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    lost CF5870 after BIOS upgrade from A04 to A06

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by Maciejka, Jul 30, 2010.

  1. Maciejka

    Maciejka Notebook Enthusiast

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    Guys,

    I have a problem after upgrade my BIOS from A04 to A06. My CF5870 works fine with A04 and I migrated to the latest version for BIOS because I need to have the virtualization support.
    After that I cannot power on my M17-R2 with two cards, with one it working fine.

    I tried removing the battery - no lust so far. so my question is can I put the backup A04 BIOS and downgrade it? then for ex. migrate to A05?

    Do you have similar experience or CF5970 are working fine with A06 BIOS?

    PS.
    I'm using M17-R2 with i7-620M CPU.

    cheers for any help
     
    Maciejka, Jul 30, 2010
    #1
  2. lordqarlyn

    lordqarlyn Global Biz Consultant

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    I've upgraded from 05 to 06, and not experiencing any probs, at least none that I found yet.
     
    lordqarlyn, Jul 30, 2010
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  3. PeterMegahey1701

    PeterMegahey1701 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Ive got the same problem.
     
    PeterMegahey1701, Jul 30, 2010
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  4. mfractal

    mfractal T|I

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    some people on the forum report that problem. some have been able to work only with A02... also, it's going to be hard to find A04 as dell has removed it from the download page...
     
    mfractal, Jul 30, 2010
    #4
  5. PeterMegahey1701

    PeterMegahey1701 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I don't know weather or not to wait for A07 to come out and just make do with one 5870. Whats the chances of A07 fixing it though.... I'm so close to the ultimate M17xR2 its almost painful.
     
    PeterMegahey1701, Jul 30, 2010
    #5
  6. 5150Joker

    5150Joker Tech|Inferno

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    Hmm it's strange that these setups work under certain bios versions and not others. I really do wonder if Dell tweaked the motherboard design along the way. If a power drain + clearing the cmos battery doesn't work, then I don't think there's anything that can be done for you guys short of Dell replacing the mainboard with a newer version.
     
    5150Joker, Jul 30, 2010
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  7. PeterMegahey1701

    PeterMegahey1701 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I've tried a new motherboard with A05 pre-installed and a new motherboard with A06.

    There must be more to it.... :(
     
    PeterMegahey1701, Jul 30, 2010
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  8. Maciejka

    Maciejka Notebook Enthusiast

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    I have just got the confirmation that Alienware will swap the laptop with the new one. I'm forcing them to get that with at least a05 bios version (to have virtualization support) and avoid the upgrade.

    btw this is long story :( - I was fighting for 6-7 weeks. they swapped the CF5870 twice and 2 motherboards (they sent dead one once) - just perfect next business day support. But anyway the laptop will be replaced.
     
    Maciejka, Jul 30, 2010
    #8
  9. PeterMegahey1701

    PeterMegahey1701 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I'm having the same fight but they've given me a 940 by mistake so swapping it out isn't an option.
     
    PeterMegahey1701, Jul 30, 2010
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  10. Maciejka

    Maciejka Notebook Enthusiast

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    Guys,

    I made a backup during upgrade of working A04 BIOS. Is it safe to downgrade from A06 to A04? Did anyone from you tried it before?

    cheers
     
    Maciejka, Jul 30, 2010
    #10
  11. PeterMegahey1701

    PeterMegahey1701 Notebook Enthusiast

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    That's a fair question. isn't the backup of A04 in a .bak file or something like that. I have know idea how to install it.
     
    PeterMegahey1701, Jul 30, 2010
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  12. Maciejka

    Maciejka Notebook Enthusiast

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    that's exactly the file. probably the extension of filename should be changed to .ROM, but I'm unsure if this would work or not
     
    Maciejka, Jul 30, 2010
    #12
  13. BatBoy

    BatBoy Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Yes, it should.
     
    BatBoy, Jul 30, 2010
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  14. PeterMegahey1701

    PeterMegahey1701 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I backed A04 to disk just in case. I Haven't got the balls to attempt to install it just in-case I brick it.
     
    PeterMegahey1701, Jul 30, 2010
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  15. erawneila

    erawneila Company Representative

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    I've posted this elsewhere, but I'll add it here again. For those of you who can't boot up with A06, but could before, can you please pull the keyboard off the system and pull out the video cards? On the bottom of each card, can you tell me the part number on the white labels (there should be a 2D PPID and a 3D PPID) and also the part numbers on the green label? I have a hunch, but I'm still not sure...

    If you aren't comfortable in doing this, please wait for someone who is. I can hopefully help resolve based upon the information I receive.

    Thx.
     
    erawneila, Aug 2, 2010
    #15
  16. BatBoy

    BatBoy Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    BatBoy, Aug 3, 2010
    #16