New BIOS for 15R2/17R3 v1.4.4

@Alienware-K_Castro and @Alienware-Wasserman was last seen Sep 2017. And they can't to much anyway. Best bet is still https://twitter.com/AzorFrank Or https://www.facebook.com/frank.azor - https://www.facebook.com/Alienware/

 

I have tried this and has no effect at all.

What I have noticed is on bios 1.3.6 my voltage in HWinfo64 is always 1. somwthing and never goes down to 0.9 something. Voltage only goes down If I use balance mode or power saver. Initially I thought the problem was intel speed shift due to the lower voltage that I have observed. Here is a screenshot of HWinfo64 without undervolt and on high performance mode. If you look at it the voltage is 0.9 something.. Seems the new bios is reducing the voltage and causing this problem. I dont know. LOL. any ideas anyone? What information do you need for me to share that might narrow down the problem. Oh first off I have a Alienware 17 r3 with i7 6700HQ and 970m 3gb gpu.

 

Then, shrink your undervolt and test.

 

Ok on -170mv the result is the same. You mean I should try to lower down my undervolt and test it on -150mv or -100mv? Sorry my english is not really good.

 

Yeah, lower your undervolt and test. Even down to default if needed.

 

On the last screenshot that is default voltage. No UV. As I have said what I have observed on bios 1.3.6 my default voltage doesn't go below 1.0 on high performance mode. On the new bios with default voltage it goes below 1.0 as shown its 0.9 something. T_T Papusan which is higher risk of bricking a laptop doing bios update. Updating to latest version or rolling back to older version?

 

Always a risk for bricking. Maybe make a fresh TS start before you determine what you will do. Follow the guide in this post. As well test before you put your TS settings.

And be sure you haven’t a undervolt when and if you prefer to flash bios.

 

When I updated my Bios. I undo my undervolt and set it back to default. I open HWmonitor to double check if my voltage are all 0. I have unintalled nvidia inspector as well and undo my OC. I also open gpuz to double check if my clocks are back to default. I have uninstall macrium reflect and malwarebytes(just felt it will interrupt the bios update). I have also went to bios and restore default. This is what I do when updating bios. Making sure everything is on default. I have not encountered any problem as of the moment and have no plans on experiencing one. What do you think of the steps that I have been doing? is it ok?

 

Perfect

 

Thanks.. I might roll back to previous bios. hahaha.. this curiosity of mine might kill my laptop one day. Hopefully not today.. LOL

 

@Papusan Guess what. Bios 1.4.4 is protected. Cannot roll back. hahahahahah.. paksake.. LOL.. I thought I can roll back as @Vasudev was able to roll back to bios 1.3.12. Guess I am a living proof that dell really cripples there old models so customers will buy a new one.. hmmmmm.. got any idea or any work around to solve this? I tried removing battery cable and pressing power button holding it for a minute. Also tried to short the clrp thingy on the motherboard behind the ram slot.. Didn't do anything.. weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.. LOL.. @rinneh @VICKYGAMEBOY got any idea how to solve this mess? Can you set TS to run CPU at 3.1ghz all the time on 4 cores?

 

Nice. People have to opt between performance or security I don’t remember how many times I have said to bro @Phoenix never ever be a GP.

 

Security? when I ran sa intel sa000 something tool for vulnerability.. It says I am still vulnerable.. weeeeeee..

 

Maybe this was a test firmware before the real deal comes with even higher hit on performance. It’s dangerous playing Dell’s firmware roulette.

 

Is there a way to lock my clock speed to 3.1ghz on 4 cores using TS?

 

Shouldn’t need TS magic for running stock clocks. Windows High performance power plan should be enough.

 

I am still using the older bios. Will probably only be using this laptop for 1 week because i will switch to the aw15r3.

The latest bios has the intel patch built in.

 

You guys forgive me and my noob question but, should I update?
I really don't understand whats going on, I just hear vulnerability, performance cut and that theres no roll back.
So Im i really vulnerable to any attack?
Is a lot of performance compromised?
I'm currently on previous BIOS, only use my 15R2 to game on it, just steam games no weird stuff.
Should I update? I really don't want to loose performance as I play most AAA games barley on 60 FPS and I can't afford an upgrade. Also I play on hot weather, my pc is most of the time at 80-85c. Sometimes it even throttles if doing extra stuff so more throttling will have a big impact on me. I apreciate taking the time to reply to a noob like me.

 

I suggest not to update or else you'll be like me.. LOL.. I am having performance drop.. also when running intel SA-00086 to check if I am still vulnerable it will say I still am. But on inspectre software it will say I am not.. my cinebench score from 676 it is now 642.. My cpu core is throttling to base clock. The most obvious difference between this bios version and bios 1.3.6 is my cpu voltage. My CPU voltage on 1.4.4 bios is lower than 1.3.6 bios. It seems on bios 1.4.4 I am always on balanced mode.. Dont know why.. SUCKS to be a GP.. and my curiosity is now paying the price.. hahahhahaha So i would hold updating bios.. hope this helps

 

Read the thread.

The new Intel flaws (Meltdown - Spectre) ain’t the same as the older INTEL-SA-00086 vulnerabilities(Intel ME Security Vulnerabilities)!!

 

Thanks for correcting me.. But I still have the throttling problem which I am currently trying to solve. It might not got something to do in bios but I would still recommend to hold the bios update for a few more weeks.. ^_^

 

Actually, I wonder if it isn't newer BIOSes in general that are throttled.

I picked up my AW 13R3 on the 4th of this month. It came with 1.2.x BIOS loaded... I played around, got great benchmarks, then decided to get serious, loaded all the drivers, including the BIOS update to 1.3.12.

After that all my benchmarks were lower. I also found out that the only way to get the best numbers for my setup was to used "balanced" power saving mode, and "high performance" basically caused a performance hit on the graphics side of things (neither seemed to change the CPU benchmark using Time Spy).

So I am just speculating here, but it seems as if AW hobbled the i7-6700HQ/GTX980m setup I have with the BIOS change (mine is a 4GB GTX980m for reference)...

Is it because too many people complained about failures? Maybe they had too many RMAs? I would hate to think they did it because of newer systems (basically wanted people to have even more of a reason to upgrade)??? Sounds bad, but I have seen it with other manufacturers before, so why would Dell be any different?

I also noticed on mine, while using a Alienware Graphics Amplifier (with a desktop GTX980 4GB) that I have no Fn+F1 functionality (as in pressing the combo with the AGA running does nothing). The cable button press still goes into shutdown as it should, for reference.

 

Yeah, this is the normal way. RMA and tech support cost money. All manufacturers do it this way. Those with most problems will cripple performance more than the others.

 

I suppose you have Echo model AW13 r2 with Dual Core ULV chip.

 

Why dont you just shutdown the PC normally and remove the AGA cable afterwards? No need to use Fn+F1. You cant hotswap the AGA anyway.

 

Okay, Dell removed the BIOS from Download page. I'll better still wait.

 

@VICKYGAMEBOY New BIOS has been pulled from Dell Website. So people who installed them are good as dead.

 

lol.. dont worry in few days time ull get new bios with firmware updated.. 2 tweets 2 mails to all the alienware team members ive known.. but how will u flash ?? im confused.. can u even boot to bios screen for now ?? or its complelety dead ?

 

The latest bios just works as far as I know right? Just the security patches aren't fully implemented?

 

I'm back online using c69k method *OFFICIAL* Alienware 13 R3 Owner's Lounge
Hahaaa. I'm back. Never updating ever again. Good thing AW BIOS legend left, since AW BIOS is locked down heavily.

 

it works fine, but if u go indepth its broken as well, lots of random bugs, and yes its not patched at all, they uploaded the bios by mistake..

 

welcome back.. good to hear that.. ik that feeling, when i bricked my alienware 14..

 

See that bios was messed up.. good thing we have TS.. also lost 5% score in cinebench with this bios..

 

If they launched a bios for the newly discovered Intel flawes, and you get into trouble because it contained issues... It is Dell's problem and not yours. If they removed the firmware from their download page... They knew/know it would lead to problems.

 

I have tried alot of times posting i dell alienware forum about my problem but evry time i do it. It doesnt show up. I dont know if they delete my post or there foru. s is broken.. I wanted to complain as it seems the bios update set my laptop to balanced mode.. it was only altered/solved by TS. I shouldn't need any third party program for my laptop to run in performance mode when i wanted to do it.. that bios update was messed up..

 

It was Alienware's Dell's engineers that also suggested people should run 3rd party software for fan control. People asked very nice for better fan profiles for 2013/14 models AW17/18, but this was the answer they got. What did you expect? That they will make it proper even today? Nope. It's Dell in a nutshell. I have seen it since early 2013. Haven't seen a change. Only to the worse. Even in 2018 aka 5 years later, the Aw owners still have to rely on third party program as Hwinfo64.

 

Sorry about that, I didn't mean AW13R3, I have a Alienware 17 R3 w/i7-6700hq/GTX980m 4gb/16gb 2133 DDR4/Toshiba XG5 256gb SSD/WD 1TB 5400rpm HDD. It has a 1920x1080 FHD display, Killer NIC/WiFi and all the rest of the standard setup. I also have a Alienware Graphics Amplifier with a GTX980 4GB desktop card in it.

Oh, I know, it is just strange that a hardware hot-key is not functioning properly. If none of the AGA disconnect methods work, I could see it, but if pressing the button on the AGA cable works, why wouldn't the Fn+F1 hot-key???

I am just more concerned there is another underlying issue. Rarely do things happen on a hardware level that are isolated. I fully believe it is probably a software issue, but I have yet to find anyone that states that their Fn+F1 doesn't work, so it has me concerned it might be something in hardware.

I figure if it was something that was a common occurrence I would have some sort of reply on what the fix is, or if it was a feature that was removed, someone would state that and point to where Alienware notified everyone of the change. That is all.

My previous gaming laptop was an Asus G73jh. That thing had sooo many hardware issues that needed software patches (like a touchpad that freaked out that required a special, specific driver written to take care of the issue, or the AMD 5870 graphics card in it that required a completely new BIOS to use AMD driver updates), that I look at both sides of the equation. Took Asus almost a year to fix everything on it, then once the new models came out, it got 1 more driver update, 1 more BIOS update and then any real support was dropped hard. I notice that Asus has done that with most high-end products. Thus my reason why I refuse to look to them for new products. Even though I have at least 3 or 4 desktops running with Asus ROG motherboards and video cards and are rock solid and stable for the long haul (like 9 years for one, 8 years for another and 7 years for the last few), I just find their lack of BIOS updates and their unwillingness to support newer OSes to be a major point of concern. Their high-end stuff is NOT cheap, quite complicated and usually well engineered, but lack of support is worrisome.

 

You need install Alienware OSD app in case you removed it for certain hotkeys to work. Another thing is you need to configure it in AWCC, newer version defaults to option No action while earlier AWCC version defaulted to Remove AGA and reboot.

 

@Vasudev @Papusan Dell Alienware is so messed up. I have now confirmed that every post I make complaining about bios 1.4.4 is deleted. Seems like this will be the first and last alienware laptop ill buy. They are so bad deleting my post without even PMing me.. waaaaaaaaaaa

 

I'm sure bro @Cass-Olé can tell you more about this.

 

I'm thinking of Clevo's laptops as well and avoid AW in future. In case I need AW I will politely ask Bloodhawk or Papusan's Kids for any second hand AWa which he already optimised to the brink.
Well OP can edit the title and add a Word saying Pulled and No longer available.

 

I fix it for you You're welcome
forum.notebookreview.com/threads/cpu-vulnerabilities-meltdown-and-spectre

 

if you expect better build quality you will be disappointed. And its just a small issue regarding the bios. I rather have a faulty bios than a badly build laptop overall.

 

Firmware from Dell have been a mess. Not only for the newer generation laptops. But a very long time. The AW 17/18 from 2013 line had low gpu performance almost near a year before Dell *decided* to fix it and let the gpu's run more as all the others.
A crippled firmware is Hell lot worse than how a laptop is build or designed. Same as Intel push out a unlocked HEDT desktop i9 chips who can't be oc'd. Push out firmware who don't let you run max Turbo boost and only base clock even with max performance in Windows power plan is a sick nasty idea. No excueses. And not forget that Dell continued push out firmware long time who bricked (I think it was XPS, but can't remember) XPS notbooks although they were warned by tech sites. Nice with a good support/warranty, but this don't help you much when you need your computer righ there.

 

In my case i rather hae 10% less performance and dependability than a laptop that maybe performs well in short bursts but is unreliable as hell and no good support. If I want absolute performance would buy a desktop anyway.

If my laptop goes down and I have to send it in for 2 weeks, that would mean I couldnt go to the office and work for 2 weeks. I would have to use my desktop at home that I keep as a backup. If that happens when I am away in another country that would mean I need to buy a laptop on the spot. Dell/Alienware is the only company out there catering to my needs.

 

Even with excellent build quality, the palmrest components break during disassembly.
So rather than build quality I'd have full performance. Anyway, I am buying TR desktop so Lappie is a more of a travel companion. Then again, I would keep some stock of more laptops for different use cases. Couple of BGAs, LGAs and desktop would be great.

 

is there any way to rollback from bios 1.4.4 to 1.3.12? A protection message is displayed when trying to install v.1.3.12...

 

@Vasudev can answer this as he has tried it but I haven't..

 

I used Dell Flash Update by copying the old EXE file to root of your usb drive and you'll get a warning and selecting No will downgrade the BIOS because the ME FW isn't installed so the lock doesn't work. BTW, I am using 1.3.12 with microcode patch C2 thanks to Daz.

 

I'm experiencing these issues with Bios v1.4.4
- Device Manager shows that Trusted Platform Module 2.0 service cannot start (code 10)
- Computer is not power off completely (lights stay on). Same behavior when I try to suspend the machine.
- Windows 10 takes about 2-3 minutes to load (before was about 10-20 seconds).

Downgrading to 1.3.12 would fix these issues? thank you Vasudev