Concerning issues with Alienware m17x2/ A07 bios

Hey guys,

I installed the latest bios version A07 over my A05 tonight, i flashed it and did everything correctly. I had to set up my raid 0 config again because at first my operating system wasn't being recognised, my computer is working ok except for these issues which i need some advice:

1) My laptop will not shut down. When i select shut down the display turns off and logs me out but it gets to a stage where my screen is black but my laptop is still running and never shuts down, this is worrying for me and only happened since A07. I have since been doing manual shutdowns pressing the button in until it goes off.

2) Since A07 my laptop makes a couple of strange hardware noises when i boot up my laptop that are odd, it sounds like my HD's and it's hard to explain but its like a very short grindy click, and i hear it on the left of my laptop then on the right side after that.

I would also mention that i did revert back to A05 but the shutdown issue and the funny booting sound persist. Any advice?

 

the shutdown problem is your drivers. You need to use the Dell 8.6's or the new beta drivers to solve the problem.

 

After you flashed the bios it sounds like your registry is corrupted and or the hardrives are fragmented and the noise you hear is the platter spinning profusely either due to fragmenation or corrupted registry. Time to defrag with something like diskeeper, clean the registry(64bit cleaner only) or buy an SSD. A07 bios is working just fine for me. Going backwards may make a mess of the registry. My advice is to defrag & registry clean and next buy an ssd.

 

Hey what drivers do u mean? If your talking about the 10.8 graphics card drivers, then i do have them.

And Falcon, is having a corrupt registry dangerous? And on the same note is it ok if my Hard Disks are fragmented a bit?

** Also just wanted to mention that i don't know if it was there before or whether it's normal but another sound comes from my laptop that i can only hear very close up. But it sounds like my mobo makes a little tiny tiny buzzing sound. But i'm thinking that it is just the motherboard operating sound, like the sound ur computer makes when it's loading stuff etc.

 

I'm not to sure what your specs for the notebook are. So if you have the dual 5870 ATI cards you will need the 10.8 dell drivers and the VBIOS update for your GPUs in order to fix the shutdown and other sleep black screen issues.

Go here and have a read.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...x-m17xr1-m17xr2-driver-discussion-thread.html

Also go to page 33 to find the VBIOS update for the GPUs and instructions. Cheers.

 

WTH. Having problem with shutting down the laptop? That's pretty shameful.

 

So it says i can't flash my cards back to a previous version of the VBIOS, does that apply to normal BIOS. Cause i went from A07 back to A05, atleast is says i did.

 

The A05 and A07 bios you are reffering to is the System bios. The VBios is different, it is speaking about the Vbios for the graphics cards only.
You can flash the system bios to whatever version you like anytime.
However with the Vbios flash on your GPUs that is correct you won't be able to flash back using the Dells ATI winflash option. However on Page 33 it also shows ways to flash back to the previous vbios using another dos method. So yes you can flash back there are ways of doing it.

Also just in case what are the specifications of you machine?

Cheers.

 

Yeah i wanted to put it in my sig, but i can't find the sig option anywhere. So my specs are 6GB Ram, stock I7 - Q720 CPU, 2 5870s in CF.

Ah i reverted my drivers and the shutdown issue is all sweet now, so i guess my only worry now is the funny sounds my pc is making.

I guess im concerned that through the bios update i have somehow damaged my mobo or my hardware, and the sounds are an indication of this. Even though the update seemed to go smooth.

 

Hmmssss............. not to sure about the sounds. The bios update should be fine. No issues there. Is it a whining sort of sound or something. Maybe the CPU whining sounds. If so thats normal.

For the signature you click on User CP up top left of the thread page and then on the left side it should give you an option to edit your signature. You can place your signature there and then preview it and save. Cheers.

 

Yeah nah it's like the hard drives, the each make a 1 second sort of grindy click or something it's tough to explain.

Anyway i have bigger concerns now, because with this laptop it's one problem after the other. I had to go in town before, so i closed my laptop and it was in sleep mode, i came back and opened it up my login screen came up for a second and then my screen blacked out, it was still being backlit but nothing was being displayed.

So i pressed the power button and restarted the laptop and the bios and everything comes up but when it get's to the login screen everything is just black, can't see anything. So what the hell do i do now? Safe mode works so i'm assuming it might be a software problem?

I have 10.6 drivers after reverted from 10.8 and A05, reverted from A07.

 

Ah yup seems you have encountered the problem most are facing with these machines now. It is the driver problem with the 5870 GPUs. There is a fix which a few people are currently using and very happy with.

Okay your best bet to get a stable running machine atm would be to update to dells new driver. 10.8 8.763 version as is available on dells driver support page. After you install that driver you will need to update the vbios for the GPUs as well.
Make sure while your in safe mode to driver sweep the ATI drivers and then restart back into normal mode and resinstall the 10.8 dell drivers. It is important that you install the 10.8 drivers if you wish to also use the Vbios update on your GPUs after. As the vbios does not support any previous drivers before 10.8 anymore.

Heres a link you should read up on and then go to page 33 to dl the vbios update for your GPUs. Have a good long read until you feel comfortable.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...x-m17xr1-m17xr2-driver-discussion-thread.html

If you need anymore help just give us a buzz.
Cheers.

 

Nah screw that, my laptop was working fine until i flashed the new bios and got new drivers, i never had this black screen issue. So i'm just gona format and see if it fixes it. I aint risking bricking my graphics cards, i never have any luck with this stuff. And why is this even happening reborn? I have reverted back to the 10.6 drivers, so shouldn't my machine be back to how it was..

 

No worries, Yeh the vbios was for those who just wanted to try out the dell driver and vbios combo earlier. Dell will be releasing a public package soon once they have finalised it and are ready for public consumption.
As for your driver woes atm there may still be some residue of the 10.8 drivers left over on your system. Some users have reported that it is much harder to completely clean the 10.8 drivers off their systems when they try to revert back to an earlier version of ATI drivers. So yeh good idea to just do a complete format and clean install. It should allow you to get back to your previous working state hopefully. Fingers crossed. Cheers.

 

Yep my thoughts are the same. Thanks for helping me out by the way, uve been a real champ, i gave u some rep points too

 

eheheh Sure things no worries, happy too. Oh thanks.