*OFFICIAL* Alienware 17 Ranger (2013) Owner's Lounge Thread

You decide in the installation process what drive to install the OS to, generally with any OS you can also tell it to wipe a drive if you wanted.

There isn't a need to remove the drive, if your worried about boot order then just wipe the drive.

 

An update: I did eventualy managed to reinstall on onot her disk.
Eventualycoz it kept bsoding.
And still does.
One thing I did read out of the state o
f the pc is that most probably my amdcard memory got busted.
dxdiagreads only 1 out of 4 gb.
its my best guess so far but im taking it to someone who knows more.
I did the switch fnf5 and it went allright then but after a restart it all came back.
Doesntit stay switched untill you switch it back to dedicated>?
Could I pull the card out and use the pc on integrated till this is resolved?
I was looking for the 980 upgrade few times but now cant seem to find that comprehensive guide that was here somewhere

 

Imwriting from another laptop, I disabled touchpad on alienware on day one=)

 

Remove gpu and boot iGPU.

 

I got it working now on windows 10 which I dont like.
It seems the realtek card reader is the culprit.
Ive tried reinstalling driver from the cd I have and the newest from realtek and whenever I do it gets bsod.
I have the card reader disabled now
My gpu works fine although I dont really know whats controling it.
theres no amd catalyst, comp uses igpu and switches to dedicated when theres a need to.

 

I'd imagine daughter boards aren't that expensive if you decide to replace it.

 

What do you guys think the odds are of any Turing MXM modules functioning in an R1 are? Anyone have plans to try it?

 

Low to none.

But won't know u til someone tries. Main problem is everything lol

 

Damn what do you mean? I assume

Getting a card that the system will play nice with

Getting a card that actually fits

Getting someone willing to drop over $500(I cant see the 2060/70 MXMs being anything south of that) on what could be a completely useless card to test it

 

Because none of them are MXM 3.0b or MXM 3.1b

They all have there own form factors and also some have HDMI / DP slots built into the card. Not only that but standard heatsinks wouldnt work, as the VRAM/mosfets/vrms,GPU die are all in nonstandard locations to the best of my knowledge.

 

Wait all of the new cards are nonstandard?

 

MXM is dead homie

I plan to mod in the 1080 at some point, but other priorities demand those finances. So will have to wait for a while.

 

Wait so they axed the MXM format entirely?

Also care to tell me more about the 1080? Biggest card i heard about in this was the 1070

 

1070 is still the best known card for the Ranger but my theory is that the 1080 will work if you get the one with supplement power, which means not as mobile anymore for those that care about that. I dont, but obviously many will considering it IS a laptop after all.

And yes, the 980m is the last of the MXM 3.0b cards

 

Oh i see. So basically you're going to power it externally somehow? Make sure to make a thread on it if you go for it, i'd love to see it.

Yeah im in the same boat. Would love to drop $480 on a 1070 MxM but as of two days ago i might need the money i have saved up for some other stuff so im putting it off.

 

Dude, before you go doing all that reseat your GPU. I had mine do that exact same thing, reseated and it works now.

 

Yeah also saving for things in the personal life.

Though with the tax return I plan to get 2133mhz ram, 1TB ssd, and a 980m. Should scratch the upgrade itch for a while until I can break down everything and mod further, ill make threads when those things happen.

 

Ok so i just got my 120hz LCD in, two points of concern.

One: The part number on the outer bag says T02, but the sticker on the part itself says C01, the part number that doesn't work

Two: The part has an "engineering sample" sticker on it. IIRC i saw one of these at work once, i forget if it made any difference, but anyone have experience with these?

 

Hello fellow ranger owners,
I have been lurking through this thread for quite some time but never made an account until now
Short background is that i have had this laptop (880m, 60 hz screen, 4710mq spec) for about 5 years already and it served me well until last december. My motherboard crapped out and i had to replace it as well as finding out my 880m shorted itself along with the mobo. I have been using dedicated graphics until today where i finally had the guts to order a 970m card to replace it with. To cut straight to the point, i just want to ask if there is any difference between the steps taken to replace it with a 980m and not having 120hz screen. Also do i have to flash an unlocked bios over my A15?

Thanks guys.

 

9xx support was added later iirc so it should be plug and play. There was a weird period where people claimed both scenarios but I think that was just on earlier bios revisions. Not everybody updated before gpu upgrade.

Though that's understandable as half the time these days you lose more than you gain.

 

just a quick question: I bought a 330W AC adapter to replace my old 240w that was damaged (330W was cheaper from dell), do I get any advantages with my current built or does it make a difference only if I decide to upgrade the GPU?

 

No difference ..... unless you upgrade the gpu.

 

Good I was planning to upgrade to the 1070, I have to change the display first though

 

I have an OEM whole assembly of the 120hz panel if you are interested.

 

have you got the EDP cable too?

 

Yes , complete oem kit.

 

depends on how much and if you ship to italy

 

Hey guys! If any of you are thinking of upgrading your GPU/CPU or are in the market for improving your thermal performance I found a vendor in china who fabricates all copper heatsinks with extra heatpipes for both CPU and GPU! I recently upgraded my old 880m to 1060 and my temperature never stray past 68C when running games at full tilt!

The fit of these into your chassis will be a little tight initially, but it definitely doesn't require any extensive modifications. The quality is top knotch on these; much thicker baseplate and you can feel the weight difference in comparison to the OEM ones.

Its a touch pricey if you ask me, but I felt that it was worth it especially if paying a premium for an MXM upgrade.

CPU All Copper Heatsink w/ 4 Heatpipes:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/4-Heats-Fo...543542?hash=item3acd6c81b6:g:jSAAAOSw8HBZMWj2

GPU All Copper Heatsink w/ 5 Heatpipes:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/5-Heats-for-DELL-ALIENWARE-17-RANGER-M17X-R5-R6-P18E-GPU-HEATSINK-0N3P1N-0YP26V/252506661856?_trkparms=aid=111001&algo=REC.SEED&ao=1&asc=20140107095009&meid=7ca96efb3bbd42b5b3ff018553686aa8&pid=100040&rk=1&rkt=2&sd=252506661856&itm=252506661856&_trksid=p2046732.c100040.m2060

Shipping will of course vary depending on where you are delivering to, I got mine delivered to the UK within a two week period so ymmv.

Happy thermals!

 

Yep we have been using those for a bit now, gpu is great but the cpu does have some QC issues according to some users here.

I have had both and will likely be asking for a custom replacement this time around. I would prefer 4 flat pipes instead of stacked, got some plans in the future with the use of the 4930mx

 

Hello again guys.
So my last (and first post) was about replacing my 880m with my 970m on the ranger r1. Things went fine and smoothly, with the drivers being installed and using it in windows 10. Something happened though after a week or so where the laptop shut itself off when i was playing Sekiro and the charger cable light went out. Forgetful dumb ass me decided to plug it again like what happened last time right before i replaced the mobo and graphics card when it still had the 880 and i heard a small sound, but my laptop managed to boot up and still my card works with no stuttering (i tried some fifa and some other light gaming programs, even dota). Thought the crack sound was something coming from outside because in my defence i didnt even try overclocking or messing with any of the voltages with the new card. Then i decided to open my chassis and found this on the back side. https://imgur.com/a/qs6gU5g

For now, i am financially hampered and cant afford another replacement in the mean time. Do you guys think that i should just play it safe, not use it (or try to repair it myself, but i have no experience with soldering or logic board repair) just buy a new replacement in the future, still use it as it might be a small issue, or do you guys think there is another underlying issue with my system? im using the 240w power supply that came along with the laptop originally still and made no mods to the system (well maybe one ssd addition but i dont think that counts)

 

If purchased via ebay then return it, refund and buy another when the chance comes up.

Though most 970m last I saw were 200 USD where the 1060 is like 340 - 300 USD. Or at least thats where I plan to sell mine at soon.

 

Hi. Sry I don't know where I can ask my question. I buy aw 17 r1 and change bios over clocking and now the laptop show black screen. What can I do ? I open the case cover and pull up CMOS battery and laptop battery and push them again , but nothing happens and black screen come again. Unfortunately the ram is on slot 1 or 2 not 3 or 4. How can I reset bios without dissemble PALM rest? Plz help me. I just bought it yesterday. Plz plz plz

 

Pull battery and cmos and unplug AC adapter and hit the power button for a couple minutes.

 

But Someone said that I need to remove rams too for clear nvram!
Does it work really? Push it several time or hold it for few minutes?

 

I do both, that's what worked for me but you may need to remove ram as well. You will have to test it and find out

 

No luck.

 

Then your going to need a screw driver.

If that doesn't work then it's likely you corrupted the bios and need to desolder the bios chip and reprogram it (reflash externally)

 

Not fair. I didn't try ram removing.

 

To get under the palm rest you'll need to get a screwdriver, if that fails you still have options but the laptop will likely be down until you can reprogram it or send it to someone who can.

 

Hello,
I have Alienware m17x R5 with 4800mq, 780m and 16GB RAM. Bios A14 (maybe unlock). OS: Windows 10 x64. Bios diagnostic test pass ok.
I have problem with stability. When I run OCCT on CPU stress after 10-20 I got error, but not thermal. Also I test Intelburn test and it stop running after 1-3 minutes. When I run OCCT for GPU stress it run around 1 min normal but after that windows block that application it freeze and this happen every 10-15 sec. When I run this test on DX9 it was ok. I run also Unreal benchmark I after 2-3 minutes I got same error from windows that application has been blocked, after that it slows to 5-10 fps and crash again every 5 sec.

CPU and GPU has got new thermal paste. I tested more than 5 nvidia drivers and 2 instalations. Bios has been set do default. Fan was also set to maximum speed in speedfan, it is same in hwinfo. In XTU i test memory and stress test and everythink was ok. I swap CPU to 4810mq and same result.

Now I tested World of Warcraft for max settings and game not crash. Temperature on GPU was 83°C.

Please help me

 

83c?

Thats pretty high in my opinion.

 

Yes I test it for max temerature, because it looks like overeating issue. After more than 10 years experience with repairing notebooks I am on dead point. Only thing I could do is reassembly whole notebook and test it after that. Motherboard looks fine, CPU is working in another notebook, GPU should be fine.

Edit: I take all four RAM modules out and put in one 8 GB module and now the CPU stress test does not exit with error. GPU stress test was also run normal. I will test all 4 modules in another laptop also all slot on MB alienware.

Edit 2: After more than 10 minutes it crashed again, but when I swap original RAM back it now runs geat. I think the problems is in slot. I must clean it. GPU crash after 20 minutes again. Now I clock it down -200core/-500 memory and after 15 minutes is ok.

Edit 3: I test GPU with -50core/-100memory and still crash. After that I install old invida driver 346 and look stable. What the hell is going on here. Why this is happen? I do not understant that.

For interest Dell K1100m works with 120Hz LCD, K3100m with HP vbios ends with beeping.

 

Hello fellow Aliens,

Greetings from Malaysia. I am trying get my daughter board for Alienware 17 R1 (Ranger) repaired as one of the U.S.B port pins are damaged. It is a matter of getting the connector replaced. However, I am trying to determine if the port is USB 3.0 or USB 3.1. I am confused as the recent classification has renamed USB 3.0 as USB 3.1 (5GPS) (Superspeed) and USB 3.2 (10GPS) (Superspeed +)

I need to purchase the connectors and I do not want to get the wrong ones. I do not wish to totally rely on the person selling the part and end up getting something that was not originally meant for the system.

Hope someone can guide me on this. Cheers.

 

I think you're looking for part number N1DX7 or WH486

 

It is the slowest USB 3.x speed, 5Gbps

 

Does anyone have a link(s) to the best and/or latest drivers available for an Alienware 17 Ranger. I've reinstalled Windows 10 and I just want to make sure I'm good to go. Everything is working fine but I'm curious.

 

Dell.com

 

Alienware M17x R4 vs Alienware 17 R1 Ranger :-D

What's your thoughts?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/alienware-m17x-r4-vs-alienware-17-r1-ranger.829585/

 

Looks like the beast has died. I’ve had a few hard resets recently, which were required due to running Skyrim with about 300 mods. On a couple of those occasions, the computer opted to remain black and beeb instea of reboot.

Now it just won’t reboot, except maybe one in 20 attempts. Screen stays black, single beep repeating until I turn it off.

I’ve tried variously:

• Pulling the RAM, battery, CMOS battery, holding down the power button.
• Striker1234’s Ranger Emergency recovery Bios steps (Had no reboots, just retained black screen with CPU fans blowing)

It booted up beyond black screen to the Alienware loading screen this morning before going black and repeating its single beep.

New motherboard time? Or new machine time? (I was hoping to eventually sell it to fund an upgrade, but that’s not happening in its current state. I was also considering upgrading its GPU, glad I didn’t go down that path).

 

Maybe your GPU has died. I had something similar with my M17xR3 - I had to remove the GPU and now I just use it with the iGPU that's included as part of the CPU. I don't use my laptop for gaming anymore, so it doesn't matter to me that I've taken out the GPU. You could try removing the GPU and seeing if it boots, you might need to make sure your BIOS settings are enabled to use the iGPU (integrated GPU).

(Maybe you could try reseating your GPU in it's PCIe slot too, after using a can of compressed air to blow out the PCIe slot, and maybe clean the gold contacts on your GPU.)