M18x R2 Windows 8 OSD not working

Hello, everyone, reinstalled win8 6 times in a row now, but can't get working OSD Tried certain installation order but didn't helped. On Win7 i didn't had such issues.
I am on A08 stock bios. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

 

So I've been testing around since last weekend until know and my final conclusion is:

The drivers for the OSD and the ACC are... BAD! Really really bad!

Let me try to describe:

When my Windows 8 boots up and I log on to the system, I fire up the task manager and can see that the Alienware Command Center Application is not responding. This issue resolves itself after a mere of seconds. I also noticed that when you change the Macro Key Lights within the Alienware Command Center, it takes the software some time to switch the color. If you switch the color of another section (let's say the Num Pad, it does it immediately).

Even worse, the OSD driver for Windows 8 won't work on my Alienware M18x R2, the buttons do work but there is no little OSD gui popping up for example when disabling/enabling the loudspeakers. Okay, I could live with that but unfortunately the Eject Button stops working and I have to eject all my cds/dvds via the context menu in the Windows Explorer.

I also noticed when I'm using the Windows 8 Inf Chipset Driver for the Intel Chipset the buttons won't work even if I install the OSD and ACC driver which are designed for Windows 7.

I tried a bios update to ver. 08A and that made it even worser... (beside the known SecureBoot/FastBoot bug combined with not working dedicated graphics because of a vBIOS issue).


I'm not quite sure but I don't think it's an issue of Windows 8 rather than it's an issue of the drivers themselves.

To sum up:

I'm really lucky that everything is working right now (went back to the stock A03 BIOS, Intel Chipset Driver for Win 7, also ACC and OSD for Win 7).

Ohh, almost forgot:

I'm not quite sure but when I install the Management Engine Interface from Intel, my buttons stop working...

 

That's weird, I'm on Windows 8 pro and I have the OSD working properly...like when I click on eject, the OSD eject image pops up..
Maybe you should try re-installing.. I'm on stock bios A05.
My only gripe so far is that I'm seeing an " unknown device " in the Device Manager and I have no clue what it is.
Does anybody know how to identify what an unknown device is in order to determine what hardware it is and get the proper drives..?

 

So conclusion is A08 with W8 drivers itself is bugged Also when i install Intel Management Engine Interface my buttons works, but no osd gui popping up when i am pressing those damn media keys, ejecting dvd's with windows explorer either lol

The thing is you're on A05, try to upgrade to A08 and you will lose OSD functionality

 

@ gomson

Press Win Key + r, type in devmgmt.msc, right click the unknown device, then go to Details Tab and select from the Property Drop Down Menu Hardware Ids. This way you can google what it might be.

Edit:

Okay, installed the Management Interface Engine from Intel, works so far. The problem is, the OSD driver has a massive delay until it works correctly. I can see this by pushing for example the decrease volume key. A volume bar pops up but not the corresponding OSD menu that should. Only after a certain amount of time, the OSD driver takes over and I than can see the correct menus popping up.

Edit2:

@ Heihachi88

Yes, in fact we know now that the A08 BIOS is bugged or furthermore the graphic cards need an updated vBIOS to perform functionality. I really would like to use UEFI because the booting times are blazing fast but at this state I can't dare to try it again, even if I'm willing to be stuck with the integrated graphics for the time being, my media buttons still won't work as I want them to.

 

Yeah got it sorted now...thanks..
It was the drivers for the freefall sensors that was needed.
Unfortunately trying to install the driver as is when downloaded for the dell website doesn't install on Win 8 pro 64bit.
Had to unrar the exe then manually install the drivers from device manager and voila...

 

I have an M17XR4 , and i installed W8 OSD and i can't get it to work properly neither ... :/

 

When the DELL will update BIOS and 7970m vBios? SO we can have a use of UEFI

 

Clean install of Windows 8 - A08 Stock BIOS. Running UEFI. Secure Boot Off.
Installed all the Windows 8 Drivers off the Dell Site in the Order posted on the Dell Website for Windows 7 Reinstallation. AW Command Centre should be installed after all your other Drivers and the OSD after Command Centre.

All the buttons work fine. The actual graphic for volume up / down / mute looks like it's a Windows 8 Toast Notification in that the colours match your Metro colour scheme.
When you hit the Command Centre Button the logo shows up as it loads as normal.
Eject Button works - no graphic is displayed. It only ejects the drive if there's a disc in there. If there's no disc it doesn't do anything.

 

Install this OSD update. It works on M18X R2 and R1.

http://www.dell.com/support/drivers/us/en/19/DriverDetails/Product/alienware-m18x-r2?driverId=WKHPV&osCode=W864&fileId=3081146669

 

I never bother about OSD anyway, W8 has its own version which I personally like more. It can't eject DVD'c but if you have a HDD there, you wouldn't wanna eject it anyway

 

You are not able to switch beween graphic cards if you dont install AW OSD. Thats why its basic for some of us.

 

We are using this version already.

 

This is the solution that we have been providing for this issue. Please let me know if it worked.

 

Already tried your solution - it's not working. Problem is in A08 Bios for M18x R2.

 

what about the R1?

 

Sorry but it is not supported by DELL for the upgrade. Probably you can try the same fix and see if it works. Neither the m17xR3 is officially supported. We will try our best to get things working on all supported ones listed there. We are currently escalating all issues concerning Windows 8 to engineering so something could come up later but at the moment we have no ETA on that.

 

Same problem with the r1. I had to use the old win 7 driver to get it to work properly and even that one is problematic, but with the r1, the win 8 driver will work for a moment then never again.

 

Just to clarify, are you able to switch between the integrated and discrete without OSD?

 

No, without OSD drivers Fn+F7 not working at all. When you install win8 osd drivers - Fn+F7 works fine.

 

The last " unknown device " is normally the freefall driver, I used the one on my driver disk as I could not find it on dell site.

 

This one works on R1:

 

remove the windows 8 alienware osd, download the windows 7 one , and install it on windows 8 ... it works.

 

There's nothing wrong with the Win 8 version, although it should have been compiled with .Net 4 as the target not 3.5

 

I repeat - you are not on A08 bios that's why its working for you.

 

I'm on A08 BIOS and using the Windows 8 OSD software and everything works fine.

 

Make a screenshot with working buttons please.

 

And how might I do that ?

 

Press "EJECT" button on media panel then when GUI popped up - press Print screen and paste in paint -> then save as jpeg.

 

Yeah I Know how to take a sceenshot lol, I was meaning what you wanted me to take a screen shot of.

Actually there is no animation when I click eject, it just ejects the disc, I get animations for everything else though.

 

Win8 style animations? If yes i have them too. I mean old win7 style animations when you press media keys

 

Well I never took any notice of the Windows 7 ones as I put Windows 8 on it as soon as I got it. When I click volume down/up I get the animation top left corner, disable sound works with animation, eject button works but no animation, wireless works with animation, AlienwareFX starts up when I click the last one on the right.

EDIT: And I just put a music CD in and it plays/pauses - goes forward and back through tracks but no animation, is this why you're saying it doesn't work ?

 

Just because the old animations don't appear doesn't mean that the software doesn't work any more, especially if all of the functionality works as intended, which it seems to be for a majority of people. I also, highly doubt it has anything to do with the BIOS.

We need confirmation from a Rep as to whether the old OSD 'alienware style icons' are actually part of the Windows 8 version of the software. There's no point in arguing that it doesn't work, if it's no longer part of the software.

 

I said it doesn't works because i'm not seeing old win7 alienware icons when i press the media buttons. BECAUSE Media buttons works even without OSD driver (except EJECT button, it doesn't works even with OSD driver installed, but when i am in bios - eject button works, but not in win8), i am not alone with that problem, i blame bios.

 

Yes, the volume up/down button works without the drivers. Binary Graphics, Eject, and Command Center Launch do not.

I am running A08 and have no problems whatsoever with OSD.

Does FN+F7 do anything on your machine ? Does the Wireless button / Command center button work for you?

Have you enabled .NET Framework 3.5 in Control Panel > Programs and Features > Turn Windows Features on or off

 

I already did all the things noted on NBR. All buttons except EJECT WORKS WITHOUT OSD DRIVER (EVEN COMMAND CENTER BUTTON, you just need to install CC itself then it will work without OSD DRIVER!). OSD driver only enables Fn+F7 buttons to switch between dedicated and integrated graphics.

 

So you can't use Fn+F7 ?

 

All my media buttons works fine except eject without OSD driver.
OSD driver gives me: only FN+F7 functionality.

So my FN+F7 works with all media buttons except eject button (eject works in bios mode)

 

Anyone from Dell can give us an answer about GUI when pressing on media buttons (on A08 BIOS)? Will be there any Bios updates A09 for example with all the fixes...

 

I've got a new motherboard coming for my M18x R2. If it arrives with A08 as its BIOS (which I'm sure it won't, likely be A00) then ill see what my millage looks like with the new board. At this time I firmly believe there to be a bug in the firmware on certain motherboards with A08.

Since Alienware is now officially shipping Windows 8 machines it stands to reason this glitch is not wide spread otherwise they would be up to their eye balls in very upset customers clogging the tech support line.

Heihachi88, does your machine also act odd with flash drives at post now after A08? My machine has been exhibiting more than a few irregularities since that A08 flash and both Dell and myself concur that the board is probably whacky.

I'll be sure to post my findings.

 

My machine is actin like normal, used A08 with win7 alot of time - didn't saw any bugs, but when moved to win8 only OSD driver is giving me headaches.

 

I got my "new" motherboard today from Dell, it unfortunately arrived with two minor issues, first the blasted A08 bios, and second a rather deep scrape / gouge on the top side of the board where a tech must have slipped with his screw driver. How does this stuff get passed the QA guys with physical damage to the PCB?

Anyway board was shipped with A08, so I boot into Windows 8 and the OSD does not work. Ok so I say I'll try and install the older Windows 7 version and see if that does anything, well it didn't seem to do anything at all even less than the Windows 8 version. So I decide to flash back to A03, which much to my surprise it actually lets me do.

At this point I reboot the system, OSD isn't working still. I wait a few more seconds, and bam there it is fully working OSD for the first time ever on Windows 8 at least on this machine. So basically at this point its 100% BIOS related either an issue with the BIOS itself or with the OSD drivers and the BIOS interactions.

Alienware is at least aware of the issue and working on a fix in engineering to resolve it, but in the meantime if you can manage to flash your PC back to A03 your OSD will indeed work.

 

Forget about OSD, to my surprise today I've upgraded my m17x R3 to windows 8 pro and most of the drivers I've installed from Dell's website are made for windows 7. To my surprise the touchpad works with all kind of features for windows 8 pro. Zoom in and out just by extending 2 fingers from the middle of the touchpad towards the edges (to zoom in) and vice-versa for zooming out. Scroll left and right / up or down was straight after installing the driver for the synaptic touchpad. Amazing! Just like the apple touchpad... And we are struggling with m18x R2 (only few months old) over the old technology of m17x R3 (by the way, all the drivers and OSD work perfectly)... I have even upgraded the GPU to the AMD 7970 few months back (approximately 4-5 months) and I was having big issues with windows 7 not being compatible from bios as well unless you use a mod bios. Dell has updated that as well (new bios), so that it enables you to disable the integrated GPU and use only the dedicated (AMD / NVIDIA). So yes, I have a perfect 2 years old machine working very smooth with the new technology and we are facing a lot of troubles / incompatibility driver with the latest hardware from Dell / Alienware. Isn't that something to get you a big sarcastic smile on your face?!

 

As i thought its cking A08 bios bugged on windows8, i had no problems at all on windows7 with A08, so i guess A08 is not that good with windows8. Is dell working on that bios?

 

well i ad a working OSD until i too upgrade to A08.

now i have airplane mode when i press wifi switch , and a little volume bar on the left when i press the volume button....

really weird...

 

That's exactly what I'm noticing as well, somehow both the new and old OSD software API's are failing to hook in with the new BIOS it seems, if you can blind flash back to A03 everything will work fine, at least they are working on the issue, Luis assures us of this and I believe him to his word. I have high hopes to see an A09 or something out there that adds in all the new UEFI features and is 100% compatible with all boards and OSD drivers.

 

Also i would like to see Numlock "ON" on startup with A09. Pressing it all the time i start my pc is annoying.

 

Updated OROM in the stock BIOS would be nice as well

 

let's make a list with all wishes & bugs for A09 Bios:

1. Make OSD driver working on windows 8.
2. Make Windows 8 Fast boot option available while on dedicated graphics.
3. Numlock turned "on" on startup.
4. Update OROM.

Alienware rep's take a look at my post!

 

poor engineer , he as so many bios to make ! lol