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

Alright I'll give it a shot and hope for the best.

Hmm I'm not seeing the video drivers for the 7970m on the dell drivers page.

 

I'm guessing this one: Driver Details | Dell UK

 

Yeah I'm still having issues. I made sure all of the catalyst software was gone before I installed. But it didn't fix the issue.

 

Hopefully someone else will come up with an idea. At this point, you can end up trying all sorts of things . Check out the hardware using F12 at boot just to be sure there is nothing there and then, if all ok, it might be that the best thing is to roll windows back to factory - and I hate that piece of advice

Fingers crossed we find some better advice here

 

Thanks. I really appreciate the help. Hopefully I can get this figured out soon.

 

Never heard of that issue. I'd try a fresh install if you happen to have a spare drive to test on.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-17-m17x/734228-dell-alienware-m17xr4-bios-a13.html

Any takers upgrade to this latest A13 BIOS on the R4 yet!?

 

Doesn't look like they really added all that much. So not a huge upgrade.

 

greetings

i struggling with constant bsod issues (116 tdp timeout) on my r3 with 580m(win 7 x64) and thinking about 675mx upgrade. i find some threads about this topic, but mostly speculations. could your please direct me to detailed guide(if it exists), or at least help with answers:

1) what it will require - custom bios, new heating/racks etc? tdp looks like the same. mxm 2.0 in r3 should be compatible with 3.0 in 675mx?
2) any known issues? (like for example unavailability of onboard sound with 780m, or integrated video with 680m).
3) is it possible to use 675mx from msi gt70 for quick test (without buying new heatsink and frying card/laptop )?

thanks in advance!

 

HI, I can give you some pointers

The original heatsink may have small diferences but many people just use the existing. There won't be a 675mx specific one anyway. The important bit is to get the x-bracket with the card. The post heights set the core clearance. As for the pad layout, I'd look at what it contacts now and make sure the same components get to the HS. MXM compatibility should not be an issue but I will stand to be corrected there.

As it's not a Dell listed card you need an unlocked BIOS to disable the on-board GPU - you loose optimus and battery time. You also need a modified driver, again because the card is not a listed part. I get them from here : LaptopVideo2Go: Drivers

Good luck

I'm sure the MSi one will work just fine, you won't get one with a dell vbios anyway

 

Found a pretty good deal on a 780m and am really tempted to pull the trigger. Choices choices choices.

 

Doo it. doo it, doo it, ha ha...

 

and nevermind. Only ships to canada. back to desktop parts it is.

 

Oh well, how's that coming along bro?

 

Got it all laid out, waiting to see how the 290/290x performs before I choose a gpu.

 

well, thank you for quick answer. but i am very disappointed by unavailability of integrated gpu (its not critical for me, but still i am not happy). any workaround? why its hardcoded in bios in the first place?

x-bracket its the thing below card? t think i could use the one from gt70, if height is same.

 

You can swap back and forth between the two using the bios toggle (igpu and PEG) with an unlocked bios. Switching cards within the OS isn't supported that I know of though on the M17x other than the cards that the machine officially supports.

 

As per Bigtonyman says. I don't see the reasoning behind why it has to be in the BIOS but for auto-switching it does, and dell only put the card models they offer in there. It's the same for 3D. I can only go to a 680m and retain 3D

Yes the bracket on the opposite side to the heatsink. The one that is currently on the gt70 card should be perfect.

 

So I was thinking in my head about the hdmi input on my m17x and how I love using it for fixing other peoples desktops.

But, I got to thinking.... I want to plug the hdmi output from the m17x into the hdmi input on the m17x That way I can send the signal from my computer monitor to my computer monitor.

Disclaimer: yes I know this will just show the picture thats on my screen, but by using the hdmi in. I just think its funny.

 

Only reason I bought my r3!!




Jk

 

Yeah so I think I finally got what ever was wrong with my laptop fixed. I just had to do a clean install of Windows. But so far so good

 

Glad that seemed to have fixed your issues. Now go frag some noobs!!!

 

I'm getting around 40-50 fps in crowded areas like ogrimmar in WOW with my gtx680m, i7 3630qm m17xr4 laptop with ultra settings. Is this normal? Not so crowded areas, I sometimes go over 120 fps, but it disappoints me in crowded areas.

Is this normal for my pc configuration?
Also, How can I control the speed of my fans with a program? Is there such a program ?
Lastly, my mainboard will be changed with a new one, should I make a clean windows Installation? Or should I just go on with my current setup since it will be the same mainboard.

 

Hi there

I can't say about 'normal' 680m FPS but does the drop affect the gameplay or smoothness during the drop? For me I can only actually notice FPS drops when they fall below 35-40FPS.

You can use HWInfo to setup fan tables at specific temps but it's not obvious and you can mess up with the fans not working at all until turning it off (well, I did!). Do some research here and you'll find all the details of how to set it up.

And as far as a MB swapout goes, no need to do anything with Windows , just make sure it's running the latest BIOS (which the tech should check anyway).

HTH

 

Check your temps, it could be your 680m is throttling, but more than likely its normal as the more crowded it gets the more work the graphics card has to do to render everyone.

 

Doesn't the CPU do most of the rendering?

I have a feeling that his CPU may be the limiting factor, especially since the 680M should be more than capable for handling anything in WoW.

 

Could be.... Though I haven't seen my 2630qm even bog down in any game minus some unoptimized games like Planetside 2. And the 3610 is quite a bit more powerful than my sandy bridge processor.

 

wow supports 3 cores. but most of the game engine still runs only on one core. fps drops in crowded areas happen even on stronger machines.

Sent from my HUAWEI Y300-0100 using Tapatalk 4

 

Sounds like you've answered your own question then, especially if you know that your 680M isn't throttling due to heat or power constraints, like bigtony suggested you check.

 

I think someone else was the one that asked the question .

 

Haha, you're right, my mistake! Oh well, I guess the original person who asked the question has got a few different answers now at any rate.

 

RAID OROM still v11.6.0.1702 -2013 - RST v12.8.0.1016 CPU usage reduced to 0% fix / Performance option - link power management -Disabled, ME driver v9.5.13.1706...improved system responsiveness.

Win 8.1 support (WB64A) Product support for Alienware M17x R4

 

are there any incentives enough to update from an unlocked bios to a13? running a11 unlocked

 

So instead of getting my new Alienware 17, I canceled the order to facilitate funds for an AR15 build I am going to be doing soon instead.

So. I am stuck with my M17x R3!!!

I haven't upgraded a single thing on here besides the RAM from 4 to 16GB, and added an old notebook HDD(only 150GB) for some extra space.

I think the GPU unit may be crapping out on me(one of the reasons why I was upgrading) and will need to get a new one. It is the 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon HD 6970M. Hasn't been touched. No repaste... no nothing. lol

I was wondering if I could upgrade it to the newer cards like the NVIDIA GTX 770M(since the GTX 780M is double if not triple the price) and not have to upgrade anything else...?

Also I am on InsydeH2O V 1.0 A12.

Thanks in advance.

 

I think it's supposed to be possible to upgrade the GPU to a 770M, although I saw one post somewhere where some user was having problems getting sound to work after installing a 770M (but that might have been an M15x, can't quite remember). I've got the 670MX, essentially the same chip if you flash a modified vBIOS to it to allow some extreme overclocking! You end up losing your IGP, and you've got the AMD heatsink, so not sure if that's compatible with the 670MX. If it is compatible with you heatsink you will need to move around the thermal pads on the heatsink to fit the 670MX. Also, you may need a new X-bracket, one that is specific to the 670MX, that has the posts at the right height, which will allow you to screw down the heatsink to the right pressure onto the GPU chip. I was able to re-use my 560M heatsink & X-bracket to good effect, not sure how that will stack up with your 6970M heatsink. You'd want to update your BIOS to A12 unlocked BIOS, and you'd have to use a modified inf file to install all drivers to your GPU in future.

EDIT: Ah yes, here's where I saw the guy with the problem with 770M:
http://forum.techinferno.com/genera...x-gtx-770m-whitescreen-problem.html#post69237

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...ding-nvidia-gtx-770m-alienware-m17x-r3-2.html

 

Is there a place to download the latest driver for my GPU???

I am trying to download it directly from AMD and it doesn't let me download anything but the beta driver...

 

So, from reading that it seems that HD sound needs to be disabled in the BIOS in order for 7xx series cards to work on the M17xR3. Does that mean you don't get any sound, or just worse quality sound?

Sounds to me like a 670MX is a better choice than a 770M if that's the case, no such problems with the 670MX.

EDIT: I've seen in that thread that user 'reborn' had the same problems with the 770M, but not with the 780M, so it doesn't look like an issue across all 7xx, just the 770M so far it seems.

 

install the dell stock drivers and then install the latest AMD beta drivers. Works like a charm for me.

 

Under win7 I don't see the advantage RST v12.8.0.1016 (cpu usage fix) needs .NET 4.5 installed, you could wait for svl7 to release the unlocked version.

It could be but he wasn't able to repeat previous working settings and rule out "gpu Id mismatch, different card" or audio etc...

 

Was thinking about this again on my drive into work this morning... 5am is too early, but I could multi monitor the m17x with a single monitor
hdmi into itself, then fn+f8 pulls up the second monitor.

Dual screen single screen laptop!

 

My lappy always had a GPU driver install problem.. everytime I would have to install something, I would have to boot into safe mode, and then wipe all ATI related files off.

NOW!

I have a HUGE MAJOR PROBLEM!

I accidentally checked a wrong setting I think when in BIOS and now my laptop turns on, lights up and everything.. but does absolutely NOTHING.

Definitely bricked my laptop.. lol

Don't know what to do now.

Any help would be so amazingly appreciated!

 

Removing the CMOS battery and then holding the power button down for around 20 seconds should clear any settings and return it to default. The CMOS battery is the coin cell you can see when the battery and lower cover is removed.

 

I have tried that at least 10 times now.. lol

Do I leave the laptop unplugged and without the main battery while holding the power button?

 

Yes. Then reassemble and give it a try.

After that there is another method called a 'blind Flash'. Search it out here, it's not easy though

 

Yup as well as the CMOS coin looking battery on the mobo itself. If that doesn't work you could try a blind flash.

Edit: Brother Micky beat me to the punch.

Edit 2: Here is the blind flash thread just in case you need to make use of it. BIOS Recovery in case you brick your M17x R3

 

It was seriosuly bricked in a sense... not sure what happened but yeah...

Super frustrated so I did something I had never done... I removed the GPU... super easy.. lol booted up right away... then I uninstalled the Intel 3000 driver... rebooted, let the Intel 3000 auto update on its own. shut down. Then I re-installed the Radeon card... and it WORKED! Let it boot up... did its own update(the 2011 version) and then rebooted. Working now... gonna try it all again though... lol

I am gonna update at ATI card for sure right after this post.

Ohh and my screen isn't bright like it used to be, maybe a reboot will help, just putting it out there.. it's super dim.

 

Good work! My next suggestion would have been to try removing parts, starting with the GPU

It could have been as simple as a poor connection giving up and reseating fixed it. It's not possible for drivers to cause it to fail to boot, they are not loaded until the end of the windows load.

I have seen others reporting a dimmer screen and I believe it IS driver related, but ATI is not my thing. I'm guessing that you could be running on the ATI and not the iGPU as you should be in windows, dunno, sorry . Does the on-screen-display work when you use the hot-key combo to raise/lower the brightness?

I'd try to use the dell published drivers for both first, then let windows update if it wants to.

Did you have any luck?

 

Everything is working 99%!!!(I am sure SOMETHING isn't running completely right... haha margin for error)

Screen was definitely dim from the old driver for ATI... updated it to a newer one, not the latest(would get a driver major malfunction error) But I got it fixed!

Ran Diablo 3 much more smoother than before, can actually run everything at max settings now. It's just the initial joining of an existing online game that is SUPER laggy for me for several minutes, then it levels out and is smooth till I am done.

One thing I also noticed, was that when I would run GPU-Z, my fan would only go up to 30% power(and for all I know, that has been its max setting since I got the machine, my laptop would run SUPER hot sometimes!) but I installed MSI afterburner and manually set the fan speed to 100% and it was sooooo much cooler then before even after the 3 hours of game play.. lol I feel like Dell sets it up almost for their laptops to fail... wouldn't surprise me.

 

Maybe what you noticed with the low fan speed is an AMD 'issue'. For my NVidia card the GPU fan kicks up to maximum RPM at 65 degC GPU temperature - so Dell certainly didn't sabotage the NVidia M17xR3 systems in terms of fan speed control. (Would be surprised if they have on the AMD versions too!)