Alienware M14x BIOS? A05 ? Novice

Hello everyone I am a computer Novice. I have been looking online on youtube.

Alienware M14x Fan Noise ( Battlefield Bad Company 2 ) - YouTube

One of the comments on the youtube video says "Bios A05"

What does that mean? What does A Bios do? Do I already have it? Because I just received My m14x. How do i know what Bios I have? People says it flashes your harddrve? What is flashing?

Thanks

 

See this link HERE to find out what is BIOS and what it is for.

I guess you might not have the A05, but you might get the A08 which is the latest one instead, you can see what version you have by download and install Speccy, Speccy is a program that show you the hardware that is install on your computer.

Flashing (or Updating) a BIOS is simple, all you need to do is download the correct BIOS from Dell download and driver website, double click on the file and follow the instruction, but for you, I dont think you need to worry about that because messing with the BIOS can be dangerous sometime especially if you dont know what you doing, because the BIOS is one of the most important software on the computer, without it you will not able to boot into Windows. Installing the wrong version or incompatible BIOS also will corrupt the BIOS and make your computer unable to boot.

Here is some article about how to flash or update the BIOS:
How to Update Your BIOS - PC World
Be sure to read this as well as it contain the top 10 common mistake people tend to make when update BIOS:
10 common mistakes you should avoid when flashing your BIOS

For the BIOS A05 version, what it do is to fix the noise that coming out of the fan when it is not needed. But one thing is clear is that If it's not break, dont fix it or you'd end up bricking the system or worse the warranty may not be cover.

 

I see, thanks. I am not going to mess around with it because i wouldnt know what i was doing lol.

I know this is off topic but you know how on a desk there is that thing that slides out? Its meant for the keyboard? I forget, but is it ok if i leave my m14x on that? I find it more comfortable because my chair is a little low and i can just slide it out whenever i want to game and my mouse is always on the side. Can it usually support the weight? (The desk slide out thingy i mean lol)

 

I personally wouldn't put my laptop on one of those slide-out keyboard shelves, just because I've had those shelves fall on me before. The last thing I would want to see is my m14x hurling towards the floor because of a shelf.

If you end up getting that U2 notebook cooler, your laptop is going to sit a little higher than normal. It's at an angle, so it doesn't seem like much, but it does raise the screen up a bit.

Personally, I would suggest leaving the laptop on the desk itself and continue using the mouse on the keyboard tray, and getting a USB keyboard for the keyboard tray as well. This keeps the keys and mouse close to you and keeps your laptop from possibly falling to a horrible death.

Or as an alternative, you can get a better desk or chair for your needs.

 

Thank you very much Rubber crow. Would a wireless keyboard create any lag for video games? like a delay?

Oh btw thanks for replying.

 

For me I dont think you should place your laptop like that, because I too also have that similar desk of yours, and it increase the heat a lot when in game, because of the fan is being block by the desk so only hot air it out and little cool air is in, that mean an ingredient to overheat. However my solution is the CM Notepal U2, because it help lift the laptop higher so then air can get it easier.

No, as long as you're within the range, you'd be fine.

 

A pity you've got BIOS AO8, from what I hear it hindered performance more than helped it. I'm on AO3. Anyway good luck with your laptop

 

If you didnt know, you can downgrade back to the A05 too, but for that I wont tell on how to do it because I'm not sure myself too.

 

I thought it was just a straight reflash of the BIOS version you want. Is that incorrect?

My (presumably) fixed M14x is on its way back from CA right now, and I'm assuming that they've dropped the newest, "greatest" BIOS version on it...and I'm going to be disappointed after I get my SSD back into it.

 

Maybe, but like I said, I'm not sure and dont bother to try it because I dont want any trouble now.

 

What happened to your laptop Metal?

Nice. Thanks

I have AO8? How do you know?

Is it normal for my m14x to blast its fans when im playing a game such as BF 3 and Rage? I mean its a gaming laptop right? I am going to get the U2 cooler master pad. But how long can I safely game for before it overheats? Is it bad to keep my laptop battery at high performance all the time?

Im a m14x noob btw. I know its off topic but is there such a thing as a laptop screen protector for the m14x? Is it safe to use those Laptop screen wipes at walmart? I have the mouse, mouse pad, ordering the u2 cooler master pad. I updated the nvidia drivers. Is there anything else i need?

 

Like I said, download Speccy and it will show under the "Motherboard" then there would be something like BIOS Version, that how you can find out what version you have.

It is normal, it is part of the cooling protocol that is control by Windows, mine does that all the time and I dont really mind it because it help to cool the hardware, for the game before overheat see this post since you have ask it there and I lazy to type it all over again: Re: Alienware m14x Game session durations?.

Dont create a new thread if you already ask one here (because sometime some people may think you're spamming), and btw since you're new here, there is a button on the bottom right of each of your post called " EDIT ", what is do is obvious, it allow you to edit your old post so then you dont need to post a new one everytime (I love that option and I'm glad that NBR have one too), only bump when after a 24hrs period and no one answer your thread. Read the Forum Rules for more info.

 

Not totally sure. Symptoms were identical to the last time I required a motherboard replacement for a dead nVidia card. I tried multiple clean driver loads as well as booting off of the old non-SSD disc with a previously known good install of Win7 and nVidia drivers...no luck.

Got the machine back today - no BIOS update, still at A05. Supposedly they did nothing other than an OS reload, which kind of annoys me.

Trying an update to the latest nVidia driver now, and will benchmark with and without turbo boost before deciding what I'm going to do.

 

Gotcha, and thanks everyone for replying