Received my r3!! Praise + Doubts/Problems..

I received my r3 yesterday.. Surprisingly it came with WD scoprio Black 750gb.. Very impressed.. I was expecting seagate..

The screen is quite good too.. My model no is LGD02C5.. I heard the AUD ones were better. Anyone care to enlighten me? I am quite satisfied with the screen though.
Before this laptop Dell had sent me a lappy with 460m by mistake. I used that and am now using this one with 580m. The screen is definitely a lot better and there is less keyboard flex too..

The laptop is quite silent too..

3D is AMAZING.

I have installed a crucial m4 256gb on port 1.. Works like a charm.. Superfast. I downloaded drivers from the dell site and used the drive order that batboy gave in his thread about how to clean install.

My questions/problems are--

1. I received a weird small antenna kind of thing with the laptop and I have no idea what it is. I will attach pics. Please tell me what it is and its use..

2. Which video drivers to use?? I had first installed the video driver available on dell site.. Then I installed the one on nvidia whql 285.62... Which one is better??

3. Any way to turn off the alienhead behind the screen as wll as above the laptop?

4. How do I check my BIOS and vBIOS? There is a BIOS and vBIOS download option on dell site. Should i download them and install them?

5. Now when I am trying to access dell site to get the drivers.. it says no drivers found for m17x r3..
And when I follow the links to dell drivers&downloads provided in different threads then only half the dell page opens.. What is going on?
Ok the last one is freaking me out.. Why can't I all of a sudden access drivers and downloads??


ImageShack Album - 6 images

 

I also got my m17xr3 and can´t access the driver download section at the dell site. not sure what´s going on! did it use to work for you?

I´m having some trouble with the power brick, it sometimes just loses power. I use my machine without battery to increase its lifespan, so this has the effect of completely shutting off the machine, as if you pulled the cable from the wall.

Could you please try running your machine without a battery in it, and confirm it works ok? Mind you, this only happens like every 6 or 7 hours, or sometimes after the screen powers down due to inactivity.

I´ve opened a thread here, where you can read more details if you like.

 

well It seems the whole driver site for dell is down atm undergoing maintenance. what driver you looking for?

 

1.: I think it is for connecting an optical cable to your laptop.

2.: latest drivers the dell drivers are outdated

3.: You cant turn off the alienhead on top of the laptop (the white light) dont know what you mean by: behind the screen and above arent they the same? XD

there are 2 versions:

there is a dedicated LED for the alienhead. (light stays on even when the screen is off)

or the alienhead gets its light from the backlit screen (light turns off when screen is off)

you can test this by going to control panel: what closing the lid does. Make sure you select do nothing. Close the lid, screen goes off: alienhead on or off?

if you have the dedicated led you can turn it off by disconnecting the power cable behind the screen: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/587741-m17x-r3-screen-disassembly-guide.html


4: There is no need to update the (v)BIOS if you dont have problems with your system


5. maintenance?

 

@angel:: i have the same issue!! Right now talking to dell rep to replace my power brick..

In my case the brick would start working after cooling..

ok.. finished talking to the technical support. The person said the same thing. That sometimes due to overheating it will stop working but after cooling down it will work again..

About the drivers, he said that with 24 hours they should be available.


@bigtonyman- not looking for any driver as such.. grabbed them yesterday from dell.. more worried about which driver to use? dell one or the one on nvidia site?

 

About that weird antenna thing, does anyone have any other ideas?

And i want to update vBIOS and BIOS to boost performance. I dont have any trouble right now. So how do I check my current BIOS and vBIOS and should i update or not?

 

how long does yours take to cool down?

what happens with mine is, it will shut down power for like 1 second then come on back again.
so I don´t think it´s a cooling problem with mine.

does yours behave in some other way?

i´ve never heard of AC adapters overheating anyway...

trying to figure out if this is a common occurance or if something is faulty within my setup, so I can get it replaced or whatever.

regards.

 

mine goes out for about 5mins..

 

It's an adapter to connect a coax cable to the S/PDIF for a surround sound setup.

 

I see.
seems pretty weird to me that a power adaptor behaves like this.

maybe someone more experienced can suggest what to do?

mine only goes off for a second but is enough to shut the computer down since I´m running it without a physical battery in it.

 

@serephucus- thanks a lot!

New problem- 3D stops working again and again. Will work once or twice then stop. Have to reinstall driver.. What to do?

 

Anyone????

 

My 3D drivers are really flakey and have to be re-installed when I plug in an external monitor.

 

You can use Speccy to check your BIOS and VBIOS or just right click on the desktop, start Nvidia Control Panel, and on the lower left hand corner click on system information to find your vbios. To find your Bios just type system information on the start button and your Bios version should be on the first page.....or just download Speccy.

 

My nvidia vBIOS is 70.24.2B.00.06

My BIOS version is Alienware A08.

Are they the latest?

 

A08 is the latest. I don't have Nvidia info. Too bad Dell's drivers site is still not working right 48 hours later. geeezz

 

A08 Is the most recent, and the most recent version of the vBIOS is 70.06.3b.00.08 You will have to wait for Dell to update their driver page to get the latest vBIOS because it's down right now.

 

I don't see the point in updating the vBIOS, it is time consuming and potentially dangerous (when not done correctly). If it isn't broken don't fix it.

Instead enjoy your AW.

 

@Toledano- Where else can I get the vBIOS??

 

I don't know where else. I would just wait for Dell to finish up their website. Shouldn't be too long, patience is a virtue.

 

Hehe.. Ok I will wait..

 

@Toledano-

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...idia-geforce-460m-580m-560m-see-post-1-a.html

According to this 70.06.3b.00.08 is the latest vBIOS for 460m and 70.24.2B.00.06 is the latest vBIOS for 580m.. So I gues I have the latest version..

What do you think??

 

O, my bad, I didn't see that you had the 580m. Yeah, you are good.