New bios A12

Accidentally stumbled on this listing for A12 bios. I'm guessing it is for the official Windows 8.1 drop on Oct 17th.

Driver Details | Dell US


And this is for the M18xR4?

 

Under the compatibility section of the webpage provided only M18x R2 is listed, this BIOS seems to be only compatible with those machines. The new Alienware 18 will have to wait.

 

I cannot imagine what dangers might await those that dare to flash this. It might turn out OK, but is it really worth the risk? Stop and consider that Windows 8.1 does not need an updated BIOS and Micro$oft Nazis are pushing Secure Flash/Secure Boot on the OEMs. When was the last time you saw a meaningful performance improvement from a BIOS update? Yeah, I don't remember either. So, what's the point?

Don't expect the release notes to provide full disclosure and tell you the minute details of everything that is going to happen if you flash it. Those that were around here back with Secure Boot first got introduced on the M18xR2 (A05 I think-?) will remember what a hellish nightmare that was.

Maybe I am being too cautious, but I think caution is warranted based on the things we see going on around us. Who wants to be the first to mess up their M18xR2 by making it "Micro$oft certified" for 8.1? It sure as heck won't be me, LOL. Look at the behavior of fans and the CPU with the 18 BIOS and ask yourself if you want some of that for your M18xR2. Remember, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Who knows for sure what this means, or what else goes along with it?

What about this one?

Any guesses about what those things do to make the M18xR2 run faster and more stable? My guess is none. The timing of 8.1 release (next week) makes me extremely suspicious and very cautious.

There's a "program" in motion here, and it isn't lets make everyone's Alienware run faster and work better. It's "let do what Micro$oft expects" and I am not down with that. This is way bigger than Dell/Alienware and I don't see any evidence that they are telling Micro$oft what lower extremity orifice they can fill with their new UEFI Secure Poot compliance garbage. We need the BIOS engineers to understand that Alienware customers are enthusiasts and don't want things that don't fit the enthusiast way of life. We do not care one iota about what the Micro$oft Mafia wants. We need more technical detail and full disclosure for BIOS updates because of how dangerous to personal freedom the BIOS restrictions have become thanks to Micro$oft's push for Secure Crap.

Let's see if Brother svl7 has dissected it and has any advice one way or the other before anyone jumps on the BIOS flashing bandwagon. Better safe than sorry.

 

Yep, couldn't agree more. I won't flash anything other than an unlocked bios now. I just found this curious. Especially the M18x-R4 designation.

 

Sorry to be such an alarmist, but one can never be too cautious in this day and age of BIOS controls that are being introduced. According to our friend svl7, it should be safe. It should not introduce any new lock-downs.

My M18xR2 is running like a Swiss watch, so I probably will not apply this in an unlocked flavor. It doesn't offer anything that looks important to me. I have already tested Win 8.1 and it works fine for me with A10 unlocked.

 

Perfectly understandable. Considering your knowledge of the M18x-R2, your opinion is very appreciated. You've certainly saved my butt before!

 

He's rocking the R1, and it outperforms the new AW 18...

 

I have an R2... the only thing left that is from the original R1 is the display assembly and a few things like speakers, GPU fans, etc.

But, when it was still an R1 with a 2920XM CPU and 680M SLI it was performing better than the 18 is right now. The 3920XM performs better than the 2920XM did, but the 2920XM worked a lot better than the 4930MX is working at this point in time.

The M18xR1 is disassembled, stored away as spare parts for the time being. If I had a display assembly and speakers it would still be a fully functional system without discrete graphics. I am looking for a nice steal to pop up on a dead R1 or some parts dirt cheap to resurrect the old R1 beast.

 

I am running the unlocked A03 on mine. Because of this sort of garbage, I have no intentions of going any higher. Ever.

 

A03 is an awesome BIOS. No Secure Boot. If I ever decide to go back to an older BIOS, it will be A03 unlocked. I don't feel like doing the blind flash to downgrade because everything is working perfectly for me at this time.

 

ahhh.. the good ol' days when we could test various BIOS and choose the one we liked the most. Man, I had no idea I'd feel so nostalgic about... few months ago.

 

This is one of the main reasons that I can't see myself getting rid of my R2. It has the flexibility of running a non Secure Boot type bios, yet has the capability of behaving like a current gen machine.

 

Yes, I agree. I consider the M18xR1/R2 the closest thing to being a perfect laptop than I have ever owned... magnificent machines.

 

I was curious about this BIOS update myself, glad I came across this thread to see that I wasn't the only one. I'll be sticking with A10...

 

So im New on all this unlocked bios in a few words for What is this for?? It makes a diference on performance?? If u dotn move anything? Oo and it this will help if i want to oc my 680sli? Cuz i havent check how can oc it..

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 4

 

As someone who has no need for an unlocked BIOS and is happy to use Secure / Fast Boot in Windows 8.1 I was happy to be the guinea pig.

On A11 every time I clicked on the AlienTouch tab in Command Centre (I use it to turn off the touchpad with mouse plugged in automatically) it would crash. It now works correctly under A12.

Have not noticed any other changes so far

 

Hey folks, can someone tell me if it is compatible with my AW18, I am still rocking the A10 bios and I am in real need of a new one now.

 

No

 

Just realised, wrong time period :/

 

It's not compatible with my M18xR2 either.