Alienware M17x R3 A09 BIOS Discussion

Thanks bigtonyman I'd love to stay with A08 as even on a single drive its the fastest my M17x has been

I'm working my way through the threads you linked to now. But I don't get the RAID Configuration screen anymore (The "Intel Rapid Storage Technology - Option Rom" screen like the preview pic for the second video in Mr. Foxs post).

I've rebuilt my laptop a couple of times when I was on A09 and never had a problem with windows seeing either the whole array (in RAID0 or RAID1) or the individual disks when in AHCI mode. The only things I have done differently this time is flashing the BIOS (which appeared to work OK) and secure erasing the disks (which had the effect of removing the serial numbers).

Looks like I might have to create a new monster post somewhere with all the details of the problems that made me decide to rebuild, and all the toubleshooting I've done since. Should I just post it in the root of the M17x forum? As a long term lurker I'm a bit nervous of posting in the wrong place

 

Worst thing they will do is move it. Sorry i cant help you more but RAID isnt something i have had the money to play with.

 

As I said, ANY advice is gratefully received

I've just finished going through the m18x thread you suggested and unfortunately I don’t see anything like my problem there. However one of the posts there sent me in the direction of the SSD forums, so I've popped a post in the Samsung 830 thread to see if there's anyone there with a clever idea!

I know what you mean about the cost for SSDs in RAID, but I've been really lucky with my overtime this year (and I have a VERY understanding girlfriend!)

Thanks again for your suggestions. I'm giving it up as a bad job for tonight. Who knows after a good days sleep I may even have the strength to try calling Dell Support

Update: Its definitely something to do with the Samsung Secure Erase tool not the BIOS downgrade, as when I put a different drive in with either of my SSDs the Intel Option Rom screen re-appears as if nothing had ever happened! I'm off elsewhere to try and fix this now, just wanted to say thanks again to bigtonyman for his suggestions

 

Hi guys, Just got my M17x R3 and have been playing . The BIOS is still locked down for advanced settings but I have A09 (not yet published) installed so if anyone wants to tell me how to create a backup to post (for the clever guys that can unlock them!) let me know.

 

If you have ssds, your not gonna wanna use that bios from what i hear. I think it limits them to SATA II. If you want an unlocked bios, just use the modded A08 one as it is more stable and already unlocked.

 

Thanks, I've got that ready to apply so i'll give it a go (i do have SSD).

That worked great, looks like you were right about SATA, my windows speed index on the drive jumped from 7.6 to 7.9 straight away. Now to see what else i can do

 

Congrats. Glad it improved for you

 

Did you get the Alienware SSD or did you install your own? I took advantage of the SSD sale ($150 for 256 GB didn't seem beatable) but I have no idea how high quality the Alienware SSDs are.

 

Nice deal, can't see that the OEM is going to be soo much better quality with that sort of price difference!! I got it with the MX17 from dell. A Samsung 250gb SSD/750gb IDE combo unit. my first try with a SSD and am impressed with the performance (now I have backrevved the BIOS).

 

I have heard rumors that Alienware is using the new Samsung 830's.
Have you got your laptop yet? If so you can look at the drive properties and it will tell you what it is.
I also took advantage of the SSD sale but have not got my M17x yet to see what they put in it. My order was delayed today from Jan 9 to Jan 16th.
If I do get the 830 It sounds like I will have to downgrade the Bios to A08 to take advantage of the 830 Sata3 drive.

 

I don't have mine yet either, I am just hoping it is a good drive. However, for $150 any half decent SSD is still a deal, I can't find any 256 GB SSD for that price retail.

If it turns out to be an 830 that is the best deal ever. The 830 series is outperforming the most popular SSDs around, and has really impressive write speeds. http://www.bronet.biz/HOME/Samsung-830-SSD-Bundle-with-Batman

 

If you are disapointed with the speeds if the ssd that comes with the laptop, you could always use the dell drive as a storage drive and buy a smaller 128gig ssd for windows and SATA III speeds

 

got my r3 a couple weeks ago and it has the 830. Had to put the bios on a08 to get s3 speeds though.

 

Oh man, that is freaking awesome. The Samsung 830 is right up there as one of the best SSDs on the market right now. It and the Intel 510 are really a class ahead of all the rest when you consider the whole package.

Very excited now, can't wait to get mine!

 

Wonder how it compares to the M4 I always get close to buying, seems like when I go to buy it something else pops up and I don't get around to it. If the 830 is a better drive, I might have to look into it.

 

Right now methinks that the Corsair Performance Pro is the best. It has the same Marvel Controller as the M4, coupled with Toshiba 34nm nand. Check the reviews. In many places it is quicker than the Intel 510, M4 and 830 in many areas including real world use. It scores higher than the Max IOPs in incompressible data. The 256GB has squential read/write speeds of 515/440Mbs not that that really matters

 

Quote:Originally Posted by Sytus View Post
I have heard rumors that Alienware is using the new Samsung 830's.
Have you got your laptop yet? If so you can look at the drive properties and it will tell you what it is.
I also took advantage of the SSD sale but have not got my M17x yet to see what they put in it. My order was delayed today from Jan 9 to Jan 16th.
If I do get the 830 It sounds like I will have to downgrade the Bios to A08 to take advantage of the 830 Sata3 drive.

The drive shows up as two samsung units: PM830 and ST9750420AS so it looks like you're right. Def do the downgrade if you get the 09 BIOS, the dell supplied one is real easy as it runs under windows so no messing about with 'flash' programs. Of course if you are inclined there is a good 'unlocked' A08, i found it in one of the topics in this forum.
Im now in the UK now so no SSD sale for me . But im on my 3rd alienware in as many months 1xMX18 and 2xMX17, had a few issues for sure and this forum has saved me from giving up. Not as easy working with laptops when im used to my desktop build (EVGA X58 Classified, i7-920, quad sli(gtx295's)+9600 for physx, 1200W mulit-rail PSU, total water cooled on all except the 9600+ton more bits) - the BIOS options are mindblowing!

 

Is this the corsair you are talking about? its like 40% off right now Corsair Force Series GT 120 GB SATA 2.5-Inch SATA III Solid State Drive

the crucial M4 is also on sale for a bit cheaper price and I can't decide between the two.

 

I think this is the one widezu69 is referring to -- Newegg.com - Corsair Performance Pro Series CSSD-P128GBP-BK 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD).

 

Yeah I'm talking about the Performance Pro not the Force GT. The GT uses SandForce whereas the PerPro uses Marvell which I think is superior. Which is why the 256GB version will be purchased today

 

In my opinion all of the good SATA 3 SSDs are so close in performance that you really can't tell the difference in real world use. What I think sets Intel and Samsung apart is their increased reliability. Intel is #1 in reliability, and Samsung is #2, both Samsung and Intel are SIGNIFICANTLY more reliable than any of the other brands.

When you consider the whole package, with speed, reliability, and stability (in terms of a stable bios and long term performance) the Intel and Samsung really do stand above the rest IMO (mostly because they produce every part in-house, so they have complete quality control). If I was buying an SSD retail I would probably get an Intel 510, 5 year warranty and performance that is close enough to anything else that you wouldn't notice any difference.

But, if I get a Samsung 830 256GB drive for $150 I am ecstatically happy, that is a $400 drive retail for $150, and I would rank it right up there with Intel in terms of the overall package.

 

For me it's all about speeeeeeed rawr!!

 

I never would have guessed by looking at your sig, I figured you for the value minded individual.

 

Haha lolz. Already burnt my way through one GTX 580m

 

My M17x shipped with A09, but while I was messing with it to prevent power throttling, I ended up back at A08. It sounds like A09 is problematic anyway? It's no wonder they never posted it on the driver downloads page.

BTW Widezu, did you burn your first GTX 580M out from OC? I was messing with mine for a few days but decided to leave it alone, since I didn't buy the extended warranty

 

Bios A09 is actually up for download on the dell site right now, if anyone is interested to know.

 

Just ignore the A09 people. It's probably a semi crappy bios anyhow. Like people were getting A05 bios with their new r3's, but for some reason they skipped 5-6-7 on the downloads and went straight to 08.

Probably will wait till like 11 for a stable bios.

 

Can't get to the site at the moment but for those who can, what are the new fixes in the description? I'm wondering should I put a request for te guys over at bios-mods to unlock it.

 

It says:
Fix SATA SSD compatibility issue.

I was not aware of any issue, and people who have been getting new laptops with A09 already flashed have reported that it kills SATA3 speed on all ports. I would say this a really really crappy update, it seems to reduce performance for everyone to enable compatibility with some SSDs.

When I get mine I will be flashing back to A08 for Sata3 speeds.

 

We must ask in mass on Facebook page of Dell and Alienware's full support to sata 3

 

I'm guessing at Dells crappy logic:

"The M17x R3's Sata ports are temperamental and switch between Sata 2 and 3 all the time. Instead of finding an actual fix, we shall clock everything down to Sata 2 permanently."

Idiots.

 

Is it possible to flash back A08 over A09 with the dell software?

 

And also install SSD on port 1 if you want SATA3 speeds consistently. (that's the harddrive caddy in the middle of the laptop)

 

BigTonyMan - I have a similar m17x r3 to yours except I have upgraded to a 120g mushkin chronos and 8 gb of pnp 1866 Kingston Hyper X.

My 3dmark11 scores vary around 2000, do you or anyone have any tips / bios settings etc to pick my system up a little? I am pretty much using default settings for everything. Cheers and thanks in advance

 

azlinzo, are you overclocking your 460m?

That's really the only way to get a better 3dmark score. A 460m will easily do 800 core/1600 shaders/1480 ddr5

 

I just did and i went from 1810 to 2311, not bad! I am using msi afterburner.. also turned off speedstep and changed my ram clock from Auto to 1867

Any other tips for tweaking this system? even windows?

forgot to ask if using an external display changes anything.. currently using a Samsung T27-A950

 

i would use the laptop LCD when running 3dmark benches, going to an extra monitor will only add overhead and potentially slow it down.

The only other thing i can think of to increase your score (marginally) is to use XTU to boost your turbo speeds and keep it at max turbo through the whole bench

 

waiting for my 6990m so i can get some better scores, but gonna see if i can get a better score here in a few minutes before i pester dell about a new replacement machine.

Edit: nvm computer won't even run the benchmark

 

What? What's going on bigTony?

 

meh got my machine back from the depot on Tuesday and the sheet said they replaced the Mobo and Chassis like i asked but not the hard drive. They did restore the OS though so when i proceeded to put my stuff back on it and it seemed to work fine. After an hour or two though, The OS slowed down a lot and then ultimately BSODed now the system seems really sluggish and won't run a lot of my stuff. Gonna call dell and see if i can get a replacement because this sort of crap is starting to get really annoying

 

shoot bro! sorry to hear that...keep us updated

 

Hi ppl
upgraded mine to A09 bf4 reading the info here on the forum
so not looking to go back to A08
anyone has the link to dowload the A08?

 

A09 is bad. Downclocks everything to SATA II. A08 is here:
Drivers and Downloads | Dell [United States]

 

cheers +1rep

 

Done Back to A08

 

A09 Bios
Alienware say it fixed issues with Sata on ssd

 

yes the fixed issues with SATA by downclocking everything to SATA2

 

Lmao. Not sure if these's a higher level of fail than A09!

 

They did fail with a05-7. Just pointing that out.

 

guess ill stay at A08 for the time being. No sense upgrading to that bios.