Maxware79

I believe I have a spare R1 ribbon cable and caddy if you're having trouble finding one.

Can't do it unfortunately, unless you do the HDD caddy in the optical drive bay.

Also, just check that the ribbon cable connector on the motherboard isn't missing the locking tab. They are incredibly fragile. This can often happen on the R1 and R1 and the ribbon cable will not work without it. I believe it will be this connector with the black locking tab

Yeah the R1 has 2 HHD connectors and the R2 has 3. The ribbon cable on the R2 is wider to accommodate the extra Sata connector so they are not cross-compatible. The one you linked is only for the R2, eBay sellers always make this mistake.

I haven't flashed the 18, only the M18x R1 and R2 so if that's how they say to do it then I guess that's right. Usually I'd do it using a bootable flash drive but if this way works then that's easier. Step 5. should be to enter the BIOS and switch video mode (second Advanced tab) to SG, then shut down and move onto installing the 1070. The heatsink you show above looks like the M18x one and I'm not sure if it fits the 18. I've never tried to swap them to see if they are compatible.

Yes you MUST have the Unlocked BIOS for the M18x R2 and the 18. The system has to be set to SG Mode (Switchable Graphics) and this option is not available with the OEM Dell BIOS. The Reason: These systems only run on two video modes. These are iGFX (Internal graphics) and PEG (Dedicated graphics). These are manually switched using the Function keys and a restart. The 10 series cards do not work in either of these modes with the 60hz LVDS display. They do work in PEG mode with the 120hz eDP display which is only in the 17" laptops. SG mode is not a default option with the 18 as it does not work with the SLI or Crossfire configs that these systems had. The Unlocked BIOS opens up a hidden Advanced tab in the BIOS which allows the video mode to be changed to SG mode. The 10 series cards use SG mode to piggyback off the Intel graphics as they wouldn't be able to get a display on their own with the older LVDS style display. You MUST switch to SG mode before installing the new card or you will get the 8 beep LCD error and a black screen. DO NOT try switching the video mode to any other mode that may be listed in the BIOS. I believe there is a 4th option but you can cause some big troubles if you try this mode. Once you have the card installed, if you use PEG mode then you'll get the 8 beep error. You can use iGFX mode but the dedicated card will be disabled until you switch back to SG.

Unlocked BIOS is not required on the 17 R1 with the 60hz panel as SG mode is set by default. The unlocked BIOS is only required on the 18" systems as SG mode is not an option with the Dell BIOS and it's default video modes are either iGFX or PEG. It definitely sounds like you've missed something with the inf mod. Don't forget that the inf file has multiple sections of device ID lines for the different operating systems that are supported for the driver. The newer ones have a section for Win10 and Win11. You need to put your new device ID line into both sections just to make sure you get the right OS. Don't forget to add the String line at the bottom of the file as well. I've only ever had to edit the nvdmi.inf and I've never touched the nvdisp.inf. I think the nvdmi.inf is called nvdmig.inf or something like that these days.

Yeah you just need to flash back to the same OEM Dell BIOS version as the unlocked version you can find on this site. Once you do that you have to go into the BIOS and switch the video mode to SG (before you install the 1070). Then you just have to install the card and a modified Nvidia driver. It's all pretty simple really. The hardest part is pulling the system apart to access the MXM slot. They didn't make it easy in the 18" machines. @ssj92 also did us a solid and made a video on how to mod the Nvidia driver

Does the fan kick in at all with the 970M or does it just overheat? If you get zero fan action then it's probably a vBIOS issue. I had that happen with a 970M I put in my M18x.

Started working on refurbishing an old Alienware M17x R4. Here is the progress on the LCD lid. These are covered with a soft-touch material which breaks down over the years and usually gets heavily scratched. This soft-touch needs to be completely removed before respraying. Then it's sanding, priming, sanding, base color, sanding, clear coat, sanding, polishing.

You gotta give it to Dell and their Service Manuals. They are usually very well done and make teardowns pretty simple.

ahh so it's system specific, That's what I figured.

@ssj92why won't the 675M run 3D natively? Is it just because it's in the R3? The 600M's had 3D support in the R4 and the 700M's / 800M's had 3D support in the Ranger.

Good result then. I guess there aren't a lot of options here in Oz so we often pay too much for these cards. Some guys on our Discord occasionally have some MXM cards for cheap.

I bought an Aetina 970M a little while back and faced the same problem. I ended up putting in my M18x but soon discovered that there was no fan control. I had to find a vBIOS that would work with the card. I had to change the subsystem ID of the card which you can only do with certain versions of NVFlash and it can apparently be risky. If you get the same problem then I can let you know the vBIOS version I used. $300AUD is a lot for a 970M.

Aetina 970M's won't work in the 120hz machines. They will work in the 60hz though. It's possible that a vBIOS flash will get around it but I'm pretty sure others have tried and had no luck.

Excellent! Really glad it worked out for you!

@Toenail please keep me updated on how it all goes.

It happened pretty quickly from memory. I've done this on the M15x and M17x R2 and I believe it flashed almost instantly. Just remember to do parts 11 and 12 in the guide above

I've been told not to use Isopropyl on the E31 or you're going to have a bad time. Very interested to see if a repaste makes a difference. Keep us posted

Have you wired up the connector properly? Just double check that it's correct and maybe post some images if you can.

I never managed to get one working. Maybe I got a dud but the system wouldn't detect it at all in a 17 R1 or M18x R2 in SG mode. I assumed this was because of the type of card it is but if others managed to get it working then I probably got a bad one.

Would love to know if this Service Tag fix worked for you.

8 beeps is usually a GPU or LCD problem, it's the 7 beeps that you definitely don't want to get. Any beep code error can be motherboard related though I'm currently having a similar issue with an M17x R3 that I'm working on. I've tried all the fixes but nothing has worked so I'm assuming the AlienFX chip is toast on mine, hopefully yours is something simple though. Make sure that you have Microsoft .net framework 3.5 and Visual C++ 2010 installed before trying to install AWCC. Is it AWCC 2.8.8.0 you're trying to install?

Thanks for the kind words. I don't color match though, just usually go for something completely different from stock. I believe any decent crash repairer would be able to color match easily enough if you have an original sample. The original Alienware systems (pre-Dell) were actually painted by a local auto shop.