*OFFICIAL* Alienware 15 R1/R2 Owner's Lounge

Gotta disagree on the evaluation of the soft-touch lids of those machines. I have had a number and the strength might not be equal to the carbon fiber but it was even noted by reviewers as being very strong, but the soft-touch was far more durable a surface and less prone to easy damage. This is the same decontenting nonsense they did before. They start a generation with aluminum, then cheap out on the refresh. How much you bet they do it again on the next major refresh.

 

LOL - no offense, but that is simply not correct. The aluminum shell can be scratched, but I assure you the light plastic on the line up now is far easier to damage in casual use. Don't be offended by the truth of the matter, it is simply what it is.

I'll probably still ending up getting one but I am going to have to figure out a good protective solution... maybe xoticpc's wraps or something along those lines.

 

Hi guy I need help with fresh install where is my windows key or licence ? also I miss to driver PCI Simple communication and Unknown device .do we have any guideline for fresh install ?

 

Lol. I agree on the perfectsize!!!

 

The soft rubber lids were more easy to pick up fingerprints. At least these plastic lids aren't.
Really, I just didn't like the feel of it. And when ever I tried to clean it, it was like I was killing an eraser. That is to say, bits of the rubber kept coming off.
I did like the feel of the m15x whenever it wasn't cold.

 

My laptop is finally on its way after waiting ten days! Just wanted to ask if the BIOS update fixed the throttling issue or is a 240w psu still needed to hit the best fps?

 

No it didn't, and this new bio is no good

 

Is throttling only a behaviour of laptop with 980 or also with 970?

 

should be only for 980m with 180 power brick

 

And m295x.

 

Hey Gang,

My Alienware 15 came in the mail a few days ago and already I have problems. For some reason whenever I booted it up it would freeze, but after a hard reset it would start up fine. Now not even 48 hours into ownership it is toast. After failing to boot into windows 8 it takes me to the recovery screen. None of the options will work from refreshing the pc, to wiping the drive totally and starting fresh. Both give me errors such as "missing drive partition" or "drive is locked". I never had a chance to make a recovery USB as I did not think things could go south this fast. It is now totally useless.

Got on the phone with tech support today and after walking me through a few tests to see if the hard drive is functioning and going into the BIOS they wanted to send me a recovery USB that would arrive in 2 business days. I told the tech that I think I might just return the laptop as my 1080p screen is suffering from the dreaded ghosting as well. I won't be able to attempt to return it until Monday as they are closed until then. In the mean time I used my desktop to make a recovery USB to try it with the AW 15. After it was finished it had no effect what so ever. Pretty sure I'm just going to return this as I'm not sure the official recovery drive will even fix this. Any suggestions?

 

Let me tell you my experience with the laptop. I received my laptop thursday evening. The laptop worked perfectly fine though I only had a hard drive in it since I already own an SSD I wanted to put that in. I downloaded all the drivers I require and I immediately went into do a clean install the very day I got it. Microsoft has his own tool to do a clean install. So I downloaded that. And it downloaded and made a recovery usb automatically after choosing the OS and language.

I installed the SSD, The SSD was already full with stuff from my previous system. So I couldn't install windows at the beginning. Opened CMD through the recovery usb, did a clean command on the disk. Created a new single partition and installed windows 8.1 on it.

After 1st boot up. I had to restart it, and it wouldn't shut down. After that I couldn't boot into windows again, always the same black screen right after the bios screen. I plugged back the recovery usb and did a windows reset. After that everything worked perfect.

My laptop is now fine everything works perfect, except for 2 issues. 1st the LAN driver comes with the killer network manager that also manages the wifi network. When torrenting I set up over 100 sometimes even over 200 connections. The network manager could never handle it and it would just give me a bluescreen. Same happened back at my M14X. so I deleted the whole LAN driver together with the network manager. I don't know if my Ethernet port still works though haven't tried, bu tnot much of an issue, since the bluscreens are gone now.

2nd issue is the hosting. At least th eghosting is not a single ugly trail, it's a fading trail that gives a subtle motion blur effect. Again so not a that much huge issue, and perhaps a fix will come since porras said the engineers are looking into it. But for the rest I am luckily VERY happy with my system.

I'd say if you have another hard drive; just to test out, install windows on it and see if that works. or make a ubuntu installation usb. That one also has live ubuntu you can boot from the usb. That way you could be sure if the problem is on your Hard drive or not.

 

I have to disagree as In my experience with multiple aluminum laptops, aluminum scratches insanely easily, and this lid is just as easy to scratch.

 

For factory installed Windows 8 and beyond laptops do not require a windows license key to be typed in as it is "injected" into the motherboard. During installation and activation Windows gets the product key from the bios on its own.

 

killscreen - I would wait for the recovery stick from dell, before attempting to reeturnand do a clean install, sounds like you just have a bad image.

instead of waiting for dell not sure if u want to do this or not, but if you have a copy of win7 or 8, I would just wipe the drive and install one of the OS's to see if it was just the OS that was bad, then once you receive the usb recovery from dell, just put it in and restore...... just a thought.

 

just ordered the m.2 screws from Dell part # D837T

and this drive from newegg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...0510051&cm_re=m.2_80mm-_-20-510-051-_-Product

also have an evo 850 500gb, plan to put the OS on the m.2, I debated if I should have just ordered 2 m.2's and then install the OS on 1 of them and combine the evo and the 2nd m.2 to create one storage pool. has anyone tried this yet

 

It comes with 1x256 ssd. I received mine Thursday.

 

What brand/model?

 

LITEONIT L8T-256L9G-11 M.2 2280 256GB

 

It took me 6 reinstalls of Windows 8.1 to get everything right. This machine is such a Diva - just like my former Alienware M11x R1.
The driver you are looking for is the Alienware OSD. There is one from 2012, which will work. Also make sure to install the Intel Chipset Management Engine, which is not listed in the A15 driver section, but can be found on the 13 or 17 support page.
Don't get me wrong, the A15 might be the best notebook I ever had, but the driver support by dell is substandard at best.

BTW: Every time I boot up after a few seconds the system will halt and the fans will spin at full speed for a mere second. First the left one then the right one. It is horribly anoying. Does anyone have this issue and knows what's causing it?

 

The laptop came in my case default without an OSD app. not needed though if you ask me. It only made volume up and down easier for me. perhaps I'll look into that. And about that intel chipset, what is it, and what is it for? I did install the intel Thermal framework chipset. Though I couldn't find anything named like that on the driver pages for the 13 15 and 17-r2.
And about the intel rapid store technology, I don't need it anyway since I use AHIC mode for my SSD

 

Exactly. I just installed the old OSD app and uninstalled it again, so the Exclamation mark disappeared in the device manager.

Here are two drivers which are not listed onthe Alienware 15 page, but which are needed anyway.
HM87Chipset
Intel MEI

Installing these will get rid of any left unknow devices. If you use Dells preloaded Windows, those will be installed already.

Also I figured out what made the fan speed up all the time: The Dell Support Assist, so I uninstalled it, now everything's fine.

 

Thanks for linking the drivers. appreciated. How did you find them anyway? I mean if updates were to release for those, will those link be updated with the new versions?

 

I googled the hardware IDs of the Unknown devices and found those. Also I just found the Dell Update, which should keep your drivers up to date automatically.
Also if you go on this site, choose your Alienware 15 and sort all drivers by date, you should see if there are new ones. Except for BIOS A02 there aren't though.

Please be careful with the Dell Update and Support Assist. I just installed those two and now get a BlueScreen when trying to boot. This is so rediculous.

 

My aw15 will arrive tomorrow and I must say after reading many of the comments on this sight I am concerned instead of down right happy. I have a m14x r2 that has been great for me I hope my luck carries over.

 

Once it's configured, everything should be alright. I am just very frustrated with how Dell handles the driver support. Especially since I had a Gigabyte before, which has an app that installs all the drivers for you, even if there are not installed yet.

 

Problems will Always have more space than threads where people write how much they like it , more anwers with solutions and such so maybe it looks a little worse than it is.
I also am little worried but i will wait when i will have it in my table and see how it is.
Anyways i got the 128gb M.2. with the OS in it just so i didnt have to deal with those things such as reinstalling Windows on the nes SSD.

 

Each to his own, but the owners of the AW 14 and AW 17 R1 didn't report scratching problems at the rate people mentioning it with the new line up. I think if there had been an equivalent issue it would not have already been noted by current owners of both systems.

 

Ok 7th time reinstalling Windows... One more incident and Dell gets this laptop back.

Gesendet von meinem Passport mit Tapatalk

 

Hey guys,

Thought I would give you all an update. So this morning I thought I would try my 15 one more time. To my surprise it gave me the option at the recovery screen to return to windows 8. After selecting that option it booted up fully to the desktop. I created a recovery USB as well as it all seemed to be working fine. I gave it a restart to see if it would still work and once again it froze at the AW boot screen with the HDD light on the whole time. After a hard reset it booted up just fine again. Anyone have any idea why it only wants to boot after a hard reset? Also my "F" key needs more pressure than the rest of my keys or else it will not register. Does anyone else have a troublesome F key?

 

Hello everyone,

I just bought a new AW 15 yesterday at Fry's and let me tell you...this thing is NICE. No ghosting issues on my 1080p and VERY minimal light bleed to the point its hardly noticeable. The screen is just gorgeous. The build quality is superb despite the lid being mostly plastic (it doesnt even feel like plastic honestly). This thing is still built like a tank!

I got the 970M, 16gb RAM, 4710q i7 processor, 128m2 boot drive (this is confirmed to be Samsung and its VERY fast) with 1tb 5400rpm hd (this thing is super slow haha).

I will post all my stock benchmarks later in the other thread on these forums. I do have a few questions for other owners here however:

1. How do you clean the greasy fingerprints and palm prints on the palm rest? This thin is ALWAYS showing them even if my hands are bone dry!

2. What software can you use to overclock the GTX 970m? Is it even overclockable right now or is it restricted by Dell bios?

3. Since I bought this laptop in a store, can I purchase additional warranty through Dell or am I out of luck after the first year of owning this laptop?

4. I have the 180w psu with this 970m, should I expect throttling and do I need to phone Dell for a 240?


Thanks all! If any of you have any questions regarding the system please feel free to ask me too!

 

Glad you like your new toy,
2: now Nvidia allows back overclocking, they changed their mind 1 or 2 days ago
3: you should try to call a dell rep and ask, i dont see why not
4: gtx970m should be fine with the 180w, the throttling is found (until now) only on the 4gb cards, the AMD and the gtx 980m
Anyways i will receive mine soon hopefully and i have gtx970m on it so i will see if the 180w is enough.

 

Regarding #2. Nvidia allows overclocking for the 970m? I went to the AW 15 benchmark thread and NO ONE with a 970m in either the 15 or 17 was able to overclock it. MSI afterburner doesnt even allow me to tweak it. Is there any other software I can use to overclock it?

 

I just read that 9xx M series will be allowed again over clocking but I'm no expert so I can't help u more than that.

 

Whats up with not being able to turn on Turbo Boost for the CPU? My CPU is only at 2.5 but it says on the website and on pretty much ANY advertisement that it can go up to 3.5. I cannot find the option to turn this on in the BIOS.

Please tell me I dont have to buy the Amplifier in order to achieve 3.5Ghz as it was advertised....

 

About the overclocking try nvidiainspector - great little tool also for setting FPS-Limits and such.

@craigery81 Turbo is enabled all the time unless you are using a power saving energyplan. In the taskmanager you can see the current clock. Note that the 3,5 can only be acheived with 1 active core. 3,3 is max for all four cores. If you are still not sure you can downoad Intel XTU and monitor your frequencies there.

 

I just looked at a user with the same specs as me on his AW 15 and he scored 400 pts better in Firestrike. I noticed his physics score was much better than mine.

His reported stock core clock was 2.5 Ghz
His max turbo core clock was 3.5 Ghz

Mine says reported stock core clock- 2.5Ghz
My max turbo core clock- 2.7Ghz


Every other parameter is identical.


What??

Here is his link http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/5823116?

 

Weird. Can you download Intel XTU. Go to "all controls" and poste a screenshot here.

 

i got the same config as you. so you can confirm that the OS is in the 128GB SSD and not on the slow HDD? if so, great, as that would save me the hassle of reinstalling Windows when i replace that HDD. also, can you tell me what brand the stock memory sticks and what model your display are? thanks

 

The Samsung 840 EVO SSD has an issue at the moment where read speeds across the drive deteriorate drastically over time on old data (ie your OS files). A firmware fix was issued in October 2014, but this did not solve the issue.

I have an 840 EVO with this issue and it takes as long as a HDD to start up my laptop from a cold boot!

I would not recommend these drives to anyone right now!

 

Hey guys how do you switch between discrete graphics and igpu because I installed the igpu driver and it got enabled and I don't know how to switch back to my GTX980M

 

Finally, my AW 15 is on its way. Hopefully will get it sometime this week. I placed the order a week ago.

I am slightly concerned though about all the issues reported on this thread.

 

Maybe triy BIOS a02?

 

Yes the OS is indeed on the fast 128GB Samsung SSD and NOT the 1 TB 5400 HD. That should also make it so much easier for you to swap out that HD without dealing with installing windows again.

Edit** Just tested it and it boots in 6 seconds exactly. (from the moment you press the power button and see the alienware logo to the windows login screen)

Edit #2: the stock memory stick is an 8gb Hyundai Electronics 8192MB DDR3 (800MHz) 1600MHz, 12800 MB/s. The 16gb comes with two of these sticks.

 

How big are the issues reported so far? I don't like issues

 

First benchmark done on this machine with everything on stock (3DMark11) = P11409 = http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/9470985

 

thank you. also, had no idea Hyundai even made chips.

 

Just the usual ones - hardware, driver, ghosting, OS crash, etc. I definitely hope mine has none.

Have a look at this thread - you should be able to get a fair idea.

BTW - are you still getting yours from XoticPC? If so, the laptop should have a lesser chance of having issues since they stress test it before shipping.

 

I don't know if I would call these issues ususal. Before the AW15 I had a Gigabyte and two Clevos. None of them gave that kind of trouble. All of those companies were able to provide the drivers nicely sorted on their respective websites. And also didn't upload drivers that would crash your system.

The only two laptops that ever gave me this pain were the M11x R1 and this very AW15. I never had trouble with the M11x R3 though. I will try to tame my 15, but it is giving me a rather hard time and I am pretty disappointed.
Example: After installing the nvidia driver the system is not as snappy as before. Everytime I open something there is always a one second lag before anything happens. Might be an Optimus sideffect but it's heavily annoying.

@tomjones456: Still I would not tell anyone not to buy this machine, as there seem to be no problems in every day use. It's just the initial setup which is problematic. However following a few rules makes life very easy.

If anyone wants to I can post a checklist how to set up Win 8.1 on the AW 15 the easiest and least complicated way. Done it 8 times now.

 

Well, I meant that these are the kind of issues one would usually check a laptop for and worry about. I'm not sure how many of the new AWs are shipped defective - but, I agree, it's definitely disheartening to see people report one problem or another.

Regarding the drivers - are you one of the few people who is experiencing the lag and the crashes? I am not sure I have seen many people report this there. I may be missing something though.