M11X R03 BIOS Released

Link: ftp://ftp.dell.com/bios/M11xR1A03.exe

Lets get testing

As usual, disable your AV and close all programs before flashing, and let it do its thing... you don't want a bricked M11x now would we

 

NICE!! Did I miss A02???

Did they really drop the cooling fan RPM and totally remove 4600RPM? Looks like temps will be slightly higher

 

Nah, i think A02 was an internal release.

Just flashed, fans went crazy during flashing, made me jump out of my seat

 

I'll do it tommorrow probably, it's almost midnight here lol.

 

Maybe, maybe not. On my M11x the fans don't run at all until the CPU hits 40-42C, then they kick on like crazy. If this updates it so that they run slowly at all times then the CPU might never get that high.

 

Just installed and everything looks okay. Going to put it through its paces and see whats up with a concentration on fan functionality.

 

Just installed, and looks like they still haven't fixed the the fn-f2 enable disable battery function. Fans still go on from time to time during idle but I think it is quieter though

 

Well, it runs on an average of 5 degrees Celsius cooler at all times now even under load! The fan seems to be on a bit longer, but at a slower speed and also seems to be more intelligent at when it turns on and off. Very pleased so far! Definitely worth the download.

 

Anyone know if this fixes the fan getting "stuck" on high when switching from integrated / dedicated and then back again?

 

This is great news to all the M11x owners out there. Hopefully that stuck fan issue was fixed though, I've still yet to experience it on mine.

 

I could have sworn it was already said that that function was just to show battery life and it was in no way (probably speculation) suppose to disable-enable battery power when pressed.

 

Correct - our resident AW Engineering rep confirmed this some time ago in the thread discussing the FN+F2 observation. FN+F2 was not designed to disable battery charging, the manual is incorrect.

 

Meh... I just installed A03. Still same bugs...

Btw, don't freak out at the fan speed during BIOS update... I bet its like 7000 rpm.

 

boo.. then what's the point of updating.. ..

 

This BIOS update is crap. Now the fan is always on and I'm still trying to figure how to put back A01.... help would be appreciated here... :S

EDIT: Fixed. I am back on A01. Good grief... Now this was annoying.

This is what I did:

A01 BIOS: http://ftp.us.dell.com/bios/M11R1A01 for 64 bit Windows 7.exe
After unpacking it installs in C:\Windows\TEMP\WINPHLASH (yeah really -.-).
First it will refuse to install old version. I went into the folder, opened the winphlash.exe, went Advanced Settings, removed the obvious checkbox (only install new versions), then flashed. I mean like flashed the BIOS not "Chuck-flashed".

How to check whether its A01? The Intel logo on boot screen is gone. It's better this way.

 

I disagree Unreal, works great for me and its running significantly cooler as well! The fan definitely isn't always on. I use to idle at 42c and I am now idling at 36c. My top end under load was 57c and now its 51c! Thats a pretty big difference and the fan is on more, but at a lower rpm and its so quiet I have to put my hand back by the vent to double check its on. Sure it still speeds up when playing games, but that is to be expected. *shrugs*

 

mmm.. I think i'll wait for more people to say their experiences then i might take the leap lol

 

I'm showing much cooler idle temperature nows, and fans aren't annoying anymore. I think its definitely worth it.

 

Can anyone explain this
Add "No execute" enable/disable option in BIOS setup menu.

Also.. did I read in a previous bios that the memory ran faster 1066 then it was "fixed" to not run that fast? If that is the case, please let me know. I want to flash to the faster bios. Thanks!

StevenX

 

still no update for the users who cant overclock to low vcore on weak silicon .....

 

When I use the laptop to game, I have headphones so Fan noise doesn't bother me. When I browse the web/email I have it on integrated GPU and the fan never really turns on. I think I'm going to be sticking to A01. Load temps of 60 are not bad.

 

I have the update. Fans aren't annoyingly loud, but they do come on more frequently.

 

Mo fan = Mo betta.. Just my .02... I installed and performance is good so far. Only benched section 8 and it rocks so far. All settings on 5 and 40fps.

Best wishes,

StevenX

 

Just updated and noticing idle temps are 3-4C lower than they were. Reran 3DMark06 with overclocked GPU and temps were significantly lower was able to raise my score from 6349 all the way to 6952.

 

I'll wait for more impressions... thanks!

 

I might flash it tonight and run some benchmarks to see if I can raise my score. Afterward though, I'll probably reflash A01

 

Well you can disagree all you want - I am telling you on my system fan gets turned on after few mins regardless whether you're on IGP or nVidia. And stays on forever after that. Same if I do the "Sleep" trick. Goes off than after few mins back on and stays on (on max setting). It seems I'm the only one so far here who had this issue tho... Only on A03. On A01 it works fine on IGP. On nVidia I have to do the Sleep trick 1-2 times then it's working. I was just disappointed - it seems what 99% people here wanted in a BIOS fix was the damn fan fix, and for me it bugs the fan even worse lol...

No clue how come the significantly lower temps come about from actually reducing the fan speed. It smells like the different sensor reading. I haven't noticed any difference though. Also I flashed again and had the same issues.

When I am measuring CPU temps, HWInfo32 shows +5 C higher temps than HWMonitor. No idea which is correct. But both show reasonable temps (if its 40 C HWM, then its 45 C HWINfo32).

 

Well, I ran into a problem, I flashed the bios (A03) last night and this morning I unplugged as usual and loaded it up for work, still in sleep mode. When I pulled it out of my bag about 3 hours later, it felt extremely warm. When i tried to wake it up, it wouldn't. I then plugged it into AC and booted it up. The battery was completely discharged. This has been my normal routine for nearly 3 months and I've never had a problem until today. The only thing I changed was the bios. I'll try it one more day and if I have the problem again I am going back to A01.

 

All, what are your gpu temps under full load? Meaning a benchmark or program that hits the gpu at 100 percent? I did one benchmark last night and run the windows experience. Under full load, OC my GPU hits 57c. Is this normal or avg? Thanks! StevenX

 

I flashed it last night.

maybe it's just my imagination, but the system seems slower during the windows bootup. Also When I loaded LOTRO, it also feels longer than normal to load the game.

I will play with the unit again tonight and if it looks a little bit slower, i will probably go back to A01

Dont really care about the sound of the fan as it is still quieter than my P-7811FX

 

cthao,

I forgot to mention yeah it seemed to me it was booting slower. I didn't record any numbers so I can't really say. Besides I usually just use Hibernate.

 

this new BIOS sucks big time!

Instead of starting the fan at 43°C and cooling the CPU down to 38°C,
it's starting now at 38°C and not stopping until it hits 35°C.

That kind of behaviour is just annoying when you do office tasks.

Going to flash it back.

 

Tell me about it!
Of all the things i value more it has to be an increase in the vcore, or atleast an option to.

Can any AW official comment on the implementaion/change of this? *Looks at erawneila *

 

WAZZ up, have you sent erawneila a message directly? If not you may want to do that.

Also has anyone benched the system memory? Is it still running at 800 or 1066 with cpu oc?

Best Wishes,

StevenX

 

Yup Results are a negative at this station

 

I've actually had this problem quite a bit, with two seperate units. The machine will wake itself up after sleeping while in a bag or unattended. I have actually started using Hibernate for this sole reason, and seems to solve the problem. Simply sleeping or closing the lid and letting it sleep will not reliably keep it turned off.

Not sure if it's a Window's issue waking it up, or a hardware thing, but doubt it's related to this bios, as I've yet to update, and both machines did it with the old bios.

I posted a while back about this but nobody ever really figured it out.

 

Thanks DR650Se... I was hoping they changed the mem clock. One of the revisions says something about memory speed... At this point any boost in performance would be sweet... I wonder how hard it would be to modify the bios... As a matter of fact... What if we put together a fund or something in paypal.. with the caption as follows... 'IF YOU CAN EITHER MODIFY THE BIOS to run at higher than 266 fsb or figure out how to OC via SETFSB without taking the notebook apart' you get $XXX amount of money. I know other model notebooks with our cpu's oc to 1.9ghz stable. I would be happy with that myself. You think it would make a difference in games..?

BW,

StevenX

 

Just sent a quite lengthly PM, thanks for the advice

 

Can anyone tell me how to reflash A01 BIOS? When I try and reflash it says the BIOS I have is newer and as a result will not flash.

Oh, and steve, I would definately throw money in that pot!

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/484782-m11x-r03-bios-released-2.html#post6263176

I can't even flash the new version, the app tells me I need to have power plugged in, so do that as always. But then the app tells me it can't recognize the battery or it's below 10% and refuses to flash... wth...

 

Are you certain that your AC adapter is being recognized? Make sure that your AC adapter is working and is charging the system, then let the battery charge up and try again. If your AC adapter is not charging the system, call and get a replacement. If your battery isn't charging, you might try completely depleting the system, then holding down the power button for 10 seconds, and then plugging the AC adapter back in. Your battery might be stuck in a funky state or something.

 

It's a security feature. It's usually known as DEP (Data Execution Prevention), although the actual setting in BIOS is called the NX bit. It basically marks certain memory ranges as being non executable. This is so that if someone tries to hack a program it won't execute their code. There are some ways around DEP, so it's not 100% foolproof.

 

Thanks soleblaze for the explanation. I just left it disabled in bios.

DR650Se, have you ran 3dmark yet? I uninstalled it for the space now. Again my best is 6972.

BW,

StevenX

 

Thanks for the tips but my battery is 100% charged, and the adapter is working also... But reading people's experiences I'm going to hold off the bios upgrade I think.

 

I was wondering if the issue of the NVIDIA card always on has been solved. (Even if you switch with fn+f6 the graphic card is still recognised and consumes battery, only fix is put to sleep and wake up again)

 

wow... more negatives than positives?
or is it the people who are fine with it not posting.

I think I will still wait for more personal reviews or review from some Alienware staff to get a better feel.

it seems like this bios revision didn't fix anything from the reviews:
1. Made booting longer
2. Fan stays on continously
3. anything else?

 

I flashed mine earlier today and nothing seems drastically different.

The only thing I wasn't happy with was how it started flashing immediately when I opened the program, but that's just an issue with that program and not the BIOS itself.

 

Again folks.. cooler notebook is better...

BW,

StevenX

 

I agree with this; slight fan noise doesn't bother me.

After checking my temperatures, I realize that they are a few degrees lower than before. At idle it's only 2-3 degrees Celsius, but with a load it may be more.

 

Yeah, this and the unstable overclock option is apparently not fixed (or not mentioned). And I think if it was not fixed by now, I never will be.