Alienware M18 undervolt protection won't disable

[MogRules]

On 8/14/2023 at 6:09 PM, ssj92 said:

Does the older XTU versions still work? I'm on older XTU and 1.6.0 bios still 

Not sure, I was using whatever the newest version was.  The weird part is I didn't seem to have any issues until I ran the new XTU, so either that messed with something or I might have installed a new Intel driver.  It's been working for a week now without issue so I have just been leaving it alone. 

[Popcan]

YET another Bios, This one isn;t listed as critical...

 

https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=8wg0h&oscode=w2021&productcode=alienware-m18-r1-laptop

[MogRules]

22 minutes ago, Popcan said:

YET another Bios, This one isn;t listed as critical...

 

https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=8wg0h&oscode=w2021&productcode=alienware-m18-r1-laptop

It reduced my Cinebench scores, albeit slightly.  I also couldn't seem to get passed 175w on the CPU with that one.  Game wise I saw no noticeable difference. 

[Popcan]

20 hours ago, MogRules said:

It reduced my Cinebench scores, albeit slightly.  I also couldn't seem to get passed 175w on the CPU with that one.  Game wise I saw no noticeable difference. 

 

Interesting, mine went up 300-500 poionts.  havn't checked wattage used while gaming yet. ill do that today.

 

 

EDIT:

 

GPU Used to hit 176w now max i could get out of it is 168.55w   CPU is more or less the same. but i have max temp set to 85c

 

EDIT 2:

 

Ran 3dMark and got it to hit 176w again.

[akyz]

Hey All I just picked up an M16 and have tried the method of editing the Undervolt Protection, VarStoreInfo 0x381 variable and set to 0x0. When getting back into Windows it seems to not have the desired effect. Throttlestop is unable to undervolt my processor. When opening AWCC the CPU shows 0% utilization and when viewing the performance profiles the CPU isn't listed at all. Reverting the change and setting the variable back to 0x1 brings the CPU back to life in AWCC. I'm at a loss, some things I've tried are factory resetting via support & recovery (f12 boot options) while the variable was set to 0x0. I've set the CFG Lock, VarStoreInfo (VarOffset/VarName) 0x43 to 0x0 with no change. I've also reset the BIOS to default as well. 

[ssj92]

15 hours ago, akyz said:

Hey All I just picked up an M16 and have tried the method of editing the Undervolt Protection, VarStoreInfo 0x381 variable and set to 0x0. When getting back into Windows it seems to not have the desired effect. Throttlestop is unable to undervolt my processor. When opening AWCC the CPU shows 0% utilization and when viewing the performance profiles the CPU isn't listed at all. Reverting the change and setting the variable back to 0x1 brings the CPU back to life in AWCC. I'm at a loss, some things I've tried are factory resetting via support & recovery (f12 boot options) while the variable was set to 0x0. I've set the CFG Lock, VarStoreInfo (VarOffset/VarName) 0x43 to 0x0 with no change. I've also reset the BIOS to default as well. 

Super easy way to do UV protection 

 

 

[akyz]

Was able to figure it out. The issue had to do with either my laptop being AzureAD joined or an issue with the OS, not the method of disabling undervolt protection. After using Dell OS Recovery as the boot option to perform an online reset (not sure if it has anything to do with it) and not joining it to my AzureAD tenancy everything was cool. 

[MogRules]

On 6/22/2023 at 8:11 AM, win32asmguy said:

 

Here is how I modify those settings:

1. Get grubx64.efi from https://github.com/XDleader555/grub_setup_var/releases
2. On a small USB thumbdrive, formatted FAT32, change its file name placing that file in a folder location of drive:\EFI\Boot\bootx64.efi
3. In the bios, disable secure boot and enable overclocking
4. Reboot, selecting the thumbdrive
5. At the prompt, enter "setup_var CpuSetup 0x381" which should show a current value of 0x1 (undervolt protection enabled)
6. Again, enter "setup_var CpuSetup 0x381 0x0" which should update the value and confirm the operation succeeded
7. Ctrl-Alt-Delete, go back into Windows and now undervolting production should show disabled.

RU.efi also works but I have found it to randomly freeze or not actually apply changes so I prefer using the modified grub bootloader instead. It is also pretty easy to clone the github repo in linux and build it yourself if you are concerned about malware or such.

This does still seem to work on the M18R2 with 14th gen, in case anyone is wondering. 

[Naberius]

On 9/14/2023 at 12:56 AM, ssj92 said:

Super easy way to do UV protection 

 

 

 

Thanks for the tutorial, @ssj92  - Watching it gave me the motivation to finally update to a more recent bios and investigate UMAF.

That said, the UnderVolt Protection option is absent after... 1.12.1 seemingly. You can still lock-in an undervolt from UMAF under Overclocking Performance Menu > Processor > P-core Voltage Offset, however. Good enough if you've all ready tested out an undervolt value for the system.

I think I saw some reddit chatter about the option being tagged with "hide" from table view (for reasons unknown - might have happened when they restored the undervolt option to the mainline bios interface).