simon h

Alienware is still under bed in a box. Thought i would ask my AI about it; The reply; that Alienware story is painfully familiar, and everything you described matches exactly what happens when an M18x R1/R2 BIOS gets corrupted by IGFX memory changes or BAR toggling. Those machines were absolute beasts, but their BIOS was fragile, and once it went, you were basically locked out unless you had the tools to reflash the chip directly. Let me walk through what happened — because your description is textbook M18x failure behaviour. ⭐ Why changing IGFX memory or BAR bricked your Alienware M18x BIOS The M18x had a very specific vulnerability: 1. IGFX memory (128MB / 256MB) was tied to the system’s UMA region Changing it altered: the memory map the PCIe address space the Optimus mux routing the BIOS’s internal device table If the BIOS didn’t like the new configuration, it would: fail to initialise IGFX fail to initialise PEG fail to initialise the mux fail to initialise the EC (embedded controller) fail POST entirely This is exactly the “black screen, fans spin, no POST” behaviour you saw. 2. Enabling BAR (Base Address Register) on a muxless system BAR resizing changes: PCIe MMIO allocation GPU memory aperture address space mapping On a system with: IGFX dual discrete GPUs muxless Optimus routing …changing BAR could corrupt the BIOS’s PCIe device map. Once that happens, the BIOS can’t enumerate GPUs → POST fails → brick. ⭐ Why clearing CMOS didn’t fix it On the M18x: CMOS reset only clears settings but IGFX memory and BAR changes affect firmware-level tables So even if you: removed the battery shorted the pads held power for 60 seconds removed RAM tried blind recovery …the corrupted firmware tables remained. This is why it never came back. ⭐ Why the YouTube repair guy couldn’t fix it The M18x BIOS chip is: soldered not socketed requires hot-air rework requires a CH341A or RT809H programmer requires the correct Dell HDR → BIN conversion requires the correct ME region requires the correct EC firmware pairing If he didn’t: desolder the chip dump it clean the ME region flash a known-good BIN reflow the chip verify the EC pairing …then the machine would come back exactly as you sent it. Which is what happened. Most “YouTube repair guys” don’t have the tools or the knowledge to fix Alienware BIOS corruption — especially on the M18x, which is notorious for this exact failure. ⭐ Why the M18x is still recoverable — but only with a proper reflash Your machine isn’t dead. It’s just stuck with a corrupted BIOS. The fix is: Remove the BIOS chip Dump the corrupted firmware Clean the Intel ME region Flash a known-good M18x R1/R2 BIOS BIN Reflow the chip Reassemble and test Once that’s done, the machine will POST again. But it requires: hot-air station flux CH341A programmer SOIC8 clip or direct solder pads correct firmware tools correct Alienware BIOS image This is why DIY attempts never work. ⭐ You didn’t “break” the machine — the BIOS simply corrupted itself The M18x was famous for: IGFX memory corruption mux routing failures Optimus table corruption PCIe address map corruption BAR-related brickings EC desync issues You hit one of the known triggers. It wasn’t your fault — the BIOS was fragile. ⭐ If you ever want it revived I can tell you: which BIOS chip it uses which programmer you need which BIN file is safe how to clean the ME region how to reflash it properly how to avoid future brick triggers Just say the word. And yes — that machine is absolutely recoverable. It’s not dead, just stuck.

For the record, i have not forgotten any of the things you guys wrote. I'll come back to this later. I have not binned it

Still makes me chuckle to see an 8GB RTX card in a 2013 laptop. That sort of score puts a smile on my face. 1080 Ultra is good enough. I think we are at the end of the line now, we have stretched the hell out of the M18 R2. With no more RAM and CPU options, this is the end of the line. Even if a new GPU could be used, the CPU will hold it back

This is not fair....i was rich when i bought my last Alienware M18 r2 for £3,800 and now im covid broke at the moment.

Sliderfra, i'm not familiar with any of that you mention. Looks like i need to do a bit more research.

So...see you in 11 years then......keep this forum open !!!

Looks quite slick. With 4x m.2's you could RAID 6 it. (4x8TB RAID 6)....I would be mad though, 1 more drive for 5x8TB RAID 10.... so close! Looking at the RAM, the options are up to dual channel 64GB 4800Mhz only. I would only go 16GB max here when buying the laptop. I say that because, i would be looking to replace their best 4800Mhz option with much better RAM....overclocked too no doubt, assume it has XMP in the bios. Best to then only have 16GB to dispose of and not 64GB, i think that would be prudent. In fact i would choose the lowest RAM and drives with a view to replace / add afterwards.

So now the integrated is looking after your desktop. NEVER EVER alter the reserved VRAM in BIOS for the integrated gpu, no matter how tempted you are !!!!!!!!!

This made me smile....Had to chuckle sorry....SG mode Ahoy. I bet you was twitching for a while. It gets us all once. So this is the P4000 GPU you have put in then? Looking good there. list your spec as of now bilili. I am interested seeing what people are up to. It is great to see. I have a special affinity to the Alienware M18x R2.

Dont be discouraged. It was a good effort.

I have just read from top to bottom and was hoping to read at the bottom of the thread you had it working.... Is it a dead end for sure now ?

Bilili, you are where i was except i had SLI dual GTX675's which died 6 weeks apart. I went from dual gtx675's to a single gtx970 + integrated. I wanted to go down the MXM Quadro route myself with NVME adapter as well, but cant do that now. Still amazes me that a 10 yr old laptop can still rock. "I have a 10-11 year old laptop" "I feel sorry for you..." "Dont, its better than your new work laptop, i have m.2 NVME and RAID 0 sata SSD's, 32GB RAM, Quadro RTX capabilities + integrated in SG mode and an 18" screen...." ('.' ) keep us updated and GL.

Just to add a nugget here. I upgraded my original 12GB 1600mhz ram that came with my M18X R2 with 4x8GB 32GB of 1866mhz HyperX RAM without any issues. I didnt do any overclocking, i was happy with the 1866mhz that it was recognised at and was primarily interested in the capacity not speed anyway. So i can definately confirm this scenario can be done.

Kebab Hunter, Glad it worked for you. I have no way of removing the bios chip and reflashing it external to the laptop to try and see if it works. Not sure what i am going to do. I wont rush into it though, i have time. I may just sell all the bits. What i could possibly sell from this is ; Intel 3740QM CPU Intel 3820M CPU brand new unused 32GB 1866mhz HyperX RAM 12GB 1600mhz original RAM that came with the Alienware (2x4GB + 2x2GB) Nvidia GTX 970M GPU Both 3 pipe GPU heatsinks Original SLI cable 18" screen and lid Original 1TB HDD with carriage keyboard works (but no lights - the ribbon lead for keyboard lights is damaged and 1 key is not quite anchored down) Motherboard for parts / repair -bios reflash externally perhaps chasis battery Power supply optical drive Wifi card Im weighing up the choices, i suppose i could make some cash, but how long would it take to sell that lot.

Ok, just spotted this....reading