*OFFICIAL* Alienware M17x R1/R2 Owner's Lounge Thread - Part 1

M4000M working with original display? Thought they had inverted colors?

I had PCIe 1.1 issue. Idk what fixed it but I replaced my i5 with a 920XM and I cleaned the PCIe port with some air.

 

Nah, in a CLEVO machine. M17X R2 still has the issues, nothing's changed...

 

Try cleaning out PCIe port like I did.

Also...check your PM, hope you got your M4000M back

 

What's the fastest built-in wifi card you can get for an Alienware M17x-R2? Anything that supports 802.11AC at least? Otherwise, should I just get a usb adapter and call it a day?

 

I've been using Killer WiFi taken out from M18X R2 or M17x R4 (can't remember which one, but one of those two). As long as it's a pcie card you should be good.

 

You can use intel 7260 for AC support. There is also azure wave cb-160h but that will require antenna adapters to work.

 

I used AX200 in Mini PCIe format. You will also get BT 5.0 I have one in every single AW I own.

AX works fine as well

https://www.ebay.com/itm/AX3000H-Mini-PCI-E-WiFi-6-Wireless-Card-2-4-5G-802-11ac-ax-MU-MIMO-Bluetooth-5-0/264665605063?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

 

Does this need WiFi antenna adapters? What is the chipset being used?

 

No adapters, replaces any Wi-Fi card that's in any of the 2009-2013 AW laptops that use standard mini pcie.

It uses Intel AX200. Best WiFi card you can get with BT 5.0 support and AX support in our older laptops.

 

Do you have a photo of the actual card? Very weird an intel chipset ended up in a random card. That’s usually a big no no.

 

It looks just like the one in the picture. It's a legit Intel AX200 chipset. They used to sell these in March as AX200 with legit intel model on it but I guess Intel caught on so they brand it their own brand but it's same chipset. You can buy one for $21 and see for yourself but I have four and they seem legit. Intel drivers install, hardware id is the intel one, speeds are legit (I have AX router).

Original intel part was AX200HMW and the NGFF ones are AX200NGW

 

I dont remember now what the footprint is called, but laptops that have soldered down wifi adapters use a smaller QFN-like module, those cards are just the AX200 in such footprint soldered into a mPCIe carrier board, nothing strange about that.

 

This worked!

.....but after I had the Lenovo drivers downloaded, it failed to install multiple times. I read online somewhere that if you pull the power cord and press and hold the power button for 60 seconds it sorta clears things hardware wise.

After doing this, I was able to successfully install the Lenovo drivers AND pair my bluetooth headset to the computer! Now I just gotta remember what I did to allow Command and Conquer Tiberium Wars: Kanes Wrath play game sound through my bluetooth headset. I recall it had something to do with disabling the "hands free" function of my bluetooth headset from within windows, but I can't remember where I needed to make that change. Oh well, I'm sure I'll be able to find it pretty quickly online somewhere.

The power button fix also resolved my issue with cold startups always failing. Next up is finding out why my BluRay drive is getting an error in device manager "Windows cannot start this hardware device because it's configuration information (in the registry) is incomplete or damaged.

Hopefully removing it and letting windows redetect it after a reboot will fix this thanks to the power button fix. lol. I'll report back if it works.

 

Update, fixed the BluRay drive. Had to remove the "lower filter" entry in my registry for the CD Rom drive. Bluetooth is still having issues. The option to disable "Handsfree" is greyed out, but still checked. I cannot uncheck it. Glad to almost have a fully working Win10 M17x-R2!

 

That's odd. I was able to run all hardware in my M17x R2 with no issue. Well, I tell a lie, the goddamn 8950M on my primary install was causing some bullcrap error at startup, and obviously brightness was a pisser, but Bluetooth and drives were running right. Are you sure that your drive/ drive slot is ok? I've had this type of issues on 17 r3 where m.2 slots were sketchy.

EDIT: Consider a clean install of Win10 and work your way up with all the drivers. Residual drivers and registry entries can cause quite a stir when switching hardware.

 

Actually, I originally decided to do a fresh install of Windows 10 a couple of years ago and although the system did work, I had multiple daily workarounds that I had to use in order to get a "normal operation" from the laptop. First I had to run an elevated Command Prompt to run the Control Center so I could still light up the keyboard and choose my custom theme.

I also had to deal with a non-working bluetooth, strange battery errors, and strange fan noises with that OS install.

So I decided to go back to the original hard drive and cloned it, then did a Windows 10 upgrade on that image while it was on an SSD drive. The end result was a MUCH BETTER experience that now allowed my Bluetooth to actually function along with no longer needing to run that elevated command prompt just for the keyboard to light up with my custom theme.

I also had frequent crashes at boot up with the "Fresh Windows 10 install" than I do with the upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10 image that I currently have setup.

I really feel that once I get the Audio Software working properly I will have quite an enjoyable M17x-R2 laptop

 

After installing Windows 10 2004 update, my M17x-R2 was still working fine. I used it multiple times and enjoyed long hours of gaming on it. One day it kept crashing at boot up. Several weeks later, I went into safe mode and uninstalled the Display driver and rebooted. Windows 10 booted up successfully, but unfortunately Windows Update ran in the background and reinstalled the driver thus causing Windows 10 to crash again and no longer boot again until I delete the driver in Safe Mode.

 

Installed a Quadro K5000m in one of my R2s and it worked so if anyone wonders should they decide to use a spare card plus didn't have to fiddle with the drivers at all.

 

Fan control works native? Check by doing a sustained GPU load and checking the temps/ fan speed without HWINFO. Who made the card?

 

Never had any fan control issues with Quadro cards with the R1 (pre production sample) and a retail R2, gets a bit warm under load but nothing terrible. Word of caution though some drivers revisions will green screen with the R1 but otherwise no issues. Got a K4100m installed in the R1 that for some reason wouldn't boot in the R2. Altogether I've used the K3000m, K4100m, and now the K5000m with these machines and have good luck thus far without needing to Jerry rig the drivers at all.

 

Really? K4100M worked in M17x R1? For me the fan in R1 always stuck at low speed if it is not a GTX 280M/285M, very interesting. Did it break sleep in M17x R1? You and I might be the only two people left on this board with M17x R1 machines lol

 

If anyones willing to sell their 17x r2, please let me know. I'm prepared to pay top dollars if it's in mint condition with the RBG led display and preferably in black.

 

I have a mint M17x R2 I’m ready to part with.

 

Great. Where abouts are you located? Email me [email protected]

 

@Maxware79 May be able to help you out.

 

I’ve got a red one. It’s in pretty good condition but it does have a ding on one back corner. Working OEM battery. Specs are in my signature. I’ve also got a silver R1 chassis and I was thinking about switching the parts over to that one but I’ve got it on eBay here in Australia as is for $700AUD

http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/705-5...29515&kwid=902099&mtid=824&kw=lg&toolid=11111



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Thanks but I'm looking one that's in mint condition and not in red

 

No problem. The silver R1 chassis looks to be in perfect condition. I did think about swapping everything over to it but I preferred the red.


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Anyone know if there is a newer, BETTER, Radeon driver for the Crossfire OEM setup? Mine keeps crashing Windows 10, but when I uninstall and use a generic display driver, everything is fine.....until Windows Update automatically runs and downloads the driver, installs it, and boom, crashing again.

 

17.3.3 is the only driver that works.

 

Omg, thanks so much. Good to know!! How to I stop Windows 10 from installing anything other than 17.3.3 Automatically via Windows Update?

 

I know this will be a controversial topic, but I'm about to put down on an M17 R4 soon!!!

 

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials...s-update-updating-specific-device-driver.html

 

I saw this but the strange thing is that yesterday when I booted up the Alienware M17x-R2 and deleted the driver, I plugged in the ethernet cord and saw that Windows 10 was updating the display driver, but the craziest thing was that it didn't crash the laptop. I was able to continue using it. I restarted the laptop just to make sure and I saw that it still would boot up without crashing so who knows wtf is going on there. I played Command and Conquer Tiberium Wars for a few hours successfully and just rebooted again in disbelief, but I guess it's working for now. Meanwhile, I'm looking to buy one 7870m to replace the crossfire 58050's that I have in there now.

 

Hi. all. I need help. yesterday I installed a firepro M6100 card detected as AMD Radeon HD 8950 in my m17x r2. After connecting, everything worked until I started youtube. After playing any movie, be it youtube or in the system player, the screen freezes and I can't do anything. only a computer reset helps. I tried with different drivers ... the newest ones, the 17.3.3, and those that the system installs itself and nothing helps. anyone know how to fix it?

 

Some R2s have odd issues with this card as I got two such examples one where GCN cards refuse to boot and the other that games without issue other than being hot however will crash while playing videos with vlc. The only difference with the one that refuses to boot has an edp port along with the normal lvds. If all else fails consider a Clevo 8970m (expensive as ****) as it has working fan control and is a realiable GCN card for this machine or a Quadro K5000m (Dell version) as it is well behaved though expensive in its own right.

 

hello friends, i have a m17x r2 with a gtx660m i would like to know if it is possible to control her fan

 

On the r2 model you can use hwinfo to control the fans manually and or set your own preferred fan curve. You can download it here: https://www.hwinfo.com/

 

thank you very much in brazil it's dawn, as soon as i wake up in the morning i will test, another doubt, what better GPU for my notebook?

 

As for the R2 models I am not familiar with the best gpu you can upgrade to. I know with the R1 the best is crossfire 5870s. I think your r2 can run the amd 8970m series and likely gtx 680m. I have read of others using higher models nvidia gpu's but I don't have personal experience with trying them.

 

One of the guys here had Crossfire 8970M's working in his R2. Probably the best option for the old girl.

 

I

 

I wonder if this gpu would work?

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can using a non-genuine charger make my notebook performance drop? it is not original from dell but it has 260w, i adapted the fitting and it is connecting normally i use a gtx 660m and i7 920xm

 

It could but it's hard to say, you'd have to run some benchmarks. I don't like using aftermarket adapters.

 

I bought an original 240w, but my doubt is if the radeon m390x would work on my notebook

 

try and see

 

are there windows 10 drivers for the m17x R2 with an 8970 GPU that actually work?

Everytime I install drivers, the video becomes a garbled mess. I've tried several different versions all with the same result.

On the generic windows driver, it works ok. The minute any AMD driver is installed, video goes crazy.

Do I HAVE to undervolt the 8970 in order to get the system stable? I'm not exactly comfortable flashing vBios.. could I just upgrade to a modded 330watt PSU?

I'm about to pull the plug on this project.. the PC runs, but I cannot get the graphics working properly.

 

Have you tried default Windows drivers? You may be facing three options - one being you need any kind of older, stable drivers, which is easy, but not too convenient, the other being that your vBIOS is not fully compatible, which would require a flash of something more useful, the third, and from what you're experiencing, seems pretty likely, that the card is toast. We're you able to run it flawlessly in any other machine? If not, my bet would be that there is something wrong with the card...

EDIT: you did try default. Well. I know that some versions were not very happy to work with machines this old, but mostly on CF configurations, I would point towards vBIOS issues.

EDIT 2: then again, Win10 drivers are default/stable, I would still look into card status - if it works fine in any other machine with AMD drivers then it's something else, but if it has similar issues I'd look into that from hardware perspective.

 

New here i have an m17x r2, with I7 940xm, gtx 460m sli, 16gb ram...

I would like to upgrade the gpu but get some conflicting information it like a gtx 780m or better, 880m some say work others dont, so can any one tell me what can go in and what are the steps to get them to work, and what issues they might have?