Area-51 m15x Update from Alienware

Yep, I did that last night and have'nt got anything yet.

 

They may be calling in order of those who emailed. I emailed AW right after Frank posted it, so I got the call relatively early in the game.

 

I got called a while ago, but still haevn't recieve the email yet. The guy on teh phone said he was sendig it right away. Guess I just need to be more patient.

 

you can check it with cpu-z or everest. or more simple, in the bios by typing F2 or del (I don't know what you have to press in your model) after power on the notebook

 

Thanks. Maybe tonight or Wednesday.

 

Thanx WLF46WLF

 

I may be jumping the gun but this appears to be fantastic news. Like I said from the start, it's not the problems that worry me, it's the solutions.

 

you're welcome

 

Ok here's some screenies.

First, Everest showing the BIOS version, and next to it is the Rivatuner log showing temps while running 3DM06.


Next is ATI Tool:

 

nice! i cant wait!

 

can you monitor the temperature while gaming, indicating the point where the fan speeds up to the last "gear"? so we can see how that speed up improve in terms of making the temperature slower. another thing is: when the fan speeds up, can the GPU reach a temperature when the fan can speed a step down?

 

I would WLF46WLF, but I'm currently at work.

One thing to look out for, if your GPU downclocks below 90 deg, like 85 deg as some people have mentioned, I'm not sure if this BIOS will help you. From what I can tell, the fans kick in to high gear at around 86-87. Mine has never downclocked below 90, so I haven't had the issue with this new BIOS.

 

Please! I ended up missing the call (it ended up on voicemail), and I think the techs might have left for the day... :cry:

Cursed being on PDT....

 

Okay, I'm not sure if AW wants users to be posting this, so I take no responsibility if this voids your warranty or your epeen.

x29b P3 BIOS:
http://www.mediafire.com/?mbj91tzwz4x

EDIT: Burn this ISO to disc, and boot from CD to flash.

 

Haha. Just got the call, actually. The tech told me that it should address a lot of the issues people have been having, so for me, in addition to the overheating, it should also help with the finickiness I've seen with the Stealth Mode button.

 

oh, I'm sorry

btw, I think there were still some different versions of bios, even if they had the same funtionality.
It could happened, in different BIOS versions, that there is an offset in the temperature lecture. i.e. a bios could read 60 while another could read 55. so I think that the higher idle temperature is not a big deal, and that if the problem is solved by this BIOS version, then it will be solved for all of you guys.
I think real problems are: has the fan been tested for run at that higher step for so long?

 

well does this Bios also resolve the problems with the touch-sensitive buttons not working after hibernation-mode?


saint

 

so i'm lost now, am I supposed to call them, or is that pointless and they will just tell me to wait to get a call...

 

Just try and call, it won't be worse If you e-mailed them, you should get a call today or tomorrow.

I doubt the update can't be done without AW help, but I would just call and try to get somebody to help me.

 

We will resume shipping when the final BIOS is ready. We are aiming for end of this week but I can't make that commitment just yet. I assure you we want to resume shipping as much as everyone else and we will not delay any longer than necessary.

 

Anything unusual in the BIOS flash procedure? I would prefer just doing the update on my own rather than deal with anyone's customer support department. I believe myself to be more than capable of handling insertion of an ISO image into my drive and dealing with a few prompts.

So long as there is no arcane protocol you need to be walked thru by a phone CS rep ... Is it as straightforward as it seems it should be?

 

This Beta BIOS release was designed to fix the throttling issues reported with the 8800GTX graphics card on the m15x only. We are still working on the other issues reported including the touch capacitve buttons.

 

I just call Aw and they say the bios is not ready. It would be up to 2 weeks . Anyway I will wait cause its a beta version. I dun wanna to be a bunny.

 

Nothing out of the ordinary. Just hit Y when prompted twice I think it was.

 

When the final version of the Bios is ready will current M15x owners be notified?

I would like to apply the new Bios to my computer but would like to wait until a final version is ready to go. I am safe like that.

 

Just a question, with the final release of the BIOS will it also be possible to use unlocked multiplier with the X9000 or is this not planned on the m15x.

 

Welp, looks like i missed the boat today, critical issues team leaves after 5pm, so nobody's there to officially hand me the bios..

i want to just flash it on my own, no worries doing so, except i'm still in my 30 day period and i want all this documented in their ticketing system. no offense to you shima

 

@ alienware frank

so should i call customer service to ask them to send my laptop back asap with out fixing it? (since they probably dont even have the bios at the texas repair facility)

 

Hi Frank. It's great news about the Bios issue being implimented so quickly, that's fantastic service.
I was wondering, has this overheating issue been tested for on the M17X with SLI graphics cards. I'm wondering if they/it have improved cooling as if not there's alot more components (well from what little info there is on the net since November anyway lol), to cause in increased heat-load.

Any idea when it will e released by the way....? Sorry i had to ask.

OB

 

We have validated the thermal profiles on m17x to ensure they are performing as designed. m17x is coming soon, that's all I can say .

 

yeah, I'd like to know this too, but my guess is they won't

 

I think, Frank is assigned for m15x. So I assume he don't have answer for m17x.

That means, he could have answer to : When is the SkullCap and black color option will be available to us?

The video in Alienware during the press release mentioned it supposed to be somewhere in Q1. Just last time I remember m9750 was released late in Q3 which was a long wait. I hope Alienware won't repeat the same mistake again.

ps: nevermind, he already answer that. I am very sure he has answer for my question as well and oh, +rep to Frank for the support here at forum.

 

Cool, that's a relief, i'm guessing that the M15X issue made the checking all the more worth it?

I know you probably can't answer but, i'm sorry but, you're the nearest thing to a "source" as i can get

Can you possibly give me month for the release, there's loads of rumours and the most recent date is mid-april and As samsung has released a 500Gb HDD, will it be released for the M17X or the M15X as a possible upgrade?

Sorry for asking

OB

 

Has anyone tried this with sucess yet?? Alienware called me today and of course I was at work and missed the call....AAARRRRGGGHHHH.

 

actually, i did download and nero failed to burn the image, not sure if it was a bad download or a crappy cd or what, but i took it as a sign, just gonna wait til they email it to me

 

this is ridiculous it should have beeen posted on alienware.com the second it was released. we should not have to wait till they decide who to give it to. Everyone with the 8800m gtx needs this bios update.

 

I agree with you but I think that there calling us because this it just a BETA version and not the final BIOS. I missed the call today and of course tech support said that it's not ready. I guess that we will see very soon, I hope.

 

I'm thinking the same..

 

oh i forgot about that. how long will it take for a final build?

 

Tech support told me that it would be this week. Who knows??? Lets just hope for the best

 

it depends. Beta means it could probably still have some minor flaws and bugs. Once all that wiped out, then probably they will launched the final version. Frank said maybe by the end of this week.

I'll say that is super-fast enough to launch a beta and deliver a final 4-5 days after releasing beta.

Still, I don't like the idea of delaying the black color option and SkullCap. Alienware please release this before summer..

 

Sorry for the bad news everyone, but I'm still having problems even after the bios update.

What shima is saying is EXACTLY correct.. mine was always downclocking around 84c...

You can see i got past 85c in one instance and the 'super fans' kicked in. As a result the temps decreased substantially (see the 1st 2 markers).

Problem is I wasn't so lucky later (3rd marker) fans didn't kick in in time and I downclocked.

2 other weird things: 1) my idling temp is now higher (65c vs 55c) and 2) before the bios update I wasn't hitting max gaming temps of 88c. Even after playing for over 1 hr, my max was around 86.

Looks like this needs more tweaking...

 

Then its your GPU that needs a flash or / drivers. 90C downclock is software controlled withen the GPU I would think.. So yea, need a flash.

 

Something to note: My burn process also failed, but upon putting the CD in it worked anyway, so I decided to try it.

Told it to boot from the CD, the thing loaded, I pressed "r", and when it asked I just pressed y (did that twice) and then it did installed it and rebooted. Simple. It comes with a nice .PDF with pictures too.

Also in the process of downloading SP1.

More benchmarks with the new bios coming soon.

 

Good luck! Let us know how it works for you.

 

not to take away from the "big" issue, but this other issue i raised regarding holding integrated touchpad right-mouse button causing media center to launch and interfering with anyone using that button in a hold state (ie lefties, alternate input in games), has been updated in this thread.

Mr. Azor, I'd love to see as snappy an update to this issue as the GPU downclock issue has gotten, as this issue is actually driving me more crazy then watching my GPU repeatedly save itself from suicide has.

(not to mention my 30 day return period is dwindling away)

 

I also had problems burning the iso cd... ended up using a DVD and it worked.

Good idea w/ the SP1... downloading it now and I'll see how everything runs.

 

*head asplodes* i hope this is a unique experience.

 

Ok so SP1 is done installing, and I'm seeing a huge performance increase with copying files and whatever else it did.

To be honest, I'm not going to bother posting my more extensive RivaTuner results because one thing saves time and space.

~

That is all. No downclocking for me anymore. But, I will add this. Can you tell when I lifted the book?

http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/2342/hightempgz2.jpg