't put in more and more hot hardware in thinner and thinner laptops without you have to sacrifice something. In this case... Lack of good enough cooling.

Thicker notebooks will have the proper cooling for NVMe ssd's
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...ers-welcome-too.810490/page-155#post-10685128

 

That's very true I didn't think of it like that. Still though, I noticed in reviews comparing other NVME SSD, the Samsung 900 series was about 20C hotter than the Mydigitalssd BPX Pro, as well as other brands too

 

Does the touchpad on this thing and/or the m17 allow you to configure one finger type scrolling?

I'm currently on a dinosaur - XPS 17 L702 - and looking for a new laptop before it dies. The touchpad allows scrolling by touching the right-side edge and sliding up/down. Just about every laptop I've seen in recent years uses gestures type actions for scrolling - two finger scrolling, etc. My disability makes that type of action impossible. So I was wondering if the touchpad was configurable at all? Was also interested in the Mobile Precision 75xx or 77xx lines if anyone knows about those touchpads too.

Thanks!

 

Edit: Unfortunately only two finger scrolling is available in the MS touchpad driver

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...crolling/cb47fe49-0a20-45a8-86d1-5015de68fd7d

 

I meant can I configure one-finger scrolling?
Like edge-scrolling, as described in my post.

I can not do two-finger scrolling, I explained why in my post.

Thanks again!

 

I had the same function on my old Toshiba laptop which has synaptics driver. This laptop has Microsoft Precision Driver for trackpad so they have different actions for task. So for scrolling two finger is needed.

 

Thanks for the answer

 

The touchpad on the m15r1 is actually very lame and I assume the same for the m17r1. Can't speak for the r2. On the 15R3, the touchpad was very nice looking and effective. This m15r1 has some dumb touchpad+ click combo piece, instead of separate buttons. It looks cheap and feels cheap. But I almost never use it so I can't dislike the laptop for it.

But I did just try messing with the edges and couldn't get it to scroll around at all

 

I use the touchpad all the time and have no problems with it, although the mechanical buttons on my 15 R2 provided better experience. The thing is that with tapping working so well, they are rarely needed.

 

Thanks for trying that.

 

I honestly forgot about those tap touchpad clicks but I still feel like the buttonless touchpads look cheap and are annoying to use. Of course like you said, you can also tap or tap with 2 fingers for a right click. On the last gen 15s and 17s you had both and the touchpad had a LED that looked really nice.

 

Even though other comments in here, i believe both trackpads have different type of experience. Yeah for the trackpad which has click button separate, it’s easier to press for left or right click. But with the trackpad which has click button inside, it’s easier to scroll and navigate. And with precision drive, i find easier to click too. But i wish instead mechanical click, they could have put virtual click like Apple. It could prevent fingers to get tired easily.

 

Hello,

sorry if this question has been asked and answered a lot of times.

I recently picked up a brand new M15 R1 for a very cheap price
Core i7-9750H
RTX™ 2070 Max-Q
OLED UHD
dual 512 nvme's
240W Power Adaptor
90 WHr, 6-Cell Battery

then put in 32gb ram and a 1t nvme M.2 my self.

I am not comfortable with re-pasting it.

What i was wondering was: if there specific settings that i can just set the undervolting and such futzing with it too much

or if there are any recommendations that i should do.

 

These are my settings. Your CPU I am unsure about, you should be able to get around the same voltage. Whether you start below and work up, or start the same and go lower is up to you. Most people go lower and then go up.

As for the GPU, this undervolt + core clock combo actually results in better 2070 Max-Q performance, temps and lower power draw. As always, yours may differ with stability. (this was after a reboot, temps prove nothing, just showing for voltages)

 

Those of you who have upgraded bios to v2.4.1

Does undervolt still work? And have you seen any change in performance? I see Dell have added in fix for Intel SA-00289 or CVEID: CVE-2019-11157 (for Plundervolt) in this bios update. Thanks

m15 R1 - warning for the owners!


Alienware m15 2.4.1 BIOS broke primary M.2 slot detection?

 

One can also disable and lock turbo power limits, and then set the power limits in TPL section.

I'm on 2.4.1 - no issues with M2, will bench later. FWIW Battery drain is good.

Had some issues with GPU fan alerts, something this BIOS is supposed to address, but it seems like it started happening after I let support assist install some drivers. Never again.

Edit: reinstalling latest drivers from the website solved the fan ePSA alert issue.

 

I don't know if you have typed undervolting for m15 r1 but if you didn't my suggestion would be
From Intel XTU start stress test fro 15 minutes. Wait for 5 minutes to see how your default settings behave Then start to decrease your voltage offset without closing the test. Try to find the value which will bring stable high frequency and stable lower temperatures. And please before install too much thing make a clean windows installation. There are some unnecessary amount of software which comes in box.

I haven't try to older bios cause mine came with 2.3.1 but i feel that laptop performs slower than it should do. I will try the older bios and will update with results.

 

I updated to 2.4.1, 6 days ago and everything seems fine. Fan def seems more sensitive than the BIOS I used before this, which wasn't very old. Undervolting seems to work fine, at least TS doesn't throw any errors. Will TS show an error if this plundervolt is conflicting? I completely forgot about that, its possible that it is preventing the undervolt, giving the impression they changed the fan curve. My NVME 970 Evo has also been working fine with 2.4.1 on my m15r1

Edit: Went back to 2.2.1 - system is way more quiet. I am not moving from 2.2.1. Compared to 2.4.1 and 2.1.1, its like the laptop is turned off VS a PS4 after hours of gameplay.

Also, does anyone know how to stop AWCC from popping up saying "hey you need the latest OCControls" or w/e. A week a go I noticed this OCControls service using 10% CPU constantly, upon Goolging it I also saw it happened to many people. I uninstalled and reinstalled the latest AWCC and the problem went away. But now I have no reason to want the OCControls service or even install it, since its useless, even the AGA works with simply the AWCC.

I actually have no idea what this means, I've never played with it but I will search about it if it means potentially quieter/better performing laptop, thanks. Anyone with edited TS TPL settings that are effective that I can use when searching about this? I see how it can reduce wattage to lower temps and noise easy. But the Primary Power Plane Limits and below seems confusing

 

thank you that is a big help

two more questions:
I have noticed that sometimes when i hear the fan turn on the computer randomly would freeze for a solid 1-2seconds. no mouse or keys input at all. Then it would continue as normal no errors or visual artifacts is this common?

the 2nd is about the macro keys: i have tried googling this and going through lots of post but could not get a solution. I want to program the macro keys to lower and raise volume and lower or raise screen brightness. when i run keystroke/record macro and use the key combo Fn+F4 it instead returns "C" or sometimes "Alt+C" and if i try "Fn +F5" i get "B" or "Alt+B" if alt started. is there a way to bind the macro keys to these?

 

See this example... If the -125mv offset doesn't show up in the monitoring window <Offset> on right this means undervolt is locked out.

 

Oh, then 2.4.1 worked completely fine for me with undervolting with TS. Though I went back to 2.2.1 because the fan noise was the best for my enjoyment of the laptop. I'm surprised they even thought the fan curve of 2.1.1 was acceptable.

I actually have no idea where to even set up the macros for the laptop. I never use the keyboard. I saw a area in Alienware Command Center for 'macros' yet it had no options to customize them. I feel like they really need to work on the AWCC. I'm afraid if I touch it at all it'll start running some OCControl service @10% cpu usage again /facepalm

 

I have that freezing problem too. I think it's because of unnecessary apps which creates conflicts on windows. Clean installation might work. Or if you put one single channel 32 gb ram instead 16x16 dual channel ram, it might be one of the reasons too.
About macros, couldn't figure it out either. Let us know if you find sth new. I wıll too.

 

I've only seen desktop freezing in the following situations:

* Too much GPU undervolt - this is usually followed by a Windows popup saying that the driver stopped responding
* Too much CPU undervolt - don't remember if that required a reboot or not
Edit: Nope, that bluescreens
* To mention the obvious - exteme system load, in particular memory overload or a process running at high priority taking up all the resources

I don't think such freezes should ever occur in a healthy system operating under low load.

 

You should check your temps with HWiNFO or something. I had this problem when gaming for a long time, which seemed to be due to the PCH getting extremely hot. But that was just in gaming, you didn't mention gaming. Kinda depends on the intensive tasks, its pretty hard to heat up the PCH without doing intensive stuff for a while.

 

Alienware Command Center v5.2.81.0

Fixes
- Fixed Alienware Command Center truncating some device names.
- Fixed in Fusion tab the power drop down box would show blank power plan.
- Fixed no error message shown when shortcut macro has its target file deleted or moved.
- Fixed repeatedly and quickly clicking on FX tab cause Alienware Command Center to close.
- Fixed wording for Active System Theme on G-Series systems.
- Fixed Alienware Sound Center produced static noise from internal speakers when unplugging USB headset

 

I agree that's why putting system in a healthy working behaviour is important. It's really weird that they are shipping this faulty units to people and don't find any workaround for it.

 

@Papusan thanks for the heads up on some possible tinkering around undervolting in the latest 2.4.1 BIOS. Fortunately, it still works, but there are some behaviour changes. Dynamic undervolt is now stable at -170mV rather than -160mV for some reason. Static undervolt is way different: previously the optimal voltage was 0.8477V, now I had to take it up to 0.9844V.
In terms of performance, there is about 1% hit in CB20 with static undervolt, and 2-3% hit in dynamic undervolt (even when running at -170mV). Previously I was getting 3060 score, now I managed 3030 in static mode (in this mode my max temp is 94C, clocks run at 3.9GHz and there is no throttling of any kind) and 2985 in dynamic mode. With the previous BIOS, my CB20 results would be the same with static and dynamic UV, albeit static mode would run cooler.

Now installing the latest AWCC. Wish me luck
Edit: no issues with new AWCC so far, CB20 results are the same
Edit 2: I should mention that I also upgraded CB20, but assuming no changes affecting benchmark results.

 

Hey guys, need some advice / help.

My stupid m15 automatically updated the bios to 2.4.1, all by itself. Fine,,,, whatever... except now the fans don't ramp up fast enough, during gaming I end up running at an average of over 90C with the damn fans only at 85%, and massive throttling ensues. (older bios did not have this issue)

With the previous bios version, the fans would be at 100% almost all the time gaming, which I needed to keep the processor from turning to lava.

Can anyone tell me which bios version had the more responsive fans, and since it auto updated, can I re-install the old version and stop it from auto updating?

 

Sounds like 2.1.1 - I had just tried that earlier this week cuz someone said it performed better, and I am sure it does, because it sounds like the fans are set to airplane mode 24/7 bringing the CPU and GPU below 38C lol

 

Ah, cool, thanks!

I may go back to that one, but may try throttlestop first too.

 

Version 2.1.1

to prevent the laptop from auto updating the bios:

reboot, F12 to enter bios, go to security tab, scroll down to "UEFI Firmware Capsule Updates" and set it to "Disabled"

 

Awesome! Thank you for that, not sure I would have figured it out, and it would be very frustrating to downgrade it only to have it update again right away.

 

Also I would suggest you uninstall Alienware Update AKA Dell Update and SupportAssist as they will constantly nag you to upgrade the BIOS as well.

 

My alienware just died last night when it was doing calculations for me.
I discovered it was turned off, after some investigating it turns out the mainboard apparently has a short circuit.
The blue light in the AC adaptor plug will go out as soon as I plug it into the laptop and a little crackling sound can be heart from the plug before it turns off. You can also smell a bit of ozone from the sparks (no burned electronics smell though).

My laptop is just out of the 2 year warranty, but seeing how more people have this problem, and people on internet talk about it being a common problem with a badge of dell and alienware laptops I expected Alienware to be a bit goodwilled toward people who have this problem. But dell is pointing with an iron finger on the "warranty expired". And only gives me an option to replace the whole mainboard (CPU and GPU) for around €1000 (making probably also profit on it).

This is a real real bummer. I choose Alienware because I thought it would be a great solid company to deliver something that works or helps you to make it work. Just like the Lenovo business side does send you parts for free even though your out of warranty, or toyota still doing call-backs on my 11 year, old out of warranty, car and replacing parts for free because they notice they made a mistake.
I hoped Alienware could be my High End systems supplier in this same style, where they stand behind there product and expect it to work for many years. If some crucial components on the mainboard fail already after 2 years, leaving the users with bricked machine, I would have expected Alienware to meet the users in this or have some interest in it if its a new problem. This is what I thought I paid extra for. They have really great designs in casing and airflow in my opinion. But they seem to cheap out on reliable electronic components and/or support for people who get a faulty/not expected life time component.

This is also not the first problem with this first machine. In the first few month the paint started shipping of from the lid hinge. You could rub it off just with you finger. Even though I paid a decent sum extra for support, the dell support gave me a really hard time to convince them this is really not normal for paint. A year later the 4K screen got defect lines that increased over time and needed to be replaced after some not so smooth support talks. And now just a few month after warranty the whole machine strait out dies from an component failure and I can't even talk to dell/alienware about it. They don't even want my thermal images I made of the IC most likely responsible for the problem :

Can someone give me some advice on :
1. Any way to make a deal with Alienware (I'm Okay with paying something, but not the whole price for a faulty component they provided me and most likely making profit on the replacement part and interested in receiving the defective part for investigation. This gives zero trust it that it is solved in future models that I would have bought!)
2. Any advice on repairing it yourself or getting cheap repairs/options
3. What other company's might suite better for me? Premium price but for a REAL premium product backed up by there support?

 

Dell actually has really good support, but pretty much all companies stick to the normal "if its out of warranty its not our problem" . Funnily I have a ASUS monitor that randomly doesn't like to wake up from sleep, unless unplugging it from power completely. The warranty on ASUS said it expired a specific date, so I was like ok fine w/e I forgot to get it fixed before it ran out (even though I procrastinated due to work and other bs). Then I double checked it and realized they cut the warranty short like 2-3 weeks. I contacted them about it and they were like "oh ok we see the problem. Just fixed it. But its still out of warranty." And I'm like wtf do you mean, you showed it expired 3 weeks earlier than it should have. They really are as bad of a company for support as everyone says. The monitor works, so I don't really care. But I do love how a 200$ monitor taught me to avoid ASUS from now on. Could have been a 2000$ laptop learning experience.

 

I kinda disagree about Dell support. I have contacted with them about i am having problem with my laptop. They made lots of unnecessary tests and tried same unnecessary solutions but i have been so sure that they weren't going to fix. Then i have found the solution by doing my own research but they told me that we will deliver this to our engineers and didn't help me. So when i fix the device i will sell and will buy a laptop like MSI or Asus. I have lots of friends who bought this brands and i am the only one had problems with his machine.

 

This remind me, when I switched from laptops to a desktop, I bought the ASUS ROG Swift monitor as it was one of the first monitors that supported GSYNC. When I would shut down my computer and go to sleep, come the next morning I turn on the computer, but the monitor would never wake up from sleep until I turn off the power completely then turn it back on. It's a common problem. I try to avoid ASUS products like the plague.

 

This has been my experience also, I called with a problem, bunch of unnecessary test, only to tell me to reinstall windows. Nope. I ended up doing more research and figured it out for myself, so while dell may have better service than others, I feel its still better to figure it out on your own.

Dell support really seems like its for the non-computer person, enthusiasts like us that post on these forums probably are better served avoiding them.

 

Indeed, on my previous Alienware 18, the webcam wasn't working. I called Dell and told the agent (a girl) about it, she said no problem sir tomorrow you will have a technician to replace your webcam (on a brand new laptop )

The technician arrived next day, then pressed a key combo ( can't remember FN and what) and boom! The webcam worked! It was just disabled from the factory.

 

all that being said, I would still rather have them supporting me than a company like ASUS, or MSI...(I think)

 

Wow, didn't know that. But at least I have my own experience, the experiences from reputable people here confirming it and then of course the many posts on the internet (which can be questionable tbh). It's even funnier because I bought the monitor right before my birthday so it was a easy date to remember when the warranty would expire.. but ASUS website said June and I was born mid-July. It's a shame cuz the monitor (VG248QE) performs extremely well with lightboost, but so do many nowadays. So it's not like anybody is missing anything by choosing a high refresh-rate Alienware, Dell, Acer, BenQ, etc. Some of these companies (Apple, ASUS) really aren't noticing all manufacturers are putting out good quality stuff nowadays and they think its ok to just completely screw people or put out trash and people will go right back to them.

 

Earlier experience with Dell/Alienware wasn't good for me either. In first 2 month paint started chipping of from the powder coated hinges. Even though I had bought premium on-side warranty support it still took me many mails en calls before they replaced it. I'm sooo carfull with this thing, but the paint just rubbed from going into a soft-shell or even when you rubbed it with your finger.

Dell kept saying it did not impact the functioning of the machine so no warranty was needed. I needed to make a comparison to a just bought car where the paint started falling off. After that they tryed to let met pay €157,50 for repair on-site, even though I had already paid for premium-on site support.

A year later the screen started failing. I got a new screen under warranty without much problems this time.


And now @2,5/3 year old ~2 evenings a week 3D modeling/gaming the €1300 mainboard just shorts and they say I need to buy a new one.They feel zero responsibility for designing it in a way that gives very high risks for laptops becoming total loss if just a single mainboard component fails. They also don't want to look into repairing it... customers need to pay the full prince (incl. profit for dell I guess). I have no problem spending some money a year to keep it alive. But when this is not possible because of there design choices I expect them to really trust what they are doing, stand behind there choices, and have a graceful policy for the very few cases that do fail unexpected from an design / expected life standpoint.

I can't deny all to positive reviews and customers of older alienware's. It convinced me to go for Alienware too while I made fun of Alienware in the past as an DIY builder. Now that I work I just wanted the best for my work and free time. And there isn't really a DIY laptop build option. But in my experience they still build awesome ridged devices, but Alienware/Dell lost there hearts for it and the image that it carried.

 

So... in throttlestop, when you modify the PL1 and PL2..... how does that interact with the AWCC modes where balanced is pl1 45w, pl2 65w, cool is something esle.. etc? Won't those all start to conflict?

I mean, which setting will take priority? throttlestop or awcc?

 

I am confused, if you have premium warranty they will ship the part same day (if its available) and in 1-2 days you will have someone at your house doing the repair. This applies to something as dumb as complaining about heat and telling them their thermal paste was bad or if there is a problematic fan. I assume it could even be a motherboard replacement. My first 15R3 I had someone 'repaste' and they accidentally broke the connection on the WiFi card, so he then put in the new order for the new replacement for that himself. And funnily since the 15R3 was way more of a pain than the m15r1, the next person had to take apart the screen to re-route the new wires for the new WiFi chip, since the gold contact was ripped off the card and stuck inside the cable.

If its under warranty, they are obligated to fix stuff like that, something doesn't add up with what you are saying. Maybe the paint thing isn't covered, cuz like they said it doesn't impact performance. But it looks just like my 15R3 and I took that to work and over people's houses many times while using it for 8+hrs/day and it performed as well as a desktop and no chipped paint anywhere even sliding it in and out of bookbags

 

It think those AWCC settings only affect fan profiles, I've never noticed any other effects.

 

Well, the HWinfo plot shows pl1 going from balanced, to cool, to quiet to performance back to balanced.... so it looks like balanced is pl1 of 60w, quiet and cool give pl1 as 45w, and performance gives a ridiculous 75w pl1.

 

What happened to BIOS 2.3.0? That's the BIOS I'm running, it has a quieter fan curve than 2.2.1. That could impact benchmarks a bit but doesn't impact actual performance at all. As soon as the CPU gets hot enough it keeps the fan at maximum speed. I'm still getting ~60W out of the CPU with no throttling for extended periods of time with temps around 85C (liquid metal). 2.2.1 was also good but much louder (and cooler) under light load. Why would they remove a BIOS version from their page? Only 2.4.1, 2.2.1 and earlier are available.

 

Does your power button light work while you're on BIOS 2.3.0?

 

Yep, no problem with the lights. I have an external USB keyboard connected to the AGA and it seems that this disables the light of the laptop keyboard, but the power button works as expected all the time. Also when not connected to the AGA the keyboard backlight works normally.

 

Did anybody test the "unlocked" bios available at: https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Thread-Request-Alienware-m15-unlock ? I was searching for a copy of my current 2.3.0 BIOS and ended up in that page. But not sure if I want to risk my laptop flashing some random bytes into it.