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    M17xR4 & Windows 8.1 Preview x64 Upgrade

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by zarkov2k, Jun 27, 2013.

  1. zarkov2k

    zarkov2k Notebook Enthusiast

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    So, did anyone try upgrading from Windows 8 RTM to Windows 8.1 Preview?

    I tried on my system. The upgrade installed, rebooted, wen through a lot of "Getting things ready" type of screens with the Beta Fish logo and then the screen vanished.

    Sat there for quite a while like that (>1 hour). I finally turned it off completely and turned it on again. This time the upgrade told me it's restoring the previous version of Windows and did that (quite quickly) and reverted back to my older Win8 install. lost nothing, everything works, but the upgrade failed.

    Will try again tomorrow. I have some culprits in mind:

    1. NVidia drivers
    2. The 3D screen
    3. Hyper-V installed on my system

    Please do let me know if any of your went through fine so that I can compare with my config.
     
    zarkov2k, Jun 27, 2013
    #1
  2. j95

    j95 Notebook Deity

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    j95, Jun 27, 2013
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  3. eliteone

    eliteone Notebook Guru

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    I can second this issue. same system m17xr4 3d. I think its just an nvidia driver issue...... the new drivers dont work with our 3d configs. I'm going to try booting to safe mode and reinstalling the old drivers that don't require a bios update. I'll report back if this works.

    edit:
    Nope cant boot into safe mode until setup is complete, I guess we have to wait for alienware to update our vbios.......
     
    eliteone, Jun 27, 2013
    #3
  4. zarkov2k

    zarkov2k Notebook Enthusiast

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    I wonder why that is. The driver model has not changed in 8.1. in fact i upgraded my older system - Dell XPS M1710 - with no issues. And I didn't even think it would be supported considering it's a 8 year old system.

    Anyway, i'm trying again to upgrade. Otherwise will do a clean install. All my other systems, including the surface rt have gotten upgraded.

    Btw are you doing an upgrade or a clean install?
     
    zarkov2k, Jun 27, 2013
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  5. eliteone

    eliteone Notebook Guru

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    any of the newer drivers require a vbios uptate for our 3d screens to be recognized. the newest driver I could get to work is 314.14. The new 8.1 probably has the 320.xx drivers These drivers are known to cause malfunctions on the 3d models.The 320.xx drivers will install on non 3d models, just not ours
     
    eliteone, Jun 27, 2013
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  6. j95

    j95 Notebook Deity

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    j95, Jun 28, 2013
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  7. zarkov2k

    zarkov2k Notebook Enthusiast

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    So won't it be Dell who'll need to give the vbios update? Or does it have to come from NVIDIA?
     
    zarkov2k, Jun 28, 2013
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  8. j95

    j95 Notebook Deity

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    Nvidia fixed the VBIOS issue and Dell / Clevo will release the update. PMed @Alienware-L_Porras.
     
    j95, Jun 28, 2013
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  9. zarkov2k

    zarkov2k Notebook Enthusiast

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    The problem is after the install and reboot, the screen goes completely blank. I pressed enter after waiting for a long while and the system started speaking the text out (must have hit the narrator), meaning it was waiting for my input after first boot! But I can't see anything. did a full system shutdown by keeping the power button pressed. Next time it restarted, the Win8.1 setup did a restore of my older Win8 - which runs fine.

    Any idea where will this be released? Any link to it if it's out? I'm downloading the 314.22 WHQL to install right now. Avoiding the 320.xx for now. Let's see.

    EDIT: I keep on crossing your posts! :)
     
    zarkov2k, Jun 28, 2013
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  10. j95

    j95 Notebook Deity

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    When installing windows 8.1, last step set off 'automatically install driver software' instead manually install NVIDIA DRIVERS 314.14BETA

    Windows 8.1 installs v325.71 WHQL
     
    j95, Jun 28, 2013
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  11. zarkov2k

    zarkov2k Notebook Enthusiast

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    When do you get this option??
     
    zarkov2k, Jun 28, 2013
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  12. Alienware-Luis_Pardo

    Alienware-Luis_Pardo Guest

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    Is this what you're looking for?

    windows-8-clean-install-26.png

    Choose customize, then you will be asked to select whether you want to automatically install driver software or do it manually.
     
    Alienware-Luis_Pardo, Jun 28, 2013
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  13. zarkov2k

    zarkov2k Notebook Enthusiast

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    The problem is that the screen goes blank during the Getting devices ready stage and then doesn't come back. So I can't reach this screen at all as this is part of the post install config settings.

    Is the NVidia VBios out from Alienware? Can I download and install it for my 680M?
     
    zarkov2k, Jun 28, 2013
    #13
  14. zarkov2k

    zarkov2k Notebook Enthusiast

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    zarkov2k, Jun 30, 2013
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  15. eliteone

    eliteone Notebook Guru

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    eliteone, Jun 30, 2013
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