*OFFICIAL* Alienware M17x Owners Lounge - Part 2

The BIOS limit on FSB is 333, the voltage limit on FSB is about 343. I have been very unstable at anything over 333 FSB personally.

This is the main part that I had an issue with. I did not realize that your laptops last forever and never have any problems? Never mind the many people that have an M17x R1 or R2 at this point that started out with an M1730 and got upgraded for free due to their warranty.......those suckers!

 

*raises hand*

 

Howdy everyone- I've posted on a few threads in the last few days tryingto get my hands on Dell 6970m. The only way that Dell UK will seem to supply one is if you are an M17x R3 or M18x owner. If there are any UK owners of this model who might be able to help with this let me know. It's for an M15x by the way. I can get an MXM card or about £350 but the Dell card apparently works much better in this model. Thanks in advance and apologies if I'm takin a free ride on you M17 owners forums.

 

I answered you in the marketplace he ships to UK.

 

This is not a Dell card which is the only card that works perfectly, but thanks for the help anyhow

 

You can always ask the M17x R3 and M18x guys to give you a Dell vBIOS and flash it, I'm sure they'll be more than willing ti help.
Ichime tried it and it works so you should have no problem.

 

Thanks again for helping me understand a bit more about the diference between the different brand cards katalin- much appreciated. Mxm sell this card from europe. They offer to supply the card flashed with the dell bios. About £400 or 600 dollars (no import tax) sorry to be so relentless with questions but will this effectivley mean that the m15x will recognise this as as a dell card? Cheers!

 

Yes it will be recognized as whatever the vBIOS will tell the system it is

 

any suggestions for how to remedy a power plug that keeps falling out of the back of the laptop? The plug is loose in the socket....grab a pick and try to put some pressure back in the tabs inside?

 

Got a warranty? At this point i'd go that route if possible.

 

bought in Dec. '09....not sure. Its an R1

 

If you paid for additional warranty, you will have it. If not you are SOL

Check the warranty online

 

Is it for the Dell M17x ?! The pre Dell models used to have this issue.
If you don't have any warranty remaining, you can find plugs on e.Bay and solder it yourself, shouldn't be hard to do with minimum electronic soldering skills.

 

Yes, M17x. I've had this issue with every laptop out there....eventually. The only exception is a Mac with the magnetic connection. I tend to use mine while sitting on the couch and have the power cord connected.....no other way if you're gaming really.

 

I do use this connector while on my desk but even without it the plug is not loose at all.
Right Angle Connector for Dell & HP Power Adapter - eBay (item 250736476904 end time Jul-30-11 12:12:24 PDT)
Do you by any chace have the 150W power brick? Does it have the ring around the plug that lights blue?

 

Just ordered my first alienware laptop. I'm upgrading from an Asus G73JH. Bought that for $1300 a year ago and just sold it on craigslist for $800 .

I got the 2.2GHz cpu, 6970 gpu, standard 2x320gb drives, 1080p screen, and the bigfoot wireless card (i play exclusively on wireless).

Total price on the web: $2,549 - $50 off on the video card - $220 discount = $2,279

Price Paid: $2079+tax with free next day shipping. How'd I do on the haggling?

 

Very nice, welcome to the Alien side

 

So I noticed in the other section that the 6990 GPU is available on the 17x now. People were saying it was a $50 upgrade but according to the web it was a $100. After quite a bit of haggling I got them to cancel my current order and get me the 6990 for $50 Hope it doesn't delay the system too much as I'm selling my g73jh tomorrow and will be without a computer until then.

edit: p.s. what has everyone's build times been like lately?

 

What's up guys, new m17x-r3 owner here.

Still waiting to get it, but the estimated time of delivery is 8/01. Is there a good chance I'll get it a few days before then? Also how long does it stay "In Production" for?

Thanks!

 

This thread is the best source for that info: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/487300-m17x-order-status-discussion-part-3-a.html

...though the answer you will find isn't the one you (or I) wanted to. Seems they are delayed way more often than shipped early. My EDD is the 26th. We can only hope

Did you get the 6990? I did and since literally *no one* actually has one yet, its a little scary.

 

Thank you.

And yes I really got it. I'm just trusting AMD that it will be the fastest and hoping that it won't be ridiculously hot or anything ..

 

GJ on the sale, the purchase, and the haggling.

When's the initiation?

It's not. 6970 doesn't get too loud nor too hot even while gaming for 1hour on Crysis 1 or 2 on very high. Make sure you get a good cooler though. See my sig for a good recommendation

 

I was actually more talking about the possibility of it delaying the production process.

 

yep.....that's the one.

just diassembled the whole machine today in hopes of being able to add some tension back on the power socket. I think it helped (a little) but the right angle adaptor and some zipties might be a good solution.

the power puck is soldered on....NOT a replaceable item like my Lenovo T61P was.

One good thing about the work though...I was able to clean out all the dust (and it was BAD). This thing should run cooler for sure.

 

My lappy should be here tomorrow, but I got a question. I have a slow internet connection and I JUST got done installing WoW on my desktop.

Is there anyway I can actually port the games I have on my desktop over to my new m17x? Like flash drive, or something?

 

Depends on the game. I know for a fact that you can just copy the entire folder for WoW though.

 

As of yesterday, I now have my R3 in my hands and the wait was definitely worth it. It really is an amazing laptop, no flaws/defects to speak of and it runs everything I have thrown at it swimmingly.

Just a question for you guys, would 85C be considered a dangerous temp for the GPU? That was what it reached running the Unigine benchmark with an overclock of 850/1150. It does seem stable, with an idle temp of 50C. Cooler I am currently using is one of my old textbooks, raising the back just a bit. =p.

Specs: Intel 2720QM, 6970M, 4GB ram, 120GB SSD + 320GB HDD.

 

85C at max temp isn't terrible. If it concerns you just don't overclock. The MSIs are known for their GPU temps getting up to 90C even close to 100. So you shouldn't have a problem.

 

Good to know, thanks for the quick reply.

 

I just did a similar overclock and maxed out at about 76 C. Though, my cooling solution is a Zalman NC2000 cooling pad, so that probably accounts for a chunk of that.

 

Has anyone played with the Turbo Boost settings in the BIOS? Is there any benefit that can be had by tweaking those times, and will it even let you do anything substantial?

 

The settings are actually locked into the CPU, they can't really be changed without an XM CPU.

 

Yeah, I figured as much, but thought I'd ask to be sure. Thanks.

 

So.....finally having a failure on my machine. The screen wouldn't display an image last week....reboot and it came up fine. Did it again a few days later and it took several reboots and removing power and battery to restore.

As of tonight, nothing. Several reboots and hooking up an HDMI to try and troubleshoot....the screen is flashing Red/Blue/Green/Gray/Black. Video card is the culprit? I have the onboard video disabled in the bios so that I can use the HDMI output to my 52" Sharp.

If the consensus is the video card, what are my options? This is an R1 with 260M. I just recently stripped the whole machine down and cleaned it while also trying to solve the loose power circuit. Guess I could do the same and re-seat the video card in case that's the issue before buying anything of course.

Also....we've had power surges here lately due to storms and also due to a portable A/C unit on the same circuit while our HVAC was out (for five weeks). So, no surprise if something failed.

 

bump for day crew

 

What do you do with your boxes? !

 

I store them for possible resale or for warranty purposes.

 

Store em , I use it as display only. In-case I resell my Alienware laptop.

 

Those of you with R1's - which BIOS are you using? I see DELL has BIOS A07 out, but I'm pretty sure I'm still on A04 since A05 was rather buggy. Finally getting around to doing a wipe and reinstall and thought I'd ask first!

 

It was actually the A04 the buggy one, I stayed on the A03 till the A06 beta version since all that A05 did was to fix what A04 did.
I'm currently running A07 after having A06 straight from A03 and don't have any problem.

Cheers

 

I used A03 until A06 came out. A04 and A05 were fails. I think A07 had the touchpad fixed? The one with the touchpad fix is the one I was using until I sold my M17x

 

Thanks, guys! I was on A03 and went ahead and flashed to A07.

Touchpad fix - as in the insane lag you get from having the Synaptics driver installed? I just turn it off manually right now

 

One question:
Is it possible to disable the T-pad?
When i do it per FN it works, but when i reboot it is enabled(LED frame is off).


PS: Modded A10 on the R2

 

If you don't have a mouse plugged in then it's not possible unless you disconnect its ribbon

 

i have an usb mouse.
but everytime i restart, then the t-pad is activated.(led is off)

 

This happened to me a while back. Replacing the GPU ended up not solving the problem. Also had the screen and mobo replaced, and eventually they gave up and I got a new one. Not an R-2 though.


Does anybody on the R-1 know what nividia drivers are alright to use now? I'm on some old ones, and I don't remember what the fix is in the BIOS that you have to do with newer drivers.

 

Hi, Nick read this:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/7943589-post3.html

 

Thanks! Now I can update my drivers.

 

No problem, enjoy

 

Any of you guys playing the BF3 beta? I have gotten it to run pretty smoothly on 800x600 resolution with everything off/low, which is surprising for me - didn't expect it to run at all! I have yet to try running it with both video cards so that should help.