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July 8th, 2018 15:00
Upgraded my Alienware 17 R1 now problems
Hello All, I recently installed a new GTX980M into my Alienware 17, replacing the original GTX780M, and am now seeing some strange issues. Firstly, not so strange, is I can no longer use the build in 3D Vision for the 120hz screen. In talking about these issues in another forum, it appears the onboard 3D will no longer work, do to a certificate used by Nvidia and Dell. This is actually a non-issue, although slightly disappointing as I love playing games in 3D, especially on the native screen. However, the second issue might be enough to cause me to revert back to the 780.
I can now not boot my system, unless I have an external monitor plugged into the HDMI, in this case my OLED65C6P TV, at least long enough to get to post, at which time I can unplug the cable and the system posts and boots perfectly normally. If I try to turn the system on without a cable plugged in, I simply get a black screen followed by 8 beeps. The system screen, once booted works fine, so it is not an issue with the screen, as the beeps would indicate, it seems to be something else entirely. I have changed the settings in the bios, in the following ways. Firstly, I tried to disable Legacy Boot Mode, the system then ONLY sends a signal to the external source, and nothing at all to the laptop screen. That has, actually, never even been possible, previously, the system always POSTs to the onboard screen. So, I then set it back to Legacy Boot, but UEFI, which is exactly where it has always been, using the latest A15 BIOS from Dell. I then tried setting it from Legacy enabled/UEFI, to Legacy Enabled/Legacy boot, and it does the exact same behavior, won't boot without an external monitor plugged in, however, this time the onboard screen actually powers up, as you can see it light up, and then the 8 beeps happen. When set on Legacy Enabled/UEFI, the screen does not even appear to power up, it never lights up, the system simply gives me the 8 beeps and does so until I turn it off and plug in an HDMI cable.
I have tested the card, once I get the system booted into the OS, and it works great. Games run using much higher settings, with much higher FPS than the 780 did, and it remains much coolers than the 780, where my 780 would play games at around 70C, the 980 has not risen above 51C, not one time yet.
Has anyone seen this behavior, and even more importantly know of a way to resolve it?
Thanks, in advance, for any help you might provide!!!
ejn63
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30.1K Posts
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July 9th, 2018 04:00
You'll need to rewrite the system's firmware to recognize the card - the problem is that the system doesn't have firmware support for a video card with which it never shipped.
ejn63
10 Elder
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30.1K Posts
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July 9th, 2018 08:00
I suspect that's the case - even if the card has a Dell VBIOS on it. The system firmware is not coded to work with a video card the system never shipped with as an option (though later A17 systems likely did, the first release did not). The one thing I would not do is force flash a later Alienware 17 BIOS - that's a recipe for disaster.
BA0701-2
4 Posts
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July 9th, 2018 08:00
Thank you very much, @ejn63 for your response, and now it is making sense as to why the bios seems to now be missing the UEFI boot options. I am assuming the only way around this, would be to use a custom firmware, which in turn would then eliminate the remainder of the warranty, would I be correct in that?
BA0701-2
4 Posts
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July 9th, 2018 09:00
@ejn63Understood, on the force flash, and thank you for that! I actually have a couple months left on the warranty, and need to have a repair done before then, anyhow, so I suppose I will restore the original card, at least until the warranty runs out, and in the mean time research custom bios', and what might be available out there.
I have an upcoming extended stay in the hospital soon, and the plan was to use this while I convalesce, so not being able to boot without an external monitor is a real issue, so back to the 780 it is, at least on a temporary basis, while I look to see what my options may be. I wonder why they limit the laptops in this way, whereas a desktop is infinitely upgradeable, so long as the physical interface remains the same. Heck, I upgraded my M17X R2, to a GTX680M 4GB, which that system never shipped with, and though I did have to mod the drivers, as the card did not have a Dell VBios, the system remained entirely functional. The performance gains made by this card, make not being able to use it as I had hoped rather disappointing, even losing my native 3D capability would have been worth it for the jump in performance.
I cannot thank you enough, @ejn63 , you have been tremendously helpful!!!