*OFFICIAL* M18x Owner's Lounge Thread

You don't get SLi support with the stock ones because there is no SLi profile for Battlefield 3 included.
Did you properly uninstall the old version prior to installing the new one?

 

yes, thanks for your support katalin 2003 i finally get it to work by modifying some settings in the application mode of BF3 on Nvidia configuration.

thanks for Johnksss for the suggestion.

 

Hi everyone!

Just ordered a new m18x...finally decided to take the plunge.

Quick question, which I'm sure has been asked by lots of new members before...I have went with the 6990 CF. After reading the forum, it looks like there may be one or two issues with these at the moment...if money wouldn't be an issue, would I be best to change this to the 580 SLi's?

I understand there was a throttling issue with them...but that this may be on the way to being fixed. I have literally just placed the order, so I can swap it over (hopefully)...and probably just worrying if I have went with the best machine, as an extra £570 isn't going to make that much of a difference...but obviously I want to make sure it is worth it.

So, would you recommend I change the 6990's to 580's...would it make the machine more future proof?

The rest of my config is:

2860QM Processor
Windows 7 Pro
16384MB (4x4GB) 1600 MHz DDR3
1TB Momentus XT Solid State Hybrid Raid 0 (7200rpm)
Blue Ray ROM Combo
Killer Wireless-N 1103

Cheers in advance!

 

dude, obviously gtx580m is better than 6990, plus you should have ordered from hidevolution.com since it will save you plenty of quids

 

Thanks for the reply...

Unfortunately, I couldn't go via Hide, as I'm taking the laptop on finance.

Also, now Dell are having an issue with me requesting the change of Graphics card...even though I want to pay the additional £570 in cash (not add to the finance deal).

Would it really be worth it taking the 580's...as it may mean I need to cancel the order and start again?

What would be the benefits of going with them?

Cheers

 

Not worth the minimal gain in performance.

 

If you want the best get the 580's. If you can live with second best(a very close second) stay with the 6990's. It wasn't long ago when the m18x came out and people thought the extreme processors were over kill. Now those same people recommend getting said processors. For me, I was spending a lot on this beast what six hundred more At least I can say I have the best! For a couple of months that is

 

6990s and 580s are equal. 6990s win in some cases, 580s win in other cases.

nvidia costs alot more, but hey you have physX which only like 10% of users actually need lol

oh, and i'm actually a Nvidia fan-boy... but the facts r the facts...

 

got my m18x today and cpu idle at 47 C, while 1st gpu idle at 65 and 2nd gpu idle at 50.. this is normal right?

also I used speccy it says crossfire is disabled, where as in GPUZ it says crossfire is enabled.. the hell? anyone got a GPU meter that works with 6990 crossfire? cause Ive tried gpumeter, gpumonitor, gpuoperator and none of them work, the meter reads nothing.

edit: does anyone know how to stop alienrespawn and alien tactx macro key at the start up? its always in the bottom right mini icon thing but its not in the startup menu, and i cant find where to disable them.

 

edit2: the top keys, ESC, F1 to F12, especially the escape key gets stuck and wont come up after i press once. after a while the esc key came back up on its own, but the plastic lid/cap of the escape key came off..

3100 dollar laptop with a keyboard like that on its 1st day unpacking. im thinking of returning it cause i dont think even they can fix it, its obviously something flawed with the design that the top row keys are too close to the keyboard frame to get stuck like that.

 

dead on, its clear thanks to Johnksss that the 580s have more theoretical potential but the actual experience of non extreme users is virtually the same ... 6990s therefore ought to win out due to price ... but its really up to personal preference. Again, the 580s have the slight edge.

Your temps are kind of normal ... thats a little big of a difference, but generally there is a noticed difference between teh two GPUs ... run a game that makes use of Crossfire for a whlie and compare temps ... one paste job might be better than the other ... but usually one GPU is cooler than the other by 5 - 10 degs

Sticky keys seem wierd ... haven't heard of this on the forums at all really. there is a decent amount of clearance ... is it possible there is somethign sticky on your keys keeping them down ? someone spill something ? (totally unacceptable in production ...)

Either way replacing the keyboard should take about 2 mins and a tech should be able to do this with no problem ... dell should send one out right away. On a whole this system is awesome... I wouldn't return it if all else is running well were I you ...

 

Hello,
At first I'm sorry for my english lacks.
Also just received my m18x 3 days ago and have two problems with it:
-6990m fans not always spinning (but I'm not alone,have found the post about this problem);
-the main problem is that my hd 3000 seems not to work, when hitting Fn+F7,m18x shutdown to switch to integrated gpu,but when turning back on have no screen,just black one,and have to disconnect the Bios battery (small cable on the MB just near HDD) to make my screen work again,but on 6990m not HD 3000...could it be an hardware problem?

 

it was really a disappointment, i was on phone on hold for nearly 2 hrs to get a hold of dell tech while they transfer me wrong 4 times and i was running in circle, totally different customer service as to when i was trying to buy the laptop. nevertheless they are going to call me one of these days to set up a time and have a tech come out.

regarding to the possible spill in production, that is not possible since when the lid/cap came off, its not sticky at all. and i have checked trying to using a very thin plastic card and trying to insert it between top of the key and the keyboard frame, it wouldnt fit, meaning theres no space at all.

currently there are total of 5 keys that are stuck. escape key was the worst which the lid came off. f1, f3, f7 and f8.

 

very very odd ... it sounds like it should be a quick and easy fix though if that makes it any better ... if not, you could always demand compensation ... I think there should always be a measure of compensation when a business messes up an order or something slips through quality control.

 

If you read my guide here, you can easily take out the KB and see what happened. From what it sounds like, either they didn't put it in right or they didn't screw something in (not unheard of).

Its up to you and it would save you some aggravation.

Now I just have to fix my m17x issues and I should be all set :/

 

Just pulled the trigger and ordered my very own M18x. It will be replacing my Asus G73sw that was just not cutting it anymore.

Here are my specs:

Nebula Red
2760qm
Dual 6990's
4gb 1600mhz ddr3 (I will add more myself they wanted too much for an extra 4gb.)
Bluray
500gb hdd (Plan on replacing this with 2 SSD's on arrival.
Killer Nic


Very Excited should be here on 11/10.

 

i wish i had the courage and experience to do this but im a total noob. i dont wanna break more than what already happened to it. since i already explained to them what the original problem was, they not gonna held up if there are more problems other than the ESC plastic lid coming off along with few keys that are stuck.

 

Just got this system on monday. Was curious as to whether the integrated graphics card should show up in device manager/bios? (Mine shows no other display adapter.

I've had the computer boot up into just a black screen several times. A reboot will typically solve the problem.

The m17x this replaced showed the integrated graphics/discrete graphics card when it was working properly.

Nvidia card.

 

I rechecked in BIOS in order to make things clear

Nvidia graphics card is detected properly

no integrated graphics card detected in BIOS

no integrated graphics card is detected in device manager

 

you must press fn-f7 to switct between gpu modes and this must be done in windows with the alien on screen display software installed (should be factory installed). OSD will notify you a reboot is required. once you accept it will shut down the machine for a second or two and then start up again. this causes the gpu's (either the discrete or integrated) to be powered off. whichever gpu recieves power is listed in bios and windows detects it. this is why you get such a long battery life when switching, because the dedicated card(s) are actually turned off.

 

No one have an idea:
"Hello,
At first I'm sorry for my english lacks.
Also just received my m18x 3 days ago and have two problems with it:
-6990m fans not always spinning (but I'm not alone,have found the post about this problem);
-the main problem is that my hd 3000 seems not to work, when hitting Fn+F7,m18x shutdown to switch to integrated gpu,but when turning back on have no screen,just black one,and have to disconnect the Bios battery (small cable on the MB just near HDD) to make my screen work again,but on 6990m not HD 3000...could it be an hardware problem?"

 

Torgars my issue is simliar to yours

ARGH

FN+F7 does as described but upon reboot there's still no intergrated graphics card and the same with the bios.

Factory install + Factory image reinstallation still same issue.

This is a brand new replacement system and I do not want to use this thing unless I am certain that all is well.

Like Torgars FN&F7 brings up the dialog but it never switches. In my case upon reboot it will just hang at a black screen. At time it will just boot to a black screen without any prompting.

Torgars has 6990, I have 560.

Any ideas?

 

does anyone know how to stop alienrespawn and alien tactx macro key at the start up? its always in the bottom right mini icon thing but its not in the startup menu, and i cant find where to disable them.

 

Thanks for all the replies around 6990's v 580's...decided to stick with the 6990's!

I have another question around production/delivery. My status showed the laptop as in production on thursday, with an estimated delivery date of November 16th. I have now checked again this morning, and it has now moved to shipped?! Obviously that's a great thing...but is the turnaround normally that fast...as it seems a bit of a jump to go from November 16th, to now probably around November 2nd/3rd?

Is this quick turnaround everyone else's experience?

Cheers

 

for AlienRespawn, disable the SoftThinks Agent service. On the TactX macro keys, I have not looked for a way to disable that. It is integrated with Alienware Command Center.

 

My m18 was 7 days from order to delivery

 

I called alienware technical support. After I described everything I troubleshooted and after their troubleshooting they've concluded that my motherboard is likely bad.

If this turns out to be the case I've received a brand new machine with keyboard flex, a wonky touchpad, missing screw and a bad motherboard. Ouch.

However, Alienware support is excellent and friendly and despite the time I invested I feel like they care! Just have to deal with multiple dispatches now.

 

softthink agent service? that in the taskmanager, services? like with a list of other services that go with it, so i just have to disable it or make it stop or something?

edit: anyone get the coretemp + gpu gadget to work with 6990 crossfire?

 

START> In search menu type services.msc > Select services

Scroll down to service

Right click > Properties > Startup type > Disabled

 

Bloodroses you think that I have to call Dell Support for them to replace my MB too?
Will them dispatch you a technician or have you to send your m18x back?

 

Anyone got any advice for a noob that can't seem to get crossfire working on Deus ex and gta4 (so far DOW2 is the only game that seems to work ok). My 6970m setup says it's active in CCC and I've even dabbled with Radeonpro (unsuccessfully).

 

Whoa dude, good luck with the repairs man.

However, does anyone know how to fix ethernet speed? I got extremely low speed with ethernet cable! But with wifi all seems to be fine?

Any ideas anyone?

 

could be your router and network settings....i was just having this exact same issue...but once i change what network it was on...it started working fine.

 

Wheres scook been lately? Looks like real life is getting in the way

 

he is still in training i think...

 

Folks, Is there anybody that can dump the 560M vBIOS please, with nvflash if possible, i'd appreciate it!

Thanks

 

anyone manually installed an SSD on the m18x alienware?

i wanted to install one, but sure dont want to experience that BSOD and stutter thing with SSD and prety sure dont wanna try updating the firmware seems too much of a hassle. so i have read up on 1st gen of SSD seems the ones with no Sandforce wont go BSOD as often as the 2nd gen SSD.

any suggestion of which kind of SSD to use that probably wont give off BSOD without firmware upgrades?

basically, all i want to do is install that SSD, install window with the window DVD came with alienware laptop package, and thats it..

 

Crucial M4 with firmware 0009 is rock solid. No reason to fear firmware updates... they're quick and simple. The drives with Sandforce controllers have historically had significant issues, but should stabilize with maturity. The current Crucial, Intel and Samsung SSD drives are all noted for being stable and reliable.

 

Yep. Even my somewhat dated Crucial C300 is a great performer on Sata III interface - not as fast as the newer drives but still very respectable. I know I am happy with mine and the updating of the firmware was very simple as Mr Fox says - simply burn an .iso to disc and boot from it...job done (if needed or not latest .rev).. so nothing to fear from that point.

 

I used to get stutter and freze with my C300 120GB if i use intel rapid storage, with out the rapid storege there where no problem.

 

and is your drive running at 6 gb or now 3 gb?

 

It was running at 6GB on achi mode, I give up and put back my 320gb hd after I Tried all, Nothing worked even hibernate off.

 

Im on Intel's RST Drivers and firmware 0007 for my C300 and no probs here - no sata flip-flopping or stuttering...on a side note, the 0007 firmware doesnt cure the stuttering, its the LPM reg. hack that does that....have you implemented that?

 

how do u disable intel rapid storage? i went into taskmanager then services and disable that particular service, however the icon in system tray still shows only it says its disabled, but the icon is still there..

and do i disable it right after installing the window? cause the alienware window dvd came as factory default and already has intelrapid installed on it.

 

yest unintall it

 

Hey guys, I'm a bit behind in the times of the alienware laptops [as you can tell from my sig].

I'm wanting to know if there's anywhere I can price a base model without the HDD/memory/OS options since that just needlessly adds to the final price..


**Also, what is this wireless HD all about? Basically put the video onto the TV? Is that buggy or does that work well? And what brand product are you finding works best for this on the config page?

 

i dont think there is one, i dont think there are any resellers out there that sells alienware, maybe dell dont' allow them. unlike the sagers/clevo they are everywhere.

heres one where you can maybe get up to 10% off, one of the very few notebook reselling for alienware that i know of. Alienware. but config the laptop, needs to be done on alienware anyway so.. kinda weird

regards to the wireless HD, im not so sure cause i didnt get mine but ive seen friends who has it although with other kinds of laptops. and they do work pretty well nowadays

 

It seems it's a replacement for the home theater system then? That's what I been looking for, because I have a stone-age dvd player and no external wireless drive setup.

 

the spec in ur system is oldschool =D

 

Hi,

It looks like alienware is going to build me a new m18x to replace mine due to weird issues with the video card, getting the color wrong of the case and a bad keyboard.

Assuming they build a base unit with SLI 560 vs the 460's i have is there a significant performance difference with the 560's?

i do realize that the base processor will also be an improvement so i'm sure there's going to be a cumulative improvment.