M18X-R2 First time owner needing advice.

30th April 2015 I bought my first Alienware laptop (from Ebay) for £910 with the following specifications

I7 3720QM
Duel Nvidia GeForce GTX 675M
HL-DT-ST DVDRWBD CA30N (Blu-ray ^^)
HGST 1TB HDD (slow as hell )
64GB mSATA
Sound Blaster Recon3Di
12GB Ram
Killer wireless-N 1103 (not shown on Ebay listing, seller didn't know )
Dell Bluetooth module 4.0 (not shown on Ebay listing, seller didn't know)

LED PROBLEMS !
Macro key 5 lights up while the others do not, while I can see the LEDs lit up under the other macro keys they are also dim compared to key 5
Left speaker light was dim all the time but would be bright now and again during boot (now it is not lighting up at all)
Also I am finding the wifi media button needs to be pressed rather hard in order for it to turn on/off, unlike the other buttons it never gives me "click" feelings when pressing it.

Do the LED problems sound like the cables are not connected properly or is it more likely I need to replace them completely ?
I have tried Dell's solutions for light problems but so far none have worked for me at all.
Also in regards to the WiFi button is this normal or does this to need replacing as I don't want to be pressing it this hard all the time.

Finally I would like peoples opinions on what kind of upgrades I should make since I do not intend to keep things as they are. So far this is what I have

Kingston HyperX Impact 16GB (2x8) 2133mhz
1x HyperX Savage 480Gb SSD

I hope to upgrade to the 9xx series soon but I am hearing that Nvidia's new drivers remove the ability to overclock. I should be fine if I use an older driver shouldn't I ?

 

If your going to upgrade to 900m series you should read through the thread concerning your model PC upgrade to 980 sli. It's been pretty active lately. As for the other problems did this PC have any warranty left?

 

I have been looking through different threads about the 980 but a little behind on laptop upgrading since my only other laptop was a Sony VGN-AW series which I only took apart to change the CPU, motherboard and screen.
Sadly no warranty left which is understandable and I don't mind getting the parts and fixing it myself IF it comes to replacing parts.

 

Light issues on the keyboard/macro keys and power button is usually a motherboard. Had motherboard replaced in one of my r2's because the macro keys and power button lights did not work. Motherboard solved it.

 

I hope it is not my motherboard, for me every light works including the power button the only ones that are playing up are 4/5 macro keys and the left speaker. I have seen the speaker light work and the macro keys do show lights just not bright enough compared to the rest of the keyboard.

 

It may not be the motherboard. What you are describing could also be the macro keyboard or a bad wire/connection. There is a good chance it is the macro keyboard. It has a separate ribbon cable for lighting. Check it to make sure it is attached to the motherboard and inspect it for cracks in the ribbon cable.

I had an issue a while back with my M18xR2 lighting involving AlienFX lighting on the media panel above the keyboard and the left front speaker LED. This was during the time I had my machine apart a bazillion times trying to get 980M SLI working. Those LEDs were intermittently flickering, sometimes not turning on at all, and not ever changing colors. Having a ton of spare parts on hand, I changed that media panel PCB and the cables, the power button PCB it connects to... nothing fixed it. About a month later I had the palm rest off and noticed the AlienFX cable that ran across the underside of palm rest at the front edge, between the speaker grilles, had moved out of place from where it is supposed to be. As a consequence, it had been pinched really hard against the chassis and severely flattened. I changed that cable assembly and the problem was fixed. Those circuits do not seem to be directly connected to one another, but that pinched wire affected what seemed like an unrelated AlienFX zone.

Regarding the 980M GPU upgrade, see this thread: Aw m18x R2 Dual 980m SLI upgrade!!

 

Thanks Fox for the information and for sharing your own experience it really helps. I forgot to mention that the laptop was from Germany so before I got it the keyboard has been changed to the UK layout, this makes me more inclined to think they did not plug everything back in properly.
Also here are some pictures of the lighting problems in my laptop, sorry if they show up massive they look normal size in windows.

 

You're welcome. Looking at that issue, I'm inclined to think there is a broken or pinched wire or ribbon cable. Besides the possibility of a crack in the ribbon cable, the round wires are very fragile. They can break where they attach to the white plastic connectors that plug into the motherboard if the person working on them pulls on the wires too much instead of grasping the white plastic connector. Your symptoms are different lighting zone, but similar in appearance to what I ran into with the pinched wire. Take off the media panel (keyboard surround bezel) and remove the screws from the keyboards. Leave the cables connected, jiggle the cables and wires around and see if anything happens with the lighting. If not, pull the palm rest and inspect the wiring for the LEDs than runs around the touchpad and between the grilles to see if any are cut or pinched.

 

I will do that tomorrow when I am back home and report my finding's, hopefully the problem does not require replacing parts since I can only ever find them in the US making shipping a unwanted cost.
However just to be on the safe side I have found all the parts if it comes to that , lucky I printed of the service manual so I shouldn't make a mistake in taking it apart.

 

Well Mr.Fox I took the think apart to the keyboard only (I feel I am to heavy handed to deal with all these small cables) All the ribbon cables for the macro keys and keyboard are perfect, no dents, pinching or breaks that I can see.
Now one thing I have noticed is that when I downloaded a bios update from Dells website my laptop bios now lists itself as M17X-R3. I downloaded an older version of the bios and I am now on the correct M18X-R2 A11 thanks to the advice of someone on the Dell forums about my lighting problems.

From there advice and re-flashing the bios I went and used the AlienFXTest program and while my macro keys have not changed there condition the test did reveal something about the speaker light.
When running the test the left speaker light increased in brightness (still not normal brightness), but when changing the LED's to white the left speaker changed to red 0-o

also I am actually not sure if my macro keys are even working correctly, when I load windows the macros are always blue until ACC loads but everything remembers the colour I used last ( sometimes macros remember the colour)
finally I tried changing the macro keys to do different thinks like my computer or media player...It didnt work, Finally what does the is the function of the top button in the macro area because it does nothing for me.
Sorry for my lack of information and understanding of how this laptop works, I have only have it for 4 days and it never came with a manual .

 

There are 3 sets of 5 TactX key combinations possible. The top button cycles through each set of 5, for a total of 15 possible TactX key assignments. You can set each to be a different color when AlienFX is working correctly. You have to assign a function to do something in Alienware Command Center before they do anything. You can do all sorts of things, like toggle through CPU and GPU overclock settings using ThrottleStop and EVGA Precision or Afterburner, launch programs, etc. They are very useful, but if the AlienFX lighting is not working correctly it will be tough to know which set of macros is active.

You have already tried removing and reinstalling Alienware Command Center and Alienware OSD? If not, give that a shot. Something was really messed up with the BIOS if your system was labeled M17xR3. That is way off. I'm not sure how they even accomplished that. Some of the BIOS settings are persistent unless you do a blind flash. Doing that might fix your problem. The process is very reliable if you do not interrupt it, but your situation is outside the norm. The wrong mix of firmware might cause an unexpected outcome as well, so I am not going to recommend doing that. If it were my system I would do the blind flash without giving it a second thought, and then live with the consequences (replacing a bricked mobo) if it did not turn out right.

If I remember correctly, the AlienFX controller is on the I/O daughterboard, not the mainboard, which can be replaced for much less money than a new motherboard. Confirm that with an Alienware Rep to be sure. Without removing the palmrest you won't be able to get a good look at things other than what you can see with the keyboard removed. I don't know what else to suggest at this point, as there is not enough information available to troubleshoot. The fact the AlienFX Tester utility is not working right could be an indication that the AlienFX controller is messed up. If it was flashed with the wrong BIOS, that could have buggered it up. I think something about it may tie in with the EC firmware.

 

You may very well be right when I got the laptop the BIOSwas M18X-R2 A10 so it had the correct bios to begin with when these problems started. When I downloaded the Bios it clearly said it was for M18X-R2 A12, even when it was flashing it listed my current BIOS and the new on only difference being A10-A12.
Are you sure it is the ALlienFX tester that is not working right and not the speaker LED ? I only ask since every other LED passed the test without fail including the right speaker and macro.

I just did a test with the Macro buttons I assigned 1-5 to the start button key to see what works and what does not.
X- Unresponsive does not cycle through sets ( no colour change in keys)
1 - Unresponsive
2- working brought up the Metro start screen
3- Unresponsive
4- Working closed the metro screen and back to desktop
5- Unresponsive

Looking at this there is definably a problem with the Macro board since the cables were practically in perfect condition, Unless the problem would be with the daughter board.
Even with these problems I still feel £910 is still a good price considering what I got.

 

Well this is getting annoying, I just tried to install some new RAM Kingston HyperX Impact 2133mhz (2X8GB) and now my laptop wont boot into windows at all. Cant even reinstall windows with the ram in as it brings up errors that system files are missing ( when they are not). If I put the old RAM in it works fine but they are cheap slow and terrible.
I checked Dells website and they said M18X-R2 supports 2133mhz so whats gong on ?

At current I have the new RAM working at normal voltage at 1833 (I think) even if I increased the voltage to 1.65 at 2133 it refused to boot let alone get me to the BIOS.
I know you can alter timings and stuff but that is an area I know nothing on.

 

2133MHz RAM works but needs a lot of tweaking.... I would return your sticks and get some 1866MHz... Also nothing wrong with 1600MHz RAM... It's not slow at all..

 

Just got a reply from someone at Dell and they have confirmed that the LED control is on the daughter board. But considering how only two keys actually work on the macro board I still wonder if it is a problem with the daughter board or if it is the macro board itself that is the problem.
As for the speaker LED problem it may not be connected properly since it seam to work but not changing to white may be like you said a problem with the daughter board.

 

If it requires a lot of tweaking I will just keep them running as they are and experiment or find a guide on how to do it if I can find one. I could probably get them to 1866mhz without much trouble

 

Nah, Kingston HyperX PnP, Corsair Vengeance and G.SKILL Ripjaws 2133 runs 2133 in my M18xR1 and M18xR2 with no fuss at all. With the BIOS memory speed set to "Auto" all three boot and run 2133. It's only the Alienware 18 that has to be coerced to run faster than 1866. This sounds like a HyperX Impact firmware issue to me. I haven't used it, but I understand it drops to 1866 in some Clevo machines unless you muck with manual settings in the BIOS as well. I would RMA the sticks if you can and buy one of the other options. Or, buy Thaiphoon Burner and tweak the tCKmin value (lower it one or two notches) and that might take care of it. Doing that allows the Alienware 18 to boot 2133 memory at 2133. My Clevo P570WM refuses to boot any memory (even after tweaking tCKmin) at 2133. The only way it will work on that machine (for me) is through manual BIOS settings. The nice thing is, the BIOS on that machine has an option to save settings to a custom user profile, so that works well enough to suit my needs.

 

Hey Mr.Fox I took your advice and have now posted the memory back and purchased some Ripjaws 2133 instead. You are right in that there must have been a problem with the ram since while it would not go at its intended speed, I was able to make the cheap rubbish memory go up to 1800mhz or so without changing settings.