Alienware M18 undervolt protection won't disable

[MogRules]

 So, how many people have been successful in actually using XTU to undervolt the M18 so far? I know that 1.6.0 was supposed to fix this, which it obviously did for some.  I have seen screenshots of people using it successfully, but no matter what I seem to change I can not get XTU to remove that lock 😞 

Reset BIOS to defaults, OC on and or off in the BIOS.  Different settings inside AWCC don't seem to matter either.  Not really sure what else I am missing here.  I can try resetting defaults again, but that seems unlikely to change much at this point.   Curious if it's just me, or if others are experiencing this before I report it as a bug to AW. 

[MogRules]

 

Even after multiple BIOS resets, no clue. 

[Popcan]

This is one of the issues I ran into with AWCC. It already uses its own version of XTU that causes conflict with the bios and XTU. At least in my short experience. Like I have mentioned before in other posts, I have had AWCC hang my computer at post after repeatedly getting messages about AWCC resetting my bios to default.

 

From the research that's available and my own testing it seems that the bios locks undervolting in any setting but performance. This seems like a bug to me. There is a sorta work around out there but I don't know if it will allow you to use XTU since it requires you to disable the service and rename it in system32. You could probably get it to work if you uninstall AWCC and wipe xtu and then reinstall XTU.

 

I have a -150mv that I set in the bios that shows in hwmonitor but I'm not sure that its actually sticking at all times. I have AWCC installed but all of dell's other bloatware removed and XTU service disabled. 

 

All in all, I think that the bios is a little buggy, there are even options available in the bios that say on them that the customer shouldn't see them lol.

Even more than that I think that AWCC is a horrible buggy mess. Because of Dell's track record with AWCC I have no hope for it either but we will see.

 

  I do think that eventually they will fix the bios issue.  Disabling windows from modifying the bios has seemed to help also.

 

 

 

I remember a time when you bought a product it didn't feel like you were a beta tester. lol

[ssj92]

8 hours ago, MogRules said:

 

Even after multiple BIOS resets, no clue. 

Have you tried entering 100 in the core voltage offset in bios and see if that fixes it?

[MogRules]

9 hours ago, ssj92 said:

Have you tried entering 100 in the core voltage offset in bios and see if that fixes it?

Yes, I am running at -140 through the BIOS now, and that shows in HWinfo, but not in XTU. 

[ratchetnclank]

This might be a dumb question but have you set the off switch on all overclock options in AWCC? For example in the old AWCC you have to set this switch to disabled for throttlestop to work

.

[ssj92]

1 hour ago, MogRules said:

Yes, I am running at -140 through the BIOS now, and that shows in HWinfo, but not in XTU. 

If it shows in HWINfo then it should be working. Maybe your XTU got bugged. I would try removing XTU and reinstalling 

[MogRules]

5 hours ago, ssj92 said:

If it shows in HWINfo then it should be working. Maybe your XTU got bugged. I would try removing XTU and reinstalling 

Yep, a few times.  I even reinstalled Windows to no avail.  Did you do the BIOS changes to unlock undervolting prior to 1.6.0? If so maybe that's it and it just didn't get patched out again in the new BIOS. I am pretty much waiting on the next BIOS at this point before I continue trying to much with it.  I am busy trying to stop CC from updating to v6 again, I can't stand v6 changing my lights all the time.  

[ssj92]

19 minutes ago, MogRules said:

Yep, a few times.  I even reinstalled Windows to no avail.  Did you do the BIOS changes to unlock undervolting prior to 1.6.0? If so maybe that's it and it just didn't get patched out again in the new BIOS. I am pretty much waiting on the next BIOS at this point before I continue trying to much with it.  I am busy trying to stop CC from updating to v6 again, I can't stand v6 changing my lights all the time.  

I had UV since 1.2.0 but someone else has confirmed 1.6.0 works with XTU. Honestly don't bother with XTU if BIOS UV is working. XTU and AWCC don't play nice together. Once I am done tweaking I may remove AWCC completely unless they allow more options like XTU. 

[Popcan]

The issue I have ran into with removing awcc is that the reverts my keyboard lights to white.  I really, really dislike awcc.

[MogRules]

On 4/17/2023 at 4:14 PM, Popcan said:

The issue I have ran into with removing awcc is that the reverts my keyboard lights to white.  I really, really dislike awcc.

Had a decent get together with Alienware to provide feedback on the M18 and CC and those things.  Definitely passed along the disappointment of the new CC, so hopefully we see some changes. 

 

[Popcan]

8 hours ago, MogRules said:

Had a decent get together with Alienware to provide feedback on the M18 and CC and those things.  Definitely passed along the disappointment of the new CC, so hopefully we see some changes. 

 

That is an awesome opportunity! Thank you for passing that along. I feel like we are a bunch of beats testers but what else is new lol.

 

[ssj92]

Maybe I'll make a video this weekend on how to use ru.efi to disable undervolt protection, even though it should be disabled. 

[TheCodeBreaker]

On 6/5/2023 at 11:16 PM, ssj92 said:

Maybe I'll make a video this weekend on how to use ru.efi to disable undervolt protection, even though it should be disabled. 

 

 

I'd really appreciate it if you were able to put a guide not only for the alienware m18, but all systems that have this issue.

I personally have the m17 r2, and I cannot undervolt it anymore

[MogRules]

On 6/5/2023 at 8:16 PM, ssj92 said:

Maybe I'll make a video this weekend on how to use ru.efi to disable undervolt protection, even though it should be disabled. 

I have brought this up with them again, considering it was supposedly supposed to be disabled in 1.6.0, which wasn't the case.

[win32asmguy]

23 hours ago, MogRules said:

I have brought this up with them again, considering it was supposedly supposed to be disabled in 1.6.0, which wasn't the case.

 

A new bios was released this morning, 1.8.1. Related to XMP memory support according to the notes, but maybe undervolting protection is disabled now too. Time for me to test the Kingston 6400 CL38 1.35v memory again to see if they can boot.

[ssj92]

16 hours ago, win32asmguy said:

 

A new bios was released this morning, 1.8.1. Related to XMP memory support according to the notes, but maybe undervolting protection is disabled now too. Time for me to test the Kingston 6400 CL38 1.35v memory again to see if they can boot.

Any news on if this bios improves things? Would love to be able to use my 5600mhz 64gb kit at 5600 instead of 5200. 

[GK007]

On 6/12/2023 at 10:54 AM, win32asmguy said:

 

A new bios was released this morning, 1.8.1. Related to XMP memory support according to the notes, but maybe undervolting protection is disabled now too. Time for me to test the Kingston 6400 CL38 1.35v memory again to see if they can boot.

 

Also interested is seeing if the UV protection is disabled now. Laptop currently in the works and need to decided if I want to go with the 1.60 or 1.8.1 bios LOL.

 

On 6/13/2023 at 2:55 AM, ssj92 said:

Any news on if this bios improves things? Would love to be able to use my 5600mhz 64gb kit at 5600 instead of 5200. 

 

I saw from someone on reddit that had the 6400 ram work for the 32gb kit, and another that said the 64gb is still at 5200. But will see what others come up with. 

 

[win32asmguy]

21 minutes ago, GK007 said:

Also interested is seeing if the UV protection is disabled now. Laptop currently in the works and need to decided if I want to go with the 1.60 or 1.8.1 bios LOL.

 

I saw from someone on reddit that had the 6400 ram work for the 32gb kit, and another that said the 64gb is still at 5200. But will see what others come up with.

 

Sadly dynamic undervolting is still disabled by default in the new bios version, so you would still have to manually set that flag via UEFI setup variables. This bios does have a build date of 5/29/23 but maybe they did not have enough time to integrate that change and validate it.

 

However now I can train and boot 6400 CL38 1.35V via selection of XMP profile 1. It also appears to disable SAGV with XMP active now. Before on 1.7.0, any type of memory change would end up with SAGV re-enabled which could have been why it could not train and boot. There was a similar issue on the Legion 7 Pro that the community discovered earlier.

[MogRules]

On 6/12/2023 at 7:54 AM, win32asmguy said:

 

A new bios was released this morning, 1.8.1. Related to XMP memory support according to the notes, but maybe undervolting protection is disabled now too. Time for me to test the Kingston 6400 CL38 1.35v memory again to see if they can boot.

Can confirm this was not changed, the undervolting, and the customize field was still missing.  Back to 1.6.0 for now.  Alienware says they are still working on it. 

[GK007]

48 minutes ago, MogRules said:

Can confirm this was not changed, the undervolting, and the customize field was still missing.  Back to 1.6.0 for now.  Alienware says they are still working on it. 

 

So current options are:

1) 1.60 bios with max ram speed of 5600 for 32 GB kits and ability to UV within bios directly 

2) 1.8.1 bios with the max ram speed of 6400 for 32GB kits and unlocking UV ability with RU.RU.EFI

[ssj92]

Wait so what was the issue with 1.7.0? Why is everyone staying on 1.6.0? Did 1.7.0 remove any options in bios?

 

 

[Popcan]

On 6/15/2023 at 10:34 PM, ssj92 said:

Wait so what was the issue with 1.7.0? Why is everyone staying on 1.6.0? Did 1.7.0 remove any options in bios?

 

 

As far as I am aware, 1.7.0 is when they started to removed UV.

 

It did for me as well. However, if I had a custom profile set with my UV setting. I could update the bios and then just load my custom profile. This would restore my overclocking/undervolting options.  I have confirm that they still work this way.    

 

Just upgraded to 1.8.1 and tested this again. I can confirm is still works to enable the undervolt option.

 

[TheShowX]

On 6/5/2023 at 11:16 PM, ssj92 said:

Maybe I'll make a video this weekend on how to use ru.efi to disable undervolt protection, even though it should be disabled. 

I have read how to do this and did it but it still states undervolt protection is on maybe i missed something? where is this video i need it! Please and TY! I saw your repaste video i did mine with liquid metal temps are great but i messed up on the pads when removing the heatsink they got garbled up and i dont know the correct sizes (the ones next to the processor side everything else is good. I tried google but no one has this info not even the service manual. If you could help in that regard it would be greatly appreciated as well. Also i would like to see the xmp profile enabling as well

 

BTW I was able to OC processor to 5.6GHZ and Ecores to 4.1ghz while keeping temps in gaming sessions to 85C max 80 Average Fans i believe are around 45%. Usually at around 100W max but can hit 175w in cpu dependent games and stay under 93C. Gpu around 65C max at 2310mhz undervolted to 875mv with 105 core 100 on mem i can probably oc it more but im good.

[Popcan]

20 hours ago, TheShowX said:

I have read how to do this and did it but it still states undervolt protection is on maybe i missed something? where is this video i need it! Please and TY! I saw your repaste video i did mine with liquid metal temps are great but i messed up on the pads when removing the heatsink they got garbled up and i dont know the correct sizes (the ones next to the processor side everything else is good. I tried google but no one has this info not even the service manual. If you could help in that regard it would be greatly appreciated as well. Also i would like to see the xmp profile enabling as well

 

BTW I was able to OC processor to 5.6GHZ and Ecores to 4.1ghz while keeping temps in gaming sessions to 85C max 80 Average Fans i believe are around 45%. Usually at around 100W max but can hit 175w in cpu dependent games and stay under 93C. Gpu around 65C max at 2310mhz undervolted to 875mv with 105 core 100 on mem i can probably oc it more but im good.

Whats you cinebench score?