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    New M17x...lots of questions

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by basilios01, Jun 13, 2012.

  1. basilios01

    basilios01 Notebook Geek

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    OK, just got my R4 today and:
    1) Installed Samsung 830 256GB SSD in Bay 0
    2) Installed Western Digital 750GB HDD in Bay 1
    3) Installed Corsair Vengeance 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 RAM

    Hardware installed fine (mostly…more on that in a second). Followed BatBoy’s install guide and everything seemed to be working except:

    1) My eject and Command Center buttons won’t work. Volume, WiFi, etc. all work fine. I tried to go into BIOS and press the eject button, but that didn’t seem to help.
    2) I mistakenly did not switch to AHCI in the BIOS before installing Windows. Can I follow the directions here so as not to have to do a complete reinstall? Or should I just bite the bullet and reinstall Windows? Is it worth it?
    3) I can’t seem to get the Fn+F7 to work to switch to discrete graphics only. I keep trying it and nothing happens.

    Full disclosure: I did install RST out of the order given as I didn’t see it when I downloaded the drivers from Dell’s website.
    Any advice anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated!
     
    basilios01, Jun 13, 2012
    #1
  2. steve1ddd

    steve1ddd Notebook Evangelist

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    Sounds to me like you didnt install the OSD application...download and install
     
    steve1ddd, Jun 13, 2012
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  3. basilios01

    basilios01 Notebook Geek

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    Now that you mention that, I did get an error when installing that driver. I thought I got it fixed, but I will give it another go once I am done formatting my HDD.

    Thanks for the advice!
     
    basilios01, Jun 13, 2012
    #3
  4. Frost451

    Frost451 Notebook Enthusiast

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    He is correct if you dont have the OSD installed you cannot switch FN + F7. I dont know that you would have to reinstall windows just to enable ACHI.(someone correct me if I am wrong)
     
    Frost451, Jun 13, 2012
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  5. JakenSD

    JakenSD Notebook Enthusiast

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    I'm very interested in responses to basilios01's post as I don't have functionality with the eject button and have wondered the same things about AHCI.
     
    JakenSD, Jun 14, 2012
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  6. Robdd1

    Robdd1 Notebook Enthusiast

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    With the switching graphics error make sure the 7970m drivers are loaded. Mine came without them on so I downloaded from the dell site and installed.
     
    Robdd1, Jun 14, 2012
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  7. The Revelator

    The Revelator Notebook Prophet

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    The advice contained in the SSD Optimization Guide is sound, but you need one more step. The msahci driver requires atapi.sys miniport to be loaded during boot as well. So you need to change the Start value to 0 for both of the following entries in your registry.

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\msahci
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi

    To implement, make the registry revisions while still in Raid mode. After saving, reboot and enter the BIOS (F2 at the boot screen) and switch SATA Operation (on the Advance Tab or Menu) from Raid to AHCI, then save and exit (F10). You should reboot cleanly into AHCI mode. (After making the registry changes, you will not be able to boot using Raid mode without reversing the changes.)
     
    The Revelator, Jun 14, 2012
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  8. basilios01

    basilios01 Notebook Geek

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    @steve1ddd - reinstalled (or actually correctly installed) OSD driver and both fn+F7 and eject / Command Center now work. Thanks for the assist and +1 rep!

    @Revelator - Thanks for the info! I will make those adjustments when I get home from work. I will let you know how it goes.

    Update: Revelator's guide worked. Thanks and +1 rep when I am allowed to rep you again (I also owe you for recommending these)!
     
    basilios01, Jun 14, 2012
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  9. radji

    radji Farewell, Solenya...

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    I thought that even if the BIOS SATA Operation is set to RAID, it will use the AHCI drivers if no RAID array is setup/detected?
     
    radji, Jun 14, 2012
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