MXM to NVMe Adapter upgrade

[jaybee83]

huh weird... why would the adapter cause battery drain when the system is switched off? standby consumption of the ssd? 🤔

[ssj92]

It's an issue with the adapter itself. It doesn't turn off eve when pc is off

[Azther]

I should of been more clearer in my response to alder, but that was still the V2 of the adapter, i just hadnt gotten around to testing it out in the field until recently. The new adapter might have fixed the issue entirely but im personally not gonna buy one since the drain is so little anyways. Sorry if i caused any confusion in that regard

[Maxware79]

On 7/11/2022 at 10:00 PM, jaybee83 said:

huh weird... why would the adapter cause battery drain when the system is switched off? standby consumption of the ssd? 🤔

 

I have no idea. You would think that when you powered the laptop off it would shut power to all the devices. For some reason the adapter continues to draw power from the battery. We've tried all kinds of Windows power tricks but nothing stops it. 

[TruenoG7]

when you know where to get these adapters outside of taobao, please let me know.

[Vqmp]

Anyone know if this would work/fit in an Alientware M18 original version (not R2)?  I have two graphic slots, but 1 is 1070 gtx mobile and the other free.

[ssj92]

11 hours ago, Vqmp said:

Anyone know if this would work/fit in an Alientware M18 original version (not R2)?  I have two graphic slots, but 1 is 1070 gtx mobile and the other free.

M18xR1 (2xxxQM/XM CPU)

or

18 R1 (4XXXMQ/MX CPU)

 

?

[Maxware79]

The 1070 doesn't work in the R1 so I'd assume it's the 18

[entangledinchaos]

Question for Azther.  What bios version are you running?

 

I just purchased the adapter from a member on here and tried 2 different bios with it and it's still not being seen by Windows 10 and no way to check in the bios.  I'm going to check the 2nd MXM slot with a graphics card and make sure the MXM slot is functioning properly.  Besides that it's kind of screwed I think.  I've tried both a Toshiba RD400 1TB drive and a Samsung 128Gb Sata M.2 Drive and no luck on either.  Did your adapter come with a screw?  I've had issue with the screw not threading properly.  I've tried 2 separate M.2 screws and its loose as hell and it didn't come with a screw since I bought it used.  Wonder if it's stripped out. 

[ssj92]

41 minutes ago, entangledinchaos said:

Question for Azther.  What bios version are you running?

 

I just purchased the adapter from a member on here and tried 2 different bios with it and it's still not being seen by Windows 10 and no way to check in the bios.  I'm going to check the 2nd MXM slot with a graphics card and make sure the MXM slot is functioning properly.  Besides that it's kind of screwed I think.  I've tried both a Toshiba RD400 1TB drive and a Samsung 128Gb Sata M.2 Drive and no luck on either.  Did your adapter come with a screw?  I've had issue with the screw not threading properly.  I've tried 2 separate M.2 screws and its loose as hell and it didn't come with a screw since I bought it used.  Wonder if it's stripped out. 

All of us are running this BIOS here: 

 

It is the last update for M18xR2. 

 

Make sure in BIOS you are set to SG mode. 

 

Make sure UEFI is enabled. (You may want to try booting with a usb install of windows and turn off legacy option rom to see if you can install onto an NVMe.)

 

Drives I have personally tested on that same adapter:

 

Samsung 980 PRO 1TB

Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1TB

SK Hynix Gold P31 1TB 

 

I definitely recommend trying a gpu in the 2nd slot to make sure it works. 

 

BTW, SATA M.2 drives do not work. It has to be a true NVMe M.2 drive not SATA. 

 

[Azther]

On 1/12/2023 at 5:14 AM, entangledinchaos said:

Question for Azther.  What bios version are you running?

 

I just purchased the adapter from a member on here and tried 2 different bios with it and it's still not being seen by Windows 10 and no way to check in the bios.  I'm going to check the 2nd MXM slot with a graphics card and make sure the MXM slot is functioning properly.  Besides that it's kind of screwed I think.  I've tried both a Toshiba RD400 1TB drive and a Samsung 128Gb Sata M.2 Drive and no luck on either.  Did your adapter come with a screw?  I've had issue with the screw not threading properly.  I've tried 2 separate M.2 screws and its loose as hell and it didn't come with a screw since I bought it used.  Wonder if it's stripped out. 

what @ssj92 said. that modded bios has the added m.2 NVMe functionality needed for the adapter to work

[DoenerBoy123]

On 7/12/2022 at 11:51 PM, Maxware79 said:

I have no idea. You would think that when you powered the laptop off it would shut power to all the devices. For some reason the adapter continues to draw power from the battery. We've tried all kinds of Windows power tricks but nothing stops it. 

 

In the M18x and many other notebook's the MXM slot is wired directly to the main power rail without any switch in between. Even when the notebook is turned off there is voltage present on the slot. This is also why lot's of notebook's with shorted GPU's will trigger the PSU's short circuit protection when plugging in. My guess would be that there is no switch on the adapter board that disconnects the SSD and it's voltage regulator from the main power rail/MXM slot when turned off. This means the SSD is always on and drawing power. It's the same like an external HDD with it's own PSU turned on but without USB being connected to it

[ssj92]

3 hours ago, DoenerBoy123 said:

 

In the M18x and many other notebook's the MXM slot is wired directly to the main power rail without any switch in between. Even when the notebook is turned off there is voltage present on the slot. This is also why lot's of notebook's with shorted GPU's will trigger the PSU's short circuit protection when plugging in. My guess would be that there is no switch on the adapter board that disconnects the SSD and it's voltage regulator from the main power rail/MXM slot when turned off. This means the SSD is always on and drawing power. It's the same like an external HDD with it's own PSU turned on but without USB being connected to it

Exactly, the latest V3 has a switch to help prevent this issue 

[At0mX]

On 1/27/2023 at 4:57 PM, ssj92 said:

Exactly, the latest V3 has a switch to help prevent this issue 

 

Do you have a picture of this ?

[ssj92]

56 minutes ago, At0mX said:

 

Do you have a picture of this ?

Sorry, it's already installed in my system. There's a post on page 1 of this thread with the pic

[Mitri1138]

Hello all,

 

So I have two of the Velociraptor MXM cards. Unfortunately I need a few more for my Alien collection.

 

Then I see this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/115721649550?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=RDzzLzIMQ6a&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=mXUaGoENTXa&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

Any thoughts?

 

Mitri

 

 

 

 

[ssj92]

I have one of those. Works fine, don’t know if it works with super high capacity ssds though. 

[Mitri1138]

Good to know! I'm planning on a 2TB Samsung. Will it handle it?

 

What are the throughputs on this card, is it the same as the Velociraptor? Have you done speed tests on the card?

 

I bought one of your Velociraptor you had on Ebay.

 

Thanks.

[ssj92]

2 hours ago, Mitri1138 said:

Good to know! I'm planning on a 2TB Samsung. Will it handle it?

 

What are the throughputs on this card, is it the same as the Velociraptor? Have you done speed tests on the card?

 

I bought one of your Velociraptor you had on Ebay.

 

Thanks.

It can run full speed. I tested 512gb but no 1tb or higher. No power drain either. Someone else told me that they have trouble reocgnizing higher capacity ssds. 

 

I burned mine accidently along with gtx 1080 long time ago so I cannot test it further 

[CircleLoading]

On 3/13/2022 at 3:05 AM, Azther said:

I was going to add this to my existing upgrade project thread but figured to separate it to make it easier to find for those looking to purchase one.

 

So ive finally joined the nvme club and upgraded my m18x r2. I got my adapter from alibaba and was cautious at first since the picture shown was of an older revision, luckily though it turned out to be the latest one (at time of writing):

 

Heres the link to purchase one: https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/The-Adapter-New-original-MXM-to_1600069323445.html#

 

While i was at it i decided to upgrade the blu ray drive to a ssd since it was starting to act up. I also swapped my single pipe cpu heatsink for a dual pipe to better cool my semi OCed 3740qm.

 

Not sure if coincidence or not, but i love how it fits inside of the cutout of where the original GPU heatsink used to sit. Makes for swapping it out a lot easier, the screw for the nvme drive isnt magnetic tho so be wary of that when swapping SSDs.

 

As for speeds, im happy to report this adapter achieves close to full speeds like with @Maxware79 and @ssj92 Adapters. Thank you also maxware and ssj for helping me decide which NVMe drive to go with, ultimately i settled on the samsung 970 evo plus 2tb.

 

Also, the NVMe drive is bootable and im happily booting windows 10 off of it.

How did you manage to boot from nvme? Can you give me some short tutorial? I have anlienware 18 from 2014 and I cant make it boot from nvme

[Maxware79]

On 9/23/2023 at 7:24 PM, CircleLoading said:

How did you manage to boot from nvme? Can you give me some short tutorial? I have anlienware 18 from 2014 and I cant make it boot from nvme

 

I can't quite remember what I had to do but I think you will have to have the BIOS set to SG mode with the unlocked BIOS. I'd have to go into my system to check all the settings to be sure but I'm at work right now. @ssj92 will be able to correct me if I'm wrong. Also, make sure that it's selected as top priority in the Boot menu. 

[ssj92]

On 9/23/2023 at 2:54 AM, CircleLoading said:

How did you manage to boot from nvme? Can you give me some short tutorial? I have anlienware 18 from 2014 and I cant make it boot from nvme

Make sure you have the unlocked BIOS with NVMe booting support. 

 

Also need to be in UEFI mode not legacy 

[CircleLoading]

I have installed A12 unlocked BIOS from this link: 

Specifically: 

Alienware 18:

A12 Unlocked

 

How can I know if this bios has NVMe booting support?

 

I've made the adjustment to the boot mode to UEFI, and during the Windows installation process, I can see the NVMe drive and successfully install Windows onto it. However, after the initial restart, I encounter an error indicating that there is no bootable device.

 

I've also attempted to set the video output to SG mode, but unfortunately, this hasn't resolved the issue.

 

Could you please provide some guidance on what steps I might be overlooking?

 

[Maxware79]

Not sure if this will work but when you go to the UEFI settings in the BIOS, set Load Legacy Option ROM and Secure Boot to disabled. This ensures that it's in a 'pure' UEFI state. 

[CircleLoading]

I have set settings like this:

Video output: SG

Windows 8 fast boot: Disabled

Secure Boot: Disabled

Load Legacy Option Rom: Disabled

Boot Listing Option: UEFI

 

but still no luck, the NVMe is gen 4.0 which I am using, so maybe I should try something from gen 3.0 NVMe? like samsung 970 evo plus?