Alienware 18 BIOS A12 Findings & Fixes

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us...tails?productCode=alienware-18&driverId=VN15G

I hope this fixes the 980M Throttling / compatibility issues.

I sold my Alienwaere 18 last week. It's like Dell was waiting for me to sell it to release this! LOL

 

i want one for the 17 R1 FFS!

 

M18xR2 has massive throttle with the new official Dell GTX980M vBIOS':

 

I'll give this a try later. Hope I don't have to undo anything like my UEFI setup,

 

@Prema, do you mean this new bios will over write your vbios? And I would have to reinstall your vbios, or do you mean there is a new separate Dell vbios.

 

Dell also released official vBIOS for 980M and 970M.

The system BIOS is good, use it!

EDIT: I'll prepare an AW18 specific OC vBIOS Mod to make sure the FANs are working correctly.

 

Alright, I've updated to bios a12 now what?? Do I undo the UEFI I did to get the the 980ms to work. Does this mean all the hard work everyone did to get the 980ms to work is now void? Is the only thing a new comer to 980s have to do is upgrade to bios a12, then slap in the 980 and it will work?

 

If you are feeling brave, see if you can flash the new Dell vBIOS and check to see if you can boot in legacy mode! You would be doing the community a big favor with this test.

 

sooo....i take it that everyone´s so crazy about legacy mode in order to be able to run the 980M in win7?

 

Bingo. Nobody wants the cancer that is UEFI + Win8 or Win10.

 

win 8.1 if you're using a 120hz panel then you have no choice but to use only win 8.1 if you're on the older AW17 models.

 

Well if legacy boot does indeed work with the new vBIOS, why wouldn't you go back to windows 7?

 

it hasn't been tested on the 17" laptops.

 

I guess it's risky for you 120Hz guys, since you have no iGPU to fall back on in case it doesn't work but.....no guts, no glory

 

display output should still work in the bios, if not in windows, thats all youd need either that or an external display

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

I tried going back to legacy mode, and was surprised that I didn't get the 8 beeps of death. What I did get was:


"Check cable connection
PXE-MPF: existing Intel PXE Rom
No boot device found. Press any key....."


What this tells me is that I would have to switch my GPT formatted ssd HD (it has the OS on it) back to MBR. See, this site concerning legacy bios incompatibility with GPT http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/bios.html . This would require wiping the drive and reformatting it to MBR and reinstalling the OS. I have no intention of doing all that, my system works great and that's good enough. But, if some one wanted to use legacy mode with the 980s it seems it can be done.

 

YES! Great news! That means the 980M has proper legacy boot code implemented. That message you got is indeed from MBR/GPT mismatch for BIOS type (Legacy/UEFI) due to the way the bootsec is handled by each system/format. The important test is being able to access the BIOS and seeing nvidia GFX in the info menu while being in legacy mode!

We need a M18x R2 user to test!

 

NO, don't try that on M18xR2...
That's again due to the new BIOS and not vBIOS (scanner didn't even use the new Dell vBIOS, he's on my vBIOS Mod).

 

why is UEFI bad ?

 

Whoops, sorry I've been using @Prema vbios so long I forget they're not my originals.

 

is the dell vbios an improvement and would there be a modded version of it? i am quite fine with it how it is really.

 

It throttles like there is no tomorrow on anything but AW 18 (with new system BIOS).

The only benefit is that they made a slave version so that the secondary GPU FAN now works and no longer requires manual fan control (without that it was overheating).
Only for that reason we will publish an AW 18 specific vBIOS Mod based on it, which Scanner and a few others are testing atm...

But no worries I'll ping you soon for a @Nikos like "beta mod test" to get your system unleashed, too.

 

Have you examined a12 and a10 to spot any changes in the boot section?

 

so i may as well stick with the unlocked clevo vbios that's already been available for a while now.

 

Nope

 

I will my hand at it to find what may have changed.

 

even if you find out what the changes are the bios needs to be signed anyway and we don't have the signing tools.

 

M18x R2 and M17x R4 do not need a signed BIOS. We have the PRR circumvention tool.

 

the newer models need a signed bios....grrr..alienware!

 

yeah!!! hehehe

 

So let me get this straight : flashing this new vbios on the older AW18 (not the just released one which should come with this vbios as a factory default) with the A12 system bios IS in the end worth it righ?

 

The new stock AW18 system bios adds legacy support as well as brings throttle to normal levels.

The new stock AW18 vBIOS (as well as the upcoming mod based on it) fixes the second FAN problem.

The old and new AW18 are one and the same old system.

 

And about the M18X-R2, the new vBIOS would fix the second fan too? Now also analysing the new sBIOS do you think in future the owners of the old M18X-R1 could install the 980M in their machines?

 

On M18x R2 the new stock vbios throttles down to 400Mhz during benchmarks...

But you will be able to use the upcoming mod version to fix the FAN until I get around making a specific mod for the throttle bugged systems (like Nikos is testing).

I haven't looked at the BIOS, yet...

 

@Tulius I doubt it as M18xR1 can't switch to full uefi

 

After upgrade sBIOS to A12, my 980M throttles in Whitcher 3 up to 1000Mhz. On A10 works continuously on 1200Mhz (+75Mhz)
Second GPU FAN works, DELL H/W test all pass without errors, Legacy (CSM) boot and win7 works.

 

Hi Prema. I'm a fairly new AW18 (880m sli) owner and I recall reading about the gpu throttling issues and fan table problems users where having after they bought their machines last year. What you just posted kind of sounds like the recent update fixes all of that and suggests it's basically giving AW18 owners the machine they were supposed to have one year ago (ignoring some or most of the overclocking aspects). Would you agree with that conclusion or am I misunderstanding something?

 

I was actually waiting to see the response to your question here. Did you flash to the new A12? If you did, how does it seem? Curious as to whether this really gives us non throttling 880's that we paid for. Fans aren't as big a deal to me. Even under heavy load, I don't ever go above 80c and I can manually tweak the fans so I am in no rush to start fooling around with things right now unless this fixes the throttling so I can use newer drivers. Let me know.

 

On new BIOS HDMI 2.0 works perfect on my LG UHD TV: http://c2n.me/3odbUwL.png

 

I'm not sure why your second fan doesn't work, mine works fine, I thought that was only a problem on the 18...

I am using the dell vbios and its working ok... the clocks fluctuate between 1038-1127 but I still get 19.0-19.3K gpu score in Firestrike using j95's 350.12 drivers. 3DMark11 gpu is around 23K
I did get excited yesterday and tried legacy mode with the "new" vbios after hearing legacy mode what working on the 18, but was greeted by 8 beeps... should have known better.

 

Without HWInfo64 installed in my R2, the second 980M gpu goes up beyond 92C on idle till shutdown because of extreme heating, I dont remember if this occurred before flashing to prema bios. In the case of legacy mode I think the new system BIOS released for the 18 is what enable the legacy mode that works on 980M, not the vBIOS I guess.

 

haha yeh unfortunately I felt the need to prove that.

 

I too was hoping Prema would have answered by now. I haven't flashed yet. Waiting for his response and the modded vbios he mentioned to be ready

 

I have just released the GTX980M & GTX970M vBIOS Mods for the AW18!
(click my signature) >>> Update to system BIOS A12+ first <<<

Though they can be used on other AW systems as an alternative to my Clevo based Mod, it won't remedy the throttle issue that those systems experience (that's for later).
It may help with the second FAN not spinning properly on M18xR2, but I only have a single report confirming it.

As always ENJOY!

 

Thanks for the update Prema. Do you have an ETA for the release of the anti throttling mod?

 

You mean Estimated Throttle of Alienware...no sorry I am not good in keeping ETAs...
I have to re-base my beta to the AW base and unlike the AW 18 version it's a very complex mod...

 

Ok, I'll be looking forward to it!

 

But Prema,is it mandatory to install the BIOS A12 in M18X-R2? There isn't an unlocked A12 BIOS released yet, just the unlocked A10 version that contains some additional settings to overclock the CPU.

 

Its not mandatory, but I am sure the system will throttle just like before if you don't (apart from not supporting legacy boot).
Not sure how bad the throttle was before A12 with my Clevo vBIOS, but expect similar throttle without the new BIOS.

EDIT: This thread is about AW 18 NOT M18xR2. The new BIOS is only for AW 18!!!

 

Updated M18X-R2 to A12 and updated gpu vBIOS but the fans are not spinning yet, tested with the Witcher 3 the second fan reached 94C and the notebook shutdown itself, maybe something is wrong in flashing process? Firmware subsystem ID mismatch?

Metal Gear V The Panthon Pain isn't SLI enabled