M17 B14 bios- Anyone tried it?

Hi folks. Long time lurker, newbie poster. I've tried to search the forums but can't find anything on this.

I've noticed B14 bios appear on the MyHive download area. Has anyone tried it and/or know what this version does?

I'm quietly hoping it will fix stuttering problems with my QX9300 system (as I'd hoped B13 would do), though I'm using zfactor's .28 bios (thanks zfactor!) I would eventually like to go "legit" again...

Thanks in advance, and pls forgive me if this is posted elsewhere...

 

I thought the stuttering issue was from excessive heat in the Northbridge area or something? There is an entire thread dedicated to this subject, and a few of our residents have done a lot of homework and dedicated a lot of their time to it.

As for going legit (I have the OCZ BIOS), I won't do it until Alienware allows for overclocking. If you hit FN+F12, you'll see an icon pop up that asks if you want to OC the CPU, but it doesn't do anything. So, at some point, there were plans to allow overclocking.

 

I have no idea what it is intended to fix, but when mine came last week it had b14 already loaded on it. I have no issues at this point that I have seen other complain about, but I have a dual and not a quad.

 

Thanks for the update. I've been following the stuttering thread(s) for quite some time and I've read many theories about how the quad is causing issues (northbridge, under/overvolt, different batches of QX's, etc). So fully appreciate the research you guys are doing (hence why I joined here).

I just wanted to know if anyone's tried the B14 bios (or knows anything about it) and wondering what it does?

 

Equesta,
Had the stuttering problem on my M17. Reflashed to B14 bios and noticed some improvement but still stutters sometimes playing Crysis but not as much. Don't forget to enable Raid if you reflash.

 

can someone link it? i cant find it in My hive

 

can someone upload it to somewhere please...

thanks.

 

Thanks tanamerra. Definitely learned the hard way with the RAID with a heart stopping moment!

For the rest of you - it's interesting how it appears on certain MyHive areas and not others. Anyway, I've uploaded the ISO here:

http://rapidshare.com/files/244388770/M17_B14_Bios.iso

(First time I've shared the file, so apologies in advance if it bottoms out)

 

I'm not sure what version my M17 came with, but I got it less than a week ago, so it might have the B14 on it. All I can say is that in the area of quad core stuttering, I've got no problems with it, apart from the very rare case of a minute or two's stuttering.

 

Just try the FN+F12, than you should konw wheather you have the new or the old

Greetings
Julian

 

FN+F12 does nothing on my M17.

 

I have the old Bios as well and experience the same^^

B14 would show you the "overclock" but wouldn't chance anything^^ Or did I got that wrong?

Greetings
Julian

 

B14 does not show me anything either pressing FN+F12.

 

The BIOS doesn't matter. I'm using the OCZ BIOS. It's an OSD option, just like the ones that pop up when you turn on/off your Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. You're right, Julian, it doesn't do anything. Just reboots, but the clocks stay the same. If the new BIOS supports overclocking, you'll know by the ability to up the multiplier in the actual BIOS screen. If you want to overclock, flash the OCZ BIOS. I'm not holding my breath waiting for Alienware to release a BIOS that supports overclocking...especially since the M17 is 'old hat' now.

 

After posting on the Alienware forums, AW-Warner confirmed that the B14 BIOS was intended to fix the intermittent stuttering issue, so I guess I'll give it a shot tonight.

 

Good luck Marvie. The B14 BIOS helped my M17 but still stutters sometimes.

 

Is this bios only for people with a Quad? As i dont see it in MyHive?

 

Hm I don't have it as well ...

Greetings
Julian

 

b14 does not eliminate the stuttering with the qx9300 ive tried it out now.. still stutters. this was on a whitebook from a customer i have he let me go ahead and try it and i saw no difference

 

Well I've just installed it, so I guess we'll get another opinion. When I called tech support prior to installing it, he said "Let me check that bios revision and see what its intended fix is" then came back with "Ok I've verified that intended fix is to eliminate the stuttering issue, so lets go ahead and try it". I'll give it a whirl for a few days and post back my findings as well. Going back to Balance Power Profile to really see if there are any effects, as that's where I was getting most of my issues.

 

Confirmed, B14 BIOS does NOT eliminate the stuttering issue on either High Performance or Balanced power profiles.

 

I guess noone has been able to dig into either Alienware's or OCZ'a BIOS's to determine what if anything is the difference in the two? Seems OCZ's BIOS may have had it right.

 

Marvie100 is correct. Mine also still stutters after reflashing to the B14 BIOS. Alienware just can't seem to get it right at least not yet. i was told by CS they are still working on a fix.

 

yea b14 wont fix the the shutters yet but it shutters for a lesser time than when i first got my m17 back in december

 

I'm trying to decide if B14 brought some back, I was "pretty ok" just before the BIOS update, and now its definitely apparent again.

 

That is not good to know.

 

Just as an update, I've got the dreaded Vista WGA notification/OEM activation thingy with the .28 OCZ bios (rather randomly!) and had to "revert" to the B14 BIOS.

Not happy having to lose the ability to OC, but things seem a little smoother than the original B10 BIOS.

On a side note, has anyone resolved the Vista WGA/OEM activation thing while using the OCZ BIOS?

 

I would say, try win7 RC2

 

I have B14 Bios...still stutters, but have major increase in 3DMarks!! Lets hope they figure this out!!

 

Did you try typing in the code from inside the battery compartment to activate?

 

You just have to retype the code lol! Flashing the bios makes windows think its another machine so it deletes the code.. you have to input it again and it works.

And how can you people still put up with this? Why dont you ask aw for an exchange to m17x or a refund? Two people already successfully did this in USA.

 

Welcome back HellCry, sorry to hear your warranty was voided . Looks like you've got a sweet looking Clevo on the way though.
To answer your question though, I "put up with it" because I can't be without a computer right now, and shipping takes two weeks each way to where I am so returning it and waiting for another is out of the question. I'm also not willing to pay a 15% restocking fee, which I know they will tag me with for returning it. The problem is so intermittent I usually only get it within the first 20 minutes of starting the computer up, after that it pretty well goes away, and I'm able to use it just fine. I still hold onto some faith in Alienware that they'll get it figured out with a BIOS fix. Its apparent that they're aware of it, and have made an attempt to fix it with B14, albeit it was a failure. Beyond that, I still like everything about this machine.

 

@HellCry & Marvie: D'Oh! I just realised that I could do that and retype in the code under my battery, which is a different product code from the Alienware OEM one, BTW... So back on OCZ .28 - Whew!

@kampfen: Yeah - I do have Win7 RC sat next to me, and while really can't wait to install it and reap its benefits (I still don't like Vista!), previous experience urges me to wait to the full retail release or even SP1 before upgrading.

Anyway, back on topic - it's a shame B14 is a bit of a bust. Let's hope they come out with a decent fix (including ability to OC "for real" as hinted around here) before the M17 becomes to old hat to support.

 

yeah all you have to do is call over the phone it will activate

 

and trust me guys i would not have posted it didnt work if i didnt test it out lol..i also think it made it worse than it was before. the .28 is def the best so far.

 

Z, did you go back to the .28 OCZ Bios? I've downloaded it, but its not an ISO like AW's BIOS is. Can I just run the AW BIOS CD to get to the boot screen, then swap out a CD with the OCZ BIOS and run that one, or is there a better way to install the OCZ BIOS?

 

hang on ill link you to my bios update for the ocz..

 

here it is in iso form :

http://rapidshare.com/files/203466779/zfactor_.28_bios.iso

here it is in regular .rar form:

http://rapidshare.com/files/189911432/Zfactor-28-BIOS.rar

simply make a bootable usb or disc and copy the files to it then run phlash16 to update

 

Thanks Z. I realised I could use the Product code from the sticker under the battery, which was different from the OEM product code.

Slightly off topic, but just a heads up anyone trying to revert back/go to the .28 OCZ bios the AW B14: The boot CD (that was burnt from the ISO) containing the .28 that I used to flash from B10 doesn't seem to work any more when booting under B14.

Tried several burns and played with the boot sequence, etc, but to no avail (though it did boot the B14 CD, though!). The only way I got around it is to use zfactor's bootable USB stick technique, which then worked...

So double thanks to Z...

 

One more question for those of you using the OCZ .28 BIOS. When you flash to that BIOS, do you forever lose the ability to use the Alienware Respawn 2.0 on the partition until you flash back to an Alienware BIOS? Or does it still show up after the bios status window?

 

The Alienware Respawn is still there in .28 as it's part of the hard drive boot sequence, rather than from BIOS. So flash away....

 

I am looking at doing a flash to Z's .28 when my quad arrives should be middle of next week, has there been much of a failure rate with bios flashes

Last time i mucked about with a bios flash it was always seen as a thing of last resort as with the chance for the bricking of the system was "considerable"

I always did bios flashing as abit of a last resort tbh

Pete

 

totally safe imo i flash hundreds of systems a year and i see maybe one with a bad flash but even then usually they can be recovered the tool integrated into the flash i posted is pretty much foolproof once you start it..

 

I flashed 3 times succesfully on my m17 but theres always a Very small chance it wont reboot after one.. not too much to worry though id say.. mine still works..
Youre still going for the quad after all the talk on these forums? Well tell us how it goes

 

ok really dum question i made the bootable usb drive, added z's bios to it blah blah all works

when i run the flash prog it says error no wph file found, did i miss something?

 

Look what i found! (just kidding )

So... Im kinda bored so i was thinking to mess a bit with the bios since im still using the first version (B10 i think ?).

Anyone noticed any differences with B14 ? Fan activity, temperatures, gpu/cpu voltages etc ?

 

I'm still on B10 myself. B13 added support for 8GB RAM, not sure what they did to B14, but allegedly it was to fix the quad core stuttering. If you don't intend on using 8GB Ram, no sense updating the BIOS IMO.

 

I wont be upgrading to 8gb ram for sure. I was hoping that they released the new bios with more fixes than just the ram and the stuttering for quads. Dont get why its so hard for them to put a .txt file in the zip saying what they changed in every version..

 

maybe thay added suppor for more thing and more fix than said cause i recieved mine with a14

cause i've read horror story about the m17 (quad prob and etc) but i never had any such problem so maybe the a14 was intended to fix them