Alienware M17-R1 Full Restoration

M17-R1 (PRE DELL) I've Decided to post my restoration here, and hopefully help out others with the same laptop. I'd like to see more people bringing their M17's back to life! My Budget Is $500



____________________________________
Original Specs of The M17:
Processor:P8400 Dual Core 2.26GHz
Memory: 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 1066MHz
Hard Drive: 160GB 7,200RPM
Video/Graphics Card: 3870x2
____________________________________

Upgrades, The Restoration:
Work So Far:
_______________________________________________________
Cosmetic restoration: ($140.90) *COMPLETED
Processor: Q9000 Quad Core 2.00Ghz ($94.85 *COMPLETED
Memory: 8GB Crucial DDR3 1066 Dual Channel Kit ($56.99 *COMPLETED)
Hard Drive 1: Crucial M4 64GB SSD ($0 from desktop *COMPLETED)
Hard Drive 2: Spinpoint M8 1TB 5400rpm HD ($89.93 *COMPLETED)
Solder Tip, Flux Pen, New USB port $31.62 (In Progress)
GPU's: Possible 4850x2, waiting for used parts to sell
______________________________________________________
Cost So Far: $414.29
______________________________________________________

Selling Old Parts, Getting Ready For New GPU's
3870m Slave Card $89.99
Intel Core 2 Duo p8400 Mobile $24.99
4GB DDR3 1066 PC3-8500S $18.99
Seagate Momentus 160GB 7200RPM 2.5' Sata II $19.99 -Sold
Western Digital Scorpio 250GB, 2.5" 5400 RPM $25.99 - Sold
USB/ Audio Board 79.99 - RMA/Refund
If I get the asking price for all of the above, that is $179.95
$414.29 - 179.95 = $234.34. still leaves $265.66 in my budget
________________________________________________________

Damage Report:

Near the fingerprint sensor there are some noticeable burns (cigarettes while DJing, bad habit)


Again there are more burns, and some broken keys.


Corner Damage on the lower case piece.


Ordered ALL NEW casing panels for a little bit over $100, ZTRONICS.COM Specializes in These parts, What I could not get on Ztronics I found on Ebay.


PARTS I Ordered:






PARTS Continued:

________________________________
Breaking Down The Laptop To Install New Panels:

First Remove The Power Plug, Battery, Hard Drives, Lastly The Back Panel


Remove All The Screws Holding Together The Upper Panel And Screen


Flip The Laptop Over, And Remove The Screen:


Remove All The Top Screws, Upper Panel Pops Off Revealing The Motherboard.


Complete Breakdown *Anti-Static Matt Do Not Forget This!


Hours later, After Re-Assembling with the New Panels, HDD's and RAM. HOUSTON WE HAVE A POST!:


The Autopsy of The Live Alien Specimen Proved To Be Successful





I did not make a video, as I have found a video of this laptop breaking down for reference.



It took me a long time to gather all of this information, lots of google-ing and hunting for hours. so I will save you all the time and work, and here Is what I have come up with.

LINKS AREA:

PDF Service Manual:
OCZ/M17/W840DI Manual

M17 Modded Bios:
029 zfactor VT MOD R2 (please use at your own risk)

Links to the parts I have purchased, along with the prices:
For those of you that need a replacement screen, or would like to upgrade to a 1920x1200 glossy/matte you can find them relatively cheap at laptopscreen.com
Alienware M17R1 17-inch WideScreen WUXGA (1920x1200) $84.99

Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 $54.99 (Newegg)

SAMSUNG Spinpoint M8 1TB HD 5400RPM $89.99 (Newegg)

M17-R1 Screw Set $4.99

Alienware M17-R1 Panel C $11.95 (Ztronics)

Alienware M17-R1 Panel A Ripley $12.95 (Ztronics)

Power Button Panel - M17-R1 $24.95 (Ebay)

M17-R1 Bottom Base Assembly PANEL D $24.95 (Ebay)

M17 UK LED Backlit Keyboard $49.95 (Ebay)

 

Good work. My M17r1 has the two usb ports on the right side broken. Is this what your in the process of repairing or something else? Don't y love how the M17 looks like a stealth fighter?

 

yes for that it is a bit tough to find, and expensive. the part with the usb ports is called the "M17-R1 USB Audio Board" the part number is 40GAB0432-C100 I ordered a replacement from MCC Computers but they sent me an engineering sample. the Usb ports worked but the sound did not. I am in the process of returning it, and I will find the part from another vendor. you could pick them up on ebay but they are quite expensive (over $100)
just for reference so you know what the part looks like:

Here is an Ebay Link, which is pretty much all I can find at the moment.
M17-R1 USB Audio Board

 

This is good for me. I thought the USB's were on the motherboard. I could actualy remove the board and replace just the USBs at my work with a tech buddy. Cool. Not sure if it helps you at all but I have problems with my audio if I use any driver except with what came with the M17. I dont have the cash now for any GPU improvement. These forums have a heck of a lot of info

 

lol you just ended up in the right place at the right time... I've been doing research for like 2 months on this rebuild, after endless googling I have the part numbers for everything. keep in mind the audio board isn't exactly easy to replace, you'll have to take your laptop screen off, and remove the upper panel. if you have someone helping you that is great. take pictures of everything and save the screw layouts, don't be afraid to also print out the service manual for reference. working with laptops is real temperamental

The Q9000 CPU is on its way...Then I will be getting into the GPU Upgrades. I will sell my 3870x2, Old Ram, Cpu, & Hard Drives in order to get a sort of "trade in" money for 4850x2 which is a $500 upgrade. The HD 4850M Master Card is about $300, and the 4850M Slave Card is about $200. I Hope I Can get the GPU's upgraded for less than $200 out of pocket after everything is said and done. which will leave the total cost of this build around $700.

 

Your specs say Q9000 and you said your Q9000 is on the way. Is this a typo? Im using the QX9300 2.5 intel extreme wich gets overclocked to 3.0 ghz when I run my Arma2 game. The only probelm I have is the occasional stuttering but I think its more related to my setup. Goodluck. I'm not tking this thing apart unless I have a back up computer. I got the information you gave me for later and this forum rocks.

 

I'm still waiting on the q9000, no typo, just updated my sig specs early! I heard of stutter issues with the QX9300, so I decided to go with the q9000 just to be safe, lower clocks, lower voltages. I don't want to run into any lag. they say the zfactor bios can reduce the stuttering If you lower the voltages. your overclock could be sucking up too much power.

 

anxiously awaiting my q9000, it arrives tomorrow

Switched Out The Skullcap design to a Ripley panel

 

Im still using my Alienware M17-r1 I still prefer it even over my Razer Blade. I just had a key jam and i tried taking it off and doing so I broke he attachment where can I get the arrow keys and their little latches? Or shoudl I just get a whole keyboard? Mine is the non backlight version. Thanks for your help

 

my keyboard had 2 broken keys and I ended up just replacing it. if you can re-atttach the keys then more power to you but I have no Idea how to do that. your best bet is to get a new keyboard from ebay. the non-backlit ones are around $30-$35. you could also upgrade to a backlit keyboard for $50.
you could go with the cheaper OCZ Whitebook keyboard.
OCZ Whitebook Keyboard 17" Backlit | eBay

but this is the one I purchased.
New Dell Alienware Area 51 M17 UK LED Backlit Keyboard MOBL W84017ILLUMUKKB | eBay

alright, so I got the q9000 today and popped it in, no issues!




Selling Old Parts on Ebay, Getting Ready For New GPU's
________________________________________
3870m Slave Card $89.99
Intel Core 2 Duo p8400 Mobile $24.99
4GB DDR3 1066 PC3-8500S $18.99
Seagate Momentus 160GB 7200RPM 2.5' Sata II $19.99 -Sold
Western Digital Scorpio 250GB, 2.5" 5400 RPM $25.99 - Sold
USB/ Audio Board 79.99 - RMA'ed/Refunded
If I get the asking price for all of the above, that is $259.94

 

I have a coworker that wants to breathe some new life into his M17. I can see one 4850M Primary on eBay. Anywhere else I should be checking for a secondary? It isn't worth the upgrade unless both are installed from the numbers I've been seeing.

Also, he has an X9100. I think he should upgrade to a Q9000 at a minimum, but I am trying to get him to foot the bill for a QX9300 off of eBay. He can of course sell all his old stuff to recoup some costs.

I remember my QX9300 performed much better in Vantage, but my X9100 was better for gaming due to the higher clocks and the fact that nothing back then really utilized a quad core CPU.

Also trying to get him to slap an SSD in there too.

What are your thoughts on the upgrades?

Good job with your M17 brother!

 

thanks man I appreciate it. I would grab a single 4850 primary asap before they sell out. I'm trying to put funds together for that exact ebay listing myself lol. the slave cards are cheaper and can be had for $180-$200, you just need the part number type it in google and contact a few parts suppliers, they will email you with their stock (mostly refurbs) MOBL-VM981GBSLV and I don't think the qx9300 is worth it, I would have went with that myself but I heard of terrible stuttering issues, the CPU sucks up too much power. even the q9100 and q9200 are known for stuttering, so definitely go for the q9000 to be safe. even though the clocks are lower the quad will really help with modern games as most of them are multi threaded now. as for the SSD I say yes that's possibly the best thing you can do.

Ok I've been at it for hours messing with this OCZ Zfactor Bios, and it turns out its definitely a downgrade from the Alienware B14, problem is I don't have a backup for the B14, and all online links are dead.

 

Curious if you run the benchmark with B14 again if you will consistently get your higher score. Let us know.

 

yes, I ran another run with B14, and the score was 2.37. the Zfactor bios is terrible and inconsistent, especially for my q9000. Zfactor bios is for those with x9100 and qx9300 CPU's if it is used with any other cpu on this laptop it causes stuttering and hinders performance. any other duo or quad must use the B14. confusing old technology.

stock clock cinebench score with zfactor. 1.97-2.00

stock clock cinebench score with b14 2.37-2.38


even with my q9000 overclocked to 2.25ghz with the zfactor, the bechmark score was still far below stock clocks with B14 bios, it really does make a HUGE difference.

Again here is the Cinebench, did 2 more runs with B14 and it is clearly superior. Zfactor made my machine stutter.

 

My coworker lent me the laptop so that I could clean it up and see how it was performing. It was really filthy, and needs a new keyboard and bottom case. I am having one problem though. It scores the same GPU score in Vantage with the CrossFire cable installed or not. All of my monitoring programs as well as Windows show two working 3870s. Could you link to the video driver you're using? I got the 'newest' one off of the AMD website, but back then I don't remember being able to use any driver but the one Alienware supplied.

What do you score in Vantage, if you have it?
Could you link to where you're getting your system drivers as well?

Thanks a million brother.

 

dunno vantage has been weird and wont show my score, one time it was over 5k, then in the 3k area, I need the paid version to see the exact score, vantage free sucks lol. but the driver I'm using now is the legacy driver for mobility cards.
posted it on my mediafire
13-1-legacy_vista_win7_win8_64_dd_ccc.exe

 

I have everything figured out now. I installed Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit, and got all of my drivers from here http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/426562-official-alienware-m17-drivers-page.html#post5418771, even the god-awfully old GPU driver. All of my scores are back to normal. Not sure what in the heck he had going on. He said he reformatted from the Alien Respawn disk he had.

His LCD is only 1440x900, so I get the annoying popup when I start Vantage since I can't meet the minimum resolution requirements. It won't crap an overall score for me either because of the non-standard resolution.

 

Everything was running fine, and then I made the mistake of installing the newest 3870M driver off of the AMD website. 3DMark scores dropped to crap again, like it was running on one card. I uninstalled the driver, and ran Driver Sweeper, but the problem wouldn't go away. I had to reinstall Windows again with the driver off of the Alienware website to get it back to normal.

I am using the laptop as a media server in my living room, but the Intel AGN 5300 WiFi adapter doesn't quite have the range. Will the Intel 6300 or Bigfoot Killer wireless work if I snag a half mini to PCI adapter?

 

Yeah My 3Dmark scores have turned to crap as well, it seems like only one card is running. which Alienware Driver Are You Using For The 3870x2? I'm not sure about upgrading the Wifi Adapter, but mine seems to work perfectly fine. perhaps try getting the latest drivers from intels site... I have it uploaded here Wireless_15.6_64.exe

 

This is the driver I'm using. Scroll down to the 8.63 driver. http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/426562-official-alienware-m17-drivers-page.html#post5418771. Any newer driver screws everything up for some reason. The problem you might have is that it is difficult, if not impossible, to get rid of the remnants of other drivers without reformatting.

How do your 3DMark scores look, by the way?

Thank you, I'll check out that driver for the WiFi.

 

Hey OP what mother board do you have? I have been running mine since I bought it back in 2009 without having a single issue with it . Anyway mine is:

Alienware M17 R1 (of course )
Intel Core 2Duo T7500
HHD 750GB Ubuntu 12.10 LTS 64Bit
HDD 250GB Windows 7 Ultimate (need it for university )
Stock ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3870
4GB RAM
1920 x 1200 screen display

I have made some cooling modifications. Here:



I'm thinking about making a full upgrade, looking how to insert some I7 3rd gen and a SSD to run the OS. (I know I need other motherboard, just in case)

 

Bud, I think you need to do some more reading if you think swapping the motherboard out of a newer M17x into your older M17 will be possibly without HEAVY modification. These are not desktops we are talking about here, there is no standard size for laptop motherboards. Someone chime in if I am wrong.

 

I know I might need modifications, but why don't do it? At the end everything needs to be modified if you want it to last for ever.

Where do you have your SSD installed? If I undersand you correctly you have 1 SSD and 1 HDD both installed in your notebook? For what you are running the SSD?

 

...but this modification is like taking an 80's buick and swapping in EVERYTHING from a 2013 Camaro.

You would have to do some heavy butchering of the case, lots of electrical work with soldering... in other words why would anyone ever do this over just buying a newer m17x. In the end you will most likely pay more money to do this project than just buying one. Laptop components do not swap in / out easily like desktop ones.

 

I bet you that Linus Trovalds didn't care about how much work/modifications he need to do to build a new OS, although Windows, MAC, etc. existed already so he could just install one of those instead of creating a new one. But that didn't stop him. Also your buick camaro is not that close because I only want to add the I7 even if I need to cut some stuff out of my case, its just plastic.

Even my brother M14x is slower than my M17 and what about the 1920x1200? Alienware skullcap? I don't think they will ever release those again.

But thanks for your interest. I really appreciate it.

 

Linus did the work because he wanted to create a product that did not already exist. He was unhappy with other operating systems so he set out to make his own. What you want to do is take one thing that already exists and cram it into another.

To get an i7 in your M17 you would need a new motherboard. Now all those components you already have such as the usb ports, LAN jack, screen, power buttons... you will have to solder to the new motherboard because the connectors from the old will be different. For this you will need extensive wiring diagrams and the ability to solder well. Now assuming you get all of this done you will then need heatsinks that fit the CPU and GPU but that also fit inside your case. The list is virtually endless and will cost you A LOT more than just buying a newer M17x. It's not "just plastic" and I am trying to help show you this because from your comments it is clear you have not done enough research which is not an insult, any great project needs research first.

My Camaro into an 80's buick analogy makes perfect sense because even if you just want to "add the i7", (for analogy purposes lets say the camaro's engine into the buick) you will need to swap almost everything to support it (again with the car analogy, transmission, pcm, motor mounts, driveshaft...).

In short you can not get an i7 into your M17 without taking almost (if not) every part from a working M17x, and then dremeling / soldering them into your laptop. At the end of the day you will probably have a janked up case and non working parts.

 

Following your car analogy, transmission: perhaps, but you can still make a custom bell housing and use your current tranny, if its not good enough, then just change it. There are a lot of tranny around the world. PCM: really? do you know that you can just buy any custom PCM (AEM, Megasquirt, etc.) and just program it?. Motor mounts: Why would you want to install such a week material to it?. Driveshaft: well if you change your tranny you perhaps need to, but you don't need a full driveshaft. It will be just the driveshaft joint that goes inside the "Camaro" tranny. At the end you will have more than just an engine swap you will have what you want and where you want it.

Now going back to the I7 topic, why do you think that soldering is so hard? Reading a wiring diagram is not a big deal for me. The only "big" deal will be the usb ports, but you can still modify your case, so just cutting a little bit will solve it. Or making any custom "plastic" where you can put them. I know that I don't have many posts here, but that doesn't make me a complete ignorant. It maybe will get close to what a new M17x costs, but it will for sure look better than the new one. Also you build it, you know where is what so you know what will fail and where.

 

Post pics when done

 

I was *trying* to play Black Ops II on my M17 last night, and it will barely run the game at the lowest graphics settings. I get normal 3DMark Vantage scores, so I'm wondering what's going on with it. My M18x plays the game on the integrated graphics, so I didn't think it was very demanding.

Could this have anything to do with having only a dual core CPU installed?

I'm running the latest 13.1 Legacy driver from the AMD website.

Any help is appreciated.

EDIT: Actually, it looks like the M17 may not even meet the minimum required system specs.

 

I did play it once and it played fine here.

 

If you look at the minimum specs, it calls for 3000 series ATI GPUs, which I'm assuming are the desktop counterparts. That means the 3000 series mobile GPUs would fall well below minimum spec.

Call of Duty Black Ops 2 system requirements (minimum)

CPU: 2.4 GHz dual core Intel or AMD CPU, Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Phenom X2 series
RAM: 2GB of system memory
Graphics: DirectX 10 compatible card with 512 MB RAM or more. Nvidia 7-series or AMD Radeon 3000 series GFX cards. Or the new Intel HD-4000 integrated graphics processor.
Operating system: Windows Vista 32 bit
DirectX compatible sound card
8 GB of hard drive space

The M17 spends its time attached to my TV for watching movies and browsing the web.

It is rather funny that I used to think it was soooo powerful.

 

Not sure how much this will benefit anyone, but it was a problem that both myself and Rotary Heart were having.

If you're having problems with low benchmarks scores, or your CPU stays at a very high usage after you've run a benchmark or game, give this a shot.

First, go into the Task Manager and see if your CPU usage is pegged near or at 100%. Another indicator of this is that your CPU fan runs constantly. If it is pegged, you'll more than likely see that a program called atiesrxx.exe is using ~50% of the CPU, and CCC is using another ~50%. Stopping atiesrxx.exe will get rid of the excessive usage of both. After stopping atiesrxx.exe, CPU usage should have dropped back down to nominal.

Atiesrxx.exe is the AMD External Events Utility, which for the average user, does absolutely nothing.

1. Hit the little Windows bubble and type services.msc in the search bar.
2. Open Services, and find AMD External Events Utility.
3. Right-click on it, and select Properties.
4. Stop the service, and then under Startup Type, select Disabled.

What is happening is that shortly after you start a game or benchmark, atiesrxx.exe pegs the CPU at 100% usage. This steals CPU cycles (all of them, in fact) from the game or benchmark you're trying to run. It was simple to track down the culprit since the the CPU usage didn't drop back down after the benchmark or game was terminated.

Crysis Warhead went from a slideshow to being very playable at 1440x900 on the GAMER graphics setting. The CPU fan doesn't run constantly now either.

What caused this to start happening for me was the use of the Legacy 13.1 driver from the AMD website. There may also be other triggers, but that's when it started for me.

If you have poor performance but aren't having the 100% CPU usage problem, this probably isn't the answer for you.

Good luck!

 

So with using newer drivers you have not had this problem?

 

If with newer you mean 13.1, which is the newest at amd website,

 

What threw me off is he called them Legacy drivers,which usually implies old.

 

Because AMD call us legacy. You have to install the legacy ones or you will have problems.

 

Yeah, it is called 'Legacy' on the AMD website.

However, the good news is that with the 13.1 driver we can still overclock with GPU Tool.

You do have to go in and stop the AMD External Events Utility because it severely hinders performance.

 

Also, this GPU Tool is not working with Windows 8 here.

 

Dang, man. I was hoping you could somehow get it to work. A moderate overclock brings my Vantage GPU score up 1K+ points.

 

I just give up with it while using Windows 8. But I have some nice results here I installed Windows 7 Ultimate in one of my HDD and after a looooong day of testing and overclocking here's my final results

 

Nice score there! Can't wait to see some QX9300 results.

I really wish I could find a pair of 4850Ms. Maybe I'll post something in the Want to Buy thread.

 

I just need anyone with a pair of 4850 to do some benchmarks, if the results are much better then I would start searching everywhere for those. But I don't want to take my time searching for them if they will not give me that much results, I will prefer 3870 that way, because there are many to buy at eBay and many stores.

I really hope that someone read this and feel challenged to make benchmarks with 3DMark 06 and vantage...

 

I understand you want dual 4850's but for what its worth on my single 4850 I got a 3dMark Vantage score of P5112 with a graphics score of 5737. This was using the old Core 2 Duo T7400 that's in my laptop which is my bottleneck.

 

Sounds interesting.

 

So a pair of 4850Ms with a QX9300 would turn the old M17 into a very useful laptop, even by today's standards. I don't have any idea why I want to dump cash into my secondary laptop, but I'm just itching to do so.

Another thing it would turn into is a room heater.

 

With secondary you mean your M17 R1?

 

Haha I did the exact same thing. I have a desktop that I use for gaming / daily use, and only turn my m5750 on 3-4 times a year when I take it to a buddies house to play some games or go on vacation. Still handles new(er) games on med settings just fine. I wanted to do it more as a learning project to say I have one of the most powerful M5700 laptops out there.

 

Yes. Primary is my M18x.

 

Alienware Area 51 M17 Audio Board w USB Firewire Volume Control Board | eBay

Mine also has one broken USB port, sounds like you need it a bit more than I do!

 

hey guys been a while since I have been on the forums, If you have any questions just let me know, not sure I want to sift through 5 pages never expected this post to blow up, I have actually just replaced the 1920x1200 display on my M17-R1 due to some dead pixels, its looking very nice almost like the day I bought it. going to make a video soon showcasing the laptop because I'm putting it up on ebay, Need the money for DJ Equipment, Speakers, adding to the record collection, etc. its a great 17' laptop now, quad core, 8GB ram, 64gb SSD, 1TB Spinner, New Display, But I feel I've sunken too much money into this project to justify spending a few hundred more on 4850 GPUs and quite frankly they are expensive and difficult to track down.