M17X-R2 Battery/Boot/Lock-Up Woes

I'm not quite sure if it's a bad battery or the computer in general, but I'm having some very serious issues with my battery. The reason I think it may be the computer is that the computer will recognize the battery just fine, and will *usually* charge it up just fine, that is, if I had managed to get the computer working long enough on battery for it to discharge...

So the first issue is basically that about half, or a little more than half of the time, when I unplug my computer after turning it on while plugged in, it locks up. At first the I can move the mouse, click to start programs, and maybe even get to a few new pages on firefox. However, no new programs can be opened, not even task manager or anything, and the start menu freezes. Usually it stays like this for about 30-60 seconds, then freezes completely, screen on, no mouse movement, no ctrl+alt+del, nothing. I'm forced to hold the power button until shutdown, or remove the battery to restart the computer. Stealth mode, different power options, and crossfire all seem to have no effect on the issue.

This is also an issue, as the computer won't boot at all unless plugged in. The BIOS screen gives me the usual two beeps and says to plug in to an AC adapter for optimal operation, blah blah blah, F1 to continue, and it says "starting windows". About halfway through this, I hear the fans slow down a bit, and then all of the sudden it shuts off completely. After this first shutdown, the computer will not turn back on unless I either plug it in and restart or remove the battery and hold the power button for about 30 seconds (I don't remember exactly what this does, but I know it resets some battery/BIOS or something which is useful if you've overclocked too high). But even after this I can't boot without plugging in. This happens EVERY TIME if I'm not plugged in, unlike the other issue which only happens sometimes.

I've tried turning off turbo boost/OC settings, etc., but to no avail. I can't get the computer to boot without an AC adapter. This wouldn't be too much of an issue if booting with AC then unplugging didn't freeze all the time... but this also means I can't ever turn on the computer when I'm not near a power outlet...

A third, possibly unrelated issue I've been having is very similar to the first, although doesn't necessarily involve the battery. About a third of the time when booting up, I experience the same type of lock-up as described in the first problem, only without the complete freeze - it locks up for about a minute or two and will then begin to function normally. This can be quite frustrating.

So I've tried messing with all kinds of BIOS settings, reinstalling Windows, managing startup programs with CCleaner, etc, but nothing has fixed any of these three problems. Do you guys think I just have a bad battery? Bad motherboard or something?

I know I'll probably have to end up calling Dell and getting something replaced, but I figured since I've already spent sooooooo long on the phone dealing with them for replacements I'd ask here first. At this point, I wish I could just return the thing and maybe get an Aurora... I love the thing when it works, but I've just had so many issues and so much time spent on the phone with Dell... any way to accomplish this kind of thing ? Kind of doubt it since it's been about two months since receiving THIS replacement (sent me a replacement for the DPC issues, turned out to be a base config instead of what I should have received [specs in sig], and on top of that it didn't even boot at all so now I've got this one), but if anyone's got any ideas...

Anyways, I know this is a fairly long post so thanks for any replies and ideas.

 

1: Which video drivers are you using?
I had the same issue of lockups while using anything other than the Dell drivers. Once reverted back, if plugged in or unplugged I no longer experienced the lockup.

2: What bios version are you running?
IIRC there is a problem with the bios & the voltage. Basically if the battery is too low the laptop will not start. I can start my computer while on full charge all day...BUT if I let the battery get low, shut down, & try to restart it will do the same thing (ie- instant power off while saying "starting Windows"

3: No clue...I've never experience that type of hangup.

I noticed also that you mentioned something about it charging the battery *usually*.

If you encounter this again, have the computer plugged in, turned on, & be on the desktop. Lift it up enough to remove the battery (while it is on) leave it out for about 5-10 seconds & then put it back in. It should now say plugged in & charging. (this has been proven to work by multiple users here after trying my little trick)

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful & make all the problems disappear....Just thought I'd share some info from my own personal experience.

 

I'm using the newest catalyst 10.6, however I had the issue immediately after reinstalling windows while I still had default drivers, and after trying the Dell ones. Also running the latest BIOS - A05. And the 2nd problem happens regardless of charge level. My battery is usually at 100% (since I can barely ever use it...) and I still can't boot unless plugged in.

Yeah, I usually remove/re-insert the battery while the computer is on to get it to charge, this isn't that big of an issue, just a minor annoyance as it can sometimes be difficult to start the battery charging.

Thanks for the reply, I'll probably just end up calling support once I get the time. Maybe I'll try something like "I've just had so many issues, replacements and too much time on the line with support, I'd really just like some sort of refund at this point". That is unless support can ACTUALLY solve my problem in one call... doubtful...

So does anyone have any other ideas or possible solutions?

 

Well, you're not alone! If you read my thread about my M17xR2 I just received from the Outlet, I have the same symptoms.

How long have you had yours? I've had mine for about 2 days.

Basically, the same problem. On AC, it boots and runs fine. If I unplug the power while running, it seemingly works for a few seconds then starts to act weird and then just freezes.

If I try to boot up when the battery is at anything less than roughly 90%, it does JUST what you said...gets to Starting Windows (with the starburst animation) and completely turns off.

Dell sent me a new battery, which I got today. I have yet to charge it up and try it, but I will.

Yikes, this does not bode well for this model...

 

Let me know how that new battery works, I'd like to know if it's just a bad battery or if there's something worse wrong with our computers (if it's the same issue).

I've had mine for just over 2 months now (so too long for just a regular return ) and I just started noticing the issue a couple weeks ago. I think it probably did it earlier, but I just dismissed it as some random lock-up here and there. Since you've only had yours for 2 days, you've luckily still got the return option. Hopefully if I can't get mine fixed I can negotiate something of a return/refund or something...

And mine won't boot on battery AT ALL, not even at 100%, as you said if yours is ~90% it won't boot. But otherwise it sounds like we're having the same issues.

 

Do you guys by chance happen to have BIOS version A05?

 

Yes, why? Its the latest, recommended, version isn't it?

 

The battery didn't make any difference. It had about 50% charge, and when I put it in and started it up on battery, it died right at the Starting Windows starburst animation.

It's weird how when that happens, it won't turn back on (most of the time). I tried your 30-sec-hold-the-power-button-down trick, and that did seem to work, but I think taking the battery out works too.

I reverted by ATI driver back to the Dell-supported version, and now, when I unplug the power when running, it does not lock up (at least the time I tried it).

I've noticed that, in my casual use of it, that the problem owning the "Most powerful 17" notebook in the world" is that even doing the least CPU intensive stuff must generate decent amounts of heat, because the fan is always momentarily coming on, and then slowly decreasing again. Just launching a few apps, or anything slightly graphically enabled (like, for instance, my Zune software), causes the fans to come on. It's not so enjoyable listening to music and having to deal with the constant background noise of the fans.

To be honest, I don't see how anyone who actually plays intensely graphical games on the thing can stand it! Just running a 3D clock demo screen saver practically makes the M17xR2 lift off the desk!

So, there seems to be a trade-off when it comes to powerful notebooks...speed (even when not really using it) = lots of heat = fans = noise.

In any case, I have to connect with the Dell techs again, and see what's next. I may just return it.

 

Yeah, that's kind of the problem with gaming notebooks. As much as I liked the M17x when it worked, I hope I can just exchange it for a desktop + smaller notebook. I could get both an Aurora that would blow this thing away and an Envy 14 (assuming they start at $999 like people have said) for about the same price, too.

Even though it's not exactly good news, it's good to know it's not a battery issue but something more. I'll see if reverting to Dell drivers helps with the unplugging from already powered on, but if I still can't turn it on while on battery, that's pretty much unacceptable.

 

I had BIOS A04 and my computer was working find. DELL came out with A05 and I upgraded. I started having radom crash problems and the computer refused to boot using battery (shut down after BIOS). I have two batteries and two power adapters and the computer behaved the same way.
I have BIOS A04 now and everything is back to normal. Personally, I think BIOS A05 has some screwy power monitoring/management in regard to extreme CPU (920 XM).
Now, I just need to find an alternative to Internet Explorer (it crashed on me while I was typing this reply and lost everything).

 

Thanks for the info. I'd like to try A04, but it seems it's not available for download at Dell.com...only A02.

Anyone with the A04 BIOS file care to make it available? Even PM me, and I'll give you my email address.

Thanks.

 

My computer originally came with A04. I flashed it to A05 and experienced the symptoms described here. Of course, when I flashed the computer to A05, there was an option to back up my original BIOS which was A04. I can't recall all the steps I did and all I can say is I did not save it (or saved it but can't find it). Since the problems with BIOS A05 was no good for me, I flashed the BIOS to A02.
Anyway, I got a copy of the original A04 BIOS from a member here and used A05 flash utility to restore A04. The whole re-flash went smooth. When it's time for the computer to reboot, it got to the shut down screen and froze there for more than 30 minutes. I had to unplug the power supply and battery to shut it down.
When I turned it on, nothing happened (no light, no fan, no hard drive, nothing!) I tried many the steps available through google including the instructions in this forum on how to recover from a bad flash but no success. To make the long story short, after two motherboards and both new video cards + xfire cable, my computer is back up and running with BIOS A04 which was installed at DELL. As a matter of fact, the motherboard doesn't even have the express service code entered yet.

So, if you still want to take a chance and reflash the BIOS from A05 to A04, let me know and I'll forward that backup that was sent to me by a member here. (Many people have done this and have no problem but my case was different.)

BTW, I guess you decided to keep the notebook.

 

Hi Guys

just tossing this out there for you

Does the R2 have a BIOS option for (ASPM) Active State Power Management ?

I know on my R1 if I have it enabled it does exactly what you guys describe .

When I disabled it, all my locks ups went away.

In the R1 the option was located in the Graphics Settings menu

 

No, there doesn't seem to be an ASPM setting anywhere in the R2 BIOS.

Also, is this a common issue with A05 BIOS? I've never heard of it happening before but now there are a few people other than me who are/have experienced these issues (at least the battery ones, maybe not the regular startup issue). Or are we just the unlucky ones?

Anyways, I don't know about flashing back to A04, I might try it but even if you, ils, were just some special case it still sounds like kind of a big risk...

 

If I wind up having Dell replace my M17xR2, I might try doing the backrev to A04 just to see if it fixes it. I'll have nothing to lose, since I'd be sending it back anyways!

 

Unless it does work, and you end up sending back a fully working computer and get another bad one, . But flashing the BIOS back a rev does seem like it could be risky, definitely more than updating it like normal.

Between this and my "skipping" in games issue and all of that, I really hope I can just either get a working replacement or a refund... because so far I guess there isn't really much of a solution for this right now.

Can anyone else with A05 confirm that booting while on battery/unplugging while powered on works and that it isn't just an issue for everyone with this BIOS version?

 

If anyone is going to test it, just know that it may take a few restarts for the problem to appear. When I was on the phone with Dell, it took me about 8 restarts for it to just turn off during boot, but other times, it's easy to replicate.

 

Hm... I think mine has only successfully booted from battery twice out of probably about 20 tests, and I was kinda shocked and got really excited that it was working again, but then the next time it shut down again.

But anyways, yeah if someone else with A05 could try multiple times to boot from battery and let us know the results, that would be great.

 

An interesting thing I have noticed is that while power boost/OC/CF settings don't seem to be doing anything, increasing the CPU voltage to an extra 150mv (75 doesn't seem to have any effect) seems to make the computer boot about 50% of the time, rather than <10%. However, this causes the CPU to run MUCH hotter and eats a lot more battery, so it isn't very practical. Also, since I won't be running my computer at +150 at all times, it requires going into the BIOS menu nearly every boot...

Just thought I'd throw that out there...

Also still hoping for some other A05 users to chime in

 

Bump.

5 calls to tech support, couldn't fix it. Kept telling me there was a new BIOS update we had to run from a CD, but no one could seem to find it. Eventually while I wasn't paying attention one of the techs found an ISO file which he said was the new BIOS update, but it failed to update when we booted from that CD (I'm pretty sure he downloaded R1's A04 BIOS... ). Ended with the tech ordering a new battery and mobo for me... we'll see how that goes...

But again, can someone else with A05 please test a few boots from battery and report the results? It'd be nice to know if it's a BIOS issue or something that could be mobo related and my replacement mobo could actually help.

 

Well i often boot on battery & have never had a issue before.Just noticed in post that the affected are using 920xm's .I am on A05 bios.

 

Alright, thanks for the info.

I guess maybe its some sort of A05 + 920XM issue? I'm hoping that isn't the case as that would then mean another week wasted with waiting for the replacement mobo/battery... And it would mean that 920 users are stuck with this problem until the next BIOS update if it truly is a BIOS related issue.

So now is anyone with a 920XM + A05 able to give this a try?

 

I am not sure what the issue could be.If more people try booting on battery then you can narrow it down hopefully good luck

 

Have A05 tried every type of boot up here with Turbo without Turbo with 1 thru 5 % Boost Battery charged, and all the way down to less than 50%. Even played Modern Warfare 2 on 50% battery then reboot, seems to have no problem strange. Thought I'd try got the same spic's

 

A 2nd M17x-R2 that I ordered I just tried booting on battery, fresh out of the box, and it also shuts down right at the "Starting Windows" screen.

It also has an i7-920xm CPU.

That makes two out of two for me with the problem.

 

I didn't have the unable to boot without pulling the power and battery problem until I disabled hardware in the BIOS. I vaguely recall reading somewhere that there's a bug in A05 that will cause the R2 to fail at POST if any of the hardware is disabled (Wired LAN, Bluetooth etc.)

 

My two don't fail at POST, they just completely turn off about 1 sec after the Starting Windows starburst animation screen comes on.

 

Wow.. mine came from the factory with A05 and hasn't done that in the week I've had it.

 

You've tried booting while on battery 4 or 5 times in a row? I see you've got an i7-920XM...it should have that problem!

Also, real quick, how are you OC'ing your CPU? 5% (max in BIOS) doesn't get us to 3.6 like your sig shows! Very nice!

 

Same here, mine doesn't fail at POST, it shows "starting windows" for about a second or two and then shuts off. I don't have any hardware disabled or anything, and this happens regardless of my BIOS settings (if I disable OC or turbo boost it makes no difference). The only thing that seems to help for some reason is increasing my CPU voltage by 150, which as stated before isn't very practical since it runs much hotter and eats a lot more battery. But even then it only boots ~50% of the time.

Anyways, a tech is supposed to be here tomorrow morning to try replacing my mobo and battery, I'll update after I see how that goes. And thanks to those who have posted their results with booting from battery on A05, it's good to have all that info.

 

Haven't done a full battery cycle yet.. that's on the to-do list.

O/C can be achieved using EVGA E-LEET.

 

You don't need to do a full battery cycle. As long as it's relatively charged, just try booting while on battery, and if you get past the "Starting Windows" animation, just restart again and try it a few times in a row and see if your M17x just turns off. (if it does, you usually have to remove the battery to get it to come back on...)

Thanks.

 

Sorry to hear you are having trouble. I am guessing your battery is about a year old based on the fact that this is a replacement and the general description of your specifications puts your original system at about a year ago. Battery life in laptops is extremely short due to high temperatures inside a laptop and shallow charge/discharge cycles. Battery life expectancy is 12 months to 18 months in a normal rig. Hardly likely you would get much over 12 months due to the heat of this sytem (4870’s +920xm +BD +HDD). Your laptop battery is suppose to be smart and it should know how much energy is left but over time this feature can get out of sync and provide erroneous readings that are inaccurate. When a laptop starts turning off suddenly when the battery still indicate time left than you have a tracking error and need to calibrate your battery. When the battery indicates full charge and has no charge left than the battery is pretty far gone. If you had some charge left than you could calibrate the battery again but it sounds like it has gone too far. Over time and and use, an error often occurs between the chemical battery and the digital sensing circuit. In an ideal situation a battery should be a fully charged followed by a full discharge at a constant current. But in reality this never happens, a battery in a laptop is more likely to be discharged for varying lengths of time and the load varies widely. Under ideal charge/discharge conditions your battery meter would be within 1% accuracy. However over time when you combine that 90% of your battery life is spent combined with poor charging practices the true capacity of the battery no longer synchronizes with the battery gauge. Your battery is saying full yet doesn’t have enough power to even power on. That is why you need the AC. As soon as you pull the plug hasta la vista baby, the screen goes dim, the fans slow down, because the battery is DOA. This has nothing to do with bios or drivers or OC. Dell doesn't warranty batteries that are older than a year even if you have an extended warranty for the rest of the system. Batteries typicially get 300-500 charges and this includes shallow cycles as well.

Here are others that have had similar battery experience.

Dell Laptop Battery Blues - Rick Strahl's Web Log

P.S. Make sure the tech brings you a new battery. Batteries that are stored for a length of time at full charge also can cause problems.

 

The tech came this morning and tried a mobo and battery replacement, but the issue persists. @FalconMachV - it wasn't a battery issue as the computer would sometimes function on battery instead of dying as soon as the plug is pulled. Also this battery wass only about two months old since my replacement computer shipped with a battery - I had to return the old battery with the computer. This is also confirmed since I still have the issue with a brand new battery the tech brought over this morning.

Anyways, the only thing they can really do at this point is send me a box and shipping label and have me send in the computer to see if they can fix it. Said it'd be 3-5 days if they can, 7 if they can't... and that if they can't, they'll send me a new one. However, I'm not sure if that would even help since as you've experienced, lancorp, a brand new R2 could still have issues. It's weird that some aren't experiencing the issue even with 920's but a brand new motherboard or even a brand new computer has issues for some of us...

Not really sure what to do at this point...

 

*Looks like the tech was thinking along the same lines as I was by replacing the battery. Too bad that didn't work.

*replacements are built with scavenged parts. Highly unlikey they would send you a new battery with your replacment. They might just clean it up to look new.

*If not MOB and not Battery than most likely the charger is not functioninging properly. I can't see what else it could be. The tech should have tried a different charger. The purpose of changing the MOB was in case their was a bad connection but from what you said no analysis was done on the charger. Sometimes something as simple as the prong being bent but more likely damage from heat inside the charger.

*I am sure others have experienced this but I have not read a thread with your exact symptoms before.

*They are more likely to just salvage the unit for parts and send you another refurbished unit again and pass the problem off to the next person. It cost too much to diagnose problems and cheaper to just replace parts.

*Unless he brought out a brand new MOB and brand new battery it is possible they have tested with a another MOB with bad connection or bad battery. This is why so many people have repeat service calls because they constantly service with used parts.

*At least you are getting their attention which is good. Be patient, get names, and document as much as you can. Start a journal. Don't worry you will get it fixed.

*P.S. The fact that the servie tech could not fix shows this is above and beyond their typical call. A battery and charger probably would have worked in most cases.

*P.S. The tech told you he had a brand new battery and brand new motherboard. But that is highly unlikely. You are talking about over a $1000 of parts. If he has tested 'brand' new parts on your system than he can't exactly turn around and sell those for new again. Those parts he tested with are technically used now. They will take those same parts to the next job site and tell that customer that those are new. A new poly bag, new box makes things look new but highly unlikely they would test with 'new' parts. The next problem you will find is that they may just want to return your money so you can reorder a new system. They will only spend so long on the issue.

If your system is relatively new you could just ask for a complete refund to reorder a new system. That gets you out of the refurbished cycle.
Thanks for the update.

 

Troubleshooting Laptop Power Problems

 

The charger is not the issue, either, as the charger is the thing that actually makes the system work properly. It can also charge the battery just fine, and the battery shows no errors so I'm not worried that it is/was a battery issue. The new mobo/battery seems to have cut down a bit on the issue where the computer will freeze a couple minutes after unplugging, but we still can't get it to boot without the AC adapter.

I'm actually hoping they offer a refund so we can order something new at this point. I'm sick of talking to tech support, waiting for parts/replacements, etc.

Or maybe they will actually end up fixing it... but I doubt that .

 

I am having the same issues on mine.. M17X-R2, i7-920 and bios A05.. Battery is a little over a month old and it does the same things as listed.. If booting from 100% charged battery, it shuts itself off during "Starting Windows" starbust animation on Win7 64bit, and if I unplug it while doing something, it freezes for a bit.. And this is confirmed on my wifes M17x-R2 with A05 and i7-920.. Mine is a replacement machine from a faulty xps m1730 and hers was just a new order we made at the same time.. Both machines came originally with A04 and we updated them to A05 for the virtualization options. Didn't test this issue with A04 as the A05 update was avail a week after receiving the machines..

If I boot into Ubuntu on battery, it doesn't die.. It boots perfectly fine and is usable till the battery is dead and shuts itself down....

Also, something else I noticed with Bios A05, it the machine goes to sleep for a while (Even plugged in), it doesn't always wake up.. its a black screen only.. All drivers are the latest as per dell's site or newer from the original manufacture's drivers..

 

Hmm... hadn't thought of trying to boot a different OS, I guess it may just be a Windows 7 issue? Either way, doesn't seem like something a replacement system is gonna fix if so many have the same issue.

Mine has the same black screen after waking from sleep/screen saver issue too, I guess I just didn't think to put it into the OP since I thought it was a video driver issue. Sometimes you can get past this by either hitting space (then typing your password if you have one) to log in, or if it didn't automatically log out you may be able to save it by hitting ctrl+alt+del and it will show the ctrl+alt+del menu, then press start task manager and you should be back at your desktop or wherever you previously were. But then again it sometimes is stuck at the black screen no matter what you do.

If the majority of systems with 920's and A05 are experiencing this issue (though apparently not all, as in alienwolf's case), I feel even less sure that Dell/AW will be able to fix my computer when I send it in. If they do fail and end up calling me to tell me they are going to send a replacement I'll just ask for a return/refund since I don't have much confidence in getting a problem free system... this is my 3rd M17x to have issues and it sounds like most others with these specs experience some similar issues...

Still waiting on a box/return label though... shipped 7/2 via fedex express overnight, but the expected delivery isn't until 7/6...? I know it's a holiday weekend, but come on... 4 days? Especially frustrating since the materials have been in Minneapolis for a day now and I live in MN. And Dell's site even shows an EDD of 7/2 . So sick of waiting for this kind of thing

 

This has happened to me a few times. It seems it won't respond to mouse or keyboard events.. *but*.. Ctrl-Alt-Del brings up the screen every time, and I just cancel out of that screen back to my desktop. No big worries for me.

 

Well I just sent the computer away for dell to try and fix it... we'll see how that goes...

An interesting note, though - I formatted and reinstalled windows before sending it back so my HD would be empty, and after doing so the issue seems to be much worse actually. Now the computer stays at the alienhead logo for about a minute, then when it goes on to say starting windows, I see a blue screen for a tiny fraction of a second before the computer shuts down. Very odd. Does this about 50% of the time even while plugged in as well as 100% of the time on battery... And no, I didn't have any sort of RAID setup or anything that would be causing this type of issue, I have no idea why it would do this on a fresh reinstall of windows...

 

Odd.. that almost sounds like a hardware problem specific to your unit perhaps. Definitely shouldn't be doing that on a fresh install.

 

Could be, I really don't know. But either way the overall issue is obviously not specific to my hardware since others are having the same problem. Now dell gets to receive my machine with even worse issues than before...

We'll see what happens.. really hoping for a refund...

 

Soooooo BIOS A06 is out now, but I can't test at all if they fix the issue or not since my computer is currently in Dell/AW's hands. Can anyone who was having the issues described in this thread update to A06 and see if they persist?

If they do, then this issue must be beyond just a BIOS flaw... will be interesting to see

 

It's possible it's fixed because the first fix in the release notes is:

1. Enhanced the 920XE and Crossfire current draw on DC mode.

Unfortunately, I already got RMA's for the two I bought, and have since ordered i7-820QM-based units to replace them. It would be too much of a mess to keep the original ones and return the newly ordered units.

What to do...

 

Well if it is fixed then I would keep your current systems if possible. 920's would certainly be better than 820's if everything was working fine. Are you able to test it now?

Enhanced current draw definitely sounds promising. However I'm not sure if DC mode applies to this issue, since the problem occurs on battery (not DC?) rather than when plugged in (to an AC adapter, also not DC...?)

Edit: enhanced draw could also be helpful at times other than boot, since before sending back my old system I tried a few things - one of them being OCCT's power supply test, which caused the system to shutdown within a minute of starting the test when on battery.

 

Actually, DC is battery mode. AC is when the charger is plugged in.

With regards to the 920 vs. 820 comparison, I did some research and thinking (which I should have done before getting them), and the 820QM is very, very close to the 920XM specs--just about 10% difference at base clock, and even less at turbo speed. Both also have the 8MB L3 cache, with the 720QM does not. Given that the M17xR2 does not offer much in the way of overclocking (+1-5%), I really don't see that the price differential is worth it on the 920XM. At least for me. I like fast, but I think the 820QM is just about as fast and with dual 256GB SSD's in RAID 0, I'll be just as happy and $1000 richer. So, currently, I'm leaning towards keeping the 820QM's that are coming and sending back the 920XM's.

EDIT: I used the current 20% off coupon and scored a dual 256GB SSD/820QM/RGBLED/Dual 4870 Crossfire at the Outlet for $2400. Seemed like an awesome deal.

 

So has anyone tested this with A06 yet?
My computer is still away

 

Just flashed bios to A06 and got passed the windows boot screen on DC power and then laptop shut off as soon as desktop loaded...

 

Well, I guess they didn't fix it after all? Bad news...thanks for testing it though.