M17x BIOS A03 Discussion Thread

Thanks a lot!!

That was exactly the problem. Not really used to RAID in laptops, so didn't think of that.

Thanks again.

 

Though I did see improvements in DPC latency with A03, I have reverted to A02 because of other issues - some noted here and some not. I did see annoyances with A03 (Win 7) like OSD not working and function keys not working, but the biggest issue is that after two weeks running A03 my video card (260M) crapped out. Some people in this forum warned that the higher A03 temperature profiles could bring problems, and it appears they were right.

 

Not quite sure how it happened, but a combination of unfortunately timed factors and unfamiliarity with RAID managed to combine to brick my new M17x =P

I flashed the bios, rebooted, and because it was my first time using RAID, didn't change the default settings to handle RAID.

Windows, a little clever for its own good, detected that the computer wouldn't boot and tried to recover Windows.

I discover online that its my bad for not setting RAID. I do so. Still won't start up, and it tries to fix it again.

Somehow that further jammed up the machine, and it ran chkdsk, which in my experience oftens causes more problems than it fixes.

My computer bricks, I try a restore with respawn, no go. Try a full reformat, no go. Tried a full format and a reinstall of Windows, no go. It either hangs, auto reboots, or goes to a screen with flashing cursor on the upper left.

Dell is coming tomorrow with a new hard drive. Ugh. I hope that's the end of it. You live, you learn=P

 

There are so many variables at play. The bottom line is to get value for your money. You paid for warranty so use it. Keep calling Dell until you are happy.

Unless you enjoy toiling on computers, don't let them off the hook by trying to fix things yourself.

@Valore has the right idea.

 

I have a very similar problem.
every time I boot up the laptop, I get a blinking cursor onthe upper left corner and that's it. it just doesn't do anything whatsoever, it could stay in this state for a month.

this was happening with both bioses a02 and a03. though, a03 fixed a whole bunch of things for me, except for this issue.

so I managed to get around this by pressing F12 when the booting up until it lets me choose from which devide to boot from: HD, floppy, CD-ROM, removable device ect...

I choose HD and after that it boots into windows and it runs as a charm.
very strong machine, strongest I've ever had. I'm not returning mine cause it runs super fine, in addition my temperatures are so low due to undervolt.

GPU's at idle time are 36 (GPU1) and 35 (GPU2) degrees respectively and at full load after 30 minutes they are 60 and 57 respectively.

anyway, your issue might not be related, but give it a shot. try pressing F12 when booting up the system.

thanks,

 

Do you have a CD-Rom in the drive? Any USB drives or network cables connected? It might be that the laptop is trying to boot via those first. Go into the BIOS and find your boot order. Put the hard drive on top (1st) and that should solve the problem.

 

hi,

trust me, I've tried everything, even disconnecting external mouse and keyb which shouldn't have an impact on it, boot order has been changed over and over to try all combinations possible. the first thing I did when I got this laptop was to go to the BIOS first.

after months deading with this issue I think it must be a glitch somewhere, can't even tell what kind of glitch. I generally understand well PC's hardware failure but this is so simple yet at the same time mysterious.

the performance of the machine is not affected at all by this, which is why I did not contact AW or DELL. I'm actually afraid of getting something crummy instead as a replacement so for now I will still deal with it. maybe a future BIOS revision will fix it. BIOS A03 fixed a lot of things in my system, including DPC latency

thanks,

 

Just thought I'd update this for anyone who might care, Dell came. The technician put in a new HDD, and rebooted the PC, and its working fine as of now, except I've got to go through the hassle of reinstalling all my drivers.

Still no idea what went wrong, he claims that the computer was trying to boot off my CD drive, although I mentioned to him I don't think that was the case because I'd specifically set it to boot off the HDD.

Ugh. Que sera sera.

Also, my Respawn 2.0 has been wiped, does anyone know how to go about reinstalling it? The partition is still there, but blank. Thanks!

 

Finally, issue fixed!!!

last night I re-flashed the BIOS A03 thorough DOS instead and the issue hasn't happened anymore.

now it boot's up straight from the HD.

when I first upgraded the BIOS I did it through windows, but I remember exactly having this issue with version A02 as well, which is the BIOS the laptop came with when I bought it.

really weird. but I think I already heard similar stories of people resolving issues by flashing via DOS.

I never had an issue like this before with all my laptops, I always preferred flashing with windows (whenever possible).

I think this is going to change from now on. at least with the M17x for sure!

 

Hello fellow M17x users,
After much testing with Bios A03, I would strongly recommend removing it and using Bios A02.

Known issues
1. OSD is not working fully
2. Touch keys intermittently quit responding
3. Stealth mode is not working properly (fails to switch to discrete)
4. Hybrid SLI is disabled intermittently and without notice
5. Bluetooth driver fails to install on a fresh restore
6. Abnormal SLI behavior in some cases (especially with the Beta driver)

Thanks,
Gabe

 

But A03 is better for ATI users

(or so I have heard - have not tested it myself)

 

I can't speak for Hybrid SLI as I disable the 9400, but I have none of the other issues stated.

 

The issues described might not inlude ATI users, as it's a completely different BIOS, chipset, and video card. I have only tested it with Nvidia (R1). It would be helpful if someone with an ATI system would put their system to the test. A lot of these issues go unoticed, or perhaps aren't discovered due to inconsistent use. It was only after attempting to use the touch keys on every boot that I noticed intermittent failure. It was only after multiple restores that I noticed failure in bluetooth installation. It was only after testing hybrid sli and real time graphic card switching (FN+F7) that I discovered it not working. And finally, it was only after multiple boots, combined with video driver testing, that reveiled intermittent SLI hybrid issues.

Thanks,
Gabe

 

I didn't experience any kind of issues when I had the 280M except from the stuttering due to the drivers. I don't experience any with the ATIs either.

 

I'm curious Gabe, what is the source of this info ('Known Issues')? Is this from your own testing or a Dell released bulletin for DCSEs?

Thanks.

---------------------------------------------

EDIT: Nevermind. I see your follow up post now. This was from your own testing. Ok. Thanks. Just wanted to clarify.

Folks, keep in mind, without BIOS A03 you are opening up to the ACPI DPC Latency caused by the excessive thermal polling of the CPU. This issue was resolved with BIOS A03.

FWIW, I have only noted an issue with my brightness FN keys not always displaying an OSD popup. Have not encountered any of the other issues Gabe mentioned. I have had HybridSLI enabled for several weeks now and no issues.

 

I've also been seeing the above issues pop up from time to time with BIOS A03.
The Problem is that DPC-Latency related audio and video issues are far worse with BIOS A02 than it is with A03 on the M17x-R1. So none of the two BIOS revisions are ideal.

This isn't correct. I bet Dell has fed you this misinformation.
The M17x-R1 was also sold with up to two AMD/ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4870 1GB video cards before the M17x-R2 was released (the latter has been offered with up to two ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4870 1GB video cards only to date).
Your statement coincides with tech support people telling me "the ATI card doesn't work with the M17x-R1 only with the R2 system" even though Alienware sold M17x-R1 systems with ATi cards for a while and has replaced peoples' Nvidia cards with ATi cards in the system in attempts to solve DPC Latency related issues.

To clear it up All M17x-R1 systems use the same chipset and BIOS (from BIOS revision A01 on where support for AMD/ATi dual card/crossfire setups was added), no matter if running AMD/ATI or Nvidia video cards. From my dealings with tech support, they don't appear to understand this either. There is serious lack of knowledge/misinformation in circulation there.

 

So should I update to this?

 

Well given that you have an R2 and this A03 is for the R1, I would have to say no, do not update to it.

 

I installed A03 with all current drivers and there were a few issues. HDMI and VGA out stopped working and this really annoyed me. I reflashed bios with the first version A00 and everything worked perfectly again. No latency issues, no shuttering, wifi works perfectly.

Haven't fully tested what else has changed though.

 

maybe you should try flashing to A03 again.

 

anybody know where i could find the A02 bios and how to install it? i installed the A03 and it's worse i tested with supreme commander and a significant fps/performance drop... audio stuttering seems the same

Thanks

 

Try going to DELL, chose the word BIOS and it will give you the option for other versions, A00, A01, A02 and A03 are all there.

 

thanks and should i turn on the intel virtualization technology?

 

I don't need a Virtual Host so I don't run it, I have W7 64 Pro and can run XP if I need it.

 

I leave it off figuring it frees up some cpu power since I never utilize vm's

 

There is no performance hit with VT enabled.

I don't use VT all that much but I do keep it enabled.

 

I did some testing:

I have a M17x (q9000, 260m gtx sli) using fraps and system monitor. (stock no overclock)

(Everything on max including AF AA) The Witcher (fps) Supreme Commander
a02 hybrid sli enabled 40.3 15.7
a02 hybrid sli disabled 40.2 15.8

a03 hybrid sli enabled 39.8 16.2
a03 hybrid sli disabled 39.7 16.3

Conclusion:
there is a slight performance decrease with A03 nothing serious however it lowered my overclocking capabilities due to the fact that the temperature on average increased by 5 degrees Celsius, but the audio stuttering has decreased.

OC: (the processor is oc to 2.22ghz with stable temps in both A02/A03)
with A02 my gpu's overclocked to 720/1120/1520 i can reach 1043 fps in ati tool with a nice stable temp of 62 whereas with the latter (A03) i can reach the same overclock however the temps are a unhealthy 68 on average, and i have some (though not allot artifacts)

So personally I'm sticking with the A02, also since i have minimal audio stuttering.

Hope this helped. Richard

oh and due to that stable overclock i can reach 54.2 fps avg on witcher and 25.1 in SC

 

So - to clear it up in my head - this BIOS release vA03 is for the M17x R1 - right? I just received my new M17x-R2 last week and am dying that the BIOS is shackled to not let me control/user VT for 64bit OSes.

I scanned through the last handful of pages - but Dell's site still shows A02 for the M17x-R2. I need A03 for the R2 - need it need it need it.

OCD - may be - what are you saying??

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=473697

 

I just rather get my money back still shutters with BIOS A03 #1 EC board change #2 MB change still not solve the problem and now i see M17X-R2 not support Intel Hardware VT so VMware study impossible or they make is sore is going to be an issue BIG THX that is really scandaly . now i start regret i did not get the lcd and 8800M GTX from eBay for my M1730.took me 3 month to arrange the exchange for that time i had no pc to study top of that and still have no warranty on my M17X i been told it will be transferred from my old M1730 to my new M17x i using that pile of space junk almost 4 month ago and completely not happy several occasions i called support they will call me back (i guess it’ll happen on the judgment day) so conclusion that is dell / alienware BIG name and ....

 

#1 EC board change #2 MB change sorry thats the drivers... i meant...

thats hap{end} later on...