M15x Died

Hi, i finally purchased a second hand M15X however the joy was not meant to last, i was met with problem after problem and now finally i think my machine is in Alienware heaven, hoping some angel can bring it back to me. The problem is, making a long story short, i was updating it to A09, from Dell website when it cut off and would power on but no display. There was a CD in the drive, so i disconnected the drive and sadly still not working. I have looked up about doing something with a usb dongle and phoenix crisis etc but nothing works. I downloaded the program, ran it, formatted my usb device and then downloaded the A09 file, all on a seperate laptop might i ad. Then put it to a USB adaptor and put it in the ESATA port, pressed FN+B and put the power in and nothing, the computer turns on, the fans whirl around for a bit then it goes quiet however my USB adaptor just not show that it is being read or used. Does anyone have any solution, the laptop is a M15X I7 model. Thanks

 

Are you getting any kind of image on the display or is it always black? Try doing a power drain by removing the power adapter and battery and pressing the power button for 20 seconds.

 

No display at all, i have tried it but nothing

 

Have you tried a older bios to use on the emergency reflash?

 

I cant find one, if you have a link that would be great. Thanks

 

Have you tried an external monitor? Try doing a reflash like Ador said. You can try the A09 BIOS again or the older A08 linked below:

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=89N9T

 

Hiya, Thanks for the replies, Does anyone know of a guide that works or has worked for them on this machine to try and recover it. As i press FN+B nothing, WIN+B, Nothing, strangely when i press the letter D and boot, the fans run longer than normal before cutting off. Here's what i've done so far in terms of USB recovery.

1) Downloaded A09 and Wincris
2)Extracted A09 and renamed the .Bin file inside to BIOS.WPH.
3)Ran Wincris ( using windows 7) under windows xp compatibility then as Admin.
3)Clicked Start then took out and put back in, pressed yes then ran start again, pretty much doing the same thing twice with Minidos selected.
4)Opened the USB stick and copied over ONLY the Bios file, replacing the one on there already.
5)Did a power drain on the laptop - Put the USB stick in the ESATA port then held FN+B down while plugging the power in, at this stage nothing happens to press the power button down. The fans whirl a bit and then nothing happens, no lights however they were not working before the bios crash but there was not movement on the USB stick either.

Am i doing something wrong here? If so please advise.

 

What's FN+B or WIN+B supposed to do? I never heard of that button combination. Anyway, have you tried removing the CMOS battery. Again, try an external monitor. You may have bricked the motherboard with a failed flash.

 

Bump - Any suggestions would be appreciate.

 

I would try another graphics card if you can. Where do you live? If you're in Europe I can send you my spare GTX 260M to test

 

I'm more inclined to think he bricked is board...

 

Hey,

I haven't as don't have access to one. I tried to see if it would display on an external monitor but nothing on that either. I am in the uk, south near brighton

 

Is there anyway to unbrick it?

 

short of desoldering the old BIOS chip and soldering a new one in its place, no.

 

Oh wow, I live in York. I can send you my 260m and if it still doesn't work I can recommend a motherboard seller, costs £90 delivered. Well worth it

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Or send me your motherboard to try to fix

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Is that a UK seller? I'd be interested in trying the graphics card method and see how that goes then if that doesnt work look at motherboard repair or buying a new one, which i would be more inclined to do as the lights on this one didnt work anyways.

 

For a new board look at the link in the first post. I got one from the same seller and it is perfect.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...x-consider-replacing-your-motherboard.786866/

 

if you are interested i can check up on your board after you are done diagnosing it.
if it turns out that the BIOS chip is bad i can desolder, reprogram and resolder it (and i can repair the lighting too )

 

I need the link for modified Nvidia GeForce GTX 460M Driver for Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit. It's the 1.5GB GDDR5 version.

 

I had a bad vbios on my ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850 which bricked but replaced it with Nvidia GeForce GTX 460M @ 1.5GB GDDR5 & now my Alienware M15x posts. I used to get both "Scroll×Caps" flashing but now it boots fine. I also upgraded from Intel i3-370M @ 2.4GHz Dual Core (4 threads) to Intel i7-720QM Quad Core @ 1.6GHz / 2.8GHz Turbo Boost @ (8 Threads). I bought the Nvidia GTX 460M @ 1.5GB for £76 @ eBay & paid £24.99 for the Intel i7-Q720! I'm still using original 3GB Ram which I'm planning to upgrade & 150GB HDD original & planning to upgrade to 240GB SSD for £60. I will upgrade to 8GB Ram eventually! I still need the modified Nvidia GTX 460M Driver for Windows 7. I would appreciate the link please. Thank you guys.

 

I never heard of a modified driver for the 460m. It was officially supported on the M15X. Is it a Dell branded card and is it flashed with a Dell Vbios? GPU-Z will tell you.

 

Memory Type: GDDR5 (Samsung), Device ID: 10DE-QDD1 Subvender: Dell (1028), GPU: GF106

 

The issue am having with Nvidia GeForce GTX 460M is that it's lagging in GTA 5 & Battlefield 4 multiplayer but plays Loadout multiplayer really well & can Crysis 3 on High Settings. I updated to GeForce Game Ready Driver & am using GeForce Experience to optimize all pc games. Sometimes while downloading games in my Origin library, my Alienware M15x will shut down producing Blue screen. But I can restart it & most times is working really well without crashing. These are the problems am having with my Alienware M15x. I upgraded from i3 to i7-Q720 & I'm thinking is the 3GB Ram causing issues. But mainly in games. I don't know what causes the random Blue screen shutdowns. I also have AMD folders I can't delete & wanted to unistall those files in safe mode. As I right click, I can see: AMD Radeon

 

right click: AMD Radeon Settings, Nvidia Control Panel, Screen Resolution, Gadgets, Personalize

 

I'm thinking their could be some ATI or AMD Radeon Drivers left behind from using ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850 which bricked because of bad vbios flash. But I changed the card for an Nvidia GeForce GTX 460M @ 1.5GB GDDR5. I got that @ eBay for £79 last week on Friday. I can watch YouTube, Veetle.com movies fine & even watch

 

Filmon Live TV & even watch full 1080p YouTube videos with no issues. it's just when playing GTA 5 & Battlefield 4 multiplayer theirs lag? But other pc games work fine.

 

Would you know why it lags in GTA 5 & Battlefield 4 multiplayer but in other pc games works fine without any lag. What are the best settings or not best graphics drivers for Nvidia GeForce GTX 460M @ 1.5GB GDDR5. Thank you for all your advice.

 

My specs are: Alienware M15x/i7-Q720 Quad Core/Nvidia GTX 460M @ 1.5GB GDDR5/3GB Ram/150GB HDD original/Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit. In case anyone needs to know, I think it's the 3GB Ram that could be limiting my progress in GTA 5 & Battlefield 4 multiplayer as other pc games run @ higher fps & play smoothly. I like this NotebookReview Forum alot. You guys are all stars really!

 

Try Driver Sweeper. If the problem continues, try a different video card driver (an older one perhaps) or you can always start fresh by backing up your data and reinstalling Windows.

http://www.guru3d.com/content-page/guru3d-driver-sweeper.html

 

You don't need a modded driver for M15x with a 460M, the M15x was shipped with 460M and as such all drivers directly from nGreedia will install.

 

Lol entire page after this, my bad ...
The lag imo would be due to those games being quite demanding, and the 460M is 5 and a half years old GPU.
If you set all graphics settings to minimum and it still lag's it's not the GPU, and i would look into upgrading the ram, 3GB is fairly low by today's standards.

For cleaning the old drivers, don't use Driver Sweeper, it's obsolete. Instead try DDU http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html
Just make sure you select to boot into safe mode and select AMD once you are there.

 

Thank you, will try now & post back the result.

 

I fixed the problem. It was the GeForce Game Ready Driver: 7/2/2016 old driver in GeForce Experience. So I only updated Nvidia GeForce GTX 460M graphics driver: 21/3/2016. So I didn't update twice. Now the newer driver works really well. I also put 4GB Ram & seems to help but I'm getting BSOD Blue screen & simple reboot but it's the extra 2GB Ram I added. So am going to buy 8GB Ram Memory next week on eBay. I'm also using MSI Afterburner, ThrottleStop, FPS, Razor Booster, GeForce Experience, original GeForce GTX 460M Driver from Nvidia website & only using Razor Game Booster to start & play all my Steam & Origin pc games. Battlefield 4 multiplayer works really well & GTA 5 gets 30fps in game & plays really well now. I used DDU to remove AMD & GeForce old Drivers & did not install GeForce Game Ready Driver but only used GeForce GTX 460M Driver instead because their new! Everything works now! THANK YOU GUYS!

 

What would you recommend for the next graphics card upgrade.

I was thinking of buying the Nvidia GeForce GTX 660M @ 2GB GDDR5 @ £125 @ eBay. Hopefully in 4 months time. I like it because it's at good price.

 

I can now play GTA 5 @ Low or High Settings @ 30fps & Loadout multiplayer @ 60fps & Battlefield 4 multiplayer @ 30fps @ Medium to Low graphics settings & Battlefield 3 @ Ultra to High & Medium Settings @ 30-40fps.

 

Look at the AMD Firepro m6000 (Radeon 7870). It is faster at stock clocks than the 660m GTX at less than half the price. It overclocks well too. Mine scores 2900 in Firestrike, surpassing even a 765m GTX. I got mine on ebay for 51 pounds shipped.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/m6000-7870m-gpu-thread.785735/

 

Thanks will the Blue one fit inside properly or do I need to buy the red one. As in colour. I read a thread talking about plug n play & they said the red colour one fits properly. Is the Blue one similar or colour doesn't matter. I'm just asking. Thanks

 

The blue one fits just fine, you just need a proper x-bracket and you are good to go .... i have a couple of M6000 left (with proper x-bracket), check the link in my sig

 

Does amd firepro m6000 play Battlefield 4 multiplayer @ High Settings. Thanks

 

Dunno, i'll test it, I hardly play any games lately.. is there any synthetic benchmark for BF4 that i could run?

 

I'll be selling my gtx 680m soon and it would only be a bit more expensive than that 660m but would be more than double the performance. Interested?

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How much would it be. Yes am interested.

 

I'll send you a PM.

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Ha good salesman correct though