Windows 10 and nVidia 980M GTX upgrades for Alienware (M17X-R4, without Optimus: Working Great!)

I followed this thread to the letter .. did some suggested things with no luck

 

What steps exactly? Did you read your current EDID and save it to compare with original one?

 

Hey there Ido, welcome to NBR thanks for coming to the thread. Your the first guy I've had that I know of that got the issue, or seems to maybe have the issue with the panel, that many fear.
I don't know how to fix it personally, but I know a few people here, on these forums CAN help you.

 

Could you possibly try an external monitor via VGA or HDMI cable please, not DP though .

 

do you have an older videocard to try as well ? 600 series would be best.

 

Just to chime in, only these parts need thermal pad, all others don't need thermal pad.

The inductor (grey) and capacitor (rectangle) can be left without cooling and they run fine. These components don't have anything inside them beside a copper coil, and can survive high temps without problem. So don't hav a headache trying to buy the right thermal pad, just mind the VRM and memory chips.

 

BTW Does anyone know if upper case of VRM is conductive or not? My heatsink (NOT Alienware, sorry for little offtop here) isn't providing even a half of VRMs area so I think perhaps put copper shim on those. Of course first I put some non-conductive thermal pste between shim and VRMs surface anyways but still, is it safe if it doesn't move?

Or is it better just put thermal pads on it and then copper shim (which kinda is better than nothing but still way worse than it should)?

 

No.

 

exactly, just making contact is good enough with whatever OEM thermal pads you have. The RAM however - makes a difference - make sure you have a good contact, these CAN burn out when under enough stress long enough. Just like the GPU Die.

 

This has been my biggest headache with padding the 980M. Thanks!

Sent from my overpriced Galaxy S6 Edge +

 

The parts in Yellow DO NEED to be cooled. Even if the thermal pad is not making 100% the best contact to the heatsink, make sure the components make contact with the thermal pads at the least.
They have a tendency to slowly die out over a year or two if not cooled properly. Many repair guys out there really just repairs those small components, sometimes the a RAM module here and there.
Very rarely the GPU (except in cases of AMD for some reason)

But yeah the mosfets need cooling more so then the chokes usually. But I recommend making sure everything is even. Take strips of paper and test between the component and heatsink, to see if its making contact. 90% of you guys wouldn't believe your eyes and find poor contact. Also - never force extra pressure on the component and squish them tightly together for "BEST" contact - thats counter productive too.

 

Hello everyone!
I am having some serious issues getting a 970M to work on a M18X R2
I have followed the tutorials but have come to a bit of an issue with windows 7.
I have installed with the required settings and it seems to install just fine, however it hangs at the windows 7 loading screen, I have gone through quite a few forums about this and came across some suggestions from an Eitenne but i have not got it to boot with the card in place. no matter what i do it will not boot with "True UEFI enabled"
Taking out the card and enabling "Load legacy option ROM" allows it to boot to windows just fine under the intel chip by pressing f12 and choosing windows boot manager(UEFI) option, but turning on "load legacy option rom while the 970 card is in place produces 8beeps and will not boot, gotta pull the card and revert that change, once "load legacy option rom" is disabled it will post with the 970M but halt at windows 7 load screen.

Another side issue is the hard drive bay no longer is detected, i can only install the the MSata SSD chip. i have disconnected the 2.5 SSD (250GB) for now to eliminate the possibility of a failing SSD
I can see this is supposed to work fairly well with windows 10 but i was hoping to get windows 7 running.
Do you have any ideas on getting this 970M to work on windows 7 via UEFI?

The card and everything works fine and boots up great when configured as requested in the original post, this is an Optimus/60HZ style setup.
Boot list option" UEFI -> "Load Legacy Option ROM" Disabled -> "Secure boot" Disabled-> " Windows 8 Fast Boot" Disabled
A11 Bios.

UPDATE: I have got it technically booting into windows similar to how Etienne did, where it still shows the boot screen but you can here the login sound and desktop loads, but the boot screen is still there. I am going to pull the card as it cannot boot in legacy mode(get 8 beeps) and finish out everything else in his post and see what change that makes

Update 2, followed setup from Eitienne51, except obviously without the card in place, it IS booting into windows when i reinsert the card, but it is like it doesn't know how to display properly and is still stuck on boot screen. being that i cannot boot legacy due to 8 beeps i can't install drivers properly, unless i did it completely blind. i am looking into building a registry that i can add why the card is disconnected to automate the driver install when connected... i can remove it from the registry when it works...
Silent installs via batch files... boom

Update3- After doing all that jazz, i found that it didn't install because the system is semi hung on a SVCHOST process that is 100%. I learned of this by loading up a remote access client that has cmd, as well as the ability to view processes and devices and everything. The computed detects it as a standard VGA adapter, so it just needs drivers at this point i think, i cannot visually do anything on the machine. which sucks but i can access the system and it is booting into windows. more to come.

Update 4.... so no drivers load for anything new, tried loading a USB with no luck so even attempting to go this route of forcing it to work is moot... will be trying a few more things

 

So basically i got entirely done with trying to make that work, found they have an unlocked A11 Bios and installed that, modified INF driver and everything is running solid, thanks for the help and for all those that have worked on this over the life of this! all your posts were very helpful

 

Oh hey ! Sorry didn;t see the posts here until now, you guys can always use the -AT- symbol and my name to draw my attention to the thread

 

I am planning to upgrade my Alienware 17 880m from windows 8.1 to windows 10, clean install. But how about the 120hz panel could die if using windows 10 ? Is it only about nvidia drivers or it's better for me to stay on 8.1? In about 2 weeks I'll have to upgrade to 980m too.

 

I think it isn't much brick of screens now, but you never know. But Stay far away from Evga Precision X16. Regardless of what OS you use.

 

Ok thank you. Which nvidia driver version is safe to use on windows 10 so?

 

From 362.00 should be ok. And install latest win Crap X build. Nvidia drivers around Win 10 release shouldn't be used, same as old versions of 10.

 

If we cant use Windows 10 to update, then how to avoid to install nVIDIA drivers from Windows 10?

Im currently on 7970m and thinking to buy 980m.... and upgrade my 17R4

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...xes-index-post-1.779394/page-22#post-10300747
Also see all the tveaks (first page)

 

My drop box had over a 100GB of stuff I deleted, including many of the older drivers I linked or gave people 1 on 1 and so forth, and many if not all from the first page in this thread, though i left the folder for the M17XR4 stuff up.
Just saying incase anyone thinks "omg THE LINKS ARE DEAD!!''

can always make more recent ones. If needed.

 

If I go with a 970m or 980m on an Alienware M17x R4, I assume or still unclear:
1) Will have to use a modified bios since the R4 bios wasn't designed to see a 970m or 989m, which means I would need to go from A13 stock to A11 Modified.
2) Will I officially lose Optimus or the ability to run off of the iGPU when I don't need the 970/980m dGPU power?
3) I prefer to stay in Windows 7 Sp1 64bit, however it appears from what I have read, that I have to go 8.x or 10, that 7 even with a UEFI boot is not a true UEFI and hence will not work with the 970m/980m (will refer to as 9 series in future)
4) Is Eurocomm the only choice for getting the 9 Series along with the vbios?
5) If I will not be playing games like Battlefield X, Call of Duty MW3 and other high end titles, will I really still need 9 series? I don't want to carry around a mechanical keyboard and since I know how fragile laptop keyboards can be, I try to limit games not only by the amount of stress/heat they put on the GPU/CPU but also on the keyboard (I know I can replace it but that just adds to the cost)? After all I have my desktop to play those games on.
6) Beside the GPU 9 Series, I assume I need the x bracket (from original post sounds like I have to modify it to work in the R4), different screws and new thermal pads. However I assume that my ac adapter of 230w that came originally with the R4 is sufficient as is the 100w GPU Heat Sink.
7) No other internal modifications needed
8) What is the difference in battery life with a 9 series vs a 680m/Intel 4400 (optimus or just the 680m)? I have read so many articles, pie charts, linear charts and so on that I feel like there are those who say more life and others who say less battery life (also depends on condition of battery obviously)
9) If I do not plan to upgrade to the 120mhz screen and stay with the stock 60 that came with the R4 (1920x1080), is it still better to go to the 9 series or will the 680m still be sufficient.
10) What if I am working on a very very lean budget of $300-500 max (even reduce the max to maybe $425-$450) and I do not have experience in mod a laptop (understand basic concepts but more trouble applying these to a laptop vs desktop, internal size obviously is an issue)
11) Finally the risk factor. I have seen so many articles that say if you don't know what you are doing don't do it, high chance of bricking the mobo the higher you bios version is currently at (even if you flash the bios down to A12, A11, A10 and then mod or keep going down to another version I think it was A05 then apply A11 mod) and possible damage (but seems to be related only to Win 10) to the screen.

Thanks.

PE: I also forgot to mention that Win10 will no longer after the newest update coming that unsigned WHQL drivers won't be able to be installed or won't be recognized by Win10 (I guess you can call it the Anniversary Patch/Update)

 

1) You need an unlocked bios if you're going to disable the iGPU and enable dGPU.
2) & 3) I'm assuming you have the 60Hz display, so you can use Optimus + Maxwell GPU in Windows 7 but expect a performance hit compared to running dedicated all the time. Not sure how much of a hit though. IF you're going to disable the iGPU you'll need to run pure UEFI Win8 or 10.
4) I got my 980M from @woodzstack definitely recommended.
5) Maxwell, 980M to be exact runs all games high/ultra settings @+60FPS FHD. The R4 build quality is excellent, no need to worry about beating up the keyboard. Also, the cooling system is enough to accommodate a 3940XM + 980M both overclocked.
6) I used the stock 680M x-bracket + smaller screws that came with the card. Direct R&R.
7) No other internal modifications needed. Unless you have a 75W heat sink(2-pipes) or an AMD heat sink in which you'll need to get the proper parts/ modify the heatsink. The 240W PSU will be enough to power an Oc'd 980M + 3xxxQM CPU, in the case of using a 3920/3940XM you'll need the 330W PSU if you plan to do any overclocking.
8) I can't say for sure as I very rarely use the battery.
9) In all honesty I didn't appreciate the 120Hz until i got the 980M, it has enough power to push more than 60 FPS, everything looks smoother.
10) I don't know how much the 970Ms go for, but I'm sure you'll find good deals. Regarding knowledge, plenty of helpful threads and videos so no worries there. Work slowly the first time and you'll get the hang of it.
11) Everything has a risk, but to fully enjoy the R4 or run dedicated you'll need to use an unlocked bios.

Regarding win10 update
"
The new signing policy, however, includes many exceptions and the major ones are:

• PCs upgraded to Windows 10 Build 1607 from a previous version of Windows (for instance Windows 10 version 1511) are not affected by the change.
• PCs without Secure Boot functionality, or Secure Boot off, are not affected either.
• All drivers signed with cross-signing certificates that were issued prior to July 29, 2015, will continue to work.
• Boot drivers won’t be blocked to prevent systems from failing to boot. They will be removed by the Program Compatibility Assistant, however.
• The change affects only Windows 10 Version 1607. All previous versions of Windows are not affected.

"

 

Thanks @Solo wing for the response. I am glad they have provided more clarification on the Win 10 signing. I will need to make sure I make several copies of the version of Win 10 I have (about 3 months old) so I always have a spare in case of failure.

Now I don't plan to overclock, I don't even do it with my desktop setup, even though I have the parts that would support such action (just believe in stretching as much life out a part).

Performance hit? Enough that the 9 series would perform less than the 680m running in Optimus mode (with obviously games of certain types assigned to the dGPU via control panel or nvidia inspet/tweak software?

So whether Win 7,8,10, it is correct then that anything about the AW M17xR4 original parts upgrades/options (i.e. 680m being the highest of Nvidia, so 7,8,9 series) all require a mod bios to work?

For reference, I have the 3720QM. And stand corrected, 240w adapter not 230. Mine is the 100W 3 copper pipe edition (believe the 9 series is around 75 watts TDP)

The risk is being without a laptop for the time it takes either to replace the bios (I would need to re-read the info on whether the bios is a removeable chip on the AW and also get more clarity on the boot from USB Blind Flash possible fix for borked bios).or a replacement mobo in case no fix if bios borked and it could end up being sometime in early 2017 before I could have the laptop back up. A new laptop of course is no go for me at this time and for some time to come.

 

I come recommended ! WOOT!
XD

 

I still have to refer people to this thread twice a day, because they don;t know what they're doing when they install a new card and get 8 beeps, so I'm "bumping" the thread.

 

"7) No other internal modifications needed. Unless you have a 75W heat sink(2-pipes) or an AMD heat sink in which you'll need to get the proper parts/ modify the heatsink. The 240W PSU will be enough to power an Oc'd 980M + 3xxxQM CPU, in the case of using a 3920/3940XM you'll need the 330W PSU if you plan to do any overclocking."

I can attest to this. I have a 3920xm w/ 980m and started overclocking the cpu a few weeks ago. I burnt my 240W PSU out. I wasn't willing to try and do a 330W mod. I'm not sure if this is in any other thread but Eurocom sell a 330W for m17xr4. I'm not sure if this a recent development. http://www.eurocom.com/ec/components(259)ec

 

Can we update the card with each nvidia upgrade?

 

you mean each driver ?

what do you mean ?>

 

When there is a new nvidia driver, can you update with it

 

Apply inf mod then install

 

Just bookmark this thread and use the @j95 mods and you'll be golden. Be sure to follow the instructions explicitly.

https://www.techinferno.com/index.p...ort-modded-inf/&do=findComment&comment=150633

 

Thank you sir!

 

Thanks Mr.Fox.

Yeah - at this point the drivers on the main page are really old. Maybe they're okay for quick testing, but I would get whatever in the 370+ range that works good for current drivers.

 

I still need to use osd to disable hd4600 before install the modded driver?

 

If that is how you do it, then yes, unless you are experimenting with a new bios or something. This is all just for dedicated mode, some can run optimus and windows 10 fine ( I think it's tricky to get installed properly, thanks to windows 10)

You could also go to the bios and select PEG intead of AUTO, if you have that unlocked modified bios.

but otherwise, yeah switch the eGPU with the button and reboot with the card in and install the modded driver.

 

Thank you for replying. But I got black screen with no beep after restart.
No beep, No backlight, UEFI boot, GPT drive(only C drive), no secure boot, no fast boot.
tried everything I can find with the problem

 

when you say no boot, does the system start up, does the fans move or just things are dead ?

Can you give us more details please. What happens when you remove the graphics card and use just the CPU...
what bios do you have, and what card are you using ?

 

I know this is a windows 10 thread but i managed to successfully modify the newest nvidia drivers for the alienware m17x r4 for windows 7. So far i havent had any issues with the driver. When i get the time im going to modify the windows 10 drivers as well. For anyone interested let me know and ill post it or send it to you!

Ps...forgot to mention this is for the 980m nvidia gpu! ill also be posting a guide so people can learn to modify their drivers as well.

 

exactly!

 

well the latest drivers don't really do windows 10 well... not even sure if the windows 7 drivers are even being made anymore...

it DOES work in windows 7, but that was never very hard to do, the trouble was getting these to work in windows 10 when it originally came out. There were issues.

AFAIK, support for the windows 7 ended awhile ago...but there was older drivers if you wanted.. they are so old they predate DX12 so clearly they are DX11 only...

 

newer driver : https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ptxii8rqai320nu/AADi_lL6DjW3XnRIgj6Th1ama?dl=0

let me know if there is any trouble installing it.

 

Hi woodzstack,

Unfortunately your latest driver does not work on my Alienware , what should I do?
Alienware m17x r4 NVidia 970m windows 10

 

PS: Hardware ID:
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_13D8&SUBSYS_05511028&REV_A1
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_13D8&SUBSYS_05511028
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_13D8&CC_030000
PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_13D8&CC_0300

 

should have worked. What message do you get ? Have you disabled DSE ?


here, assuming windows 10 : http://downloads.eurocom.com/suppor...Alienware/M17xR4_05511028_9xxM_375.95_W10.zip

 

Are the displays still prone to dying when running Windows 10? I was debating about upgrading my M17x R4 but I rather not take the risk if its still common. I'm running a 970M and the non-3D 60hz display with 350 series drivers from Techinferno.

 

haven;t heard or one dying in over a year.

 

already installed 980m on my alienware 17 (m17x-r4) with nvidia driver version 373.06
but when i try to run F12 diagnostic, there is 8 times beep. website said it was gpu failure.
what should i do ? should i update vbios?

 

This also happens to me. Connect your computer to an external monitor via HDMI/mDP and you'll get access to AW diagnostic.

 

Ow okey i will try it, but what should i do with laptop? Just let it be like that? Is that harmfull for the laptop? Thanks for your response

Sorry for bad english, im from indonesia