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    m17x-R1 Bios Update?

    Discussion in 'Alienware Area-51/Aurora and Legacy Systems' started by freeqaz, Feb 16, 2012.

  1. freeqaz

    freeqaz Newbie

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    Hey guys!

    I just purchased a used M17x R1 laptop. It's got an Intel Core 2 Extreme processor that I would like to overclock a bit. Problem is, the stock bios doesn't have this feature. I've found a few bios roms with unlocked menus for this, but I can't get them to flash.

    I think I've isolated the problem to the bios version. My laptop has AMI (American Megatrends) bios. Version 306. The Dell utility opens up a Pheonix bios flasher though. The latest version number is A07. Perhaps newer laptops of the same gen have different BIOS versions? Would I be able to flash over to the newer version?

    I've spent the last few hours googling this issue with no luck. The error that I get is, "BCPSYS not found" in WinPhlash64

    CPUZ identifies the motherboard as the following

    ASUSTek Computer Inc
    Model F17
    Intel PM965
    Intel 82801HBM (ICH8-M)

    The BIOS Release date was 07/23/2008 :/

    Just to be clear, the bottom of the laptop says, "Alienware Corp M17x R1"

    Not sure if that falls under the category of 'legacy' or not (There's another subforum for that).

    The dates on the RAM in CPU-Z say 11/09 Week/Year. I'm thinking these are the stock DDR2 modules, so that places this sometime early-mid 2009.

    This laptop has Dual 9800 GT NVIDIA Cards. I figured it wasn't bad for $700 :p
     
    freeqaz, Feb 16, 2012
    #1
  2. DR650SE

    DR650SE The Whiskey Barracuda

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    Yea, thats the M17 I believe which is in the legacy. It's a pre dell model I believe so flashing the M17x R1 vbios found on the dell website won't work.
     
    DR650SE, Feb 16, 2012
    #2
  3. freeqaz

    freeqaz Newbie

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    Mmm, alright. Did Dell ever make models with Core 2s?
     
    freeqaz, Feb 16, 2012
    #3
  4. DR650SE

    DR650SE The Whiskey Barracuda

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    They did, but not with 9800GT GPUs. The motherboards will be configured differant so a Dell Bios won't work.
     
    DR650SE, Feb 16, 2012
    #4
  5. makatec

    makatec Notebook Enthusiast

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    Has anyone the newest bios for this machine? it cant be downloaded anywhere..
     
    makatec, May 7, 2012
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  6. voyagermix

    voyagermix Newbie

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    the 306 was tha LAST for us :(
     
    voyagermix, Jan 24, 2013
    #6