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    AW15 / 17 R2 BIOS A04

    Discussion in '2015+ Alienware 13 / 15 / 17' started by Game7a1, May 20, 2015.

  1. Game7a1

    Game7a1 ?

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    Game7a1, May 20, 2015
    #1
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  2. xMAXIMUSx

    xMAXIMUSx Notebook Consultant

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    Still no raid haha, 2 useless fixes in 3 months. Working hard i see.
     
    xMAXIMUSx, May 20, 2015
    #2
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  3. giangy.della

    giangy.della Notebook Geek

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    How are CPU temps?
     
    giangy.della, May 20, 2015
    #3
  4. creationsh

    creationsh Notebook Guru

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    Can somebody report back with the cpu temp and the difference.
     
    creationsh, May 20, 2015
    #4
  5. Alienware-L_Porras

    Alienware-L_Porras Company Representative

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    Alienware-L_Porras, May 20, 2015
    #5
  6. creationsh

    creationsh Notebook Guru

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    After one minute, my temperatures went to 98'C [​IMG]
     
    creationsh, May 21, 2015
    #6
  7. Splintah

    Splintah Notebook Deity

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    a00 it is
     
    Splintah, May 21, 2015
    #7
  8. creationsh

    creationsh Notebook Guru

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    Fan turns on every other min while surfing the web. Temperature going at 81'c
     
    creationsh, May 21, 2015
    #8
  9. Lacho

    Lacho Notebook Enthusiast

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    Don't have time to post screenshots, but this is my experience with just a quick test:

    A03: Idle 60C - Load with Prime95 -> Avg 86C Max 91C
    A04: Idle 60C - Load with Prime95 -> Avg 90C Max 98C
     
    Lacho, May 21, 2015
    #9
  10. Durendal

    Durendal Notebook Guru

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    During normal game I dont see any issues with temp. I think it's simillar to A02. I need to check max temp in more CPU demanding game...
     
    Durendal, May 21, 2015
    #10
  11. ufomammut

    ufomammut Notebook Consultant

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    Is it the real full log change? If true they did nothing
    Maybe there are not even aware of temp problem or they just don'tcare ....
    maybe if people ask for replacement of motherboard due defective cooling they will sart thinking about it?
     
    ufomammut, May 21, 2015
    #11
  12. creationsh

    creationsh Notebook Guru

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    this new bios is actually worst than a03
     
    creationsh, May 21, 2015
    #12
  13. giangy.della

    giangy.della Notebook Geek

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    wow 98° C of cpu temp...they want to burn our alienware
     
    giangy.della, May 21, 2015
    #13
  14. Durendal

    Durendal Notebook Guru

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    Well, then I think back to A02 today...
     
    Durendal, May 21, 2015
    #14
  15. QUICKSORT

    QUICKSORT Notebook Evangelist

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    Currently at A03, I got a little lucky with my laptop it's cooling, don't know if it's the paste job or something. Even with this bad bios I have temps capping at 83°C in Witcher 3, while it was strickt below 80 while on A02.

    But yeah this A04 seems like a total joke, will stay on my A03 for now. And come to think of, this is the 5th faulty bios, within a like 3-4 months? this is really like a joke
     
    QUICKSORT, May 21, 2015
    #15
  16. Metalocalypse

    Metalocalypse Notebook Guru

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    And this is premium hight end class Alienware company? :DDDDDDDD
     
    Metalocalypse, May 21, 2015
    #16
  17. iPhantomhives

    iPhantomhives Click the image to change your avatar.

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    I'll just stay in A00 , sound like every updates are getting worst just like AMD drivers previously.
     
    iPhantomhives, May 21, 2015
    #17
  18. Lacho

    Lacho Notebook Enthusiast

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    My laptop arrived with A02, and I've tried A03 and A04 as well.

    Yesterday I installed A00 and man, laptop is running 5 degrees cooler and I can't notice a big difference on fan noise so far.
     
    Lacho, May 21, 2015
    #18
  19. Metalocalypse

    Metalocalypse Notebook Guru

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    Did u use 180 or 240psu? If 180 did U mentioned diffrence in perfomance?
     
    Metalocalypse, May 21, 2015
    #19
  20. creationsh

    creationsh Notebook Guru

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    creationsh, May 21, 2015
    #20
  21. Game7a1

    Game7a1 ?

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    Game7a1, May 21, 2015
    #21
  22. Triple Helix DNA

    Triple Helix DNA Newbie

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    You can run RAID but not on the OS Drive from within Drive Manager!

    TH

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
    Triple Helix DNA, May 21, 2015
    #22
  23. struselix

    struselix Notebook Consultant

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    Can I go back from A04 to A00 without ans problems?
     
    struselix, May 22, 2015
    #23
  24. Durendal

    Durendal Notebook Guru

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    Yes you can if you dont need hybrid power (you have 970M or 980M with 240W)

    I have checked yestarday A04 and A02 in 3dMark. 2nd run so chances are equal. No difference in CPU temp. Max temp 96, avg 76.

    I think difference is noticable in very high CPU usage like Prime. In games I think no such big difference.

    I cannot understand why Dell didnt create one simple option in BIOS, where you can chose quiet high temp with low noise or high noise with low temp. So everybody can chose
     
    Durendal, May 22, 2015
    #24
  25. Bl00dshot

    Bl00dshot Newbie

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    Do you think it would be a good idea to use HWINFO64 to set the fans to 100% when gaming? I've been having them run at 5600rpm for the CPU, 5000 rpm for the GPU for often 2-3 hours at a time. I was also wondering if this would be bad for it. It seems like it's set the fans high to stay below 80c or not and let it roast /:
     
    Bl00dshot, May 22, 2015
    #25
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  26. Papusan

    Papusan Jokebook's Sucks! Dont waste your $$$ on Filthy

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    Run the fans at maximum as long as you want during heavy load(use). The fans have longevity. Certainly +10.000 hours or nearly 3 years of using the laptop 10 hours every day. Better and replace a fan than a cremated processor or GPU and have to buy a new motherboard(cpu and gpu is soldered) after the warranty has expired ;)
     
    Papusan, May 22, 2015
    #26
  27. Bl00dshot

    Bl00dshot Newbie

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    Thank you for the info :) it's my first time owning a computer that can do anything lol I want to try to make it last.
     
    Bl00dshot, May 22, 2015
    #27
  28. Lacho

    Lacho Notebook Enthusiast

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    How do you manage the fans with HWINFO? I don't see them listed anywhere on the one I have installed (HWINFO 64 latest beta).
     
    Lacho, May 23, 2015
    #28
  29. needgoodlaptop

    needgoodlaptop Notebook Enthusiast

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    How did you change fan speeds on the Alienware 15/17?

     
    needgoodlaptop, May 24, 2015
    #29
  30. zachary77

    zachary77 Notebook Consultant

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    Yea, how is this possible guys? Normally, as seen on my 14, there is a little fan icon found on the readings page. It is vacant on the 15's layout.......
     
    zachary77, May 24, 2015
    #30
  31. mehtenj94

    mehtenj94 Notebook Consultant

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    Go into options and disable ec support and ensure smi is ticked


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
    mehtenj94, May 25, 2015
    #31
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  32. needgoodlaptop

    needgoodlaptop Notebook Enthusiast

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    This worked for me. The reader shows three fan speeds: off, maximum, and medium (2500/2600 RPM). I see two CPU fans, numbered 1 and 3. Which fan corresponds to the CPU and which one for the GPU?
     
    needgoodlaptop, May 26, 2015
    #32
  33. mehtenj94

    mehtenj94 Notebook Consultant

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    I dont remember. Trial and error?


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
    mehtenj94, May 26, 2015
    #33
  34. needgoodlaptop

    needgoodlaptop Notebook Enthusiast

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    Never mind, I used Google. 2600/5200 RPM belongs to CPU fan and 2500/5000 to GPU.
     
    needgoodlaptop, May 26, 2015
    #34
  35. needgoodlaptop

    needgoodlaptop Notebook Enthusiast

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    Unfortunately, altering the CPU fan settings results in very noticeable stuttering. I tried to disable some sensors including the battery, Dell EC, and the other processor sensors. Doing so seems to improve the stability, but I still notice the stuttering during YouTube playback and 3D-intensive tasks like 3DMark.
     
    needgoodlaptop, May 26, 2015
    #35
  36. DeeX

    DeeX THz

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    So A04 is also borked too?
     
    DeeX, Jun 2, 2015
    #36
  37. Sailorkellah

    Sailorkellah Notebook Guru

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    Got the same trouble about the stutter, my work around is to put fans on Manual full blast while gaming and exit HWinfo and it works for me, stuttering gone. After gaming activate HWinfo back again and activate custom fan settings to lower the fan spin.
     
    Sailorkellah, Jun 2, 2015
    #37
  38. Papusan

    Papusan Jokebook's Sucks! Dont waste your $$$ on Filthy

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    A04 is the worst bios update
     
    Papusan, Jun 2, 2015
    #38
  39. zachary77

    zachary77 Notebook Consultant

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    MSI Afterburner does the same for me (audio clipping).
     
    zachary77, Jun 2, 2015
    #39
  40. gschneider

    gschneider Notebook Evangelist

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    Hey this little tip has helped me with my laptop as its been a pain hitting 94c just doing an intel XTU bench and thats just silly!!
     
    gschneider, Jun 3, 2015
    #40
  41. YoDa_p7

    YoDa_p7 Notebook Enthusiast

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    So should I downgrade to A04? Even on idle, my alienware is quite warm. Suggestions on which BIOS I should downgrade to??
     
    YoDa_p7, Jun 5, 2015
    #41
  42. Sailorkellah

    Sailorkellah Notebook Guru

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    (So should I downgrade to A04? Even on idle, my alienware is quite warm. Suggestions on which BIOS I should downgrade to?)

    My laptop released last March '15 and the only problem I'd got was the fans not spinning right. I've not tried A04 yet, but I guess if you can run the fans using HWinfo then it should be fine. Do manual full spin of fans while gaming and custom fans while outside gaming. Be sure to exit HWinfo after setting to manual fans full as it might cause you stutter while gaming. Run again HWinfo after gaming to set again to custom spins while doing other tasks.

    Otherwise come to A02 and mine is very stable with it but still have to do workaround for the fans to spin right while gaming.

    Hope above helps.
     
    Sailorkellah, Jun 6, 2015
    #42
  43. creationsh

    creationsh Notebook Guru

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    Has anybody tried installing a04 and then call in the tech to come over to replace the thermal grease? Last time I had a tech over, he mentioned that when the fan is going on and off repeatedly, I should call it in and he'll be back to help me with the thermal paste. Funny thing is, after installing the A04, the fan does just that even for the simple task of browsing the web.
     
    creationsh, Jun 7, 2015
    #43
  44. Papusan

    Papusan Jokebook's Sucks! Dont waste your $$$ on Filthy

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    Certainly worse temperatures, if the fan starts more often with bios A04 ..
     
    Papusan, Jun 7, 2015
    #44