*OFFICIAL* Alienware Area-51M R1 Owner's Lounge

So I nearly have all of the parts for my desktop build and want to confirm and ask a couple of questions before I part with my 51m. A lot of you guys are very knowledgeable and have always been helpful, so I figured I'd ask here.

1) Is there some sort of media creation tool that I can put on a USB for Windows 10 Home that includes all of the AW/Dell programs so i can format the drive like it comes from factory? Preferably something that doesn't include the newest Windows version that has tons of issues (1909?) Or is that an optional update?

2) I upgraded W10 Home to Pro with a retail key and from what I was told here, all i need to do is format the 51m (this should deactivate the key) and I can use the key on a new PC (although I may need to call to activate it.) I'll also need to write the key down before formatting my 51m.

3) Anything I'm missing or other things you'd suggest doing? I figured I'd make a guest account once reformatted to ensure everything is working correctly, is this a good idea or should I simply reformat and let the new owner set it up? I figured the new owner may want to verify everything is in working order.

 

1) You can use the Dell OS Recovery Tool

Once you install it, it can help you create a bootable USB Stick which will download the OS online, format your main disk, then install Windows, then it will install all the drivers and software using SupportAssist

2) Yes login with a Microsoft Account first so your current product key is associated with your account.

Then convert that account back to LOCAL

Then

Launch Command Prompt as admin

At the command prompt, type: slmgr.vbs -upk

Hit Enter, this will uninstall the product key from the computer and set it back to trial mode, you are now free to use it on another computer. If you encounter any problems, try activating by telephone:



Press Windows key + X then clickRun, then type: slui.exe 4

2. Next press the 'ENTER' key

3. Select your 'Country' from the list.

4. Choose the 'Phone Activation' option.

 

Still waiting for the R2 to be announced officially here, but the new Zephyrus S17 looks nice indeed!

https://www.asus.com/ROG-Republic-Of-Gamers/ROG-Zephyrus-S17/

 

Thank you! So i was logged into my microsoft account when I upgraded to Pro with the key (still logged in.) So the key should be linked to my Microsoft account already.

Do I need to revert it back to Local before uninstalling the key (I assume I just log out of my microsoft account?) And what do you mean by it will put the 51m back in trial mode? Do you mean it will go back to regular W10 Home once I format and reinstall Windows?

Once this is all done, the 51m will not need another key for Windows 10 Home right (since it came pre-installed?)

 

Hope you never have to deal with asus support and warranty repair.

 

Not for me thank you, 23% smaller, 40% thinner, ??% hotter. Think I would tear that keyboard up in no time. I'll stick with thick and heavy as long as they keep making them. My 51m turns one year old this week, even w/ the 9700k/2060 it takes everything I throw at it and stays plenty cool. Thanks for sharing though...

 

Is any better than Dell? I've had horrible experience with Dell. Also seems like the A51M had issues galore. The Asus Gx701 not so much. I wish I would have purchased Asus over my AW looking back.

 

Asus have liquid metal on their ROG lineup this year, that's something at least.

And like someone said, is Dell suddenly the poster boy for support? ;-)

 

Looks like another turdbook again with a max-gimped gpu.

 

actually dell tech support is pretty good. at least they send people to your house OR you can mail it in. Or get the parts and do it yourself. The ONLY OPTION YOU HAVE with asus is mail it in. I have had very bad luck with asus support. I have had to mail in 8 motherboard over my career and all but 2 came back with issues. 1 got lost in their care and it took 7 month to get them to give me another. Their phone support might as we not exist.

 

It is this mainly that keeps me in the Dell camp; I can oversee any work being done and can get a tech onsite. When the m/b of my AW 13 R3 went out about 9 months ago, I had a Dell tech literally come to the city I was staying in (on business), and conduct a repair before I got on my plane home in the lobby of an airport. It didn't work though, the laptop still didn't boot. As luck would have it, due to a snafu, they had shipped and assigned the same repair order in my home city outside Atlanta, and a tech literally showed up at my door the next morning, did the repair and it was done. Yes, they shouldn't have needed to do it twice (first one the CMOS battery was dead), but they did get it done, didn't destroy the laptop or scratch it up, something you can bank on mailing it off will happen in most cases.

 

I too have had great luck with dell support..

I just got my a51 back from repair.. I live way in northern alberta Canada (almost in the North west territories) I shipped my system out to Toronto on a Weds and had it back from repair on the following Friday.. So pretty damn good time in my opinion. My issues were fixed (Alienware heads wouldn't display the right colors) They put a new lid with lcd on it and a whole new palm rest. Not bad just for an aesthetic.
I did have to reinstall windows, as they just slap a copy on the hd and call it a day. (had a bad install of windows, which is usual for dell)
When dealing with dell support you HAVE to go through their script.. Its annoying.. This time I tried the chat they offer and the process was pretty seamless, didn't even have to talk to anyone over the phone.. I have dealt with dell support a few times now and I luckily have not had a bad experience.. But that's just me maybe.

 

Its again their strong suit, without which there would literally would be little to reason to select them outside of just the sheer ubiquity of Dell products.

 

Hey all. I hope you don't mind if I vent for a sec.

I finally reinstalled OS and got everything up and running and wouldn't ya know, I woke up this morning and battery was drained exactly 6%. Like clockwork: only on Tuesday and Sunday. I decided to open a chat with Dell tech support and they said this is normal behavior.

Just for my sanity, can you guys confirm your battery doesn't drain 6% two days a week? Can you confirm that, if completly shutdown that battery doesn't drain at all, overnight, ever, at all?

Also, did I mention Dell tech support is incompetent?

Edit: should I try reinstall OS again or am I doomed to endure 6% drain twice a week, forever?

 

Just disable USB Power Share from the BIOS

When you install Windows, it will automatically pick up the built in Windows 10 Home key which is injected in your BIOS so you don't have to do a thing! It will activate automatically.

 

That was one of the first things I did before resorting to reinstalling OS. I even double checked it a couple minutes ago. Thanks, though. I'm quite annoyred with this, but even more annoyed Dell doesn't want to address the issue.

 

Dude I have my mouse, XBox contoller, and Samsung T5 Portable SSD connected via the Thunderbolt port all the time and I never have this. I'm on BIOS 1.3.2 by the way

 

I'm flabbergasted what's causing my issue. I experienced this same issue with my previous Area 51m (replaced due to bad acreen bleed), but it seemed to finally stop after reinstalling factory image. With this laptop, I did that first... no luck... hence why I did a completely clean install from microsoft and installed select drivers and software myself.

For sanity, can I ask you a very obvious question? I realize I'm a novice asking an expert a dumb and obvious question, so go easy on me. Do you leave the power connected? I'm guessing no, of course, but had to ask.

 

I will disconnect mine tonight and see.... curious now.

 

No question is dumb or stupid. Even I ask questions, no one knows it all right?

To answer your question, my 2 power adapters are connected to this power extensions hub from the main socket. Before I go to bed, I turn the switch off so there is 0 power going to the laptop.

Oh by the way, I also changed the power adapter mode from Adaptive (default) to custom with the default values of Start charging as low as 50% and stop charging at 90% to preserve the battery health.

 

Thanks, Doc. I'll be curious to know the outcome.

Thanks, Spartan.

The more I ponder my predicament, I'm starting to hypothesize if maybe the battery is draining 1+% or so every night, but the software isn't detecting, but every 4 days, at which point it corrects. Still hard to accept since I connect power every day for several hours, though.

It's seeming like I'm just going to have to live with this... ugh. My OCD is triggered, LOL

 

Don't worry, with Dell machines you will probably become a SW and HW engineer in figuring out Dell BIOS and its inner workings.
Its better in a while to drain battery until 20% and charge it till 100%.
It could also be a startup app that requests nvidia dGPU for a brief time to which, Dell/AW battery boost is draining battery. OBS, Adobe Premier, After Effects, Dell support assist, Google Chrome, MS Edge Chromium etc... are few things that may or may not use battery.

 

Hi everyone. Can someone with a 2080 super share their vbios with me?

 

Not available yet....

 

Also, to be thorough, the true test will be to check it every morning for a full week. My drain only occured two days per week... about every 4 days or so.

 

I just bought my Area51m and I have been enjoying it very much so far and I am keeping it. There is no place on this godly earth that I would pick the asus over this laptop. Its comparing apples to oranges any way. Asus build quality is not on a level of that of the Area51m, they just are not. Asus makes most of there laptops out of plastic to begin with and if you look at the cooling of these Asus laptops, its like 1/5th the cooling compared to a true desktop replacement.

I like that Asus is in the mix none the less Im glad people have had sucess with there line in the past. As far as the complaints, your going to get that with any product that is as popular as the Area51m. The reason Dell releases bios tweaks is to cater more towards people that just want the machine to work and last a long time for them. The way I see it, if we lived in a perfect world, there would be an option when buying say the Area51m that either you are a extreme modder that wants everything unlocked to do what ever, and then there are the people that dont want to mess with all that and just want there laptop to last them years down the road like a desktop while staying cool. That would cover most everyones needs while meeting the requirements of most everyone. For me, I dont feel I need my GPU and CPU in my Area51m running like a hot stove every time I turn it on, everything stays in the 60 celsius range for me while gaming and that works great for me, straight out of the box with just my undervolting software etc..For some though, they want to take it all apart and build it from the ground up as well as have everything unlocked. Those people should have that option when buying the machine, hell dell could ship the damn thing in pieces so they could put the thing togather themselves, they just have to realize that Dell is a company looking to make a profit and not everyone can send there machine in for repair or replacement.

Also there is a type of effect going on here, many people that complain are serial buyers/sellers. Its the same thing with buying cars. If you have one person that buys new cars all the time, say leases them then gets rid of them every two years, that person is going to have 10x the expectations when they lease or buy a new car. When a person waits for 10 years, and buys a new vehicle, the wait and anticipation is more euphoric since that person is not a serial seller. The same thing applies to people buying new tech for laptops. The people you see complaining are the ones that continuously buy and sell stuff, who knows why? but thats the way it is, they have no euphoric sense of something brand new like someone that has not bought something in a long time would, like me. For me the Area51m is amazing, I bought aliewares first few desktop replacements back when they were there own company an the jump in quality since then is staggering.

***whips out the 2080 super***

 

Not everything is rosy brother. It will depends where you live. Some places won't acknowledge your Premium paid warranty. And you have to fight for your rights

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...ranty-after-says-99-degrees-is-normal.832224/

Expected Life Time of AlienWare Laptops
Here it is that I get mixed feelings with Alienware. I did not expect to be spending these kinds of maintenance costs caused by failure of crucial components withing the first 5 years. Especially if the failure is not because of improper use like using it under the shower or dropping it from the stairs. But because of components used on the PCB reaching there end-of-life already after 2 years of medium usage (Gaming/rendering ~2 evenings a week).

I expected 5+ years of service our of the machine with occasionally small repairs. All other laptops I have/had (from different brands) served me for 7+ years and where replaced not because of failure but outdated performance.

 

All of a sudden the past few weeks after such a long period of no throttling... I'm back to being throttled. I keep getting random dips from 140 to 10-20fps for minutes at a time. Then it just reverts to normally and I'm instantly 140fps again. I can't ****ing win with this laptop. I'm so ****ing frustrated with never getting to actually ****ing use what I paid for. Sorry to get ragey but I am just so frustrated.

I just want to ****ing use it and not be limited by choices made by other people. I'm still on ****ing 1.5.0, this shouldn't be happening unless my **** was damn -near on fire.

Is it normal for a manufacturer to have so. much. throttling put in place? Is this unique to dell? Considering the fact that they refuse to even acknowledge a problem, I don't think I'm ever going to buy from them again.

 

Did you increase the GPU Thermal Limit slider in Alienware Control Center to the max?

 

Apologies.

Is that a section under Fusion in AWCC? I just reinstalled AWCC and I can't view things under that tab. The main section of the window never populates. Just spins.

 

This will be your big chance

Alienware_Ernie Alienware Product Specialist Alienware AMA | Today

 

Yes, also, after you raise the bar to the max and hit Test & Save. You need to name it, ie. 4.9 GHz or whatever. That will be the profile. But that's not enough, you need to select it for it to be active from the Home tab of Alienware Command Center





If the GPU Thermal limit slider is locked, then here's how to unlock it:

First, uninstall the Alienware Command Center completely using this guide: https://www.dell.com/support/articl...einstall-the-alienware-command-center?lang=en

1) Install Command Center

2) Install OC Controls but when asked to reboot, don't reboot just yet

3) Navigate to the following folder:
C:\Program Files\Alienware\Alienware Command Center\OCControlService

4) Right click on the file named Profiles.zip then click on Properties

5) At the bottom of the Properties page, check the box which says " Read-only", hit Apply, then Ok

6) Now you can reboot

 

Never attend these kinds of things, but this time for sure. I am not as angry about same generation limit, I'm angry that now there aren't even available 2070/2080 GPU upgrades available except supposedly refurb units for $1800 USD.... in other words, "we don't want to sell them". I am no unhappy with a 9700K+2070, its still a beast and doesn't throttle - but its the idea that I could upgrade that is the issue. Well, at least the CPU has one upgrade step open to me...

 

This one was nice.... Ernie created thread then close it once people start post replies that doesn't fits/posts they don't want I expect such type comments has to be avoided. I wonder who wanted it closed down.

 

Can't have that.

 

Thank you for the continued replies. I was able to get AWCC working and have enacted a profile with that temp limit raised. Testing it soon. Thanks again.

Returned almost immediately. I confirmed default was set to the new profile, confirmed profile still retained the same settings per your instruction, and it's persisting. I rebooted to see if that sets it in place. I'll update again.

 

I am on bios 1.8.1, I am not having any issues with my AWCC and the throttle limit is working for the GPU just fine although I undervolt enough both CPU and GPU that my temps rarely exceed the 60 celsius range. What is it that you need so much extra thermal headroom to perform? For gaming, its just a simple matter of undervolting your stuff till you reach the desired temps. There is no reason to over do or overthink stuff.

 

Who was the guy that bought and uses these from Amazon???: https://www.amazon.com/Smart-Stands...3&sr=1-2-22d05c05-1231-4126-b7c4-3e7a9c0027d0

They cost $63 AU to get from ebay only as amazon don't deliver to Australia!!!

 

How about these..... or these.....

 

I posted that, they work well with laptops...

 

Ernie can't lock threads, only the mods can. None of the AW/Dell employees are mods of my sub. It was locked to prevent confusion as people were clearly under the impression that they could ask questions there for the AMA.

 

Found em here under door stopper!

There the size of hand?

Price is each:
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Safe-St...rand=Unbranded&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

 

Seriously?! Just left my headset ontop of my laptop for the night and now it has these marks!! WHAT KIND OF DISCOUNT STORE PAINT IS THIS!!?

 

Have you tried cleaning it off? For some reason (Mr. Fox iirc suggested its due to the use of recycled plastics with impurities) that this happens on some units. Magic Eraser might work. It seems to be some kind of weird reactive effect when in contact.

 

It won't go.

Enviado desde mi HTC One M9 mediante Tapatalk

 

it will never go, this is why I applied sticker to this laptop, the bottom pad also became yellowish.

Maybe the paint is reacting with other surfaces somehow, or, the base "primer" not suitable for the white color.

You can find cheap replacement in Aliexpress, not the end of the world.

 

What I have considered in the future is buying an entire new chasis in black. Since the lid comes without a screen, I though in getting a 240/300Hz display.

However, also considering talking to Dell about this and getting a refund or a color swap. This is unacceptable since this issue greatly impacts resale value once warranty is up. I mean, normal wear and tear is understandable... but this? This is unacceptable.

Enviado desde mi HTC One M9 mediante Tapatalk

 

Another update for anyone following my exploits: I hit a new low this morning. Until now, the 6% drain only occured every 4 days, approximately. Yesterday was the most recent.

Today, I turned the laptop on and it was at 6% drain. That's two days in a row! At this point I'm fed up. Dell refuses to acknowledge 6% drain in less than 24 hours as being anything but normal and I'm all out of troubleshooting ideas. I'm just going to let it ride and near the end of my 5 year warranty I'm going to hope something drastic doesn't happen that requires a completely new exchange...

So I'll stop flooding this thread with my futile posts. Thanks, again, to all the participated. I'll keep up watching the thread, of course.

 

I would spam the guy (if i was hopefull) luckily i don't give a damn, and i'm looking forward to the R2 to see how much they managed to "improve" the machine.