M17xR2 a05=yuck, I need a04 again !!HELP

I have noticed with a05 that dual 5870s do not actually seem to be supported, as the screen goes black on reboot after install, and the only way to get the system to boot again is to take out the slave and it boots fine. But if you want to use dual 5870s again, you have to go to an older version, and the only other one that dell has on their website is a02. Does anyone have the original a04? I would like to make an image and reinstall it.

One final question, when I do a shutdown in win7, the system shuts down mostly, but wont turn off. Or if I do a restart, it shuts down mostly but wont restart. And by 'mostly' I mean that all the 'lights' stay on, but screen goes black, and never shuts itself off.

 

did u disable one of the following in bios ?
wwan module/bluetooth/wired lan ?

 

No I did not. Again this was a direct flash, after that it wouldnt come back up. I couldnt possibly even have gotten into bios to dissable any of it.

Yet, pulling the 5870 slave allowed boot without issue. Then reverting to a02 allows boot with BOTH without issue.

The reason I want a04 is due to the 'wont shut off' after I select restart or shutdown in win7. I did a full reinstall and still have the same issue

 

so now you can't get to bios ?
if you can, reset bios to defaults.
If you can't (and if you can) do a power drain:
turn off the laptop
remove battery
remove power adapter
with everything removed press the alienhead power button for 30 seconds
return battery and power source

see if your problem is resolved.

A05 works for everybody with 5870s so it's something on your end that is not.

 

First I want to thank you for trying to help me solve this. Very nice of you.

Yes, I can get into bios no problem if I pull 1 5870 slave out, OR go to a02 (which requires me to pull out the 5870 anyways, revert to a02 with the ISO boot, and then put the 2nd 5870 back in).

I will go back in and revert to defaults, but im sure everytime you do a bios flash, the defaults are what you get by 'default' So I dont think its the defaults issue, but I'll try it right now.

 

i am pretty sure A02 is the one not supporting 5870s...

 

Got 16055 3dmark06 score with a02 So it must be doing something right.

 

well, i am out of ideas.. maybe someone else can recommend something. all i know is that there's a bunch of people here all with A05 with 5870s CF systems.

 

There is another thread where people are having issues with crossfire 5870s and a05. I am now posting on that one too.

And as soon as I pulled the 2nd gpu out, booted perfectly with a05, and also shutdown without any issues. So its definitely 2nd gpu related.

I might need to reflash the slave.

 

Did you find a solution for this M17X-R2?

I am having same exact issue?

 

There are threads for the 5870s, you might need to go back a few pages to find them though.

 

Why dont you use the new a06 bios?

 

If you guys are adding a second 5870 on your own and then can't boot, please check to see what the wattage of your AC adapter is. If you are trying to do this with a 150 watt adapter, you probably don't have enough power and you'll need to upgrade to the 240 watt adapter. Doing so should resolve your boot issues. If you do have a 240 watt, please provide additional details so that I can dig in a bit.

 

Yes, I have 240 Watt.

This is the case and your help is appreciated:

My system shipped in around end of May with 2*4870.
Then I bought 2*5870 that work good in A04 BIOS that system came with.
I did A02 flash thinking it is better, and still it worked but with restart issues.
Then when new BIOS came such as A05 & A06, when I flash them and press power button, nothing is shown on screen, yet, keyboard lights are on.
As soon as I remove the 2nd slave 5870 card with the cross fire cable the system boots and acts perdectly in A05 or even A06.

Hope this helped. Any solution for why we are not being able to flash to newest A05,A06 Bios with 2*5870. Additionally, is there a link to the original A04 BIOS that came with M17X-R2 systems?

Thanks

 

She Lives! (my thread) Ok I guess Tip is asking for my return to this (per his pm). I did not get a04 to work, because the one copy I could find was from a user on here, who sent me his backup image, but sadly it ruined my motherboard and I had to get it replaced.

I highly suggest you stick to DELL/Alien only Bios flashes and do not use someones backup imagine. That friendly help ruined my system (I do not blame the user who tried to help, he certainly didn't try to ruin my system). The board they sent me for replacement was a00 or a01 (I then upgraded it to A05, had same issues again with XF 5870s, so I once again reverted to A02 and haven't had a single problem since then, other then the same issue you have with lights stay on after I shut it down). My fix for that is to push the button 1 time

 

Great M17XR@. Currently I am using A02 cauze it is the best here. But I am having one annoying issue. The laptop doesn't restart at all. It likes shutdown, screen goes off But Lights +fans are still on. Any solution to this.

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