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

Even after disabling both UAC and Driver Signature Enforcement I cannot get the one from Intel to install.. I don't even get the warning message, I get this loud siren going off twice. Scared me the first time, I was like what the heck is that!

The man from Alienware never called last night so it probably got too late when he finally had access to that link for Bluetooth from his email. I am assuming he will call me tonight around the same time we spoke yesterday. I can see if he can help me get that Intel driver installed since you seem to believe it is better than the one offered from Microsoft which I imagine would install with no trouble since it is from Microsoft.

I haven't had any trouble with connection at all - but it is nice to know you have all the most current drivers.

Also, after disabling the driver signature - I am assuming when you reboot that simply comes back on??? Or do I need to do something to "turn" it back on like UAC?

(I tried to give you another Kudo but it won't let me! Maybe somebody else can since that post has very relevant driver info.)

 

Yes, DSE automatically re-enables after rebooting. I am very puzzled by the loud siren sound. I have no idea why you would hear something like that while installing a driver.

 

Hello, please help: i upgraded to Window8 yesterday & updated drivers for GPU etc. Somehow, the AlienFX was gone! I was using the UV shocking pink on my keyboard & it's really hurting my eyes! I did use Google for help but there ain't anything useful. I have the M17xR4 resource DVD but it's for Win7... TIA.

 

try getting drivers from the dell download page?

 

Yep. You need Command Center and OSD in addition to Win 8 stock drivers....

 

I didn't download the 'optional' file! It did the trick, thanks for your quick responses.

 

Me either, and it was loud like a police siren - it just does two while you see the Intell Icon starting the process of install, and then my network indicator gets a red x but then comes back, the Intell icon disappears and then nothing happens. I searched online and found nothing about a "siren." Very weird. Still waiting for the Alienware dude to call back.

 

The siren is a gadget add on that goes off when you lose connectivity. How I found this out is I just lost connectivity for the first time since upgrading (apart from the disconnect when trying to install the Intell Driver today.)

I hit the troubleshooter and this is what it said...



That doesn't look good to me... any ideas???

Maybe it was just nothing... I am going to hope it was a freak occurrence. I disabled the sound for the gadget as who wants "sirens" going off scaring you to death ; )

 

What an odd "feature" to have. Thanks for letting us know why you were hearing that noise. I use just the basic driver-only installation for the WiFi because the PROset software doesn't offer any usability that I care about. I like using the built-in Windows wireless networking interface better.

 

There is a new one today here is the link:

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Det...8, 64-bit*&DownloadType=Software Applications

This one didn't work either. I get the symbol and it disconnects my wirless (I have to restart to get it back) and then it hangs and does nothing. I even tried installing the "Administrator" download. I have been at it half the day and this bad boy is not going to install.

But I thought I would pass along to you the download that says it was created yesterday.

Sandy

 

Thanks, Sandy. I downloaded and installed it without a hitch.

 

Glad to know it's going well for somebody ; )

I finally called Alienware to ask what happened since he never called me back. They told me it has been escalated to an Engineer and someone should call me in the next few days.

Again, I will post back if they can get the Bluetooth working, and if so how, and if they will "release" the download that I obviously don't have to make it run.

Sandy

 

Hi Guys

Ive had to post this because after hours of trying different suggestions from the forum i have no idea how to fix this problem.

My new m18x was delivered today and i cannot for the life of me get it to switch from the intel graphics to the crossfire amds

Ive tried installing all the drivers again from the website i have flashed the bios from a09 to a10 i have pressed the fn + f7. What else have i done erm i have removed the osd drivers

im just getting lost and frustrated now. When i flashed the bios the fans kicked in. I would really appreciate any suggestions you guys could make as ive been working on this for hours and its driving me insane.

It had windows 8 pro installed out of the box

Thanks in advance

 

Update after about 10 hours I've finally sorted it. Turned out it was the bios. Took me ages to sort it but after reading a few more threads I finally did

 

What was it in the BIOS? What did you do to correct the problem? Please elaborate in case someone else has the same trouble.

 

Sorry, I had to load the legacy roms while booting. I also had to turn off secure boot. It appeared to be an issue with the fast boot of uefi

 

Did you disable the intel GPU? The HD7970m need a vBIOS update to work with secure/fast boot from what I know. I just leave optimus (i have nvidia card) on, I dont have issues with it.

 

There is a new vBIOS already available for secure/fast boot. On an M18x there is no such thing as Optimus or Enduro. Those technologies do not work with CF and SLI, but the manual graphics switching the M18x implements is far superior, without any potential for malfunction that sometimes occurs with Optimus and Enduro systems. It would be nice if Alienware would move away from Optimus and Enduro completely and go to a manual switching like the M18x on all of their laptops. I think that would resolve a ton of issues with the other models. (Some owners would whine and moan about having to reboot to change video adapters, but the true performance enthusiasts and computer gear-heads would be extremely pleased with the improvement.)

 

Thanks for the advise. I will look into this further. Got a fresh hard drive coming soon and ram to upgrade so want to get the best out of my machine

 

For those like me that feel it is nothing but a major inconvenience that adds no value, disable Driver Signature Enforcement (DSE) in Windows 8 with these steps:

1. Open the Windows command prompt using "Run as Administrator".
2. Run "bcdedit -set loadoptions DISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS" (without quotes).
3. To complete the process run "bcdedit -set TESTSIGNING ON" (without quotes).
4. Reboot and enjoy the "Test Mode" watermark in the lower right corner of your desktop.

To get rid of the watermark, download and run this utility.

To turn it back on again, the commands are:

• "bcdedit -set loadoptions ENABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS" (without quotes)
• "bcdedit -set TESTSIGNING OFF" (without quotes)

Disclaimer: I do not know if this works with UEFI Secure Boot and Fast Boot turned on in the BIOS. You may need to use Legacy Boot after running these commands. If someone would like to test and see, please post your findings if it does work.

---

To disable before installing new drivers to avoid issues, follow the process outlined in this video.

<iframe width='853' height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/NM1MN8QZhnk?rel=0" frameborder='0' allowfullscreen=""></iframe>

 

Nice, Brother Fox. I kinda felt that it was only a matter of time before you would end up finding a way to terminate that useless bit of garbage once and for all time! :thumbsup:

 

Well, i was getting endless issues with Windows 8, so decided to revert to Windows 7, inserted the disk, formatted all the partitions and afterwards got nothing but BSOD's so i thought what the hell, try a clean install of Windows 8. Booted off a USB and wiped all the Drives again and it installed, which i thought was strange because i'm sure the Upgrade version of Windows 8 isn't a system builder copy?

Anyway, working flawlessly now. All the issues from the previous install seemed to have vanished.

 

Hi Guys

I've bought a 256gb ssd to replace the 500gb hdd that came with the machine. I'm now just going to use this as a spare drive for films.

The advise I need please is how I install windows 8 to this drive. When I try using the recovery disc I created from respawn it says it needs a hard drive of 465gb or more to install the drive.

I've been trying for days reading numerous threads on here and other sites and been unable to find a solution.

I don't have any other versions of windows available otherwise I would have just done that. Seems a shame to have windows pro 8 and not get it working

 

A clean install is a better option anyway. Backup your Windows 8 activation with Advanced Tokens Manager. If you have Microsoft Office installed, it will back that activation up as well. You can restore the activation later. It will also make your product key available if you lost it. After reinstalling Windows, you can use this tool and the new backup files it creates to restore your original Windows 8 activation. (This will not let you reactivate on a different system than what it is backed up from.)

Download the ISO by starting the Windows Upgrade Assistant and choosing the correct options along the way. Pay attention to what you see on each screen and the options for creating media instead of installing or upgrading should be obvious. You can use the tool Microsoft provides to create a bootable USB or DVD media. Use your existing key for download and installation. You will need to have your product key handy at this time. It is required to download and create installation media. You can do this part from any PC. It does not have to be the one you will be installing Windows 8 on. You will simply stop short of that after creating installation media.

 

Hi Mr Fox

Thanks for the advise. I got a program yesterday which let me read my product key however when I go to use the upgrade assistant and put my code in I get an error telling me the code isn't valid so it doesn't let me download the iso from the link you provided

Another place provided a generic code but once that code is accepted and I press next it says windows cannot connect

 

If your Windows 8 came from Dell/Alienware, I would contact them and let them know of the issue, and provide a solution for you.

If you haven't already, back up your Windows activation using software that I linked. Compare the product key to the key the other utility identified.

 

Called Dell today and I have to say I was appalled by the level of help offered. The only solution they could give me was that I had to pay £25 for discs to be send out as they refuse to send them out when your purchase an outlet system even though my order clearly states the material should have been included. Unlike some of the helpful dell reps I see on here every day I think this is really poor I have to pay further for discs

 

I'd kindly ask a student to lend their disc if possible. I got mine free because I'm on the dreamspark subscription.

 

Thanks for that link will try it this evening.

 

Managed to speak to a gentleman who was a lot more helpful. Got me the disc for £17. Just paid it want to get this running ASAP and get my games installed.

Thanks to everyone who has given me ideas and support to try and sort this. Much appreciated

 

No problem... glad to help Dazstar. Microsoft has a lot of the OEMs by the short hairs and some of what they do as far as distribution is directly controlled by them.

Windows 8 is really nothing special. But, you would think it was something infinitely precious and an earth-shattering breakthrough. If I had to describe it in three words or less, "meh, meh, meh" would be most fitting.

 

Ok I give up with dell tech support. They kept telling me my bios does not support windows 8 as i did not buy it with windows 8 installed. LOL 4 different tech people told me that. (Morons)

So I hope someone here can help. (Brilliant Awesome People)

Am new to the whole "UEFI" bios and fast boot / secure boot.

Here is what I want to be able to do.

Install windows 8 pro off the Retail CD and then run secure boot and fast boot. What are the correct steps to be able to due so?

I have turned UEFI and legacy support on and installed windows 8 but before installing I hit Shift+F10 at the beginning of windows install
Type Diskpart at the command line
Select Disk 0
Clean
Convert GPT
Exit

Then installed. Afterwards I went back and turned on fast boot and I get the dreaded "No boot device found" but if it turn on legacy option rom then it boot into windows 8.

What am I missing here?

 

See above link for Windows 8 support.

Good luck with that one. Seems to be a lot of issues with Fast Boot. Might not be worth all the hassle if it doesn't do anything to post-boot improve real-world performance.

Trying to keep the forum tidy and stop new threads from being posted that duplicate what we already have... This is the thread for Windows 8 discussion.

 

Disable legacy boot, you cannot use it with UEFI.

To install windows 8 under UEFI, you need to use the w8 pro dvd. Setup BIOS to be legacy support OFF and UEFI on, SATA mode to AHCI or RAID (AHCI is preffered if you don't raid or have a cache SSD). Fastboot/SafeBoot will not be available until after the w8 is installed, which is automatically switched on after a successful install.

Because you installed with legacy support on, it is not compatible with UEFI, its one or the other basically. You will ideally need to reinstall with legacy support OFF.

 

DDDenniZZZ, thanks for clarifying what he need to do in order to enable Fast Boot. +1

Word of caution... If you install Windows with the BIOS set to AHCI it will make upgrading to RAID or setting up a cache a pain in the bottom later on and your system will have to be manually set to AHCI every time the BIOS is reset. When the BIOS is set to RAID you have a lot more flexibility to make changes without having to reinstall Windows. So, basically, using the AHCI BIOS setting tends to cripple your system and RAID is the standard/default setting.

 

This is exactly how it is done even though as Mr. Fox says it's just not worth the hassle. But if you really want to have that enabled then just follow this advice.

 

Cool thanks everyone. Kinda sucks that Dell tech could not even tell me that. Simple enough. I plan on updating then this weekend and will let everyone know how it goes.

Here was my main issue, Order it with windows 8, Sales rep selected windows 7 ultimate. Did not notice until laptop arrived and dell is sending me a windows 8 pro free to take care of the issue. (That's good customer service)

Sad thing is when speaking with dell tech they said the only way to get windows 8 on my PC was to return the laptop for a refund and purchase a new one, as my configuration is of capable of running windows 8. (What LOL) For one I was telling them I already had windows 8 installed. they did not believe me. Then the proceeded to say the biso is the issue and since I did not order it with windows 8 the bios is different than the windows 7 biso that i have. So i said send me the bios file so I can flash it then. Nope the bios is not flash-able. (What. LOL).

Well it just goes to show that Dell tech support is nothing more than a call center somewhere that has people working there that has no clue about computers, they are just doing searches for info on their database. (I know that as they told me that is what they do). So tech is not tech.

Thanks for having this great forms site where real people get solutions to issues (And a real Dell Tech come here to help)

But overall even with all the issues the sales guy screwed up dell customer service is making thing correct for me. (Just with it was easier to get to the right people).

-almulder

 

Keep us updated with your progress. Should only take about 30 mins to get up and running anyways

 

Did a clean install of Windows 8 last night and now Respawn does not work any more. It does not create a new recovery partition during installation and will not accept my purchased license key. This worked perfectly before, more than once. Now, for some reason it doesn't.

It does not even attempt to create a recovery partition and tells me that my license key cannot be used when I attempt to register it.

Any ideas, Luis, Pablo or Mark?

The drives are the same, but the success I had before was with the M18x R1. Is there a compatibility problem with the M18x R2?

Here's the scenario...

- installs without error, but does not create a recovery partition (doesn't try and fail, just does nothing)
- reboot as prompted and SoftThinks agent runs, but nothing happens as far as creating a recovery partition
- attempt to enter my license key and get the message "Upgrade Failed" - no advice offered, just the message that upgrade failed
- if I click on the link for "Online Upgrade" or wait a minute, I get an error message that the program has a problem and needs to close

Uninstalled Respawn, and reinstalled with DSE disabled. Same thing happens.

 

That's seems like a compatibility issue to me. I'll escalate that right away.

 

Thanks for looking into it, Brother Luis. I would prefer to use my purchased version of Alienware Respawn over something else.

 

OK I have doen the following.

Used diskpart to clean my disk and set it to gpt.

Then changed my bios to turn off legacy and boot with uefi mode using an original Dell windows 8 pro Thumb drive. Loads the install boot drive perfectly, I enter in my product key and then it comes to the install on what drive, and my drive is not listed. If I enable legacy support my drive is listed.

Thoughts on why my drive is not listed? I have tried both a standard 500GB hard drive and a SSD drive.

 

Can you completely format the disk by any chance? I havent installed windows 8 for a couple months now.

Oh which SATA operation mode did you use? I assume RAID since it comes as default using that one?

I think you might have to sideload the drivers for the Sata drive, not 100% sure though. Maybe Mr. Fox might be able to help there

 

That did the trick. Loading the driver now I see the drive and it installed.

Now only ATI video drivers i can get to work are 13.3 beta 3 - every thing else locks up upon install.

also now i am doing a windows update (Video driver disable) and my system will not boot upon restart.

Windows 8 Automatically attempting repairs screen, but it fails.

Thoughts.

Anyone else having windows 8 update issues. Wonder if it is a driver or an actual fix that is causing the issue. anyway to find out?

 

Need to remove the ATI driver, run windows update, there should be a WDDM driver for the ATI card, let that install, then install the ATI driver ontop (as an upgrade you DO NOT need to clean install).

But I have a nvidia card so not 100% sure. Are you using enduro as well?

The HD7970 vbios might not be UEFI compatible as well so you might not be able to boot off it, you need the integrated graphics to boot up.

 

For those struggling with Windows 8 atrocities, here is a quote from another post that may help you subject it to your will.

 

Ok hopefully this helps others out there.

I did try as you said with no luck. It would always go to a black screen and never recover. The only ATI Drivers that worked are 13.2 beta 7. Anything before that or after that would give me a black screen.

I do however have everything up and running now. Windows * works Perfect now.

I have Fast Boot & Secure Boot enabled using ATI cards (Like 4 seconds to boot. Got to love that). Everything is fully functional. Only thing that does not work correctly is the On Screen Display when i adjust vol and such (Alienware version) but no biggie as I use Logitech and they have there own version that works.

Eject button also works. Not one issue yet with anything.

I to just got the Stardock package. and made my system my own (The way it should come).

I will post pics at a later time.


Where did you pick up the black theme bar and such. I would also like to get that.

I also made the start8 an Alien Head I can post if anyone wants it. (Blue eyes normally, Red Eyes when Over, Green when clicked).





*****

To all who have help me - THANKS - With out you all this could not have happened.

*****



Basic rundown for future readers:

To install win8 and be able to use fast boot and secure boot:

Boot Using only UEFI mode (No legacy mode).
Boot using the original DVD or make a Bootable USB (Must be in GPT mode)
Your Install drive must be in GPT Mode. You can do this during install:
The easiest way to do this is to hit Shift+F10 at the beginning of windows install
Type Diskpart at the command line
List Disk (This will show you a list of disks it can see)
Select Disk 0 (Make sure it is there - this should be your main install disk)
Clean (This will wipe all your info gone)
Convert GPT
Exit
If you do not see your drive as disk 0, you will need to make sure you load the drivers (Get them from dell site)

Then install windows as you normally would.

** Do not connect to the net yet. Install all your drivers first. (In the correct order, Yes there is a correct order and it does make a difference) Get the correct order from Dell (See Article ID: 536193)

If you have ATI cards and have issues Try using 13.2 beta 7 (That's the only one that worked for me)

Be sure to reboot between each driver install. (Yes it matters, this helps avoid conflicts. Trust Me)

Once you have all drivers installed, you can connect to the net.

** If you experience any issues installing ATI drivers be sure to disable and hid the Windows update version.

After you have done all the updates (Re check after each reboot) then continue to install your dell software and then all your other software.

These are the steps I followed and I am happy to say it works. (I hope this can help you)

I did a lot of trial and error to find this solution along with help from the community.

Good Luck.

Also I have moved my "Users" Profile Directory to my "E" drive (Non SSD) Go Here for info on how to do that..



My System:
M18x R2 - A10 Bios (Original)
Dual ATI (AMD) Radeon HD7970M CrossFire Enabled
32GB Ram
Blu-Ray Drive
i7-3740QM
256 SSD
2 (500 GB Drives)

 

Top notch info, almulder. +rep!

 

Good job on the explanation of the steps you followed, Brother almulder

Here are some Windows 8 themes to help fix the ugliness...

I recommend rebooting with Driver Signature Enforcement disabled before applying these files for the first time.

UxStyle - no more patching.

Windows 8 default theme - Fix for dark title bars. by ~maddada1 on deviantART

WinAero: WinaeroGlass - Aero glass is back into your Windows 8

 

To follow up on this, I'm having issues trying to get AWR to install on my R1. Oddly enough, it creates a partition but then comes back with a "not enough space" or "disk full" error - I know this can't be right as I had only installed the OS and a few other things - the size of the partition created was around 24gb but the only option given by the install was to uninstall the software.

At one point recently, I did successfully create a AWR installation and it did complete. It allowed me the option to create recovery media to the size of 11gb. This was on a pretty lean OS install - Home Office, Dell bundled software sucha as PowerDVD, Roxio, Webcam, SoundBlaster etc ....

I have a sneaky feeling that windows updates or something is wreaking havoc here - I wish I could get it to work properly but it's soooo tempremental right now.

Dell, c'mon guys....what's the craic here???