BIOS A09 for AW 14 released

Since the 17/18 sub forums are having all the new bios fun. I thought I would check the 14 and AW is on a role today and released A09 for the 14.

I haven't tried it yet so don't know any adverse effects it might have.

Driver Details | Dell US

 

Interesting. I hope Dell haven't stuffed the 14 like they seem to have done for 18 owners with a 4930mx under the hood.

Seems nothing major to be worried about.......

 

Thanks for sharing. As StevieJones pointed out, it does not have any major change. Feel free to update anytime and provide us with any feedback you may have.

 

I installed it on my 14, no adverse effects on the machine nor improvements i can find. I am scared to do my 17 and 18 though from reading through the threads over there.

 

I wouldn't upgrade the bios unless there is some improvement or fix for the previous release. If your 17 & 18 AW are working properly i see no reason to upgrade. If it works, don't try to fix it.

 

Couldn't agree more. No point in fixing something which ain't broken, just to be on the latest revision of Axx or whatever it might be. Classic example over in the 18 section with A07 - updating totally screwed things up by greying out the multi's for CPU overclocking.........sometimes, it's best to just sit tight. I'm still on A07 for my little beast....

 

Should be of no worry if you upgrade, can always roll back, right?

 

Not always. It can be a right PITA to do.

 

I almost always update my bios on all my computers unless widespread issues are reported. My 14 is fine but I have updated my 17 or 18 in a while. My desktops almost always get updated.

 

I like to update my BIOS as soon a new one is out. There is always a bunch of fixes in the background which we are not often told about that optimise the platform. It those that change things for not the better, as in taking away functionality or change to timing sets for different RAM module (chip types) that may not be applicable to your system. Usually it better to update rather to be stuck in the old days.
Pretty sure something is not as it should be with A08, therefore by applying (soon) A09, then hopefully should sort that out.

 

What issue are you experiencing with A08? i'm still with A06, for the reasons i mentioned on my post.

 

I just upgraded to A09 from A03 (Alienware 14 i7-4700/750m) and my lights now shut off right after they turn on. I can 'Go Dark' then 'Go Light' and they turn on for about 3 seconds then turn off. And if I use AlienwareFXTest.exe (sp?) to test the LEDs, they fail, i.e. don't light up at all. I have tried reinstalling AlienwareFXController (twice) and still no joy.

Anybody else having a similar issue?

 

I updated to A09 a few hours ago and my FX lights have been fine. Maybe you should try uninstalling and reinstalling the OSD driver - that normally helps with quirky FX issues.

On another note, and maybe unrelated, I have some odd behaviour over here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...aviour-regarding-sleep-hibernate-just-me.html

Not sure if that is A09 related - perhaps someone could check it out and let me know if they have the same kind of behaviour as I'm experiencing above....

 

I updated to A09 a couple days ago and haven't had any adverse effects.

 

Well, my "weird"behaviour has stopped. Not quite sure what it was - or why - but all is behaving as normal now......

 

I'm going to try and replicate your issue tonight. I'll let you know if I share the same experience.

 

Cheers - I hope you don't experience the same, I think my experience maybe had to do with something else.....who knows! - let us know how you get on and thanks. +rep!

 

" Don't fix what is not broken"
Certainly we can go with that premise in this case.
However, on a personal opinion, I am one of those who's eager to keep the BIOS up to date.
I've had no issues with the Alienwares and certainly have had no issues with my Inspiron.
Just to keep any issues 'in check'.
I hope someone finds this information useful.

 

That's good to know, and thanks for the info. Maybe we could have some clarification on bios updates here - for those who are dubious. Let's say someone flashes A09 and finds it has adverse effects for them.....can they safely flash back to an earlier bios revision without any risk of bricking their machine? - I'm sure there are a lot of users who worry about adopting a new bios revision and not being able to roll back.....would be good to have an official stance on this, then people can flash away without worry.......

 

As an official stance, we (Alienware) do recommend our users to flash their BIOS to the most up to date version.
Also, we do not recommend perfoming a roll-back on a BIOS update, precisely to avoid any bricking. We only advise it when deemed by the Technical support agent (Hopefully in warranty).

 

That's as expected, however, the poor folks over in the 18 forums recently had a bios update that made things worse: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-18-m18x/751794-alienware-18-bios-a07.html

A lot of people read these boards - the potential that a bios update actually has adverse effects is not good. The ability to revert would re-assure, wether that be in or out of warranty, or wether Dell/Alienware recommend the latest bios revision. Obviously, in the case of bios A07 for the 18, it was not the best bios revision to be on - even though it was the latest. It severely impacted performance and was worse than previous bios revisions.

Just sayin'......oh, and welcome to the forums - always nice to have another official Alienware rep here, Brother Wasserman, +rep

 

Everything worked completely normal for me. Followed along your post to see if I had any of the symptoms. Granted I'm on Windows 7 though.

 

Thanks for posting up your findings. Not sure exactly why my machine was acting up for a bit. It's all normal now, maybe it was something to do with my recent motherboard upgrade that I did....anyway, all working as it should so A09 wasn't the culprit.

 

All good. It happens sometimes believe me. A couple weeks ago I built an EVGA Hadron rig, for a buddy of mine, and that thing was temperamental like no other. I let it sit for a day and it hasn't had any problems since.

 

Yeah, they can be temperamental little beggars, can't they?

 

I'd rather it be my job to unhook m18x optical sata ribbons all day than to build another mini itx

 

A08 had my GPU stuck at 600MHz, after updating to A09 now boost to 900MHz

 

How do i check the Bios is on my AW 14 laptop ?

 

You can do this in Alien autopsy or bios. The easiest thing is all well and use alien autopsy if you do not like and be in the bios.

 

Thanks alot +1

 

Universal tool is CPUz, then check the motherboard tab, really easy can use on any PC.