M17x R3 A12 BIOS?

UPDATED POST:
I can confirm the new factory Dell M17x r3 A12 BIOS released on Oct 1st 2012 does allow you disable Intel Graphics. HOWEVER if you flash to the new A12 from a modded BIOS with Intel already disabled, it will not allow this feature, and YOU WILL BE STUCK WITH DEDICATED GRAPHICS ONLY. The fix for this, is if you are using modded BIOS, first restore to default values to re-enable switchable graphics, save, restart, and then flash to the new A12. You will see "Primary Display" option, with PEG (Dedicated only) and SG (Switchable graphics) options. I can also clarify AMD 12.8 drivers work for my 6990m on this BIOS revision.


DISCLAIMER:
I take no responsibility for anyone flashing BIOS, using modded BIOS, or running into any problems. It worked flawless for me, however sometimes different laptops and different users will have different results.


DOWNLOAD LINK:
Dell Alienware m17x R3 BIOS - Released Oct 1st 2012
Drivers and Downloads | Dell [United States]


KNOWN ISSUES:
- I personally always had a problem with the modded BIOS and my 6990m that the screen brightness wasn't the same without the IGP, and would not go as bright. Maybe 80% at max when in Windows, and this was a driver problem. It does not appear Dell or AMD have corrected this issue yet.




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Original Post:
I'm surprised this passed me by, but I'm seeing the m17x r3 A12 BIOS available on Dell's website. It says it supports switchable graphics in the BIOS F2. Does this mean you can now disable IGP through Dell's graphics? Hope so.

Anyone have experience with the new BIOS release? I need to reformat either way, so I'm backing up and gonna try this afternoon.

 

Good job, thanks for the info.

I'll flash it and report back if anything shows up. +rep

 

I would be interested if SATA behavior is the same as A10, in other words are both ports downclocked to 3gb/s?

Also, is the switching within windows or does it require a restart?

 

Download not available...

Looks like a Dell Website error.

 

[M17x R3] - BIOS A12

 

I have this issue as well with my 6970M.

 

It appears to me everything is still 3gb/s. I want someone else to verify tho, I'm just using Intel Rapid Storage to check.

Also, I don't have IGP enabled or even the Intel drivers installed anymore so I can't tell you about the switching... I would think it's the same as it's always been with no restart required, but screen flicker on AMD 6xxx series, and auto Optimus on nVidia 5xx. The only major change to this BIOS revision is that it finally offers disabling IGP.

 

So basically they added an option in the bios that just disabled the IGP with one change rather than having to change the several different things like in the unlocked bios?

 

According to the release notes, yes. However, you will see the benefits of releases A09 A10 and A11 which a modded A08 would not have. Also Dell has been known to sneak in fixes without making note of them.

 

Any idea what A11 added? It was never made public. I wonder if it did something with new GPU or CPU support?

 

Good question.....

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

 

interesting i would jump around the room if they added new gpu support

 

guys the 3GB/s sata will never be fixed with bios updates.
it's hardware related why the 6GB/s is in stable, dell just does not want to admin it

 

I'm sure you are correct. The fact that Dell pulled all the documents and re-issued them with only SATA 2 stated, made it look to me like they were heading off a potential mass replacement for people that purchased when they were advertising SASA 3

 

Nice find OP.

Anyone found a negative to this update?

Does it allow non-dell nVidia gpu driver updates?

 

Unless I am mistaken we have always been able to use the Verde packages, I have never used a Dell GPU driver.

 

Sadly, the nVidia 460m's don't like anything not from dell unless modded...

 

yes, i got my r3 replaced for an r4 because of this. took me 6 weeks but when i buy something with specific features i do not want a downgrade because of dell incompetence.

Hell they even lied about the R4 having full 6GB/s on the msata port, that port is fixed on 3 GB/s no matter what.
Manual clearly states msata runs on 6GB/s.. uhu
the intel chipset on R4 only allows 6GB/s on the 2 normal sata ports, dunno who within dell is responsible for tech specs and manuals but he should be checked for drug use.. prolly sees to much purple sheep.

same thing is with the R3, chipset only supports one sata port on 6GB/s but in the bios pre A08 dell pulled a frankenstein on the sata ports and gets instable.
thats why A08 and later downgraded the SATA 6GB/s to 3 GB/s because it's instable.
i was running a raid 0 ssd in my R3 which crashed randomly nuking my raid setup because of the instable sata 6GB/s.

still get's me mad when i think about it.
Alienware is good stuff but dell most stop bulling people.

 

Does this new version fix 3D controller for Alienware R3 ?

 

the one thing i cant figured out about the sata 3 issue is why we never kicked up a stink at all we could of all being realistic asked for refunds or upgraded r4s i know that under UK law this comes under false advertising and is illegal

 

I haven't had any issues updating non-dell drivers. There were a couple of releases that required modding, but its been months since I have needed a modded file.

 

Appreciate your update. A least a year or more after the R3 was released, the nVidia drivers caused problems and we eventually gave up and stuck to the OLD dell drivers due to frustration and that the nVidia updates provided little enhancement.

Are you using the latest drivers and what improvement do you notice? Our GPUs are getting a bit long in the tooth but everything I play is well rather playable...

 

Hi guys i wanted to download the A12 bios from the dell website but i just cant do it. It says Sorry, the requested file could not be downloaded. Using download manager didnt't help. Could somebody put a link to this bios somewhere ?


THANKS !

 

I was able to download the bios direct from A12 Drivers Download

 

ftp://ftp.dell.com/FOLDER00847269M/1/M17XR3_A12_W32_X64.exe

 

Just wanted to let everyone know that the legendary svl7 just posted an unlocked A12 with A08 SATA behavior.

If you want to run A12 his is almost certainly the best way, since you don't lose the SATA speeds and it is even unlocked.

Downloads

Be sure to pop into the techinferno forums and give him a thanks.

 

I can also confirm that by going turning off the Integrated Graphics via the A12 Bios, my screen brightness went down. I'm running on an AMD Radeon 6870M

 

Xenn0X, I am going through this same issue right now with dell. The are stonewalling me. I even asked nicely for the upgrade as it appears that is going to provide a product that would meet the needs of the original specs on this one. Can you give me some insight on what helped you get through and sucessfully get upgraded? Any help at all woud be greatly appreciated, thanks!

 

How I update this bios release?

 

Download M17x R3 BIOS A12.

Plug in your AC adapter, right-click the executable file --> Run as administrator.

Let it run and you're done

P.S. If you're running a much older BIOS version I would recommend to try and install some of the previous BIOS releases instead of upgrading to A12 all at once.

BIOS A10
BIOS A09

 

I also recommend to close all other opened programs and specially disable the antivirus to prevent it blocks the upgrade.

 

Hi,

Has anyone else been greeted with the fact their Nvidia GFX card is an engineering sample and not for production use! after upgrading to A12 and disabling the Intel HD3000 ?

Would be good to know if its not just me.

Thanks,

Dave

 

Hi guys! I have a important question!!! I have an Allienware m17x r3 and im having problems with it and i want to send it to the Customer service because the computer is giving me problems, i still have warranty but i have a unlocked bios...

Did that invalidate my warranty???

I will really apreciate the help Thxx!

 

I'm not sure but if you are worried about it just go to the dell page and flash the latest bios.

 

Yeah, just put it back to a dell released BIOS, make sure the problem is still there, and call it in, no need to mention it

 

Hi, I sort of have a miracle going on in my M17x R3,
My system config isn't wow, it's an intel 2630qm with 16 Gb of RAM at 1066 (8 @1333 original + 8 @ 1066 i recently purchased), a 6970m 2 Gb, A12 Dell website Bios, 250 SSD Samsung 840 or 850 EVO Slot 0 + 750 Gb original Hdd Bay 1 both on RAID.

Before upgrading my Alienware with 8 more gigs of RAM and the SSD drive I also had the 80% brightness issue and ever since I could I would Choose always PEG instead of SG in Bios, but after i clean installed windows 7 home premium again on my alienware then after installing all the drivers except for the video both intel and amd i proceeded to install (on PEG mode) the most recent driver 14.12 Catalyst Version and the brightness went down like every one else, but then for some reason i restarted and booted into the Bios and just switched back to SG in the A12 Bios and the i loaded into windows and installed the latest driver from intel win64_152822 then rebooted my laptop and i suddenly got my screen back at 100% brightness and both cards seem to be running somehow at the same time
It also allows me to choose which applications use the high performance video card and the power saving one. i hope this works for you but i think i got lucky so yeah i share this with you and if you try it i hope it works for you as it randomly did for me

 

wow thanks for checking in alan.

its a miracle our now four year old M17xR3's are still purring along fine with daily use and very similar spec's. We did have to recently replace the powerbrick chargers however.

 

Why did you replace your powerbrick chargers?
and yeah 4 years and it's still going great. I'm hoping to get my hands on the 2960xm soon to see how many more years of use I can squeeze out of it.