Troubles .. troubles (M17)

Well I have tried numerous things to get around my jitters problem.

- original Windows Vista ( 32bits ) reinstallation.
- taking out the 2nd harddisk.
- reseating memory.
- putting old memory back in.
- reseating xq9300\reapplying thermal paste.
- installing Windows Vista ( 64bits Ultimate ).

And the only thing that helped was reinstalling the old processor so far. With the old processor I have no problem what so ever with windows and the jitters. I even have the new memory and the 2nd harddisk installed. The old processor is the: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo P8400 2.26GHz (3MB Cache 1066MHz FSB)

Though its nice to have a decent working system again I wish I could have it working with the new processor. I would like to ask people here that installed a new processor in their M17 what they did. And ofcourse if anyone has more info or tips please tell.

Any or all help would be greatly appreciated

 

well what was your temps?

 

Temps for the P8400 2.26GHz where around 40-48 degrees C. ( idle-load )

Temps for the QX9300:

 

I saw posts about the "jitters" in another thread. I'd like to say I have had my m17 raided since I got it, and have experienced no such jitters. However, I do notice jitters in audio and video when I bring my laptop out of sleep. Does this correlate at all with you? A fresh restart and it works fine, but when I put it to sleep, and then bring it out, it is basically unusable. But this is NOT an alienware problem. I have experienced this issue on three different notebooks from three different manufacturers all running vista 32bit or 64bit.

 

My laptop never goes into sleep mode.. On or off no in between for me
Strangely enough I dont have the problems when I have my old CPU installed..

 

Does anyone have any idea when the new bios will be out? I want to try the new bios asap with the QX9300. Hopefully that will solve some problems with stability on the system..

 

I have the same problem after I install my new qx9300 .. Before I had the p8400 as you .. And I have talked to some guys on the forum and there are more people with this problem .. and a guy had come to the conclusion that it is too little voltage to the CPU & GPU when they are running at full speed .. And I really hope that this fix then when they release the next bios, because I've already tried all the other 0.26 - 0.27 - 028 without any difference .. But I have noticed that my M17 works best in windows7 .. do not know why .. So I look forward next bios version. And when I run 3DMark06, so I must first run a cpu test before I run the entire test, otherwise I get really bad points .. have been successful with 16700k in windows7 with modded 9.2 drivers ..

 

You guys should try flashing the OCZ bios, because I've never heard of a Whitebook owner having this issue.

 

I have tried all OCZ bios..

 

Use rmclock to add more voltage to your cpu

 

Wont adding more voltage add more temp?

 

it will, yes. but it will also make the processor run with more stability.

 

Yes it will. even if you are overclocked or not. if the cpu is not being stable because of power stablilty, adding voltage to it will help your cpu.

 

Did you turn off microsoft updates? *Dumb question but who knows.

 

adding voltage may worsen it......it seems like the m17 has power issues and cant distribute power evenly to the gpus and cpu...it happens with the qx9300 because it draws too much power from the gpu's...thus giving u windows UI stutter and game framerate drops and stutter....new bios needs to fix power requirements big time

 

Ok so we have to wait for a new bios and try again.. How strange that AW did not test this.

@ M17Gamer

I like to keep my machine up to date. If my older laptops could do it then why wouldnt the M17 be able to do it?

I dont know how much difference there is between the european and the american bios that AW releases.. I currently have the B10 bios from AW wich came with my machine.

 

so far the ocz bios seems the best imo. i can give you one with the quad core patch installed and that is super easy to flash if you want to try it out you can always flash back to the alienware one later

 

What's what i think to.. And i really hope they can fix this problem with new bios and soon because it is really annoying. And I hope they are aware of the problem too, because it is just a few of us who have this problem.. Typical me to have bad luck

 

Yes please.. but i use OCZ 0.28 now but i don't know if it has the quad patch??

 

mine does.

not sure if the one you have has it. also it will not install it unless it see's the quad when its flashed. so if you had a t9400 and flashed it then install the qx9300 it will not have the quad patch.

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

burn to disc and reboot or make boot stick works either way.

 

I am kinda scared using other biosflashes with this laptop :S

 

Don't be..it's harmless... you can always flash back to AW B10 again..
But bios flash did not solve my problem anyway

 

yeah in gta4 and crysis warhead what happens is it will drop to one gpu only for a while then go back..i also notice it seems like vsync stops working even though its on and ill have to reset my game...stutter galore

 

GTA4 and the Crysis games however arent the most stable and good preforming games on most high end computers..

I am not really comfortable with flashing my m17 with something else then an AW bios :S If the problem where to be gone 100% if I did then I might reconsider..

 

I understand.. but when are Aw going to release there new bios with overclock that i heard about?? does any one know?

 

If not performed correctly you can make a very shiny paper weight. I know cause I bricked my first OCZ after having it for 1-2 weeks.

However, there is a safe r way to flash the BIOS..which should cause less chance of harm. When you run the BIOS flash, let it complete it's task.. then it will popup a window saying "Flash Complete.. turn power off if doesn't reset" or something along those lines. Hit any key to power down, or use power button if necessary. When you power back up, do NOT touch anything. It should cycle thru 2-3 boot/reboot sequences and then finally load Windows on its' own.

 

doesnt do that at all for me e with the ocz system

 

Hmm? Everytime I've flashed.. after reboot it goes thru the Intel Logo and restarts at POST..then goes thru logo and provides different color keyboard lights.. then reboot and loads up. Your system is whack z, it doesn't have any of the special things that make it unique. Your screen scales with mobmod, no multiple reboots on BIOS flash, creaky lid! Mine, and many others are quirky.

 

Well I certainly dont want such an expensive paperweight.. Does anyone roughly know when there will be a new AW bios?

 

Ya know.. Regardless whether you flash the OCZ bios or the AW one, you stand exactly the same chance of bricking it. That chance is approximately 0.913% - less than one out of a hundred go bad. And of those, 62% is user error. So if properly done you stand roighly a 99.7% chance of it completing properly. Not sure if you're a betting man but those are good odds.

 

I never like to gamble.. Specially if it could cost me that much. Again if I knew that would work 100% ( using the bios to solve my jitters problem ) then I wouls install it. But since there is no real guarantee I'd like to keep it original.

 

Ok tried the OCZ 0.28 Zfactor recommended and gave. Had to use his USBstick start-up thing aswell.. ( bootable cd didn't really work :S ).

Results where very nice. No stutter at all. Great work on that bios/quad-core pack. Tried some stuff got a warning about my windows not being activated yet went back to AW B10... got jitters back after 4-5 mins of music + gaming..

I may try fitting the qx9300 when AW comes with a new bios.. not keeping the OCZ one for now..

 

the ocz is def more stable voltage wise than the aw bios is imo. im glad to hear it fixed the stutter for you

 

yeah i got pretty lucky i guess. now with the newest 9.2 and 9.3 i have scaling issues. but not with 9.1 or prior. i did however come to find out both my gpu's were flashed from ocz somehow with master bios' instead of a master / slave so not sure if that had anything to do with it. that was the reason i also saw the crossfire box in catalyst as well..

but what i do after a flash is when it says power down i pull the plu and the battery for maybe a min. the replace the battery and or plug. then i simply enter the bios and you dont even have had to change anything just go to save and exit and it will exit and boot up. you are seeing the reboots because its changing stuff on its own imo. the same goes for most notebooks like the msi says its corrupt after flash hit f1 for setup you hit f1 go into the bios then exit and its fine after that.

the creaky lid i fixed pretty easy and sometimes if i dont use it for 3 or 4 days it somehow will creak again but then goes away after i use it a bit

 

ok thanks for that bios to zfactor. i don't have it installed also. but i'll do it later on.

 

how can u check to see if all four cores are running at the overclocked speeds?

 

there is a lot of programs. but if you want a light weight use. cpu-z or rmclock.

 

not cpuz...im saying i want it to show all 4 cores..and what speed each core is at...to make sure i dont have the issue of the ocz bios only overclocking 2 of the 4 cores

 

oh sorry. run everest.

 

to truly tell you need the intel program but good luck finding it. i had it here for a while from a freind but he was under strict guidelines to not let it get out and i was not gonna do that to him.. i know that all four cores were oc'ed with the quad patch

 

bootable cd didn't work for zfactor's bios .. no boot at all directly vista loading.

i want to use this bios but w/o usb stick, how ?

 

did you try magic iso worked perfect for me see my guide in my sig download the bootme files

use those to create the bootable image files where it asks direct it to those

 

What did you use the magic iso for? did you burned the iso file or the program with it.. because i have tried to burn in with other prgrams but in dont work for me at all.. and i have tried creating i bootable usb stick but it dident work for ether.. =(

 

i tried magiciso and poweriso to make bootable dvd, after reboot i am getting flashy screen with a lot of colorfull charachters.

 

tried 6th dvd and no luck. i am always getting flashy colorfull character screen

 

not sure it works for almost everyone else...choose bootsble from image and choose the bootme iso from my usb stick guide for the image

http://www.magiciso.com/tutorials/miso-make-bootable-cd.htm

 

bootme is a zip file not iso , is it also ok for bootlable dvd ?

 

Use Zfactors bootable usbstick to flash.. works like a charm. I had rotten luck with the bootable cd as well.

Create the bootable stick make a folder for the files within the flash iso file ( u can extract them simple using winrar ). copy em in the folder and get flashing

 

ok i will try bootable usbstick .. cd/dvd thing is not working at all.

thanks.

 

ok i did it with usb stick method

but windows deactivated

whatever, lets try like this little bit.

thank you for help again.