M14X R2, NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M, BIOS A09?

Does anyone know what is really going on with the M14X, NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M integrated GPU, and BIOS A09 issue? Per the Dell forum, it appears that Dell is replacing the laptops and when they are received the same issue arises (display not connected to NVIDIA GPU) and are now giving refunds. I have been waiting for my replacement for over two weeks. Dell has stopped commenting on their forum regarding this issue. My M14X R2 is probably my sixth Dell laptop and I have never experienced anything like this before. Are the motherboard's faulty? Can Dell not come up with a solution to this issue? I am totally at a loss here.

 

I'm one of the many victims of this right now. I flashed my r2 m14x to bios a09 and immediately my NVidia card stopped working. I called dell five weeks ago to report this and they said they would send me a replacement laptop...which finally shipped out...yesterday. Anyway...a day after the NVidia card went out the whole laptop died. It won't even power on right now. I've been without a laptop for my job for 5 weeks now, and I supposedly have next day service, what a joke. Anyway, many of the others going through the same thing have received their replacements and they last about 2 hours AND DO THE SAME EXACT THING!! sorry for the caps but it's frustrating. Mine should be here Monday...if it fails again I'm going to demand a refund and buy a Sager np9170. I will never buy another Alienware, they have become junk and their service is a joke...5 weeks? Give me a break...shipping laptops that fail with the same problem within hours?...SAD.

 

Well rumor has it that Alienware UK has released BIOS A10 that completely fixes this issue. Alienware USA denies that one exists. Hearsay only.

 

It's not a rumor. That's all I can say, don't want to jinx it.

 

According to Dell it's a hardware fix so new systems won't have the issue. My m14X R2 has been running BIOS A09 from the factory without incident.

 

I just called them concerning the status of my refund case, and they did tell me that a solution is available as from yesterday. I still went with the refund though (already had my motherboard replaced for nothing).

PS: link to my thread
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m14x/700184-points-valid-enough-claim-full-refund.html

I'm from one of the Dell forum as well.

 

That's not true at all. I received a brand new replacement m14x r2 off the assembly line yesterday with Bios A09 and within 2 minutes of booting it the Nvidia card stopped responding. They are not being truthful...it's a Bios issue, and there is a fix, it's called A10, which the UK support for Alienware have and are using to fix systems right now, but the USA tech support are woefully ignorant of, and are still misleading customers as to the issue. This is a good example of how poor Alienware's tech support has become...at least the US wing of it...the UK guys are on point.

 

Well I guess I'm lucky mine came with A08, it was probably of the last line with it, built in the beginning of October, a bit later systems with A09 shipped.

And good thing I didn't update.

 

Wow..so glad i didnt update.

What is the current status?

 

I'm waiting on a phone call right now from a UK Alienware tech to update my Bios to A10 so I can use this $1500 laptop again after 5 weeks.....keep in mind the US Alienware says A10 doesn't exist and there is no fix for these laptops..even though the UK has it, is implementing it, and it works 100%. Pure incompetance....

 

I too have been experiencing the same issue with Bios A09 originally upgraded from A03 on my original m14x after many calls to alienware tech support, and three failed motherboard replacements, which had the same recurring issue, after the third failed motherboard replacement
I was sent a band new replacement m14x.
The laptop only came last Monday I used the laptop once on the Monday and did not touch it till the following Saturday. As soon as I booted it up for the second time it came up with the usual gpu issue. After trailing through forums trying to find solution over the past month I came to the conclusion that it had to be purely a bios issue. After calling alien tech support again last night (I was going to ask for a refund originally) asked about the possibility of a new bios revision. The front desk support said all the support technicians all busy so could not get a straight answer however the guy on the phone did say that A new bios may be released in the next few days.
I called again this evening in the hopes of getting through to a technician with success.
The technician has installed the new bios (revision A10) and all the problems I have been having with the Nvidia gpu have seem to have been fixed instantly.
I did ask why the Bios has not been officially released yet he did say that it was a beta and only being currently used to fix m14x’s that had been affected by the Nvidia problem.

 

Are you in the US or the UK?

 

I am in the UK.

 

Yeah figures, the US support is non-existant right now. I'm in the US going through the UK support system because ours here is terrible and basically just tells you "There is no a10 bios...we don't know what the issue is..let's reload your video driver for 100000 time..." I'm fed up with it..it's sad how far Alienware truly has fallen.

 

Yes I have to agree with you there even though this is my first Alienware system i have always looked at Alienware with having nice hi-spec hi-quality fancy looking systems.Even though the systems can be a tad more expensive than the competition you seemed to have paid for the quality end user support in the past, however as you say in recent time that quality seems to have fallen short in some areas.

 

I'm a 3 time Alienware laptop owner, and the support and stability of the m14x has been a joke compared to the other 2, which were pre-Dell days. This will for sure be the last Alienware I ever buy.

 

I just wanted to shout out to the UK Alienware support desk and a guy named Ivan Molnar...he totally fixed my problem and upgraded me to the a10 bios in all of 2 minutes. 5 weeks of shoddy support by the US techs fixed in 2 minutes by the UK team. Give this man a raise Alienware..he deserves it and shame on you US support tech for you apathy and stonewalling. Anyway, for those of you in the US still afflicted with the a09 Bios problem, call the UK support line, press 2 and explain your problem, they are pros and will fix it in minutes.

 

Crazy right? Like in anything professional there are good and bad, thank god you finally got someone who knows what the hell they are doing.

 

I have been suffering with this issue for two months as well. I currently have a red case. When Dell decided to replace it I have several talks with them that I wanted another red case. They assured me it would be red. Well I received a black one. I called Dell and tech said to "play" with it a couple days and if I still wanted a red one they would exchange it. When I called in yesterday they told me that they would not exchange it. They transferred me to customer service just for me to learn that Dell Customer Service does not handle any Alienware issues/complaints/customer service, that everything is handled by Alienware Tech support. I asked about BIOS A10 and they denied that one existed. The exchanged system is running BIOS A09 and NVIDIA 296.10 and seems to be working fine. NVIDIA keeps wanting to update to the new version which I have not done fearing I would have the same issue again. I guess this week after Christmas I will contact Alienware UK and try to get my original one running correctly with BIOS A10. I have purchased Dell products for most of my life. This will absolutely be my last purchase with Dell. Every time you talk to Tech Support the tech says that he will personally be taking over your case and then you never hear from him again, and worse, he doesn't document in your file what he promised you. All I really want is BIOS A10.

 

Where can I find A10? I can only see A09 from the dell website. What's the number for the UK alienware tech support? I'm assuming calling them from the US is considered long-distance?

 

Hugely long distance. Use skype, you can call for damn near free. 011 0844 444 3274

 

Hi Guys,

I have DELL INSPIRON 17r-7720 and i'm having the same problem. In my case, my dell has two graphics cards ( INTEL HD4000 and Gforce GT 650M) but my system can only recognize the Intel. In the begin was normal, no problems...after 3 weeks, started my problems....when I try to reinstall the 650m driver, the system says that I do not have any gforce installed. I already had installed the last BIOS A11( old A09). I do not know what can I do!

Tks guys!

 

Hey everyone,

BlondieJane (a member on the official Alienware forum) received via an e-mail an official BIOS A10 update. She e-mailed me the file and we both installed it and never had any problem with this update. It looks as if Dell UK has finally made things right.

While this is not an "official" release by Dell US, it has been confirmed by Dell UK that such a BIOS release exsists.

If anyone wants this update, send me an e-mail and I'll be sure to send it to you

NOTICE: sending this file via Gmail is impossible. You need a different account in order to receive this file (i.e Yahoo, Hotmail, etc..)

 

You need to call dell. Either it's this same issue or the card is dead.

The M14x had both Intel and nvidia gpus, optimus.

 

Received the A10 BIOS as well from UK and it fixed my issue perfectly!!!

 

Could you send the bios Update to me?
[email protected]

 

I got the file and uploaded it on Mediafire, so you guys could get your systems back into shape as well.

M14R2A10WIN.exe

 

Thanks for thinking about everyone. Highly appreciated. +rep

 

Could you send the bios Update to me? [email protected]

 

Look two posts above yours. You can download it.

 

You can also get it from dells driver page now too. Was posted this morning.

 

can you send it to me please ... i download the link and it ididnt work ...

my email its [email protected] and [email protected]

Many thanks

BR

 

Here ya go, directly from Dell