M17xR2 Bios A08 Discussion Thread

Has anyone been able to test the touchpad before and after the BIOS revision and before and after driver update.
There was one prior report that the performance does degrade. Since this is part of this BIOS and the next BIOS revision it may be worth while to check to see if the touchpad fix is a stable one.
Prior Post:

Just a thought. I personally don't use the touchpad and am somewhat frustrated at this time. But someone with a little time and curiosity may want to check into this.
Cheers

 

Got an update on this today - they have determined root cause and are working on a solution. ETA is still TBD. So, some good news...

 

Thanks Brian for the update.

 

Thanks for the Update Brian, it's great someone is actually working with the end-user so closely and listening to their wishes, solving their issues and trying to get this revision R2 on the right track where it belongs, "All Powerful"

You know: More issues = More work | More work = Less issues
Ergo: More issues = Less issues!

 

Thanks for the update, Brian. As always, much appreciated.

 

Thanks for the update brian.

 

Hey DR, could you link the post please? I can't find it
Thanks

 

FYS:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...ios-a08-discussion-thread-37.html#post6701299

Sounds to me, they have atleast aknowledged the problem and they are "working" on it

 

My bad stamatisx, there have been so many differant discussions in here I got them all confused. Thought I read his quote in response to an SSD issue but it was infact to the FSB sleeping issue, specifically a reply to the following quote. I have since edited my post. Man got me excited for a sec lol

 

Yes thanks for the update.

 

We're beta testing it right now, and no, we don't need any more beta testers. I'll update here once it is ready to go live.

Thx.

 

well because of you and very few other Dell people i am happy i paid so much for a machine, so i get the support i deserve.

Keep up good job and informing us. Thanks

 

Good work Brian.

 

Thank you very much for this.
This issue has been around since the first released BIOS and I am somewhat suprised no one else mentioned this here. I noticed few (may be) members might have seen it but ignored.

 

Just wanted to say... I didn't ignore. I'm just in the dark on this one and I already make a fool of myself enough without delving into issues I haven't researched. Thank you for mentioning the FSB speed / sleep issue as I am sure the resolution will benefit us all.
BTW - Beta testing a BIOS is not something I would want to do anyway. At least not on this system. Thx for the update

 

i just did the v8.0 bios flash and its causing my windows to blue screen before it loads, i have tried doing a windows restore but it does nothing. Should i try reinstalling windows or try to load the backup of my old bios?? i dont know how to restore my old bios

it also bluescreens when trying to go into safe mode

 

Message Edited

 

I'm getting the same problems, but I can go into safe mode unlike you.

"A clock interrupt was not recieve on a secondary proccesor within the time interval."

That's the error that shows up in the blue screen.

 

He posting this problem in a separate sub-forum and fixed his problem by reloading windows. You can go and read his resolution in the other sub-forum.

 

Go into device manager and install everything CPU related. I got the same error when doing a lot of benching. I think I currupted one of the CPU drivers. I uninstalled everything in the "System Devices" list as well that looked like it may possibly be CPU related. Then after reboot it worked out ofr me. Give it a shot. May help. I thought I fried my CPU since I was pushing it waaay beyond it's limits, well thought it was the limit, but didn't kill it

 

My problem was more of a driver or corruption issue i think, but i am still having some problems. I left my computer on for a while, i think it went into sleep mode, when i came back there was a blank screen, i could see and move the mouse cursor around, but thats it. When i restarted i saw the windows loading screen, but after it loaded into windows login screen it just turned blank and all i could do was move the courser around.

So i restored my windows the earliest time, seemed to fix it. Probably also a driver issue.

Its just a shame that i am having so many problems wish A08, even though it installed without problems.

 

What you are experiencing now is most likely due to a separate issue:
Check out this thread.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...r2-driver-amd-5870-vbios-read-post-1-2-a.html
Sleep/hibernate/screen shut off and the laptop stops responding. Black screen plus keyboard lights etc still on.
This is a known issue. Have a read, it's a long one but you will ultimately have to decide if you are comfortable flashing vbios to correct the issue once you have the newest Dell 8.763 video drivers installed for the 5870 gpus. Dell has not issued a date for the rolled up, one click, solution yet.
**EDIT** If this is your issue and you decide to go ahead with the fix... PLEASE read all instructions carefully, more than once.

 

Thanks infernia, i think i might just wait for a stable driver. Less likely to screw things up again.

 

This issue occurs with the new Dell ATI P02 (8.763) drivers when you don't have the new VBIOS. If you unplug the AC adapter while Windows is running, then later plug it back in, you get a BSOD upon reboot with this message. It stays until you remove the graphics drivers.

The first thing you need to do is to boot into safe mode and remove the video drivers. You can install them again when you've rebooted successfully, just make sure that you don't remove the AC adapter. After that, look in the thread that infernia linked to just above. It'll tell you how to install the new VBIOS, which will fix the issue you saw.

 

Good news - the beta testing of X32 (A09 candidate) was very successful, so it should be promoted to support.dell.com later today as A09. A09 takes the A07 code and adds the EC changes to improve the mouse polling rate. There are no other changes in this BIOS.

Note that I've provided feedback to engineering asking for the ability to control the clock rates via an on/off type switch in a future BIOS. Something like "Max performance/Stable performance". Not clear if or when this will be implemented, but based upon the comments posted here, it has been requested. I think it is a great idea...

Enjoy!

 

Thanks Brian for letting us all know and your continued actions between those here and at Alienware. We'll be sure to test this new BIOS out as soon as we see it. Here's to original multipliers, improved mouserate, and Brian's help in getting all this sorted out quickly.

 

sounds great! just to be clear, the BIOS clock rate control would only be benefitial for Extreme edition processors since they're the only ones that unlock the FSB options correct? Or are we talking about allowing all processors in the M17X overclock with this switch? Thanks.

 

Thanks,
I will be looking for it.

 

Although I'd love to see it work regardless of CPU, I don't think it would work on locked chips. I'd imagine it would probably be an option that you would unlock only when an Extreme CPU is installed, and the default value would likely be 'Stable."

@Brian: Thank you for your continued efforts, I will be testing the A09 Bios as soon as it's released!

 

Brian thats awesome news! I like the idea of the toggle. You know...with a voltage increase that "max performance" could also become stable performance... just gotta campaign for more voltage lol.

On a more serious note, thanks again.

 

Good Luck Guys:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...2-bios-a09-discussion-thread.html#post6720561

Hope it is what it is advertised as, Touchpad fix with the Turbo Limiters back

Edit: Also thanks Brian for this relatively quick fix/update. I'm kinda amazed how impressive we (the community) and you (Dell/Alienware) are sorting out such issues one by one in this very forum kinda hand in hand, very appreciated.

 

And that's what I was talking about when people started bashing Dell.
Good luck getting similar level of reaction from other manufacturers

Thanks Brian! Great job!

 

It is great to see that the information we posted truely did make it to dell engineers, and they took it into consideration. Glad our to see that our concerns didn't fall on deaf ears. +1 to Brian for his communication.

 

Agreed.

BIOS A08 is no longer stickied. See the BIOS A09 sticky to discuss A09.

Thanks.

 

Thank you, Brian!