13 R2 BIOS 1.2.14 & 15 R2 / 17 R3 BIOS 1.2.14

13 R2 BIOS 1.2.14
Fixes & Enhancements
[BIOS]
-Enhance OLED panel display requirement
---------------------------------------------------------
15 R2 / 17 R3 BIOS 1.2.14
Fixes & Enhancements
[BIOS]
-Enhance Win10 4k display requirement
EDIT: BIOS versions 1.2.12 to 1.2.14 have been taken down from servers.

 

And still a lot of bugs unsolved....

 

How does the AGA do with this bios?

 

Might as well write this current laptops off if you want great performance with a AGA. Akuenware has set its eyes on different products now and has moved toward. Tg eve shown how they will abandon customers quickly with problems when products are becoming of age.

 

On the 13 R2 front (for a brief time), the BIOS is better than 1.2.13 with the GA. USB ports work, still runs at PCIe 3.0 x4, and performance is about the same as on 1.2.8. Still no RAM overclocking, though.

 

I wonder what "Enhance Win10 4k display requirement" is actually supposed to do

 

Is that all the 17 R3 BIOS update does? If so, I may just wait...

 

There is often undocumented performance and stability enhancements.
The only way to find out is by community feedback.

 

hello guys,

am newbie here in forum,
i'd like to ask if anybody has the same issue, i have aw 15 r2, and now i stay at bios 1.2.2 , i've tried both bios 1.2.12 -1.2.14, and always has similar problem, that during boot up after shutdown, the booting will take sometime >30s. and also bios date and time always reset to 2014 an 00:00, i've cheked the RTC cmos battery and it seems ok with 3 V... so i flashback to 1.2.2, and everthing back to normal.. any one has got same issue?

is there any suggestion perhaps? thank you.

 

The boot issues are quite known. At least up to 1.2.13. Abou tthe battery. I have no clue. I am sticking at 1.2.2 though. I love these Alienware machines but their current bioses are pretty **** and they need to be called out for it. There are plenty of bugs that arent fixed yet.

 

How does the GA in AW17R3 do with this bios? Still 2x PSI-E?

 

I'm not having any boot problems with the latest bios, I can't speak to the AGA however

 

I've tested the new bios a week now and i can say that it runs pretty stable. I dont even have the pcie x1 aga bug...

 

For some reason, the 13 R2 doesn't have the PCIe bug (from 1.2.13 and this BIOS). I'm not sure how or why the 15 R2 and 17 R3 are/were affected by it.

 

Probably because the second nvme pci express bay.

 

I ve got both. 13r2 and 17r3 and both doesnt have that bug

 

Well that's good to know all models shouldn't have a problem..

 

dont go to this bios..downgrade 1.2.8

 

Why?

 

cause i had a problem with power up problem dell try to replace any part to make it work o luck and i see that after 1.2.12 something is working good my laptop fix for power up boot problem is 1.2.8

 

Sorry, but i cant understand what u are saying

 

I think he's talking about the power up problem that was noticed in BIOS 1.2.12.

 

So about 2 weeks ago I updated my BIOS, and laptop (15R2) restarted just fine and I played games all night. Shut it down, went to bed, and when I woke up it wouldn't power on, no matter what I tried. After several days of dealing with tech support they sent someone out to replace MOBO, but after putting that in it wouldn't read HDD. So they had to send another tech out with a new HDD, and finally now, 2 weeks later, my laptop is working again. I thought maybe a power surge but that doesn't make any sense, since I played fine all night and shut it down and unplugged it.
Think any of this could have had something to do with that BIOS update? But if so, why did it work fine until I shut it down, and why would that also have killed my HDD?

 

Yup, This is all over the forums. 1.2.12 or above BIOS seems to be the culprit. Once you have updated to it, it will only be a matter of time before it has the not turning on bug. There is a temporary fix you can do but it will keep coming back.

I have a poll going on here that you can vote in about this particular issue if you dont mind. http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/poll-for-alienware-15r2-or-17r3-owners.793073/

What BIOS were you on before update? Any idea?

 

Thanks for the reply!
I don't remember, sorry The last time I updated it was in like January though, so whichever version was up then. I voted in the poll...sucks!!

 

Just to add...
There was a guy on the AW facebook group that had a an R3 that wouldnt start. He did the clearing of the CMOS and it fixed it.
He added that it was important to hold down on the shorted jumpers for a long while before it actually cleared.
Just figured I would mention in case someone had an issue.

 

I tried that on the last motherboard before it was changed. like you said, holding it down worked. a quick short didn't, but it didn't last long before doing it again. Was a pain in the *** having to keep opening it up to short the pins every other day or so.

 

So is this BIOS safe to update to? I updated to 1.2.14 last week because I had a keyboard issue and they had to replace the motherboard to fix it. After they replaced the MOBO, the laptop wouldn't recognise the GPU unless I updated my BIOS. But then on Sat, the laptop didn't turn on and instead made 7 beeping noises. Unsure if its the BIOS or just that they gave me a bad MOBO.

I need to update BIOS again to recognize my GPU. Is this one safe? Which one is the best BIOS?

 

Never mind. I'll update to 1.2.8 and see how it goes. Seems like a very old BIOS is installed every time the motherboard is changed (1.2.0) which doesn't recognize my newer GTX 965M.

 

The oldest BIOS that recognizes the newer GTX 965m is 1.2.7, but but from my experience, I think 1.2.8 is the better one. Either is fine, though.
Weird that your motherboard came with a BIOS older than your GPU.

 

Bios 1.2.14 has been pulled from Dell's servers.

 

Not just 1.2.14, but 1.2.13 and 1.2.12 as well. The latest one is 1.2.8.

 

Yep, I saw that as well. I posted about it in the owner's lounge and figured I would at least mention 1.2.14 in this dedicated thread also.

 

FWIW, I just tried to downgrade from .13 to .8 and got a "flash update denied" error message. Still running .13.

 

To fix that flash it from boot by inserting the flash drive with the bios file and pressing f12 on boot. Select the flash bios from usb option and use the interface to choose the bios file you want to flash. You have to use the tab and enter keys to navigate the bios flash menu. If you still have problems follow the instructions in this link to clear the bios completely and reload it fresh: http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/SLN301252?dgc=SM&cid=266889&lid=5129275. This could fix even bigger issues like boot or sleep issues.

 

Before these news, I was just going to say I've been using 1.2.14 since solving the no shutdown issue with a CMOS clear on June 19th and it's been more stable than 1.2.8 for me. Only one BSOD in more than 3 weeks.

I think it also helped that I left the fast boot disabled. The hibernation files occasionally generated some issues previously.

But it seems safer to stay on 1.2.2 anyway.

 

I wonder if they will come with a 1.2.15 that resolves all those issues.

 

I wish they would. But the BIOS update history isn't very reassuring...

I waited one or two weeks to upgrade to 1.2.14, waiting for positive or negative signs. In the end, the upgrade messed things up, although I think it was the upgrade process and not the BIOS itself. But now that they pulled it from the downloads page it makes it more evident there is something truly wrong with these BIOS (first 1.2.3 and now 1.2.12 to 1.2.14). And suppport keeps saying to update to the latest version to solve the problems originating from the very same updates.

I'll definitely wait even longer when they release the next one.

 

If you downgrade to 1.2.8, will your 15 R2 still be able to recognize M.2 SSDs like the samsung 950 Pro?

And will it be able to use the 16 Gb memory sticks?

All these BIOS versions that have been put out by Dell and then pulled are disconcerting. I'm not sure what version to use now.

I notice also that on Dee's link to the Dell ftp site, all the BIOS versions past 1.2.8 have been pulled, so there must be some serious flaws in the later versions.

When I purchased my 15 R2 in early December 2015, I believe it had 1.2.12 on it. So now what? Does this mean Dell is recommending that I downgrade to 1.2.8?

I'm starting to get quite annoyed with Dell. First I try to find out if the 15 R2 supports PCie X4 on the M.2 ports and their tech support says SATA only, only to come to this forum to find out Dell Tech support was blowing smoke and the M.2 ports are PCie x2 and x4.

No idea what BIOS I should use. Would be nice if we would get a statement from Dell regarding what BIOS is best to use. I haven't heard a word about whether I should downgrade from the supplied version (1.2.12) which is one of the versions that was pulled.

I don't use my laptop a lot other than when traveling but am not sure whether I should even turn it on given all the problems Ive seen on this forum with the BIOSs

 

1.2.12 came out in March.
Just use 1.2.8 or 1.2.2 for now.

 

You wont get an answer from dell unfortunately. BUt I recommend still you go to 1.2.8 or below. Your SSD will work. BUt if you are on a trip and your PC suddenly doesnt want to boot, that will suck. That is exacly the bug of 1.2.12 and higher.

 

Cough: http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/p/19985339/20924938#20924938

 

Whoa, that's pretty interesting. So whose gonna be the one brave enough to test it for us? lol

Edit: I'm curious enough I think I might install it myself later today. If I do I'll keep you guys updated.

 

Curious about it. Hopefully it provides all the fixes users want. The bios 1.2.12 till 1.2.14 is one of the things I am most disappointed about regarding Alienware. They arent transparant abotu what they change and often bugs weren't fixed at all.

 

I'm pretty surprised the support team will release "what seems to be" beta BIOS to users on a tech support forum... not sure whether that's the best way to test a BIOS....

 

I'll flash in about 3 hours when I'm home from work if no one else does it within that time.

 

I was thinking about flashing it tonight but I'm taking my computer out of town and don't want to run into problems. Let me know how it goes. If things seem decent then it would probably be better for me to update when I get home in a couple days when have a desktop I can still access if I have problems.

 

I'm also really curious about this BIOS, but I have work to do on my AW and can't afford to use it for "beta testing"...

But I guess they are close to releasing it officially if they are posting in the forums.

Best of luck to the brave souls willing to try it!

 

downloaded.. gonna flash to 1.2.15 beta..

 

I flashed.

No DIMM Profiles
I haven't got the GA issues so far with powering on/off during bootup (maybe fixed).
GA Connects at PCI-E 4x, so thats good.
Fans working.
HDD light is fixed (just like previous versions that were pulled).