*OFFICIAL* Alienware 18 Owner's Lounge Thread

Yes sir. I went through that process with Alienware support. It did not work unfortunately. I have never had this happen before and I have built quite a few desktops and modded 3 or 4 laptops. Very strange.

 

I know what the problem is. There is a cable next to the DVD drive that it get lose when you put the base cover back, take it out and put it back. Same thing happened to me.


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Any chance I could get a pic of the cable you are talking about? I looked around at all the connections and they seemed fine, but I will give anything a shot at this point.

 

There are several ribbon cabled under the optical drive/auxillary HDD. One of those carries circuits for the power button. Perhaps one of these ribbon cables is unseated. Take out that drive so you can see both ends of the ribbon cables (some may be partially covered up).

 

I'm a work now but when get home will take a picture. Do what MR fox said, reset those cable make sure they are tie.


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Just returned mine...! Will order with windows 7, and if The Bios is a pain... Like with windows 8. will returns that one to. And I will go back to desk top.


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Thanks for the suggestion bumbo2 and Mr. Fox. I will try it out during lunch and see if it works. :thumbsup:

 

You guys with the new M18s and 780M SLI are you running svl7 and Johnksss modded Vbios?

 

Alienware 18 arrives tomorrow

 

I'm not.


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The new version of BIOS is out. Courtesy of svl7, our friendly modder.

Driver Details | Dell US

 

Worked like a charm! Thanks!

 

Frère Riri Fifi, je suis heureux que vous avez trouvé votre nouvelle machine demain.
Brother Riri FiFi, I am happy that you are getting your new machine tomorrow.:hi2:

 

I think it is important that everyone that owns a new 18 realize that this community can be part of the solution by providing what Mr. Pardo has asked for. I posted this in the launch thread, but it is relevant here also. Cross-posting is not appropriate, but it is important that all of the new system owners recognize that they can contribute to great things.

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Everyone - anything you can observe and share will be useful as feedback to Alienware. I know they are trying to fix this, and want to fix it ASAP. Please see what Mr. Pardo has posted (quoted below). Please help him out by providing the requested detail. Anything supplemental to the information he has corrected will potentially be useful.

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Hi all,

Just want to ask,
Where can I find the Visual Bandwidth thing from Killer Wireless? I saw it in the Alienware advertisement when I was deciding on purchasing the A18.
Also, any tips and tricks for a new Alienware owner? Like useful programs, shortcuts, etc

Sorry for asking stupid questions.. here in my country, I don't know anyone else who owns the new Alienware. I don't have anyone to share experiences with.. even the store employees of Dell here in the PH know nothing about it.
There is no Alienware brand being sold anywhere here. I even asked Dell about it and they said their trial to push Alienware in the country has failed.

I admit I am not half (or even a quarter) as knowledgable as some of the guys here. Haha.
Thanks in advance!

 

Updated to the new BIOS. Received this message on boot. Also I think the fans are louder now...



Update: I pulled out the cord, put it back in, rebooted and the message is gone now. Rebooted a couple more times and it didn't show up. A little paranoid now all the same...

 

Your factory installation might be missing the Killer Network Manager app. If you cannot find that anywhere, download the Killer LAN and Killer Wireless driver package from support.dell.com as the first step.

Once both are downloaded, you need to uninstall the old drivers in Programs and Features (Control Panel). Install the Killer LAN driver first. This is important. Once that LAN driver is installed, reboot as prompted, then install the WiFi driver. If you install the WiFi first you won't be able to install the LAN driver, which includes the Killer Network Manager software.

If you keep hanging out with us, before long you'll be a big help to others, too. We all learn from each other every day, and we all started out as noobs.

 

Thanks so much!
What do I uninstall from Programs and Features? I do not see any old drivers?
Is it broadcom network adapter?


I didn't know that happens - programs not being installed on factory installation. Makes me wonder what else I am missing haha!

 

Are there any color options for the laptop like on the m18x? Or just grey/silver for now?

 

jourdy - yes

 

Mr. Fox,
I seem to have run across a problem.

I followed your instructions:

1. Uninstalled Broadcom Network Adapter
2. Installed Killer LAN: Driver Details | Dell US
3. Restart
4. Installed Killer WiFi
5. Restart

It didn't detect the network adapters afterwards. I had to use system restore to bring back the Broadcom Network Adapter before I could browse the internet again.

Did I do something wrong?


Thanks in advance.

 

Did you confirm the driver was actually the correct one for your network adapter(s)? And you downloaded the driver for the correct version of Windows? If so, then I don't know why that didn't work. It worked for me on the 18.

 

I received the replacement keyboard today and just replaced it. There is indeed an aluminum plate under the keyboard, like what Alienware says. But it's not grooved or thick enough to prevent flexing. Because this is a rather long keyboard, there's noticeable flex at the middle. It's not that hard to fix this, if they pay attention. They could add grooves onto the aluminum plate to strengthen it, or they could make the keyboard backplate out of magnesium alloy, ie the same material used on the chassis.

Also, does anyone notice that when loading up the GPU, one GPU is about a few Celcius higher than the other? Sometimes it can be as far as 5C, but for the most part they are about the same temperature. I wonder if the fan curve is the same for both GPU. Probably have to peak at the vBIOS to do that.

 

Would anyone be able to tell me if the 780m is capable of nvidia surround? Unlike the 680M I'd appreciate it so much if someone could try.

 

Yes, I noticed the slight difference in temps for gpus as well. I don't believe it is anything to be concerned with..One GPU will usually run slightly hotter when rrunning in SLI or Crossfire.

 

From the OSD I saw that the main GPU always eats a bit more power than the slave GPU. It's a few percent higher in terms of TDP. Maybe that's why it runs hotter. Not really sure how it works but one GPU has to drive the display, perhaps that's why.

 

What you guys are seeing is normal. One GPU always runs warmer in a multi-GPU SLI or CrossFire setup. Especially so in a laptop because there are minor variances in fan placement and heat sink efficiency. In a desktop the heat sinks and fans are all identical if the GPUs are matched brands and models. Even so, there will be a minor variance in temps based on utilization. Under load, sometimes the GPU that runs warmer (often the secondary GPU) at idle will run cooler.

 

Wondering which one to get... ?

Best Buy deal M18X: Alienware M18x 18.4" Laptop (Intel Core i7-3920XM/32GB RAM/256GB SSD/1TB HDD/Windows 8) - English : 18" Laptops & Over - Best Buy Canada

Or order new Alienware 18 with
i7 4800mq
GTX 780M SLI
32GB RAM
256GB SSD

Both are about same price at $3880 and $3900 respectively... decisions decisions....

 

I would order the new 18. While the 18x R2 may have a XM CPU, if I am reading right it only has one 7970m GPU. The 18 you specced has two 780m GPU's, which will wipe the floor with the one 7970.

That being said though, if your main focus is gaming, get the 18. If it's not, and you are doing things that are more CPU oriented, go with the R2.

While both machines could be upgraded after the fact to virtually match each other step for step for the most part, it may end up costing you more money in the long run to do so.

 

Pick the Alienware 18

You get waaay better GPUs for gaming.
You get a little slower CPU stock vs stock.
You get IPS screen
You get a much better looking notebook (subjective)

 

There was only one option for each, right?
One is 120MB while the other is 222MB.

Driver Details | Dell US
Driver Details | Dell US

Is that correct?

 

safe to install the new bios?

 

Going to pull the trigger on the Alienware 3rd option fully upgraded, but have a simple question. I have read every post in this thread (literally), but I'm still not sure how many bays there are for combinations of SSD, HDD, and/or ODD. Could someone answer this:

1. Since the 4th alienware option allows 4 SSDs, I'm guessing that's 1 mSATA and 3 true SSDs, right?
2. Does the ODD bay, if removed or not filled on order, allow room for 2 SSDs/HDDs? Or is it just one?
3. Does the mSATA slot only take an mSATA drive? That is, an HDD or SDD cannot be placed there, right, because it's really an integrated circuit board?

I ask this because I have seen the teardown photos posted here, and there appears to be one spot for mSATA, one hard drive bay, and one optical bay. So how is it for example, that you can have an ODD, mSATA, and 2 750GB hard drives? That's 4 drives in 3 slots.

I would like to buy the minimum number of drives from Dell, and then fill the maximum number of bays with my own stuff (apparently Samsung 840 Pro is the way to go).

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

From what I can say: I have three SSDs with each 512 GB in my AW18 ... and the Operator told me that I could buy later a fourth smaller device ... I hope this helps you a little.

 

1. one msata, 2 ssd/hd caddy and option to replace od with one ssd/hd.
2. just one
3. msata only

so to clarify, one msata, 2x ssd/hd caddy and option to replace optical with 1 ssd or hd. 4 drives max.

 

Awesome! That's exactly what I wanted to know. Thanks!

 

You might also be able to put two mSata drives on one Sata port using an adapter similar to this one:

2.5 SATA dual Mini PCI-e intel mSATA SSD Raid controller card adapter with case - Sintech adapter card and test tool

Although, a normal 7mm Sata SSD equivalent to the capacity of x2 mSata's is probably a better option.

 

You actually made me think of other questions.

1. What are the connector types in each of the mSATA, HDD, and ODD bays? For example, is the HDD bay using SATA 3 (6Gb/s) through Mini PCI-e or is it something else?

2. I understand the ODD bay uses an optical connector so an adapter is needed to put a hard drive in there, correct? This will only matter to me in the future because I intend to order the ODD with the initial build.

3. I am thinking of buying 2 Samsung 840 Pro 512GB drives and putting them in the 2x drive bay caddy. Will these fit as is, without adapter cables (not familiar with SSDs or their standard interface).

4. For that matter, most of the contributors to this forum are using 256GB Samsung drives. Is anyone using the 512GB version of those 840 drives and do they work just fine?

5. Once I have my 2 SSDs installed in the drive bay caddy, can I configure them in the BIOS to be RAID 0 and appear as one drive in the OS?

Sorry for all the questions, but I am going to max out this beast and am trying to familiarize myself with all the new interfaces to ensure I pick all the right options.

 

1. mSata will be mini PCIe, the 2 ports of the drive caddy will be standard Sata III, the ODD will require an adapter to put in a HDD - available from Dell separately if you choose to do it later.

2. See above. Unless you configure your machine with a drive in the ODD bay, you will require the adapter caddy to pop in a drive.

3. You will only get ONE sata drive in the ODD caddy, or TWO mSata's using something like I linked to before. The normal HDD caddy wil take two drives - not the ODD caddy. No additional cabling is required, like desktops. Plug and play.

4. 512gb will work just fine - larger drives tend to be ever so slightly slower than 256gb's - nothing major at all.

5. Yes. But as per point number 3, you will only get ONE normal size drive in the ODD bay (unless you use one of those mSata adapters) - you WILL get two drives in the normal HDD caddy though, so that'll be just fine.

 

I have a 512 Samsung 840 and it fit in the HDD caddy right out of the box. It is light, fast, and works great! Programs start instantly and transferring 50gb of photos over USB3 happens very fast! I love it so far. :thumbsup:

 

think im going to get one of those stevie.

 

Just would like to say that been using my new 18 since monday, it really is beautiful in person, much nicer than the m17x-r2 downstairs in living room. The 770m`s are super fast and pretty pleased with performance.

 

Fabulous!! Here's what I think I am going to do... buy the Alienware 18 3rd option configuration that gives me the ODD, mSATA card, and one 750GB HDD. At the same time I will order two 840 Pro 512GB SSDs from Samsung. Then when I get the machine, I will backup the AlienRespawn partition for safekeeping, remove the 750GB HDD and replace that with the two SSDs, configure them in RAID 0, and then install the OS (Windows 8 from the Dell USB recovery) from scratch on to them. Am I missing anything?

I understand that the mSATA card usually has space allocated to accelerate the HDD, so I assume I can also reclaim that partition and use the space. For that matter, does the mSATA appear as a separate disk drive under Windows, or is exclusively used for HDD acceleration? I would hate to not be able to use that drive after removing the accelerated HDD. I would presume that I would see "C:" and "D:" drives under Windows; one for the RAID 0 SSDs, and one for the mSATA.

Thanks for all your help and information guys! This forum is a godsend.

 

In Windows 8 your computer name can't be the same name as user name so watch out don't screw it up. No easy way to fix that. I did the Respawn, but I also imaged the whole stock HDD to some external HDD. That way I can be sure if will be the exact same stuff in there.

For Intel SRT, the maximum size you can cache using a SSD/mSATA is 64GB. The rest will just shows up as a drive. It's like you shrink the drive. If you remove the caching, the space will just come back, it's like you unshrink the drive. You can change drive letter easily in Disk Management.

 

I agree 2 things which the pictures cant show you is 1: the sheer size of this monster. This is my first AW and even though i was coming from a 17inch laptop i was still gobsmacked at the size of this thing when i got it out the box, its HUGE, and very thick! 2: the quality of the materials used. All the laptops ive owned have always been very plasticky and a bit flimsy. Also parts would break and chip away, but this thing is rock solid! The materials are lovely to touch and the whole this is very robust. The keyboard is a dream to type on and the hinge has no give in it at all.

 

Well, I returned my 17 and bought an 18. Should be here in about two weeks. Went with a 4930MX, SLI 780M, Windows Ultimate, 16GB RAM, Blu-Ray, etc. Basically everything except for the SSD upgrades and the 32GB of RAM, which was overkill, with a two year warranty. Found a 512GB PM841 online for $380, so I decided to save the $120 over Dell's offering. Will probably grab another HDD to RAID with the internal one for more storage as well.

 

Where did you find the PM841 for $380? Mind sharing?

 

It's on ProVantage.com. They also have the 256GB model for $199, which is about $20 cheaper than anywhere else. They've got quite a few of each in stock. Also ordered a matching WD Black HDD to RAID with the stock one for $70 through them. I believe they're $80 or 90 on NewEgg.

 

After two cancellations my Canadian Alienware18 is finally being shipped as of today. I was starting to think it would never come. Any other Canadians have theirs?

 

When did you place your original order? I ordered originally on June 26th and I'm still waiting on my 18 to ship. August 8th is the EDD. It's been quite a long wait so far glad to hear yours is on its way! Canadian Customer here as well.