Alienware M18xR2 New/Updated BIOS Mods - NOW WITH MAXWELL LEGACY SUPPORT - Testers Needed

Might be on to something. Last time it did this. was when i was trying to get my HyperX ram to run at 2133. never worked. ended up finding out the r2 only goes to 1866. I just took all the ram out and put in a stick of the OEM ram, Im getting 5 beeps now

 

Holy K-rap! im in the bios!

Recycling old post. Is there anyway for me to delete a couple posts. I realized I used bad form in my excitement and spammed the bored with unnecessary posts. I'd rather see this thread clean, so that others can find information.

 

Okay well. ill play more and get you the results. need to test all the modules. just fyi the hyperX was on AUTO so if that does end up being what I blame. I dont see why it wouldn't boot will auto mode.. Also i did the fn+pwr then plugged in the power. (was doing it backward of what I as told on here. due to what i read on another site) I'll be back soon, going to attempt a reboot in a moment

 

Okay. so now that it is working with the stock slow ram... It no longer posts with the Kingston HyperX impact. HX321LS11IB2/8 CPMH16C1515 1.35V (its the one that can run at 1.5 as well

So no setting i use will let me use my HyperX ram. And Ideas gents?

 

i am currently using hyperx ddr3L ram. It's working find for me. But i don't believe mine is the 2133 version.

If you are able to get into the bios , you should hit f9 (defaults) and exit. btw , what bios are you on right now ?

 

That's not accurate. It goes to 2133 if the SPD is configured correctly. In some cases it is not correctly configured and needs to be tweaked with Thaiphoon Burner. See post #2 of this thread for more info.

I had these 8GB 2133 modules in the M18xR2 I sold to @Swick1981 and he has them in his other M18xR2 as well. This RAM is plug and play.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233889&cm

 

Maybe I should pick up a pair.

 

Corsair Vengeance:
So strange I ordered 2 sets of that already, my system would not even post with it installed only.. Thought it was bad ram. Got an exchange. Same thing on the 2nd set. The HyperX has been the only thing that has booted other then factory.

Kingston HyperX:
Hmm i I could never get mine to post if i manually set the bios to 2133 nor get the, 1866 was as high as auto would go. @Mr. Fox Do you recommend the 16$ or 55$ version of ThaiPhoon for what i need to do the HyperX from post #2? Thank you for your advice and help as always Brother FOX

Thanks:
Again, Thank you guys for any and all help, pro tips, and advice. Sorry if I freaked out a little. I'm just getting into this stuff and getting through my "learning curve". I appreciate the Time and energy of all you Professionals, I know you guys got other things you would probably rather be doing then help newb me out. Seriously you guys rock!

 

@KKthebeast - the $16 version should be fine. Set the BIOS memory settings on "Auto" and it the machine runs the 2133 RAM at only 1866 tweak that value. If it boots and runs at 2133 don't do anything.

@Swick1981 had some booting problems almost identical to yours. I have his machine at my house now, ready to ship back to him. We assumed it was the motherboard. I flashed his Vengeance 2133 with the SPD from my Vengeance 2133 (they were different) and now those problems are solved. Apparently, they did something to the memory timing on newer releases of the same RAM that does not play nice 100% of the time. I have heard about others having the same problems with Kingston HyperX Impact that you did. I have had similar problems with the DDR4 HyperX Impact in the Sky X9... exactly the same, actually. Powers up, lights on... nada... just sits there forever. Take the RAM out, put something else in and BOOM... boots right up. Put the HyperX back in and then it works fine. Very stupid, LOL.

Anyhow, if you need it, here is the SPD that works great from my older sticks of Vengeance 2133. It has two 2133 profiles and the currect sticks have only one.

Download: Corsair Vengeance DDR3L-2133 CMSX16GX3M2B2133C10.thp

 

@Mr. Fox hey brother is there any way I could get a copy of your Kingston HyperX impact DD3L 2133mhz SPD profile? I can't get the system to boot at all without having at least one stick of the old Ram in there. Which on a side note is making it near impossible to see which timings belong to which stick in thaiphoon afraid I'm going to program the wrong one. Or when you view the SPD timings does it isolate whatever stick you just read from?

 

Anyone heard from @Swick1981 ? I hope everything is fine with him.

 

Haha, I hope so too, he did seem quite manic when talking about not eating nor sleeping to get the mods done - maybe he burnt bright and went up in a puff of smoke! But it's good that people can put the effort in to make these mods, it's appreciated I'm sure. Personally, for community mods, I have svl7 the most to thank, I'm using his unlocked BIOS and also his unlocked vBIOS - I did donate to him for his unlocked vBIOS, my GPU has about 87% more performance because of his vBIOS!!

 

I've tried his personal mail and everything...no contact. I wonder if I should call him and see if he's ok....

 

(I just checked his profile, looks like he logged on today anyway, so...)

 

Don't stalk him. If he don't want to show anything then there may be no progress or he faced a wall in development. Give him time.

 

Haha, yep, stalking ain't happening, not gonna be sitting outside his house in my car wondering what he's up to!

 

I have his phone number. I don't want to bother him , as I can just ring him up. I just wanted to make sure that he is " doing alright " , not relating to bios or anything.

 

Yes the same here he helped me out a great deal and i also have his phone number but im a little concerned buy his absence, maybe ill shoot him a text which is not so intrusive just to make sure his ok.

I don't want to say to much as a lot of what he told me was personal but he is a quality human being and sometimes its nice to know that people care.

I'll give it a couple more days and if no contact ill fire a text off, maybe he just wants to catch up on other stuff.

Hope your all right mate @Swick1981

 

Yes, @Swick1981 went out of the country on vacation with his family and he should be home in a few days. He was supposed to be home already, but their travels were delayed. I am sure he will be touched and grateful for your concern about his well being.

 

Lol i new you would know brother fox, he speaks highly off you and told me some funny stories, thank you for the heads up its good to know his ok.

 

How is this BIOS? I'm curious to know but don't want to vote in the poll as I haven't upgraded to 980M yet.

 

You can vote anyway, the mod is much more than just Maxwell support for M18x R2

 

I'm waiting till he comes back so I can try the bios on my m17x r2 and m18x r2.
This should fix the GTX 970m color issue on m17x r2.
If anything goes wrong I have a full bios backup/EC so I can flash it back with my programmer.
I'm waiting!!!

 

I just went to Windows 7 64 bit using the new bios mod (I'm also using SVL's vbios) and I'm using 365.10 modified drivers from @j95 from techinferno , I did a test run with the latest drivers from tech infernos site, I seen 0 throttle on my M18XR2, I'm only running 1 980m that I bought from @woodzstack . I'm testing a few other benchmarks to see what results I get an will toss an update.

Confirmed No Throttle in Catzilla and in the FFXIV Benchmark (both of these power throttled in Windows 10). I'm not using the PEG/nvidia inspector part of J95's mod, just his modified driver

 

Just to add I've installed Windows 7 64bit myself Using Dual 980GTX and the latest 365.10 Drivers. Im running FFXIV as I type this in the part of Pharos Sirius where I normally throttle as a test. Can report that while webpages atm seem a little sluggish on the responces (on account of I'm REALLY pushing the cards by uncapping FPS) I'm currently running at maxed out settings including uncapped FPS AND max HBAO+ and theres absoutely ZERO throttling with the game itself. GPU-Z is showing full performance and no perfcap issues and Im currently running about 80~81'C on both cards atm with a GPU load of about 96%. Once I capped the FPS at 60 temps have dropped back to about 70ish but I can confirm for certain with this current setup that there is absolutely no throttling as far as things go on this current configuration!

Edit: This is also with in legacy mode with swicks bios mod of course and premas v2 vbios.

 

Wait so we still need to use modified drivers in conjunction with this vbios? That's what I was actually afraid of and I was hoping the modified bios would allow for use with normal 980M drivers. If driver support is discontinued in the future I imagine things may be problematic with future titles.

 

Everybody has to use modified nvidia drivers....or else the drivers would never install unless the 980M came stock on that system. Blame nVidia for this crap idea, AMD doesn't do this.

 

Hi guys, does anybody have any benchmarks? 3dmark 11,im tempted to revive the old r2 and if I read correctly somebody has installed the desktop 980 Gtx cards into there r2 and it's working?

 

no. desktop cards will never work in the R2, they require an extra power connector. 980Ms work though

 

Sorry i was referring to the Nvidia 980 GTX but the mobile version they remade for notebooks its basically a full fat 980 http://www.geforce.co.uk/hardware/notebook-gpus/geforce-gtx-980

980 GTX Notebook = full fat 980.
980M around 75% performance

 

I'm aware. The mobile 980 requires extra power connector that only Clevo has. It will not work. 980M is the best available on the market.

 

Ahhhhhhhh silly me ! i got you now !

I am still tempted for the 980M SLI i wonder the 3d marks on it?

 

Wanted to post an update, I reinstalled Windows 10 64 bit using Legacy mode, no throttle. It seems are grief is with UEFI mode.

 

glad to hear this is all coming to a head now. thanks to all the good men involved (Swick, svl7, Rengsey, Fox)

This is what makes community truly special!

 

I'd say its safe to say at this point something in the 365.10 driver was fixed that solves the throttle issue we've been plagued with for so long or at least eliminates it entirely in legacy mode. Wonder if it is an issue with UEFI and if it is why is it still there in UEFI mode? Makes swicks mod quite simply mandatory as well at this point as the legacy support seems to have been completely purged of issues as far as this driver revision goes.

 

@Raidriar , There is a road block regarding getting the R9-m290x CF cable to be installed in the m18x-R2. There is not enough clearance for the CF cable on the secondary side to be mounted properly. I don't want to start bending/forming a 90 degree at the connector, as it might damage the cable itself. Behind the connector , there is a big ribbon cable (power) that goes there. If the ribbon is put back in, the space gets tighter.

 

I can say that to some point throttling has decreased in legacy mode. I am on windows 10 home 64bit (clean install, used the original win 7 key from my alienware to activate) and I can play fallout 4 in full hd resulution and all maxed out without throttling.

Gpu usage goes to 99% momenteraly and clocks stay put. Only when benching I have throttle. Firestrike game me 6,6k with my 3720qm.

I am using latest drivers by j95.

I have a single 980m and I want to SLI but.....

 

Stock Run SLI on M18x-R2

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/11194132

 

so you still have some throttle even at legacy?

 

I don't know if you had a 7970M CF setup before, but the situation was similar. The cable needed to be bent at an almost 90 degree angle to get the media panel ribbon to fit. Be creative!

 

M18xR1 with 6990M CrossFried is the same. Cable arrangement is poorly designed.

 

Yup, the SLI cable was really no better...Alienware 18 cable design was actually better in this regard

 

Yes, it is. The only thing better about the SLI bridge is the cable and end connections aren't as fragile. I really like how the cables in the Panther and Sky X9 are set up much better... Short and straight.

 

I have seen it only when try to bench. And it is not as 'hard' as before. Downclocks a bit and then back up. The highest wattage OSD displays before throttle is 117 watts.

I will try to lower boost to stock clock and maybe mod stock dell bios and disable clock boost permanately.

 

Have you tried the Clevo 980M vBIOS from @Prema yet? That might solve what little problem you are having now. UEFI may have been allowing some undesirable "communication" that Legacy BIOS does not, but it is rare for stock NVIDIA vBIOS to perform 100% great. Stock vBIOS performance almost always sucks with NVIDIA. Has been sucky with stock NVIDIA vBIOS since 580M. Don't use @Prema vBIOS for AW18... Try his public Clevo vBIOS for the M18xR2 and it may work better.

 

I was on AW18. I flashed Clevo V2, rebooted and run firestrike.

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/11903073?

8282 with stock clocks.

Mr you were right, V2 did the job. Utilization was always 98% and clocks stayed still.

So it is safe to say....

@Swick1981 Bios mod,
Legacy boot,
@Prema V2 clevo vbios
@j95 latest driver mod (or I assume any obove 362.00!)

Is the Formula for a thorttle FREE m18x-R2 with (a single at least) 980m GTX.

 

How bout the BSOD problem if you try to use the nVidia's when on battery with 365.10 drivers?
Is that a thing of the past aswell?
I've been itching to move from 359.06...

 

Ugh sadly a bit of bad news.... after running windows update an stuff it seems the throttling issue is back again... :C

Do not know whats going on or why its doing this but kinda a downer that its come back.... :/

 

It's funny you mention this. I just wiped my M18x R1 and didn't install updates yet. Downloaded latested nvidia driver, patched the INF...and no throttling. As SOON as I hit the windows update button and installed everything minus the windows 10 crap, the throttling is back. Go figure.

 

I think Premas V2 bios takes care of the BSOD during driver installations past 362 I think.

Regarding your BSOD scenario, I haven't installed drivers been on battery only so I cannot confirm that!

But I have been going back and forth among driver versions 353 (throttle free) till the latest ones all the time, without any problems.

Whenever I had problems, DDU in safe mode and them back to the good old 353.

Now I am on latest and fallout 4 on max settings and both benchmarks report good results!