*OFFICIAL* Alienware M17x R3/R4 Owner's Lounge Thread

I believe all DVD players for laptops/pc's are region-free, correct me if i'm wrong

Are all DVD players on laptops / PC's region free? - Hot UK Deals

That was just a second or two of googling to further verify myself as I've never run into region problems.

He's answered your question, but I'd just like to further add that as long as nothing is damaged (make sure you don't damage anything in the process), warranty will not be voided.

I think it's not only on the AW laptops but Dell laptops in general. From my perspective, all Dell laptops dont have those void warranty stickers .

I've also had ot rip out thos evoid warranty stickers off of my cousin's MSi laptop to clean some fans and fins +repaste after a year. I dont know why they do this..... I think it's even more ridiculous that you're not allowed to change your hdd's without killing warranty on that stupid razer laptop.

 

That option was always available but did nothing for hdmi. Under playback devices and choose hmdi device and right click to configure speakers. then you should see 7.1, 5.1x2, 2.1 etc. thats only with enduro engaged. With enduro turned off you will only get the 2.1 option.
I have no idea why but I'm happy I can get 7.1 out now.

 

Cool.

Since HDMI sound is part of the video driver (for HDCP compatibility I believe) it's in the video driver that is the problem. In nvidia's control panel you can see HDMI connected audio devices and a HDMI sound device in device manager. But never mind, you have a solution

 

Ok so the unlocked BIOS has the ability to turn off hyperthreading but I can't seem to find how to flash it anyone help me out?

Edit: never mind I figured it out

Sent From My Rooted E3D

 

Why would you want to turn off hyperthreading??
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S2 running Resurrection Remix

 

Not to be disrespectful, but do you even know what the hyper-threading is? Maybe you should research the term BEFORE you go cutting your system's number of processing threads in half, compa.

 

not that i'm a OC nut or anything, but don't people disable hyperthreading to OC higher? Correct me if i'm wrong... Still new to the OC scene too! (alongside 3d heheh).

 

From what i remember people have issues running some older software with hyperthreading enabled so it probably is some very specific need to disable it as its a very rare request these days.

 

Yeah, I used to do this when benching my desktop a couple of years ago. Makes single thread applications run that little bit faster. With the latest benches this is probably no longer true though.

 

From what I have seen if hyperthreading is disabled it saves battery and reduces temps I don't really need it to be enabled who really need that much power in the first place

Sent From My Rooted E3D

 

People who do Folding @ Home need that kind of power, and much more.

Hyperthreading allows for up to 8 things to be processed simultaneously. This can be very handy in at least a few situations. Converting music formats or compression rates. Either process 4 at the same time, or double that at 8. I'll take the latter.

All of this does bring up the bigger question though...

Why would you buy one of the most powerful laptops on the market with one of the most powerful mobile processors in the world just to cripple it?

 

True but you might find that you actually DO need that power. Many games support milti-processing now. I have seem some whereby editing a config file you can adjust the load balance of different components of the game and what processor and thread they run on

In windows applications it's not common for them to be multi-processor aware so for a business machine it's not always needed.

 

This is off topic from the hyperthreadding discussion, but can anyone with 3d on their alienware system get me a detailed screenshot of their device manager? Reason I asked is because I was given a 3d model, there is the location for my emitter (bottom left corner), the laptop seems to HAVE some form of 3d on the Nvidia display panel, but there are no 3d stereoscopic drivers and whatnot in device manager. I'm just curious as they might have forgotten to connect the cable upon assembly.

Once again, many thanks guys!

 

View attachment 85649

Hi, no off-topic here as long as it relates to an M17x

Nothing in device manager at all, unless the emitter is hidden under something? I do have this in programs. Guess you tried a clean driver install?

 

You have right. But for gaming isn`t any difference with enabled or disabled it. In some results is better to have disable it for gaming.

But for audio and video editing is better to have enabled Hyperthreading.

Bye

 

maybe this is what you are talking about?

 

Good find, I'd had a quick look and missed it

 

Nice, I'm glad i'm not the only one going nuts.... Trying to figure out whether or not I really DO need Nvidia 3d glasses.... Been arguing with myself for the past few days.

Yes, it's EXACTLY what I was talking about. Thank you!!! I found it in my device manager

Now that part 1 is over with, I've been talking with a user from the Dell XPS 17 forums, and he's told me that all IR emitter glasses are the same, and as long as my glasses are IR, then my laptop will work with it. So i've been going back and forth for the past few days testing it here and there, reinstalling drivers and etc... So far it seems legit that everything is working... just the 3d glasses do not sync with the laptop.

For the 3D users, do you guys get a light of some sort tha turns on to tell you the emitter is activated for Nvidia? Thanks again!

 

Nothing on the laptop, only the LED on the glasses (which is not much good to me being colour blind) I wouldn't be so sure that just because they are IR they will sync up but I've never tried other brands so it might be possible.

Does 'alienware 3d vision notebook' show up under the stereoscopic settings? If so then I'd say all you need is NV glasses.

 

there is a led on the glasses just above the power button, it automatically finds the IR emitter(preferably in a 60 degree range on both sides if you look directly on the screen, turn around too much, the connection is lost, the glass turns off)

in your nvidia control panel, it will detect any 3d compatible displays(internal/external)
just select the corresponding display and save the settings. now you are good to go!

just hit CTRL+T to toggle 3d mode


and also if you do not have a native/built in 3d
it might ask you to purchase a licence or a key to use it on external (not sure)
it happened with a lot of R3 users

 

I believe this is in the driver, you get a license if it detects the NV emitter, otherwise NV want you to pay to play.

 

exactly what i was trying to say

 

I also have this issue and also the Sound Blaster Recon3d dissapearing.

I have the HD7970 with AMD driver version 8.973.0.0.
I currently get 3Dmark11 Combined Score 5624.

I only received my M17x R4 a couple of weeks ago so I am on BIOS v08. A couple of the workarounds that I have found with regards to audio issues state BIOS version 05.

Should I try and flash back to v05?

Can someone also please confirm for me that currently with the HD7970 there is no other option to use 5.1 via hdmi other than to keep enduro on? I wanted to disbale (Fn + F7) enduro and just stay on the HD7970 but seems that this isn't an option.

Thanks

ahhh, I think I have answered my own newb question but if someone who knows more can confirm I would appreciate it.

The reason the sound card disappears when I disable the on-board gpy (Fn + F7) is because the soundcard is also integrated. Therefore Fn + F7 turns off all integrated components.

 

Yes it does

I will test it again with the 3D goggles tomorrow.

I figured the 3d was working, maybe it's just that the glasses (Sony glasses) are not compatible..... *sigh* I guess all that is left is I purchase the glasses.

I wanna thank you both for all your help! A lot of wandering questions in my head have finally settled and been answered lol.

 

Was the A08 BIOS release just for Windows 8 more or less ?. I looked at the release note and it says Windows 7/8 but nothing else, which was rather vague ...

I looked for a thread but nothing i could find mentioning it.

I guess this just added the OEM ticket to the BIOS for Windows 8 installs as it mentions nothing else.

 

Could someone please mirror the A08 BIOS ? I seem to be unable to download it from Dell !

 

The Bios A08 is now officially released
ftp://ftp.dell.com/FOLDER00790406M/1/M17R4A08WIN.exe

 

Still no idea on what it changes? I'm guessing you run this from a USB stick boot disk or the like?

 

Just installed it. It adds the option to overclock CPU and various boot option like UEFI boot and kinda thing...

 

You usually just run it from your desktop, it'll reboot and install within the Bios, then reboot back to windows.

I thought our Bios's (or at least mine's does) comes with CPU OC & UEFI boot.

 

Maybe on the lower spec CPU's it gives something. I see no difference but I don't spend much time in there lately so I could easily miss something!

One immediate difference I see is the bios POST screen. My R4 has always been dim at that point, so much so compared to the R3 that I thought it was faulty. Dell replaced and it was slightly better but I just assumed that the different panel (or lightboost) was something to do with it. As soon as the bios install restarted I had a bright bios screen

On the down side my machine no longer spins up the fans when booting. They are working just fine so it seems all I have lost is that 'blow the dust out' at startup

 

No difference in CPU OC options for the i7-3820QM from A05 -> A08 BIOS. What is this "Windows 8 Fast Boot" all about? Anyone have a clue?

 

Quick trawl -'Systems that are built using Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) are more likely to achieve very fast pre-boot times when compared to those with traditional BIOS.' Maybe?

Delivering fast boot times in Windows 8 - Building Windows 8 - Site Home - MSDN Blogs

 

What are you guys on about? ) I'm lost!

 

Sorry, it drifted into what the r4 bios (A08) gives...

 

Interesting read. +rep!

 

Thanks! Everything you need to know and a whole bunch more

Finally found a reason to look at win 8 a little closer

 

No doubt, the booting is noticeably faster than Windows 7!

 

Very nice concept. It will be interesting to see how much a boot speed boost high end systems like Alienware, Clevo, Asus, etc. show once UEFI becomes fully integrated.

PS: Still hate Windows 8...metro and I just don't get along.

 

Wow they shorten the release cycle. I just discovered Bios Version 09 on Dell's website.

 

The A09 BIOS description is even less vague then A08 .

I am on A05 and will probably stay there unless told otherwise but it is always nice to know exactly what the BIOS is fixing/breaking/adding.

 

These posts were several pages back but I didn't see a proper response

Just like all DVD or Blu-Ray drives they are region protected. The drives will come stock without any region defined and you will have to set one the first time you use the drive. DVD allows 5 changes and Blu-Ray allows 3.

 

Can someone please post the direct ftp link to the A09 BIOS or mirror it elsewhere? Turns out I'm just NEVER able to download direct from Dell !!

 

Dell keep doing this!! This is the third bios release that stays up for a day or so then disappears for a while. Seems dell like to get a few people running it and then pull it to wait and see if there is any problems.

Check the A05 revision history - two dates but same version

 

Are you able to download it??

 

No, just an error message

 

Hmm, I have never noticed whether or not my laptop spins the fans up really fast or not heh..... Either way I still do a monthly cleaning (even though not necessary).

what do you mean no difference in CPU OC options. Are we not allowed to up the multiplier or OC via Bios? I've been curious, but I haven't touched it as I dont need any extra power or anything.

hehe.... I gotta give Microsoft one thing, they did a damn good job on boot-times for Windows 8, I will be purchasing licenses for my whole family really soon, as all the complaints I get (I'm the comp tech of the whole family) are how slow the computer takes to start.

Most definitely! No need for UEFI or anything special, even on the old old laptops like my XPS m1330 w/ a 7500rpm drive, the boot times are faster than win 7 on an SSD!

I Agree with the metro part, but I believe you can disable metro if you dont like it, correct me if i'm wrong here anyone .

o0o, I've always thought laptops and desktop dvd drives were region free..... I dont watch DVDs much so please forgive me

https://rapidshare.com/files/4066814794/M17R4A09WIN64.exe

There's the upload for the A09 guys, I don't think Dell is pulling it back, it took me two tries alone to get to the download page.... Dell has been glitchy lately, I actually believe a couple sites have been glitchy lately..... (Toshiba, Lenovo, even HP). Maybe it's just my net or something???

On another note, I super duper HATE Lenovo's website for drivers, you guys should check it out when you have time.... They give you the world's longest list of OS's to choose from when picking drivers out. What REALLY ticks me off is the fact that some of them dont even have ANY drivers, like Windows Server 2008. *sigh*


I FORGOT TO POST, I havent had a chance to try out 3d, but I hooked up the Xbox 360 at work today via HDMI in, played COD:BO Nazi Zombies on it.... I gotta tell you guys, the SCREEN IS SUPER CRISP!! Unbelievably crisp, I absolutely LOVE it! I wish I opted for a M18x for even more goodiness! LOL.... The detail is soo clear even coming down from a 55in screen, we still managed to get to lvl 26-27 with 3 players (before we quit because it was getting late).

 

http://downloads-us.dell.com/FOLDER00931122M/1/M17R4A09WIN64.exe

Is the above link working for you!?

 

Well i installed A09 just for the heck of it and the only thing i have noticed is the progress bar under the Alienhead changed.

Nothing good nor bad to report with usual gaming/testing etc.

 

No worries. I use AnyDVD personally so I don't think I ever set a region on my drive. AnyDVD takes care of it all software side for me.