New BIOS for 15R2/17R3 v1.4.4

IIRC, VICKYGAMEBOY has the same issue and Dell couldn't resolve it. But he removed CMOS battery and did CLRP1 pin short to get rid off TPM error. As for other 2 issues, disabling hibernate will fix it. Most problems are bugs due to FCU.

 

if ever you will be able to successfully downgrade to bios 1.3.12. Please let me know. Thanks...hehe..

 

You know, I downgraded twice w/o any issues.

 

if u have TPM 2.0 device cannot start error try these, go to BIOS option, disable secure boot and change UEFI to full legacy mode, u should have a old alienware bios boot screen, thenboot to windows and check if the tpm hardware is working proper.. this is what ive tried and worked without any issues.. once its detected properly go back to BIOS and default settings, it should work.. let me know

 

So you didn't clear CMOS/NVRAM?

 

@Vasudev @Papusan check this out guys...
http://www.dell.com/support/article...intel-me-txe-advisory-intel-sa-00086-?lang=en
lol suspended.. most of the BIOS released / firmwared.. GJ dell engineers.. ROFL

there is also a new touch pad driver for 15 r2 / 17 r3

 

Yes that was the first step, then you to have to do this mandatory.. the one step which ive mentioned..

 

There is no connection to MEFW and Spectre variant 2 exploit fix at all.

 

Ok so the required steps are:
1 - Clear CMOS www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDxO8cKklPo
2 - Boot into legacy mode and then return to UEFI (secure)

is it ok? Should I return to bios v1.3.12 first?

Thank you,

 

I was already using driver 15 r3 that fixed strange scrolling issue on 15 r2. I have been using 15 r3 driver for a year now. I notified you & judal when 15 r3 driver was launched.

 

Yes do that.

 

There is well over 1 billion computers out there. And how many are infected with infections due the new flaws? This is more like a Storm in a water glass.

 

Whata wrong with the palm rest breaking during disassembly? I have taken apart Alienwares now more than 20 times for myself and others. Never I broke a part.

 

I was referring to Dell techs who broke them by force opening it.
Instead Dell can make a easy to disassemble laptop for cleaning the fans/repaste/aftermarket upgrades.

 

That sucks if technicians ruin your laptop. Had some bad ones in the Netherlands as well. I prefer they just send me the parts if something is wrong.

Luckily in my case after their screw up I just received a new Alienware.

 

What more can be said

Spoiler

 

If another company screws up i get nothing

 

I'm sure you will get back a working machine under warranty. If not... it's scam

 

Honestly, compressed air, used on a regular basis, will keep things clean. you cannot let it go for a year and then try to clean it. Nor can you use a laptop like this in a place with high amounts of airborne grease, as it will clog everything and nothing but physical cleaning will clean it (and that is a "user problem" scenario, not Alienwares).

As far as repasting or upgrades, there is NOTHING to upgrade that the removeable panel doesn't offer. In other words, once you pull that panel off, you can replace everything with a socket/connector that is user serviceable (ram, wifi, SSD, HDD, etc). Repasting is considered a factory/service issue, so you cannot blame them for that. These systems are not Clevos, which means they are not meant to have anything done outside of replacing what is socketed/cabled in the access panel underneath and using compressed air to clean out the air ports/fans.

People care more about how solid a machine is. They want reliability and long-term usefulness of their investment. To do what you want is basically unnecessary and useless for 99.9% of the people out there.

When I was younger (basically a previous life) I was a service tech for all the major brands and some of the procedures used to crack open cases and disassemble/reassemble things seemed crazy. But it was usually those products that had the complex construction are the ones that were more reliable and easily more durable overall.

My previous Asus G73Jh laptop was far from "durable". Construction was minimal, and over time it became less and less reliable because of that. Granted I usually used it on my lap or on a desktop/tabletop, but it was far from the construction I have seen in the Alienware 17 R3 I currently own.

 

Dell Warns Customers Not To Install Intel Spectre BIOS Update Over Rebooting Concerns-hothardware.com
"It appears that the fallout from Intel's release of BIOS updates to address Spectre and Meltdown chip vulnerabilities continues to rain down on the PC community. Most recently, Dell has advised its customers against installing BIOS/microcode updates that have been distributed to address Spectre(Variant 2)."

 

They have advised for people who are experience BSOD to roll back bios update. For people who just lost performance is to wait for the new update. For people who bricked there laptop is to PM the dell rep your service tag. My question is if your out of warranty and you bricked you laptop because of the bad bios. what would dell do to you? Leave you for dead? LOL

 

Well it is your responsibility when flashing a BIOS, so yeah, you're screwed.

 

No, if it was really because of the bad BIOS you won't lose your warranty.

 

Exactly!! And Dell know very well that they throw out trash witout proper testing!!

 

I just cleaned it yesterday after 6 months. The fans were clogged which increased temps by 5C on full load. I used compressed air to clean and now its really cool.

 

Its because of intel. Testing takes weeks if not months. If they didnt patch in time people would complain their system is not secure. They never can do right in this case.

 

They can’t put the blame on the end users (their customers) who got trash. The end users shouldn’t pay the price.

 

THey arent, its just in some cases unstable, they pulled the bios, they are working with intel on a fix. Its not like it bricks laptops

 

When downgraded to older releases on newer AWs they get bricked.

 

But people shouldn't downgrade to begin with. Those DC-in burning/melting cables was also partly because of people kept using the older bios versions, including myself. They do fix stuff.

 

Have beeen like this in AW Camp long time, rinneh. Downgrading due ****y performance, throttling, Aga problems and awful fan profiles. See also how Dellienware cripple performance vs. other brands models. And this haven't been first time. Not all can live with lackluster performance.

 

Shouldn't you downgrade bios if you laptop is experience BSOD problem due to the bad bios update that they released and pulled back? As for as of the moment I am sticking to this bios 1.4.4 as I my problem was solved by TS. But even with that I am having performance drop. Also last night for the information of people who is on bios 1.4.4. When I was playing PUBG there was a point my laptop hanged or stopped moving with screen tearing and a electric buzzing sound for 5 seconds. Panicked for a while but after that I continued playing. THIS WAS THE FIRST TIME THAT IT HAPPENED and I believe this is from the buggy bios update. I have not rolled back yet due to the fear of bricking. But will keep on observing. If it happens again I will let alienware facebook know and also one of the admin in dell alienware forum. Then roll back with fingers crossed. LOL

 

I downgraded to 1.3.12 after seeing horrible CPU/GPU temps on Sleeping Dogs: Def. edition. Earlier, cpu and gpu temps stayed by 60C; now it was 75C. Downgraded and temps were normal.

 

Performance drop is because of intel all system will have a drop.

 

And that is why I am still sticking with this horrible bios.. If it will cause BSOD thats the time I roll back.. But for those who are experience BSOD and rolled back to 1.3.12 and got bricked that would be dell to resolve I guess whether with or without warranty.. but dell helping you without warranty is most likely a miracle.. hehe..

 

Try the old uCode from the Google drive in the link. Bro @Vasudev posted it middle last year.

Btw. Seen this? http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...m-the-7710-owners.812995/page-4#post-10670300

You can disable protection with InSpectre tool to gain some of the missing performance. The performance drop shouldn't be as huge for newer I7 than Haswell gen. It's the patch from M$ who push down the performance (Meltdown). New Bios shouldn't cripple the performance.

 

Intel announced a 5% performance drop for skylake and kaby lake. Even more on haswell and older. So why wouldn't you expect a drop? Microsoft makes it worse though.

 

MSFT's patches does impact performance by 2-3%. When I enable SW and HW based mitigation(microcode C2) the impact is much worse 30% drop in CPU when its loaded 100%. On older CPU like Pentium(which I have) the drop is outrageous and barely usable. So, you are getting what I'm saying, right?
On Linux KPTI performance is barely noticeable on older and newer CPUs.

 

Most on 1/0 workflow. Not much in pure processing power and gaming. See also http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...patches-and-more.812424/page-43#post-10661964

I think the problem will be how OEMS patch their firmware with more ****y than needed.

 

On gaming, video editing you won't notice much difference. But for HPC/Virtualization the impact makes it perform like AMD FX.

 

Do not flee the bear before it's dead. It will be a performance hit but not teriible as many is afraid of. And not in all types workflow. Start crying when everything is tried and tested and no more fixes can be done.

 

Well, doesn't the bear kill human with just one strike? Better to flee the area even if the bear is half dead. It is powerful. If I'm a witcher then I may down takedown bears/monsters.

 

From what I expect with the details regarding performance drops are games that use Denuvo will be affected. Because it is constantly decrypting files in that case.

 

I'm also worried online games may be affected. Games like Diablo 3 and Path of Exile, that I play often, are very network intensive. They aren't sending a lot of data, but many many packets per second. But we'll have to see how things are when Intel comes out with a better fix. Perhaps some of the performance issues people have initially been publishing are because of the buggy microcode updates Intel published. We shall see.

 

I hope it does, because I already notice a performance drop in some games. Most notably Assassins creed origins. But also Warframe.

 

https://www.onmsft.com/news/new-int...ltdown-and-spectre-are-coming-later-this-year

they expect us to move to new chips for security, redesign the whole arch in less thn 1 year time, thats BS marketing there intel..

 

They can stuff the new chips up their *anywhere it fits*. No one should buy newer *fixed* CPUs who knows which new exploits have been hidden underneath. Never trusting Intel chips ever again.

 

and what about our new BIOS ?? website still not updated, how long does OEM gonna take

 

I just need MEI FW, rest microcode, iRST ROMS can be updated using UBU.