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    TPM and the m17x...

    Discussion in 'Alienware' started by Silent_Sc(+)pe, Sep 17, 2008.

  1. Silent_Sc(+)pe

    Silent_Sc(+)pe Notebook Geek

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    Alright fellow notebookreview.com forum contributors - I've got a hard one for you. Here we go...I received my new m17x from Alienware about three weeks ago. After installing everything I needed, and uninstalling everything I didn't - I noticed something. It was a small icon on the taskbar that kept coming up saying "Your security module has "not been initialized yet". Apparently the "security warning" is coming from a piece of hardware called a TPM (Trusted Platform Module). I learned a little bit about it from around the internet and decided to activate it. I guess the little booger comes on all m17x and m15x's with the beasts of motherboards they contain. What are ya'lls thoughts on this? Have ya'll set it up? If so, how? I have it off right now because I can't boot with my external hard drive in. Anyone have any clue why?
     
    Silent_Sc(+)pe, Sep 17, 2008
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  2. findvikas

    findvikas Notebook Deity

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    Read this knowledge base to enable TPM


    EDIT: I don't think that this comes with m15x , never seen this on m15x
     
    findvikas, Sep 17, 2008
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  3. Oceanus

    Oceanus Ambassador

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    I don't believe I have it on my m15x. Might be just the m17x.
     
    Oceanus, Sep 17, 2008
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  4. MAG

    MAG Notebook Deity

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    Yes, I had this on my m17x. You can disable it from the BIOS; it is not on the m15x though.
     
    MAG, Sep 17, 2008
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  5. Oodle-Bear

    Oodle-Bear Alienware Mug, Testpilot

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    Click on the icon in the taskbar and set it up. It adds a secure drive partition with a password that's encrypted for you to store private data, should you want to. It uses the TPM chip for the encryption part. once you have set it up the prompt will ask you if you want to load your secure drive, if you then set it to unload it it's still there but will only be "loaded" if you ask for it and not with boot-up.

    I have mine enabled and unloaded and it's fine...

    OB
     
    Oodle-Bear, Sep 17, 2008
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  6. n640nec

    n640nec Notebook Consultant

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    So it's not a user account login feature? Does it just encrypts data on the hard drive? Thanks.
     
    n640nec, Sep 17, 2008
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  7. Oodle-Bear

    Oodle-Bear Alienware Mug, Testpilot

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    It creates an encrypted folder for sensitive data, which requires a separate password to Windows to gain access to.

    It's basically Windows Truecrypt... same theory... (",)

    OB
     
    Oodle-Bear, Sep 17, 2008
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