BIOS A02 for M17x-R2 is now available!

The A02 BIOS for the M17x-R2 system is now available at support.dell.com
I hope this fixes the flickering issues

 

Oh yeah please let me know. I hope it fixes the problem.

 

Good news for all.

 

sweet 1 step down, now just need to hear about them 5870's and i'll be ready to order.

 

I don't know.... fingers is kinda itchy. I could go the route by ordering it, and then just upgrade the 5870s card when it's available, given the savings that I will be getting. Still up in the air.

Mandrake, If you sell me your 920xm.......I might place my order..lol

Is the new bios any different than the advanced one you received?

 

Hey guys i am a total computer newbie, how do i update the Bios? I got flickering on my 820QM anyone got a guide on how to install the BIOS?

 

Download the file and run it.

 

Alienware M17x R2 A02 System BIOS Installation Instructions

There are two methods to choose from:

1. Method 1 - Boot to DOS based media such as USB flash storage and execute the file "DOSFLSH.bat". Follow all on screen instructions.

2. Method 2 - Insert a blank cd into your system and create a bootable CD by double-clicking the file "M17R2A02.ISO". Once the cd burn is complete, reboot your system with the CD in the drive. Press the F12 key when you see the Alienware Logo. This will bring up the boot menu. On the boot menu choose "CD\DVD\BD-ROM". The system will now boot to CD. Follow all on screen instructions.

Didn't feeel like typing. lol

 

Insructions included in the downloaded zip file.

 

You can just run it from Win 7 it works fine too.

 

good, just one more step missing 5870's and i may consider to buy another m17X

 

Is it secret! Is it safe! I mean does it work? is the flickering gone (besides Joker)?

 

I sure hope so

 

Wow, I checked it only an hour ago and it wasn't there. Good to see it is finally out. Time to install!

EDIT: this cracked me up when I read it (SLI configuration?):
"Alienware M17x R2 A02 BIOS Release Notes
1. Fixed issue where video would flicker from time to time when using an over-clocked XE cpu in conjunction with a dual SLI video card configuration."

 

This Bios is Bull. Downloaded it, followed the instruction ( burned the .ISO on a cd, booted with CD ). Installed, turned Xfire on, loaded Crysis, then BANG Flickering as if nothing has changed !!!

 

Let us know asap if it fixed your flickering issue

 

its not fixing anything ( flickering wise )

 

Crysis is driver related. The flickering you see in that game is the textures. Run furmark and see if it flickers with max settings. If it doesn't, then consider it resolved.

 

I wasnt having any flickering when playing Crysis single card
+ the flickering I see aint texture.. its the whole screen flashing, whole screen scrolling and all... but, ill go try another game now, lets fire Mass Effect and see what it thinks

 

Ok, just out of Mass Effect, same thing, screen flickers, screen scrolling ( in fact, it was as if I had 1 image staying in place, and a duplicate one scrolling top to bottom once every few seconds )

 

yea same for me, crysis doesnt flicker with single card but the frame rate is like 19-24 so its pretty laggy with crossfire its 35-50 but it flickers.

I jsut downloaded and instaled the new bios thx for those ppl that helped me out. It still flickers in crysis. I will try joker's advice and install furmark and see what happens.

 

I never put too much faith in BIOS updates

 

In the bios fix it mentioned for " XE CPU " , which is i7-920xm. What about 720qm or 820qm cause these aren't " XE CPU ". So does it mean that the fix is only for the i7-920xm?

 

I wouln't call it a "fix", as, so far, it doesn't fix anything

 

Dracomagus has the 920xm I believe and it didn't fix his problem according to what he is seeing

 

Oh no !! I see another bios fix might be coming....again

Joker,

Won't you back up your advance bios and share it with the owners who has an R2 since you said that " your " version does not cause flickering, and seems the new Bios just released still has not fixed the issue.

 

True, but lets first run this new thing through some more users and some more tests before we call it dead. I really get the frustration though...I would be pissed.

Do you want to try a few more things with it. Like disable crossfire and re-enable it. Reinstalling the stock video drivers from scratch, then moving to 10.3. Poke it around a bit.

 

I'll try and make a small video to show what my screens doing on Xfire.

I have the 920xm, the new 10.3 Catalyst drivers and the new Bios wich says its fixes the problems with SLI... so when's the patch for Xfire ???

So I'll make a video and test some other stuff.. but after Lost, wich start now

 

dumb question but did you verify your bios version in the bios?

 

The technicians wouldn't have been that clueless to actually patch this thing for SLI and not Xfire right?....RIGHT?!?!

 

Yea, good point. I would try reinstalling the stock graphics drivers and see what happens since that is probably what they built it on. Then reinstall 10.3 and compare. Maybe just a reinstallation of drivers is all that is needed.

 

and which kind of flash did you used ?, meaning, DOS or "on Fly" installation ?

 

Unless you know how to back up the EC + bios safely then the answer is unfortunately no.

P.S. zfactor wasn't able to find a way.

 

I just went back to the Bios to make sure, and YES, I do have the A02 BIOS

 

What's the EC version?

 

The what ?? what is that ? and where do I look for that ?

 

It should be listed where the BIOS version is listed.

 

Ok, going back inside Bios to check...

 

Ok, even though I didn't have the flickering problem I wanted to make sure A02 didn't introduce any problems with my 820qm. I have stock Dell drivers for everything.

I ran Furmark for 11 mins and didn't see any flickering at all and my GPU temps hung around 64-66. one thing I did notice is the last time I ran this test I was getting around 6-7 FPS on Furmark. This time with A02 I got 10-11 FPS. An improvement, but not sure if the BIOS update did that that?

 

Here's my BIOS

 

You might want to edit/black out your service tag.

 

Damn, yeah thx, forgot you could see it there... !!!

 

So, does it work or not? There has to be 1 more dude with the 920 that tried this.

 

Well, I tried 2 games with the sames results... so, for me, no it doesnt work... so even if it works for some and not for others, we can still say its not good

 

" dude, where's my m17x-R2 " kek kekek

 

So what's your EC version? I didn't see the picture.

 

, everytime I reload the new image with the hidden Service tag, it still comes back with the service tag....

anyway, its 15.25

 

That's the same as mine and I have no flickering in all my games except 1. That one exception is GTA IV and only when the CPU is OC'd to 5% and even then it's very erratic flickering (sometimes it will briefly flicker for a second and then never again). Try reflashing and if that doesn't work, a clean driver install. All I can say is that the bios has worked fine for me in the following games:

1. Frontlines Fuel of War
2. Left 4 Dead 2
3. GTA IV (mostly)
4. DiRt2
5. Batman Arkham Asylum
6. Team Fortress 2
7. Battlefield Bad Company 2

I think that's a large enough variety of games to conclude the bios does indeed work. Anyway if this bios release doesn't resolve the issue for the rest of you, then you should contact Dell about it. I suppose that makes my M17x-R2 a special edition?

 

@joker

Is there anyway to verify that the bios loaded on your current system is the same release as the A02 online?

 

The bios/ec version matches up so I'd assume it's the same one.