Alienware M17x R4 A05 BIOS released

Come on guys! Where are the bench results from R4s with 680M? There are some consensus (In the gaming section) that AW with 680M has the lowest bench results compared to Sager and MSI. We got to prove that wrong

Or if it is true then we got to figure out why...

 

Have faith, the Beaver will have one soon...

 

^ Yeah, for sure. If anyone pushes their card to the breaking point, it'll be this guy.

 

Updated bios and score went to P6285 without OC on video card.

 

What was your previous score? Not sure if any AW reach 6k before A05.
Grats btw, that's the start I guess.

 

Does this alowe the 7970m to be overclocked by just setting the setting in BIOS or still have to do it the long way like before?

Sent From My Rooted E3D

 

Not sure about the BIOS OC but what is long way about using MSIAB/NVidia Inspector in case? You can actually save a profile (shortcut) for the preferred OC clocks and just click it on you desktop when you want higher clocks. That's what I do on my old 580M though. Not sure if its different with AMD cards.

 

Don't think they I have ever seen that before. I've always overclocked using a tool within windows. Another option is to flash the card, but I usually try to avoid that because I'm not familiar with that process.

 

I think you misunderstood how this bios allows the nvidia card to be overclocked. Before, the GTX 680m could not be overclocked in any way at all and not with this new one, you can overclock it using tools in Windows like the 7970m. There is no overclocking in the bios for either card on any bios.

 

Widezu help us get this fixed/implemented for the m18x too mighty one!!!

 

Widezu69 ...what is your take on the A05 bios issue on some system lately. There seems to be no method to recover r4 via blind flash method.

 

Something up with the version they have up now or something? Getting some error saying something about 16 bit and needs 64.

 

installed, everything went fine. didn't notice any obvious changes so far)

 

I installed one of the links from the first page. Did it through windows. Held my breath the whole time. The fans ramping up to full blast scared me but it went through just fine. I don't notice any changes at all in the bios tho. Should there be? Says I'm on a5 now. What is the best utility to Oc the vid card in windows?

 

Personally I use MSI Afterburner.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Why is it that when I look for the BIOS with my service tag it does not show up but yet I have a M17xR4?

 

Hello people.

When i'm trying to install the BIOS update it says that it is incompatible with 64bit.

How can I install it when there's no 32bit version?

Phillip Green

 

Download the other one. It should say this "M17R4A05WIN.exe" had the same problem too.. but got it fixed..

good luck.

 

That worked excellent! Thanks!

What changes is there from previous A02 to A05?

 

I couldn't find an official changelog, but so far the only clear difference is the ability to overclock the 680M GPU.

 

Kinda annoying that Dell do not publish a changelog for the bios files It would be nice to know exactly what we are changing/improving

Also note that dell have got the descriptions reversed (and not very accurate) which is causing much confusion!

For anyone trying this IMPORTANT NOTE: Just to be safe, make sure you are running on mains power and have closed down all open applications before flashing - you get no warning or 'proceed' button - it immediately starts the flash and reboots your machine - poor QC dell!

 

They usually publish release notes I think, dell just didn't get their act together.

Sent from my Asus Transformer tf101 running Revolver 4

 

A05 was released for a badge of M17x R4s that came out without the proper 3D rights, and therefore were not able to run 3D apps or movies. If you're not having any trouble at the moment I wouldn't bother updating.

 

Thanks for the info Luis.

If that was the case then why dont they do then most logical thing a tech company CAN DO!------> Email those who need to or Mention clearly as you have above. Its very stupid to have it present in driver and software updates plus mention it as recommended. Does that sound like its intended for a batch of R4s?

Another thing is the whole idea of using Service Tags to update drivers.Its very inconsistent and unreliable. One has to check all files for a particular machine to see the complete set of softwares available. For example, I have a 675m card and the latest driver mentioned for me for my service tag is the 20x.xxx version but if you look closely under all available drivers it will show Dell releasing 30x.xx version drivers for 680m. In truth this 30x.xx version driver includes 675m also. We all know there is a difference in performance between 30x.xx and 20x.xx, so why dont they release the latest drives for all instead. I have at times cross downloaded latest drivers for various hardware from other laptop models as well. In short the service tag method is not great at all.

Given that, one would check all files for a model. And this latest bios update is listed just like any other general update. Also this is the first time I am hearing a bios version being changed just to address a badge within a model. Why would they create a new bios? Why not use the original working bios which originally gave the proper 3D rights ? Do you mean the normal or originally working bios does not work with this particular batch?. How is that unless there is an explicit hardware change?

Is this bios specifically intended for those R4s with 680m card which may not have had 3D rights. In short please tell you company to pull it out from its current listing and place a clear indicator as to who should and shouldnt do this update.

 

Does the A05 bios do anything for intel systems with the 7970m? I have A04 currently and dont want to upgrade if theres nothing new.

 

A05 was focused on nvidia's 3d as Luis mentioned and unlocked gpu overclocking for the 680m.. i don't think you need to upgrade. it might brick your unit.

 

I strongly advice those who want to update to this new BIOS to either make sure you really need it or flash using MS-DOS instead of Windows.

 

Thats all I needed to know. Ill stick with A04 since its running flawlessly right now.

 

I couldn't agree more. This whole a05 bios stinks of something The descriptions are transposed (dos is win and vice versa), and inaccurate. Then they disapear for a few days to return. Vague 'stories' of what it fixes. Machines being bricked to the point of not even powering up! And to top it all the win version flashes the machine and reboots it without ANY warning or chance to exit without flashing - all seems like a rush job - or just people that don't care about the quality of their work

All VERY unprofessional and not what we expect form a leading manufacturer on a premier product.

 

Are the systems that got bricked having Nvidia or Amd.....This i would like to know...

Long and technos have Amd on their notebooks.

 

I was watching this so same people: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/678156-m17x-r4-bios-update-failed.html

 

ive got amd 7970m and the file that i used is the exe file for windows , i ran it on windows with the battery and ac power connected

 

Enduro on or off?

 

only 7970m activated with fn+f7

 

Wonder what changed with A05 from when it was first posted to the 27th. If you look at the BIOS list it shows it was posted 7-27-2012. Does anyone know? Also if I look my machine up by service tag the new BIOS version doesnt even show up. Weird

 

It does show up when you click the "All for for Alienware M17x R4" tab. No official changelog was released. Support for overclocking the GTX 680M seems to be the only known update!

 

Can I use the windows exe file to update the BIOS with no issue? Seems like its the easier route

 

Yes, I've done the same. No issues!

 

I updated my M17x without problem

 

All up to date, no issues. Not sure if I will update the wifes. She might kill me if something happened to it. Specially since she just had surgery and thats why we got them to begin with.

 

I just received my M17X yesterday and today got an email from dell regarding bios update to the A05 release. I gather running the exe from the FTP URL provided from Dell should be ok? I dont want to brick the machine...

 

I use the Windows exe file and had no issue.

 

cool, I just did as well, it was easy and laptop restarted without any problem. Btw, how do you check BIOS on M17X? I apologize for the newbie question(first time owner here).

 

Go to run (Windows key + r) and type in dxdiag. Look at the last 3 digits on the bios label.

 

I just checked mine, I am running InsydeH20 Version 0.372.02A02, I looked under the Bios files for dell, I dont see an option for the A04, were is it?

 

Look under the "All files for Alienware M17x R4" tab on the Dell drivers page, in the section 'BIOS'. You're currently on the A02 BIOS and can update to A05.

 

I thought the A05 was for the GTX680M alot of bricks have been happening cause of the A05. Will that lower my temps at all im sitting at mid to high 50s for the CPU and High 50s for the GPU. Im cooking it right now.

 

I tried updating it to the A05 and it says that my Windows is incompatible apparently it thinks I am not running 64bit.

 

Check my earlier post. Dell have got the descriptions transposed. You need the filename that ends in xxxxxWIN.exe

 

Well have to wait till I get back into the states, I need the battery to update it. My wife mailed me the laptop without a battery. I am currently running on a UPS.