Need Help Flashing & Obtaining Unlocked Bios AW M18X R2

[nicholas1020]

Hello guys I have an m18x r2 that’s currently on bios A14 but I’m wanting to flash an unlocked bios on my system. Can someone link me to an unlocked bios for m18x r2 and give me the steps for a proper bios flash for this system. Last tid bit of info, when I purchased my m18x r2 previous owner had install p4000 gpu though what I found confusing is how the system seems to be running in switchable graphics mode when I was under the initial impression the m18x r2 is set in peg mode and the bios seems to be a normal og ver of A14. I want to thank you all in advance for taking the time out to read this and be of assistance 🙂

[SuperMG]

5 hours ago, nicholas1020 said:

Hello guys I have an m18x r2 that’s currently on bios A14 but I’m wanting to flash an unlocked bios on my system. Can someone link me to an unlocked bios for m18x r2 and give me the steps for a proper bios flash for this system. Last tid bit of info, when I purchased my m18x r2 previous owner had install p4000 gpu though what I found confusing is how the system seems to be running in switchable graphics mode when I was under the initial impression the m18x r2 is set in peg mode and the bios seems to be a normal og ver of A14. I want to thank you all in advance for taking the time out to read this and be of assistance 🙂

Pascal doesn't run on LVDS display of your M18X R2. You're stuck with a GTX 980M or M5000M for that type of display.

Pascal only does eDP display.

 

You can still do M5000M for master + P4000 for slave or Intel HD + P4000 in SG.

[nicholas1020]

That certainly does make sense I suppose running my display off of my intel hd 4000 isn’t that big of a deal I’ve just noticed some incompatibility when trying to run hdmi between newer monitors and my m18x running intel hd 4000 as the display driver but other than that it’s been a non issue for the most part. The biggest issue I’m trying to iron out is the cpu bottleneck I’m experiencing at the moment between my cpu and gpu currently most of my in game bottlenecks are due to my cpu not being able to quite keep up with my gpu but I think if I can somehow get an unlocked bios up and running on my system I maybe able to dampen that bottleneck a little bit with an overlock to hopefully up my fps a tad bit.

[nicholas1020]

I have the bios files and I think I know how to go about it but I’m not entirely sure. My guess is I would format my usb drive in fat32 and copy the unlock bios files onto that and flash it with the usb but I don’t rly know if this is entirely correct. With my Alienware 18 I did it a little bit differently I was told to do it by running the cmd as administrator and having the cmd set to open and install the bios files while my os was running and active and then after installing shutdown system or reboot and that worked perfectly on that system but I’m just trying to figure the exact way to do it off the m18x r2 because I’m not to sure if it would be a different process though I’m sure it may be relatively the same.

[nicholas1020]

I suppose I probably could utilize TruenoG7 method posted in the pic using the bios that ssj92 had posted on a thread for unlocked bios.

[SuperMG]

5 hours ago, nicholas1020 said:

I suppose I probably could utilize TruenoG7 method posted in the pic using the bios that ssj92 had posted on a thread for unlocked bios.

Yes

[Jerryzago]

On 9/7/2025 at 8:51 AM, nicholas1020 said:

Hello guys I have an m18x r2 that’s currently on bios A14 but I’m wanting to flash an unlocked bios on my system. Can someone link me to an unlocked bios for m18x r2 and give me the steps for a proper bios flash for this system. Last tid bit of info, when I purchased my m18x r2 previous owner had install p4000 gpu though what I found confusing is how the system seems to be running in switchable graphics mode when I was under the initial impression the m18x r2 is set in peg mode and the bios seems to be a normal og ver of A14. I want to thank you all in advance for taking the time out to read this and be of assistance 🙂

Clarify first:

 

You want to unlock the M18x R2 with the 3rd gen I7 CPU 

 

Or

 

The Alienware 18 with the 4th gen I7 CPU;

 

Both have different ways to unlock the BIOS.

[nicholas1020]

Need an unlocked bios for the Alienware m18x r2 I still have an unlocked bios for the Alienware 18 just need one for m18x r2.

[Jerryzago]

First of all, grab the A11 BIOS from this post

 

 

I think M18x R2 doesn't like the sleep method for the BIOS flashing. Also you are on a later version (A14) so it will possibly cause boot issues.

 

I will describe the process with the correct steps. It is a long way, but it will surely be error free.

 

For good measure if your GPU is a newer than an 880m, it should be removed from the system.

1) Blind flash and BIOS downgrade to A03

 

Download the original Alienware unmodded A03 bios from Dell at Drivers and Downloads | Dell [united States] The file is named "M18R2A03WIN"

Extract the contents of M18R2A03WIN to a new folder named "Alienware recovery" anywhere on your useable computer. In there you should have a bunch of files. (9 in total)

Look for the one called QBR10EC.fd

Rename this file to M18R2.hdr

Place the file M18R2.hdr on a formatted fat32 usb stick on its own.

Thats it. Blind created

 

Recovery process:

To do the recovery process you need to remove your m18x r2 battery.

Unplug the back power cord as well

Plug the usb stick with the file M18R2.hdr in the M18X's e-sata port

Now hold down the END key (located above the numbers key pad) at the same time while your holding the END key plug in the power cord only, you will hear the fans turn on full bolt.

Release the end key and wait

After a few seconds once the file is read from the USB stick you will hear 20 or 30 beeps (sounds like a garbage truck reversing)

After the beeps stop the m18x will shut down and reboot itself. ( 1 or 2 times depending)

Once reboot all will be back to normal A03 bios.

Connect the battery back if you wish after successful boot

 

If you successfully boot, enter BIOS and check version 

 

2) Upgrade to official A11

 

Just download the official A11 and flash it through windows.

 

3) Download the unlocked A11 from the post above and flash it with the instructions provided.

 

• Use a flash drive to create a boot disk into dos
• Unzip ALL files into the root of the flash drive (flash.bat, r2final.bin, fpt.exe, flash.bat, prr2.exe, fparts.txt,m18r2.hdr, m18r2.hdr.bin, readmefirst.txt)
• BOOT INTO DOS – Note, that when you set the bios to legacy in order to boot into dos, you MAY have to reinstall OS!  (Just be prepared to reinstall no matter what)
• Once you boot into dos, run the file flash.bat
• It will unlock your bios (THANKS TO SVL7’s BIOS UNLOCKING TOOL – ALL CREDIT TO HIM FOR THIS TOOL!)
• Let it flash…
• Reboot your pc, and enjoy the MASSIVE updates!