*Official* Alienware Official Windows 8 support thread [Questions and Discussions Here]

Hey guys, we created this area where you can report any issue or concern related to Windows 8. We will forward reported information to our engineering staff for review. We will also post articles to help you with the Windows 8 upgrade on your Alienware

Windows 8 Support

Windows 8 - Fix OSD driver

Booting Windows 8 in Safe Mode

Booting Windows 8 in Troubleshooting Mode

Windows 8.1 Driver Downloads from Dell FTP Site

See this new thread for Windows 8.1 support: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...upport-thread-questions-discussions-here.html

 

Great idea with the thread, Pablo. +rep.

To start the ball rolling, let's talk about AlienRespawn. following the link you gave, it suggests that "Solution: Recommend users uninstall AlienRespawn Local and install Dell Backup and Recovery." - suggested links are broken. File not found.

I haven't clean installed Win 8 Pro just yet (on my to do list) but I have read that AWR is not functional. On Win 7 based OS's, you could perform a clean install with all relevant system drivers, update windows updates and then download and install AWR. The user could then go to create recovery media and create a fresh USB/Optical image that would be bang up to date - very handy for future clean installs.

I think Mr. Fox has tried this with Windows 8 without success. Maybe Dell could look into that one......

 

Thanks for letting us know about the AWR issue, we're going to investigate it's functionality. Currently the site is under maintenance and some drivers are being updated, some links may not work as of now. I've already escalated the issue so please try the links again later.

 

Hello,

I ordered my laptop around 1st of November with Windows 8 preinstalled, will everything be already configured on my laptop? Like UEFI fast boot and things like that.. And will everything work from the Alien.. software? Like the command center,alienfx and things.. And the right drivers installed for everything? Multitouch,GPU,..

 

Thanks, Pablo. Good to know it's being looked into. Looking forward to your findings re. AWR functionality.

 

yup it should be fully set to go. (at least in theory) Congrats on the new alien

 

I have problems with the EFI boot and extra msata SSD of 32GB.somehow i cant get it working. I install windows 8 with all the drivers from dell, then i want to turn on intel acceleration and till there its going fine. Then i Enable it and intel SRT service will hang for 1 min and then nothing happens. I adjusted the bios 10 times, installed windows 8 10 times it all ways i know. I already seen there are more people with this problems (its not only m17x r4 related). but there are also people that get it working.... is this a fault in the intel drivers or so, i also formatted the drive in GPT mode and MBR and alot of other ways, and still the problems stays. I am now back @ legacy mode and i will try maybe some time later, its to bad is doenst work becuase i really like the fast/secure boot.


When i enable the intel prog says Usage: cache device but there is no acceleration, i just not possible...

 

So is Windows 8 UEFI/secure boot etc. still a no go for M17x with 120Hz/3D screens? Whenever I try to enable it in the BIOS I get some kind of weird error message.

 

Hey Stevie, Respawn is indeed compatible. You may want to clear your drive and clean install Windows8. After you're done, install Alien Respawn and enter the activation code if you have the full version. To my understanding, Respawn shouldn't give you any problems installing then.

Yep, the Alienware software is fully compatible and you will have driver support

 

That's good to hear, Pablo. Thanks for the update buddy! - tell me, although it works, will it allow you to create recovery media on a drive that no longer has a recovery partition on it? - I know that this was possible with AWR & Win7 and would be good to have that feature carried over, if you like. I'm preppin' for a full nuke and clean install sometime soon....hopefully, AWR will let me image my machine once all windows updates/drivers are installed to save me the time of re-doing it all over each time I wanna clean install Win 8. The idea is to have an USB recovery stashed with Win 8 clean installed and drivers/updates all set so I could just "plug'n'play" from a clean install at any point in the future!!

 

Yep, totally know what you mean Stevie. The feature was carried over, AWR should let you create recovery media so you have it handy as well. However, you should know we're still testing the functionality of all it's features. We'll have a detailed and official answer soon.

 

Great stuff, Pablo - you're the man once again!....when I clean install Win 8 Pro, I will let you know how I get on with AWR and creating a recovery.

 

Thanks Stevie, looking forward to that feedback.

 

I've installed Windows 8 on my M11xR3 and so far so good.

My only problem is related to the Alienware OSD which does no seem to work at all.

Is DELL going to release W8 drivers for the M11xR3?

Do you guys know any workaround to make it work?

Cheers.

 

Hey Sergin, check out this article about that particular issue.

Windows 8 - On-Screen Display driver does not work on Alienware Laptops

 

Please staff from alienware, didnt you guys read my problem?

 

I was wondering if there was a step by step process, on how to do a fresh install on windows 8 and have the ability to reinstall awr, recovery partition, and alien autopsy, and associated wallpapers and graphics.

 

Hello, report here osd for m14xr2 not working.
I already try the method suggest by dell but it still not working.
How to turn off or turn on bluetooth using fn+f3 key like the one in windows 7 ?

 

Thread: HOW TO: Restore the Alienware 'Look and Feel' after a clean install of Windows 7

 

Hey Pablo,

Thanks for the info. I'll try it.

Cheers.

 

Are there any plans to update M15x drivers for Windows 8? More specifically the Bluetooth module.

I have managed to get it working, by installing an update for the 380 module, and then forcing' the drivers t 'update' with the version for the 370. Which seems less than ideal.

Aside from that, everything else seems pretty compatible with the M15x.

 

Pablo,

I did what you suggested but it was a mess.. both Windows 8 OSD and the Alienware OSD were appearing at the same time.

Now that I have uninstalled the Alienware OSD, the Windows 8 OSD does not display anymore nor the fn+ works.. So now I can't use the volume controls nor the brightness control.

Is there any way to fix it?

 

Bricked M17x R4 ......

I need to know if there is a way to reset the bios or clear the cmos. I know desktops there is a jumper you can change and voila your in business.

I tried to upgrade to w8, and went into the bios and setup EUFI boot and secure boot but when i restart all get is a blank screen and no post.

 

If you want to reset Bios to default, you can do the following - Page 16 of the M17x R4 Manual: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/Alw_M17xR4/en/OM/om_en.pdf

To remove the base panel (after you have removed the main battery) you will see some screws on the outer edge of the battery compartment. If you remove those, you can then simply slide the panel (pull it towards the rear of the machine) and lift it off. You will then see where the coin cell battery is located. All you need to do is disconnect it...wait a few minutes and simply reconnect it, put the battery back in secure the base panel and that's it....CMOS cleared. Take a look at the pic below to see where it is located:

 

UPDATE

it turns out for some reason it doesn't like this operation on a fresh hard drive.

reinstalled the old ssd and it booted to a psa testing, and searched for media.

anyone have any luck regarding a fresh install of w8 and new ssd with eufi setup.

 

Just wanted to let M15X users know pretty much everything works. Almost every windows 7 64-bit driver installed and the ones that didn't don't matter since windows 8 already had stock drivers for them.

 

Yes I've been able to install w8 on the m17x with ssd and uefi. The fast boot and secure boot are both enabled as well. Create a windows 8 dvd from windows 7 using the in built iso burner, it will burn on the files needed for uefi booting of the dvd. Make sure you have bios a09.

In the bios you need to change hard drive mode from RAID or SATA to AHCI. Choose uefi from the boot config, disable legacy. Then restart with the w8 dvd. It should boot from the dvd and you should be able to boot into w8 after its installed. You can then see in the bios that fast booting should be enabled. You then need to enable secure boot if you want it. Changing the hard drive mode from AHCI to RAID/SATA will result in nothing being able to boot.

 

Thank you for your assistance on the matter, discovered what will boot and not boot.

I also learned something else regarding installing from USB. I had to remove the contents of my drive after using the W7 USB creation tool from MS, and then had to reformat the USB using FAT32. Then placed the W8 install contents back on the USB drive and reboot, I was able to install and update my drivers without any problems. UEFI and secure boot enabled

Right now I am trying to get my GPU's working correctly, When I start playing any game it will not switch to my NVIDIA GPU.

 

Had the same issue, update to the beta 310.33? drivers, I cant rememebr exzactly the version but its definitely not the 306.97. My clocks were stuck on 324, but the BETA drivers unlock it to work properly and they go to 758 now..

 

I am using the 306.97 drivers now.

 

Did you install the integrated graphics as well?
So uninstall both integrated hd 4000 graphics and nvidia graphics as well (nvidia one first).

You need to install the integrated graphics first... link here. http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=22083&lang=eng
should be the latest version.
then install the 306.97 drivers after a restart.
After it has settled you can use GPUZ or MSI afterburner to check your clock speeds.
You should be able to open nvidia control panel, under settings updates there should be a tick box for beta drivers, make sure its selected and it will ask to update to those drivers.
EDIT you could possible just skip and update both drivers to the latest versions, dont have to do a clean install.
BTW i have a 680m but I don't see why it wont work for a 660m.

 

Curious, should I be using the drivers from the Dell site or the link provided. Whats the difference between the drivers

 

Either, dell ones are sometimes a bit older, but they should be the same, direct drivers will be the latest one most likely, if your weary can always install dell ones first then update with newer ones ontop. Otherwise they should be the same drivers.

 

Thank you for the TIP.
Solved my problem.

IMPORTANT SAFETY TIP

"Just like math class order of operations is important"

 

Your welcome took me a while to get mine working. You using the Beta drivers?

 

I'm using the drivers off the dell website, I think they list it as P11 Drivers

Everything seems to be working, but I do sure miss the aero glass

 

Unfortunately no, there are no plans at the moment since it is not one of the supported platforms.

 

UPDATE

I did a reboot after an update, and i have the same problem as before regarding my GPU not working.

 

Our drivers are updated to fix specific issues, that's why you don't see changes in very long times.

About the OSD issue I wanted to let you guys know that we are currently working with L3 and engineering on that. We have no ETA on that bus as soon as we have an update we'll let you guys know.

 

Still having a GPU problem regarding not switching during game play. I was wondering if its possible to disable the integrated graphics card permanently.

 

have you tried whitelisting? if not use the link in my sig

 

I am trying the whitelist suggestion now, but it seems everything within chrome goes black.
wish i could disable the intel card in the bios some how

I updated to beta drivers .54 and still have the same problem.

I will record it when the issue pops up again.

 

Have you tried monitoring your clocks? Make sure they are going up for gaming. GPU-Z is a good program (doesnt require install). Also on the nvidia taskbar icon, you can display a icon to show you when the Nvidia gpu is in use, so see if its registering whichever game your trying. Steam by iteself for me boots up the GPU ready for any game.

 

Are you running chrome with the integrated or the discrete?

 

Hello people.

I can't find the Alienware Command Center Windows 8 driver for my m17x R4. I can only find a windows 7 driver?

 

I used the windows 7 version, and is having no problems

 

It's also for windows 8, check the update log
I geuss they forget or something to post it in the windows 8 driver list

 

I was running with the integrated graphics card.

 

You can whitelist it in the nVidia control panel.

Use the Windows 7 one.

 

thx

And thx to all of you