M17xR1 - BIOS A07 (CPU Throttling Fix) Released - Discuss Here

So i take it that I should get off my lazy butt and upgrade to this bios then? And then disable PCI Gen 2, and install new GPU drivers? Is it worth it?

 

Yes,as it lowers the throttling tendancy as oposed to the unlocked feature of the moded BIOS. Still there though.

 

It works fine under Win7.

 

I am running on Bios A06 with "Throttling Fix" applied , and there is HUGE throttling in Shogun 2 Total War.. Unplayable.. Still , i've managed to get rid of throttling in most games. It leads me to my old thought.. With new games getting more and more demanding, will or is throttling getting more intense?..

By the way , i don't know if anyone has asked this before.. but is there any difference at all between A06+"Throttling fix" and A07?

P.S. : ThrottleStop won't help in Shogun 2...

 

Are you monitoring the frequencies when playing shogun 2? You sure it's throttling and not just low FPS on a brand new game?

 

I'm not monitoring FPS (but obviously FPS go down during throttling as well). But I am very sure it has nothing to do with a general FPS issue:

- Several battles of Shogun with hundreds of warriers work perfectly fine and then suddenly a batlle with only few men involved it lags.
- Modern Warefare 2: 2 hours of perfect gameplay, but during these two hours it occurs twice that for roughly 10 to 20 seconds the screen lags.

That really doesn't seem to be a FPS issue.

 

Use throttlestop's log feature to see if it's throttling. Not doubting you as I've had what appears to be throttling in BF:BC2, after it occurred I ran TS to log it, but it didn't happen again lol, was annoying.

 

sorry, noob here

i'm confused right now . how do i exactly flash the bios?

 

Download the kit and run the .exe file.

 

See my step by step guide above - "Flashing" the BIOS means updating it.

 

yeah i know,i tried your guide and it successfully completed but it still says the Bios version is A03

 

Try flashing in DOS using a bootable usb key(see guide in Alienware forum) and run the .bat file.

 

thanks ! it worked

 

Great, now do your usual stuff and come back with your feedback.

Cheers

 

You were right. I logged the CKMOD in TS , and it was 100% all the time. I was so convinced this was the effect of throttling.(Because of the crippled FPS and Sounds) This leads to another problem which i shall discuss in another thread.. Huge FPS problems in Shogun 2?

P.S. : Lowering settings to minimum won't help. The problem is the same bot on max or min settings.

 

I see the R2 guys complaining about that game, different issue though.

 

I flashed my BIOS successfully, and disabled PCI Gen 2. Now I just need to install some verde drivers and see how it all works out.

 

Upgraded to a07. it helped my p8600 stop idling at 40% like it always has since i got this stupid machine. This is pretty cool.

 

I keep getting an error whenever try and flash the bios it comes up with the error messsage " Cannot load driver, C:\User\xxx\Appdata\Local\Temp\rarsfx0\PHLASNT.SYS. please make sure the current system is 64-bit os.

etc.etc

Also could someone explain the raid reset thing as i have never heard of this which probably means i've never had the sytem in raid since i have owned it.

 

Try flashing in DOS with a bootable USB stick(see my reply above)
About the raid setting change it back in BIOS only if your current setup is raid (both HDDs working together as one 2x500Gb=~1x1Tb). If you're running a single Hdd or two separate ones then leave it to AHCI.

 

Is the official A03 GTX 260 Dell Driver (257.38) affected by this PCI Gen2 Problem? Cause I just got a freeze today on a clean install?!(I mean it always happend once a month)

 

Yes, it is, besides some pre verde versions (like the p06 beta).
Try the latest nVidia i had good experience with it (PCi Gen2 on).
Be sure to properly clean the ones you have installed.

 

So, I updated BIOS from A03 to A07. No problems.
Updated Graphics driver from P06 (197.84) to A03 (257.38). No Problems
Reinstalled nVidia Chipset drivers from A00 to A02. Bul-Ray drive can now read discs again without taking 10 minutes to load, BUT I get the random 5 minute system lock-up's where the hard drive light stays lit solid. I previously had to remove the Nvidia nForce Serial ATA Controller from Device manager and force it to use the Microsoft default drivers. The lock-ups stop, but the disc load delays return.

Is there any fix for this yet?

 

Rube just let windows run the default MS ATA controller.
When you install the chipset driver untick the ethernet option (use windows default).
Also uninstall the 257.38 drivers, clean your registry in safe mode with CCleaner after you reboot, restart again and install the latest nVIDIA drivers and you should be fine.

cheers

 

I've had this since day one of owning mine and the nVidia drivers have always had to be replaced with stock MS ones. I too would like to know why, but no-one has ever been able to explain it or to figure out a better workaround.

 

Why find a better workaround when MS controller works flawlessly?

 

Since I upgraded to A07 the esata/usb combo port will no longer charge my phone with the laptop powered off.

I have checked the BIOS and the setting was enabled. I have tried disabling/rebooting/enabling with no success.

Has anybody else encountered this problem?

 

That's just it. It doesn't work flawlessly. My blu-ray reader (which has had its firmware upgraded to the latest on dell's site) will literally take up to 8 minutes to read a disc (of any kind). It also can't burn any DVD's or CD's without throwing an error at the end when attempts to close the session. I'd say its the reader, but it works fine when the Nvidia drivers are installed.

 

Just flashed my old M17x R1 to A07, turned off pcigen2 in Bios and installed latest nv drivers. The result? Hella bsods. Any suggestions as to what to do? (I did a clean windows install btw).
Trying now with pciegen2 enabled.

 

lol just restore RAID setup in BIOS.

 

Raid is disabled, don't use it; but thanks for the tip
And if raid wouldnt have been enabled I could not have booted, could not have installed windows, could not have done pretty much anything. BSOD are "available" only from within windows, not outside

 

I thaught you flashed after the fresh install on a RAID array in which case if you don't switch it from its default state of Disabled you WILL BSOD.

Can you provide more info on the BSOD you get(error code)?

 

Not in front of it as we speak, but it's because of the nvlddmkm.sys file so I'm guessing it's due to the gfx drivers?
Since I'm at the office and the laptop at home, a friend of mine is testing it now with PcieGen2 enabled and will report if any bsods occur.

Btw, the bsods started happening only after a dell tech came to replace the nearly dead motherboard. That's the reason I decided to reinstall, plus I wanted to break the raid array.

 

I understand, there was a user here with the same BSOD problem.
I will advice when installing the chipset drivers to untick the Ethernet option and let MS install the default one. That nvlddmkm.sys it is actually a nVidia graphics related system file. I probably never got it because i don't use hybrid SLi so try disabling the integrated 9400 and see if it helps.

 

I need the integrated couse I use that laptop on the road aswell and it's pretty useful the extra battery life and yes when I installed the chipset drivers (latest on dell site) I installed just the SMU driver. Shoul I use the chipset drivers on nvidia?

 

I suggested turning it to 'disabled' temporarily to see if you still get the same BSOD .
In case you won't then stick with the Dell beta P06 or try versions backwards until you find a stable one if the integrated 9400 turns to be the problem.

I'll turn it back on myself to test and see if I encounter any issues and will let you know.
Also,just checking, after the fresh install did you install one video driver only or you tried multiple versions. Just make sure after every uninstall to boot into safe mode and clean your registry and only after that reboot to windows and attempt a new driver install.

You should be fine using Dells chipset drivers.

 

Also if you have an overclock in place, lower it. Nvidia drivers are not very CPU overclock friendly

 

One strange thing i noticed is that i re ran WINSAT and now my Q9300 is only scoring 5.4?

 

Stealth mode activated?

 

Nope. the 280's are active, not the onboard 9400.
Strange

 

Well, WEI can be sometimes very inaccurate !
What does CPU-Z say ? Can you run a real benchmark tool like 3Dmark06?
Post screenshots of both if possible.

Cheers

 

I have a Q9300 and my score is a 7.2 for the processor. My overall score is a 5.5 because of my hard drive transfer speed though. Is it possible this is a similar problem for you, or is the low score just for the processor?

 

Forgot i even posted in this. Will check CPUZ soon.
Also back to it not charging. sheesh. damn machine

 

I did a number of searches for the M17xR1 BIOS A07 but couldn't find anything on it. I'm still using the A03 myself. Looks like the A07 came out 3/10/11 so I was curious if anyone has upgraded to it and noticed any improvements? I'm getting ready to drop dual OCZ Vertex 3 SSDs in my laptop this weekend and didn't know if I needed anything past A03 to get them to work.

Thanks!
-Q

 

A07 works good on my R1. Like you I stayed A03 until dell sorted the power adaptor issue on the previous bios updates. I believe there are separate issues with ocz vertex 3 on M17x machines but I not sure if that included the R1.

 

Yup I concur about A07, works a treat on my R1 - I mulled over getting a Vertex 3, but as the SATA won't make best use of it plus some issues others were having, I decided on the Vertex 2. The price difference helped the decision too.

Going from 35+sec boot to under 12secs, plus instant on from stand-by is more than enough performance boost for me.

 

can i instal this with USB or CD ? when i try with WinPhlash64 i get erro 5

 

I just used the same utility that dell provides with the bios updates

 

i klik on link on P1 for A7 and down M17xR1A07-W64.exe then some progam start up and i get error 5

 

Ya I also just realized I was confused, so disregard what I said.