m9750 - different BIOS for Vista and XP

good day folks

I'm playing around with Vista (got a 2nd HD to install it on), once I heard SP1 was available I was curious to see how it was...I have had bad Vista experiences to date - found it to be unstable, SLI was always difficult, so I was hoping SP1 would clear up some of that.
I've noticed that there are two different BIOS updates on the support site - one for Vista and one for XP. I had flashed my BIOS with the XP one when I set it up with XP, and haven't flashed it back because I intend to continue using my XP os for some time to come. So far everything seems to be working fine, although I haven't put it to any real tests yet - does anyone know a reason why I should flash to the Vista BIOS, even if it's working fine?

 

only ever flash your bios to fix a problem (that actually matters)
if you have a stable system then you should leave it as it is

flashing the bios is for hardware only
Basic Input Output System , is there to talk to the hardware, it doesnt know windows.

the only thing that will determine whether vista will work is having the drivers for your hardware.

 

that's what I was thinking...any idea why there would be different BIOS flash files for XP and Vista?

 

These bios have different number ?

 

System BIOS 0C03
This BIOS image update is presented in a Nero format, and may be used to create a bootable CD-ROM with all the necessary files to flash your BIOS. Apply this update ONLY if you are experiencing problems with your system.

Features and fixes in this BIOS release:

* Fixes secondary video output
* Supports Windows Vista ONLY

Before you run the BIOS update:

* Make sure that your computer has the battery and the AC-Adapter connected
* Disconnect any third party peripherals connected to the computer
* Do NOT turn the computer off during the BIOS update
* Do NOT restart the computer during the BIOS update
* Do NOT eject the CD-ROM from the drive during the BIOS update

CAUTION: Improperly updating or flashing the BIOS CMOS chip on a motherboard can damage it to the point of rendering it useless. Accordingly, you should perform this BIOS update only with the assistance of an Alienware technical support agent. Performing this BIOS update without such assistance will void your system's warranty.


Platform(s): Windows Vista

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System BIOS 0F03
This BIOS update is presented in an ISO format, and may be used to create a bootable CD-ROM with all the necessary files to flash your BIOS. Apply this update ONLY if you are experiencing problems with your system.

Features and fixes in this BIOS release:

* Enables BIOS to detect the full amount of memory installed in the system
* Supports Windows XP ONLY

Before you run the BIOS update:

* Make sure that your computer has the battery and the AC-Adapter connected
* Disconnect any third party peripherals connected to the computer
* Do NOT turn the computer off during the BIOS update
* Do NOT restart the computer during the BIOS update
* Do NOT eject the CD-ROM from the drive during the BIOS update

CAUTION: Improperly updating or flashing the BIOS CMOS chip on a motherboard can damage it to the point of rendering it useless. Accordingly, you should perform this BIOS update only with the assistance of an Alienware technical support agent. Performing this BIOS update without such assistance will void your system's warranty.

I copied and pasted the above from the support site...the Bios' have different numbers, both state they specifically support either Vista for the first one, and XP for the second...if the BIOS doesn't "know" Windows why would there be different versions of the BIOS flash for each specific version of windows?

 

how the heck does a bios only support vista, the bios' are written for motherboard chipsets that can be sold to run any o/s (including linux) no manufacturer would really limit their capability, its gotta be codswallop, I would love to install that bios and run xp on it just to stick it to em!

 

yeah, I'm also very suspicious. How would most anyone be able to install Linux then, or any other esoteric OS? (well, I shouldn't call Linux esoteric, but for the sake of argument I'll just group it in for now)

 

smoke and mirrors, blooming microshaft involved there somewhere

 

This probably isn't Microsoft's fault, but just the fault of the BIOS maker who doesn't want to deal with someone using XP (cause they're cheap/lazy/outsourced/etc)

 

nah, the manufacturers know which side their bread is buttered, they will support all platforms for maximum exposure unless their hand is forced in order to save money on licensing and maybe get a sweet deal with an ms favoured ODM !

 

yeah, you have a point, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's more of a mixture of the two rather than one versus the other.

 

No, the different bios are most likely Marshalling (converting) data for the different OSes. Like XP my get the memory available from the BIOS but Vista calculates that info directly.

Vista made a lot of changes to how they get system metadata. This is why XP uses a TSR app that handles the Finger Touch Buttons. But Vista does not need that App because Vista handles the Event directly.

 

can you explain further eightd, I am interested in finding the differences between the two as I need to find drivers that will do the various jobs that vista does for the lighting etc.

I know the cores are different, but xp leaves the bios too, and reloads the hardware halfway through the boot (that would be why your keyboard lights flash again)
the bios is pretty much there to get the hardware running ready for xp to detect it and load drivers.

some settings can be set in bios that alter speeds and enable / disable parts at a low level, but whatever the bios has listed xp will reload

 

Not having a M15x, I'm just guessing but it should be a ACPI driver. With Vista, MS added "Direct Application Launch" which can work both ways, from the Hardware to OS and Back. The way the M9750 fingertouch buttons work is the value/setting is stored in the Registry under the ID of the Hardware.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\MobilePC\HotStartButtons\1]

An application can be written to send this settings to the Hardware directly OR the Hardware will get the info on Boot. A event in the OS or Hardwre is triggered and does whatever is needed. For the OS the event action is probably stored in the Driver.

With the M15x it sounds like these settings are stored in the BIOS also. Just a guess.

It may get a little technical but here is some info from MS about the feature.

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/vista/DirAppLaunch.mspx
http://download.microsoft.com/downl...4bae-9fde-d599bac8184a/DirAppLaunch_Vista.doc

 

I have flash my M9750 with the 0F03, but in EU, this is for XP too...

 

I have BIOS 0F04, FWIW. Recent m9750 build.

Yes, I strongly hesitate about flashing BIOS. I have lost motherboards doing this years ago. The strong rule is allow nothing to interupt the process. Many many years ago, one actually replaced a socketed BIOS chip.

 

Hi all,

Does anyone know if you can use the BIOS for the m9750 on the 5790?
I have the m5790 with 4gig of ram, but, my computer will only see one chip of the memory???
Does anyone know how I can get it to see the other??? Alienware don't... lol
I have the W1.19 BIOS update, but didn't help anything.
Thank you for any help with this matter.

 

I use vista, and the vista bios that are provided in the hive. It runs fine! Try the 175.63 or 175.16 drivers. You should see improvement. SLI functionality works wonders. Have you disabled UAC (User Account Control)? If you have done these things then I think its your hardware and not the system.

 

Hi everyone,
First of all, the only reason there is a Vista bios update is to make the computer more compatible with Vista. You can have the xp bios and still make it work with Vista, although it's not recommended. It works vice versa as well. However, if you're going to dual boot your system, with both xp and vista, I would suggest using the Vista bios. Also, in a dual boot enviroment, you want to install Vista first, as it prefers to use its boot loader over the xp one.

@Pepper - Bios's usually aren't compatible with any other model then what they were intended for. If it's only seeing one stick of memory, I would suggest seeking out the correct Bios if there is one. However, if you're already using most current version, I would suggest pulling one stick of memory out of your system and swapping slots with it. This will tell you if one memory slot is bad or not. If one stick is properly recognized in both ports, then it might possibly be that one stick is bad. You can swap between the two to sort it out. Also, this might seem like a rather minute step, but make sure the memory is indeed compatible and you're not overshooting the maximum amount of memory the system can support.

@KockM - I wouldn't turn off UAC simply because it defeats the security of Vista. I realise that it's a little irritating at times, but it's only one extra step.

Hope this helps,
Gabe

 

UAC prevents players from keybinding applications like ventrilo from being used while playing another game, if you key bind. Xfire also does not work properaly with UAC. I know there are several other problems that UAC has caused for gamers.

 

Hi kockM,
This is totally unrelated to the issue at hand, but I was wondering if you get any screensaver freezes if you boot your computer and just let it sit at the login. You're configuration is really similar to mine, and I'm wondering if you might have the same issue. Make sure you're using a standarad windows screensaver when you give it a shot.

Thanks,
Gabe

 

No, I have not had that problem.