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

I've actually never seen or heard of the mobile variant before, it seems to be like a hybrid between a 1050ti mobile and 1060 3gb. It has the core count of a 1060 3gb, but the VRAM and bus width of a 1050ti mobile. Pretty interesting, I'm glad you got that working.

Where did you end up getting the card, and how did you get it for so cheap?

 

https://www.aliexpress.com/i/4001234218538.html

Just one listing I found

 

What kind of Laptop's had those? Or were they found in SFF desktops?

 

I have no idea lol

I just Google the name supplied and that's what came up, interested in how to get one for 70 usd though.

 

I got mine from Taobao for 450 Yuan which is exactly 69.59 USD with the current exchange rate. Seller also gave me a modified driver which you need to install unsigned. Driver is quite outdated though as its the nvidia 416.34 driver which was released on October 2018. I'm not sure how to install the latest driver.

 

I don't believe you can afaik.

The cards are mostly from embedded projects such as Tesla built in dash's

 

It was done with the 416 driver but even then that is a step ahead of what is needed for non standard upgrades in laptops that we see these days.

Just comes down to motivation, and considering its 416 probably quite diminished.

I was personally interested in this for various work loads but it seems nvenc is not functional from what I can find thus far, but it looks to support GPU passthrough for some reason.

 

It's meant for compute workloads (embedded projects, AI etc), as for modded drivers I think the farthest you can go is 436.xx or around that. No NVENC is annoying especially as older machines don't have support for VP9 or HEVC

 

So I got bored with my Alienware 17 with the p106m video card installed.

I decided to do my own fan mod. I am not good with extreme modifications. I managed to add pwm fan controllers each for the cpu and gpu without blasting holes or cutting any part of the chassis.

(video) https://streamable.com/huuotc

 

Great work, looks like the fan drops off below a certain threshold? Or at least it sounded that way

What parts did you end up using to achieve this?

 

Thank you. My alienware 17 looks like an alien with antennas lol.

Yeah the fan does drop below a certain threshold. It feels like the fans has 3 modes when I turn the nobs, (1st mode, fan is off, 2nd mode fan is on high speed, 3rd mode fan is on ultra high speed and sounds like a jet lol)

Since I live in Japan, I bought my pwm controller and heat resistant electronic wires from Amazon Japan

https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B013DJZCQ6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/Resis...dchild=1&keywords=ワイヤー&qid=1614700433&sr=8-33

 

Does HWINFO64 still read the RPM's?

 

Unfortunately not. The 2 middle wires for the cpu and gpu fan have been removed. I could reconnect it again though someday.

 

+rep, really fantastic work there. No dremel or any it's absolutely great to see AW17 R1 still getting a lot of love from their owners. It would be great if you can share the mod or such in any form. Thank you again for the idea. And I agree, the Alienware machine now looks like a proper alien with antennas lol.

 

Hi, do you mind sharing driver for P106M ?

 

So I bought a new 120hz screen and used the correct cables, I plugged in the connector to the motherboard and the screen along with the camera. The only thing I think I've done differently from all the direction was connect the extra cable line where it connects to the motherboard. The motherboard connector part had one with screws and next to it was a small one. I connected it and my computer turns on but no screen, only lights come on. No caps, no windows sound, just the lights. Do y'all know any ideas of what it could be or if I did something wrong maybe.

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Did you use the MUX switch to switch from switchable graphics to dGPU only mode before installing the panel? Also does the panel's backlight turn on?

I did this as a precaution before I did my panel upgrade almost 4 years ago just in case something like this happened. Supposedly the laptop is supposed to auto-detect the panel plugged into the motherboard and apply the correct settings to get a video output, but sometimes this doesn't happen.

My recommendation is to perform a BIOS reset, also known as an NVRAM reset, to give the laptop a swift kick in the butt so that it'll apply the correct settings.

To perform an NVRAM reset, perform the following steps:
1. Power the machine off
2. Remove all memory modules
3. Turn the laptop on and let it beep until it turns off
4. Quickly insert in a RAM module before the laptop turns itself back on. You have approximately 2 seconds before this happens.

Your laptop should now apply the default settings and you should get an image on your screen.

Let us know if you have any other questions.

 

So I ended up taking my laptop to a repair guy and he updated some drivers and got the new 120hz monitor to work perfectly. I didn't break the screen and I installed it correctly, just didn't add in the drivers for the monitor to register. The last upgrade I'm ready for is the graphics card. I heard people recommend the GTX 980 and some say the 1070 works with some tweaking that needs to be done. I think I'll go for a 980 just cause its the easiest to install and not mess up, and I don't play much intensive games that require more than that. Just want to let y'all know.

 

Perfectly happy with the 120 hz & 980 here
Plenty of older games which are asskicked with this combo
Cant imagine needing more for quite some time ahead
I just love to get my hands on any recent laptop and Have this feeling - omg, what an absolute crap!

 

Any idea why I can't use the HDMI input with my setup? I could use it fine when I had the 1070 installed, now that I have returned to the 770m it gives me a black screen.

 

Seems strange. It could be a driver issue.

 

My guess is that it's a driver issue as well. Try an older driver version and see if that helps.

There are certain driver versions that make the HDMI IN function work and some that make it not work for me. For any version where it doesn't work, I get either a black screen or a white screen when attempting to use it.

 

I have tried with the old driver on dell website but I still have the same problem, I'll try other things thanks guys!

 

Try Nvidia driver version 441.66. This is the driver I'm currently using, and HDMI IN works for me on this version. If you want to try an older version, try version 381.65. That was one of the other versions where HDMI IN worked for me.

 

Unfortunately that didn't work either, it's probably a problem with my display, it is giving me all sorts of problems not just this.

 

question so my ranger is 40 pin edp can i use the existing cable if i want to upgrade to 120hz ? or do i have to buy another cable ? second finding a 120 hz screen is getting a bit harder could someone link a good compatible screen ?

 

Wait, you currently have a 60Hz display working connected to edp port?
There are two ports on mobo
The 120HZ thread has all the informations

 

Yeah it's an 40 pin edp I looked through the thread but finding the part numbers results in a lot if discontinued screens that cost 250 bucks lol

 

No, you must use the eDP cable in the port with the screw mounts for the 120hz and LVDS cable in the other port for 60hz.

What parts are you looking to find?

 

You can run a 60hz panel on eDP, you can also run a 120hz panel at 60hz.

Not a fan of the glossy display that was used in its hayday, much prefer the N173HHE-G32 but not too many like going that route

 

Are you completely sure? Which connection on the motherboard is the screen connected to? The wider one with screws or the narrower one?

The wider one is the eDP port and the narrower one is the LVDS port. Only the eDP port has screw threads.

 

My screen is embedded display 40 pin even though it's 60 lol

 

Looking to see what the best bang for the buck 120 hz panel is

 

That's strange. Is it an OEM display? Does the cable connector have the mounting screws? If it does then it has to be the 120hz panel switched to 60hz.

120Hz panels are getting hard to find now. I have a few bad ones that have a horizontal line or two through them. One of them isn't too bad as the lines are right along the bottom of the task bar but the other one has them right through the center.

 

Yeah it's definitely OEM. It's weird though it had an 860 . I wonder though if the panel was replaced because one of the corners of the display casing is lose . It might have been lvds at one point . There is an EDP display that is 60 hz though . My screen is 8bit too but only 60 I'm pretty sure it's ips too

 

As a matter of fact I just messaged the guy I got the ranger from . He said he replaced the screen because the original one died . It's a 60hz ips

 

Yeah, something didn't sound OEM with how you were describing it. So you have a 60hz panel plugged into the eDP port? I still think you're going to need the OEM eDP cable to go with the 120hz panel. It may be easier finding a donor machine. Try searching eBay for a 'for parts or not working' unit with the 3D panel. You'll usually find the displays are good and it's the board or GPU that has failed. I usually buy these for around $300AUD so maybe $220USD and you'll still have parts you can use later or sell.

 

Probably your right lol . I'll keep my eyes peeled o think I found an 120 hz for 144 or so

 

I would be willing to sell you the 120hz Matte panel for quite cheap if you would like, I have the modified front panel and everything

 

Oooo I'll think about it . Pm me

 

There's a 120hz matte panel? This isn't OEM I'm guessing as I'm pretty sure they only came in glossy.

 

lol if I had to take a guess its likely my previous modded parts

120hz matte isnt OEM, its likely speaking to the N173HHE-G32

 

Yep, gotta get some money for a new 4930mx and potentially another CPU heatsink for my future plans

 

i am loving my 4930 mx i have it at 4.4 ghz on a cool day . and when im at work and carrying the ranger and its 330 watt power brick around LOL i keep it at 4.2 since the cpu will get veeeery toasty . ill probably going cicichan 4 pipe and 10.55 cfm fan at some point

 

lol apparently there is a way to get a touch panel on this laptop as well .. LOL

 

Who want an sticky and slimy screen after a couple of hours use?

 

I cant stand a spec on my matte screen

 

That's true though I constantly clean screens lol so I feel that but I found that interesting considering the 40 pin doesn't carry . HID lanes you also lose one USB port because it involves soldering the data cables yo s USB port . Reminds me of the okd Asus eeepc days lol anyway I'm selling some mxm gpus then I'll buy that screen I'm 90 percent sure I can use my original EDP. Cables

 

So the 4930mx in my rangers igpu has died . If I disabled the igpu the cpu works fine but.... Once it gets enabled it artifacts mine has Optimus so disabling the igpu makes it run like snizz

 

Ok, so after about a year waiting and saving for the 980Mxm, I finally got it. Installing it was a pain in the ass. I used the Uninstalling driver tool that cleans out the old Nvidia drivers for 765m, then installed the new 980m, then realized I didn't buy a backplate for it. So I ripped the one off the 765m and added it to the 980m. tehe. Then I put it all back together for it not to turn on. Couldn't find out why. Saw a YouTube video saying, "hold power button for 30 second" and somehow that actually made it boot up to windows. Restarted windows to take driver signature enforcement off. Then tried to install the latest Nvidia driver for the 980m[after modding the INF of course.] Only to be told driver is not compatible with my windows even though I have 64bit, not 32 bit windows 10. I end up looking around online and found a site called Easy driver. Did the free trial and gave me a driver installation back in 2020 at least. But it's not the latest 2021 driver and I've tried many times to do it manually as well, but that ends up either freezing my computer or giving me a black screen after booting up to windows. I end up booting into safe mode to uninstall and trying to reinstall but I can't seem to understand the issue, I've tried uninstalling to reinstalling the drivers but still have the same 2 problems. I've searched as much as I could, but no luck. Hoping anyone here might know a solution that can help me. If not, I can live with this 2020 driver update.

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