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

My r4 came w/ 1 HDD, 2 Caddies, and enough screws to go around.

 

It's just screws so I won't bother asking for a replacement :laugh:

Anyone know what size screws these are so I can just buy a few from the local hardware store? I know both my P0 and P1 screwdrivers fit perfectly on the screws underneath the battery and also all over the HDD caddies.

 

I believe they're al the same size, aren't they? just one is longer and others are shorter.

 

Send me a PM, I'll take care of the missing screws

 

Quick question: I heard they recently changed the power bricks for the r4's. Apparently they removed LED indicator on the cord. Is this true?

Also, what should I be looking for when first receiving the m17x? To make sure everything is working properly and is there are any faults and whatnots.

 

Mine has the LED indicator I recently got it so dno where you heard that

Personally I think you should just do your normal tasks, moving stuff around the hard drives, playing some games, browsing the internet. If everything's working fine, 99% chance your system is in perfect condition you could download msi afterburner, CPU-Z and GPU-Z if you wanna check your temperatures and clock speeds etc

As far as I know you'll have to go through some hassle to get the RAM to run at 1866Mhz, if you can even do it. But also as far as I know, you could downclock the RAM and benefit from tighter timings but I'm no expert

 

quick question for r4 owners,
does the fan of the gpu ( right hand side of the laptop ) more powerful than the cpu fan ( left side ) ?

Coz I always hear the fan on the right side louder than the left side, I am not complaining though, I'm just curious.

Even when I stress test the CPU, the fan is not as load as that of the GPU under stress.

is this normal?

 

That's normal, for me, the fans have separate temp tables and the CPU is rarely stressed enough to kick that fan into high (shows your thermal solution is good on the CPU!)

 

That's odd. I'm getting lots of high temps on my CPU. For once, I tried running Prime 95, and my temps rose to 93 degrees Celsius for less than a minute.

Check my thread about my temps

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...u-temps-after-windows-clean-install-help.html

 

Yeah, I'd already seen it. They look pretty normal to me, I don't benchmark anymore but I frequently saw temps up to 84C and the fan was kicking in and out, just rarely full blast.

 

ohhh. okay. since we have almost the same configuration, i'll trust you.

 

lol, have I ever thrown you a curve ball

 

one more thing, did you ever repasted yours? if so, do you recommend a newly bought one to be repasted?

 

There can be new machines that have poor paste jobs. I had a 580m that was pasted by a short-sighted monkey Throttled all the time.

I use a can of compressed air every couple of months or so but that depends on your environment.

I did have to repaste my CPU a couple of weeks ago. I noticed my CPU fan starting when I was just surfing. Problem went away, n I used some paste I had lying around from Dell. Nothing special

 

Just in case I dont have a 380 bluetooth module install, anyone willing to sell theirs for a fair price? I got the stock wireless card and hoping to upgrade later. But i doubt it will come with a separate module pre-installed. I'm just hoping it would though.

 

The bluetooth card is built into the motherboard so you should to go even if you swap wireless cards.

 

Not from what I read apparently, but I'll find out when the lappy comes this week. Isn't the 380 bluetooth module separate from the motherboard? Is so then, why would Dell have the module installed if the stock card has bluetooth also? Makes no sense to me.

 

you learn something new everyday I didn't know our MBs come with BT built in..... i finally got official use out of it last week when someone gave me a pair for Beats wireless headphones for my belated b-day present.

 

Id check the manual and the bluetooth is not directly built into the motherboard. There's a separate card and there are steps shown in the manual on how to remove the card. Guess it isn't likely the my m17x will be coming with a bluetooth module then considering I got the stock wireless card thats already bluetooth capable.

 

I think it might depend on what WiFi card your configuration has. There is an internal USB port on the mobo to power a discreet Bluetooth module. The Dell 375 and 380 Bluetooth modules are not part of the motherboard. However, some of the newer Intel and Killer WiFi cards (the cheaper and slower ones that are not 3x3 MIMO) have Bluetooth integrated and the third antenna wire is used for Bluetooth instead of 3x3 MIMO if I am not mistaken.

 

Anyone willing to sell their 380 bluetooth modules then? or would I be just better off with an Intel Wireless 6235 card with 2 antennas and bluetooth. If i had known the bluetooth module would be separate for certain cards configs I would have went with an Intel Wireless 6300. But alas, I went with the stock card.

 

Hy guys!

Today i update Bios from A05 to A09. Pc has 1 month and it have totaly clean both fans. For this reason i dont know why the fan of the CPU run faster before the update. Any suggestion and help??? And i seen that CPU temperature increases around 5degrees after update.

Tnx! Greetings,

Miha

 

it does for sure. I swapped my stock intel card for the killer card and didn't lose bluetooth. The killercard doesn't have bluetooth built in either so it must be built into the mother board. The r4 just has a different, newer module than the r3 if I remember correctly.

 

I hope you're right, I really do. I heard Dell sells the 380's for like 40 - 50 USD and frankly its not worth it. Especially when it's only it few dollars more for the Intel Wireless 6250 plus the module from the stock wireless card.

Turns out my m17x does NOT come with the bluetooth module. Not surprising I suppose. Anyone willing to sell theirs then?

 

I was beginning to think that was the case after reading threads on the same subject. They may have left the BT module in R3's ordered without a killler card but some R4 owners that purchased the dell wireless and have upgraded to killer and loose their bluetooth.

It (380) has to be plugged somewhere on the MB as there are a LOT of differing, country specific regulations regarding RF devices. France for example has (or did a couple of years ago) very strict regulations on the use of bluetooth and it's capabilities.

 

oh thats lame. It didn't used to be that way. Sorry for the misinformation.

 

Maybe it was a resolution to possible complaints of the fans being too loud? That is the case with L702x's. If you're unhappy, have you attempted reflashing the older Bios for your system?

 

Hello! No, i wil wait some days and then we will see. Is possible to flash bios back and with what?

 

FYI, I don't believe you can go back after A09. I've seen a couple of people brick their machines unrecoverable trying this with a blind flash

 

new drivers for Nvidia peeps
Articles : GeForce 310.70 WHQL Drivers: An Essential Upgrade For All GeForce GTX Gamers | GeForce

Also, is it important to use the driver sweeper software on updating drivers?

 

I always thought to do this to be on the safe side but the last 3 releases I just selected upgrade and it worked fine. No need to go back and put in my settings YMMV...

 

anyone experience with creating a hidden recovery partition ?
i want to make a recovery partition on my 500gb hdd so its possible to recover my 128 ssd
windows 8
so i want to press a button while booting so i can select to recover

 

Maybe try the latest AWRespawn? On win 7 it detected no recovery partition and created one - and it was compatible with win7 boot menu when I tried it out . Edit, just noticed you want it on a different drive - oops

 

For a clean install, yes. This way you eliminate the chances of bugs/issues you've had earlier resurfacing, assuming they were fixed in the newer drivers you're installing.

 

I dno if it's just me, but I am absolutely loving the looks of these drivers Nvidia keeps pushing out! damn still gotta send my R4 to repair but can't wait for it to come back and go hardcore on BO2, AC3, FC3

 

quick question, I am uncertain about wireless card upgrades etc. once you have your AW r4 can the wireless card be upgraded, such as the intel standard to the killer?

 

yes.

saw lots of post about that topic here in NBR forums.

 

Yikes! I thought the brick only referred to the Alienware's AlienFX Firmware! My bad, I guess you shouldn't flash back then on these machines

On these machines, you can upgrade EVERYTHING last I checked, except chipset maybe?

 

Thanks, do you know where I could purchase the killer card? :/

 

I found one HERE

This one has 3 antennas, but just to warn you: upgrading from stock Intel Wireless 2230 card, you will most likely lose bluetooth capablities. From 6250, you'll be fine.

On a different topic: Was anyone able to stream audio from their phones to their m17x via bluetooth? Im using the stock Intel 2230 w/ bluetooth. On Windows 7 it works fine, I was able to steam music no problem. On Windows 8 however, I cant find the option to stream audio. I only see "send file" or "Synchronize PIM data" or whatever.

 

It worked when I tested it on mine. A little flaky but I got a small media player open as soon as I connected. iPhone and dell 380 bluetooth though...

 

Sorry I forgot to ask. Edited my last post.


Do you have WIndows 7 or Windows 8? Works fine on windows 7 for me? 8 is another story.

 

Ahh, NP, I was a little quick
Win 7 I'm afraid so no help there

 

Anyone know if the laptop supports usb charge while it is off, sleep, or in hibernate? And if there is a keyboard wake feature?

 

1) yes yuo can use the powershare feature, you need to enable it in the bios, the esata/usb will be pwoered even if the laptop switches off or goes to sleep.

Not sure about the keyboard wake.

 

The combo USB/Esata port can be set to power devices when the machine is off. It's in the bios. Dunno about the keyboard...

 

*yawn* what's that? Oh 32GB now... heheheh. Spend cash like there's NO TOMORROW! 2 more days until end of the world!!!

 

I thought the esata port did that but mine doesn't I've set it from the bios but it won't keep my mouse on when I turn the laptop off. Strange

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

Just had a thought on this. I remember reading that win8 does not come with a media player and you need to get it after installing???

 

Does anyone know if the keyboard design has changed for the new R4 systems? I just took delivery of one and the keyboard feels really flimsy, most reviews I have watched have always credited the keyboard. I tried an R3 once and that keyboard felt great. it has a windows 8 key as opposed to a windows 7 key which was the obvious thing I noticed but im not sure if the design has changed along with this.