Alienware M17X R4 MXM upgrade for eDP 120Hz.

[SuperMG]

Hello.

 

Yes I know there are many threads online that people got the Pascal P3000, P4200, GTX 1070, and Maxwell GTX 970M, 980M to work in

 

But I tried different cards:

 

Quadro M5000M (Dell, eDP on D): not working

 

Quadro P3000M (Dell, eDP on D): not working

 

GTX 970M (Clevo, eDP on D): not working.

 

All doing 8 beeps before posting.

 

Bios is A11, UEFI BIOS, Legacy OPROM disabled. (Maybe not)

 

Only the Quadro K3000M works... What did I do wrong? The CMOS battery is charged and doesn't cause any NVRAM loss.

 

Any help? My initial test was to use an RTX 3000 from HP (eDP on D) but if these Pascal and Maxwell cards do not work then it's no use.

 

The M17X R4 eDP is driven thru Parade's P8321 Mux Switch which supports DP 1.1a (2.7Gbps max).

 

The mentioned cards are working in a Dell Precision M6700 eDP and in a Clevo P570WM3 eDP as well. (They work with the RTX HP)

 

M6800 works with the RTX HP despite using a MUX switch, the Parade P8339B which supports DP 1.2 (2.7Gbps and 5Gbps) and HDMI 1.4a in.

 

 

Edited Thursday at 09:56 PM by SuperMG

[ssj92]

14 minutes ago, SuperMG said:

Hello.

 

Yes I know there are many threads online that people got the Pascal P3000, P4200, GTX 1070, and Maxwell GTX 970M, 980M to work in

 

But I tried different cards:

 

Quadro M5000M (Dell, eDP on D): not working

 

Quadro P3000M (Dell, eDP on D): not working

 

GTX 970M (Clevo, eDP on D): not working.

 

All doing 8 beeps before posting.

 

Bios is A11, UEFI BIOS, Legacy OPROM disabled.

 

Only the Quadro K3000M works... What did I do wrong? The CMOS battery is charged and doesn't cause any NVRAM loss.

 

Any help? My initial test was to use an RTX 3000 from HP (eDP on D) but if these Pascal and Maxwell cards do not work then it's no use.

 

The M17X R4 eDP is driven thru Parade's P8321 Mux Switch which supports DP 1.1a (2.7Gbps max).

 

The mentioned cards are working in a Dell Precision M6700 eDP and in a Clevo P570WM3 eDP as well. (They work with the RTX HP)

 

M6800 works with the RTX HP despite using a MUX switch, the Parade P8339B which supports DP 1.2 (2.7Gbps and 5Gbps) and HDMI 1.4a in.

 

 

You bought a M17xR4 with 120hz panel? Awesome, now we can do some testing on AW platform. 

 

Now that is interesting that you cannot get them to work on eDP. 

 

Question...do you have a 60hz panel as well or only 120hz panel?

 

According to @sliderfra you need to use dell vBIOS on those cards (maxwell, pascal) to get eDP to work.

 

BTW Clevo 970M (my 980M is 1617 so maybe yours is 1618 device id) does NOT work in PEG on even the M18xR2 in LVDS in PEG. That is one of the things I am investigating on M17xR3 after I fix PEG on M3000M. 

 

Also I would test HP RTX 3000 as well. 

 

Make sure CSM if completely off (no legacy rom at all). You should see the "Alienware" text logo NOT the big alienware head when booting. 

 

Try these vBIOS: https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/188273/188273

 

https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/207406/207406

 

alternative p3000 vbios: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cSkLAatyydOZxrcuFDXQBfJ7EGsTxxB9/view

 

BTW there's a newer bios if you want to try: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X3lA4FtpY1hy7lywelJMNQgjORUQT4Gm/view

[SuperMG]

8 minutes ago, ssj92 said:

You bought a M17xR4 with 120hz panel? Awesome, now we can do some testing on AW platform. 

 

Now that is interesting that you cannot get them to work on eDP. 

 

Question...do you have a 60hz panel as well or only 120hz panel?

 

According to @sliderfra you need to use dell vBIOS on those cards (maxwell, pascal) to get eDP to work.

 

BTW Clevo 970M (my 980M is 1617 so maybe yours is 1618 device id) does NOT work in PEG on even the M18xR2 in LVDS in PEG. That is one of the things I am investigating on M17xR3 after I fix PEG on M3000M. 

 

Also I would test HP RTX 3000 as well. 

 

Make sure CSM if completely off (no legacy rom at all). You should see the "Alienware" text logo NOT the big alienware head when booting. 

 

Try these vBIOS: https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/188273/188273

 

https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/207406/207406

 

alternative p3000 vbios: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cSkLAatyydOZxrcuFDXQBfJ7EGsTxxB9/view

 

BTW there's a newer bios if you want to try: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X3lA4FtpY1hy7lywelJMNQgjORUQT4Gm/view

Yes it's 120Hz, LP173WF2-TPA1.

Yes LEGACY OPROM is disabled.

 

Why Clevo cards do not work? They use eDP on D and they are Maxwell...

 

 

Also for the backlight mod, since you're on Dell, you need to cute the tiny brackets on the mxm port. 

[ssj92]

2 minutes ago, SuperMG said:

Yes it's 120Hz, LP173WF2-TPA1.

Yes LEGACY OPROM is disabled.

 

Why Clevo cards do not work? They use eDP on D and they are Maxwell...

 

 

Also for the backlight mod, since you're on Dell, you need to cute the tiny brackets on the mxm port. 

Try the vbios and bios I mentioned above. 

 

are you referring to the 2 nubs on each side of the mxm port? The ones that need to be cut for HP cards?

 

I also need to cut those just for backlight mod?  

[SuperMG]

9 minutes ago, ssj92 said:

Try the vbios and bios I mentioned above. 

 

are you referring to the 2 nubs on each side of the mxm port? The ones that need to be cut for HP cards?

 

I also need to cut those just for backlight mod?  

Yes the nubs, because the cable isn't long enough for the Dell nubs. My v2 fixes that.

 

I went to the bios again. Legacy OPROM was on again. So I tried to disable it.

 

"Can't find MXM or GOP driver" and the option got greyed...

 

Even the FirePro M6100 does 8 beeps...

[SuperMG]

News: 

 

Since K3000M needs a GOP update and I don't want to do that. I used an HD 8970M from Clevo P570WM and I was able to disable the legacy options.

 

Now the P3000M works

 

M5000M (power boot looping) and 970M (8 beeps)

[ssj92]

42 minutes ago, SuperMG said:

News: 

 

Since K3000M needs a GOP update and I don't want to do that. I used an HD 8970M from Clevo P570WM and I was able to disable the legacy options.

 

Now the P3000M works

 

M5000M (power boot looping) and 970M (8 beeps)

 

P3000 working means UEFI is now fully on.

 

M5000M power looping is interesting. what's the exact behavior on screen 

  

1 hour ago, SuperMG said:

Yes the nubs, because the cable isn't long enough for the Dell nubs. My v2 fixes that.

 

I went to the bios again. Legacy OPROM was on again. So I tried to disable it.

 

"Can't find MXM or GOP driver" and the option got greyed...

 

Even the FirePro M6100 does 8 beeps...

well that's frustrating and would have been important to know before buying v1 cables...

[SuperMG]

1 hour ago, ssj92 said:

 

P3000 working means UEFI is now fully on.

 

M5000M power looping is interesting. what's the exact behavior on screen 

  

well that's frustrating and would have been important to know before buying v1 cables...

The v2 isn't done and there's maybe a problem in the current production factory. And it'll be expensive for sale too. So you're good now.

 

M5000M just the laptop starts then shutdowns and it does a loop.

 

Sliderfra told me that the Maxwell aren't working in the M17X R4 eDP in UEFI, is that true?

 

Edit: I tried one of the RTX 3000 I have, it did a big spark in one of the capacitor (bottom right). But the laptop still works... So I lost a big ton of money on that one 😕

[SuperMG]

Lol, the Alienware M17X R4 works with the HP Turing RTX 3000. Displays in the screen and BIOS states NVIDIA GFX. No 8 beeps. Instant startup. I didn't test on Windows yet because of the heatsink.

 

Which means that the T1000, RTX 4000 and RTX 5000 will work in this laptop in eDP 120Hz.

 

For the non HP cards, just use the backlight mod cable.

 

It's the same logic as the Dell Precision M6700 and M6800.

 

If the RTX Turing works then the rest of the RTX will work (without 4G decode) so it means Ampère and Ada cards will work with the backlight mod cable. Someone needs to try that as I don't have any newer MXM cards to test.

 

Ps: for the M5000M that's starting/shutdown looping, it's maybe because of the vbios being legacy only as we disabled the legacy OPROM. Since the K3000M does the same thing as the M5000M.

[ssj92]

8 hours ago, SuperMG said:

Lol, the Alienware M17X R4 works with the HP Turing RTX 3000. Displays in the screen and BIOS states NVIDIA GFX. No 8 beeps. Instant startup. I didn't test on Windows yet because of the heatsink.

 

Which means that the T1000, RTX 4000 and RTX 5000 will work in this laptop in eDP 120Hz.

 

For the non HP cards, just use the backlight mod cable.

 

It's the same logic as the Dell Precision M6700 and M6800.

 

If the RTX Turing works then the rest of the RTX will work (without 4G decode) so it means Ampère and Ada cards will work with the backlight mod cable. Someone needs to try that as I don't have any newer MXM cards to test.

 

Ps: for the M5000M that's starting/shutdown looping, it's maybe because of the vbios being legacy only as we disabled the legacy OPROM. Since the K3000M does the same thing as the M5000M.

Give me your m5000m vbios, I will add GOP for you so it works in UEFI. 

 

Regarding RTX 3000 spark....which one was this? It shouldn't have done that unless the laptop wasn't power drained. 

 

BTW idk if you guys tested M17xR3/R4 but I cannot get the eDP cable to go in on one side (3.3v side). 

 

The MXM port on M17xR3 puts the MXM card in deep, you can't see any pins when the card is in, the cable is still hitting the side of the mxm port despite me cutting off the sides.

 

 

F9E5bi1.jpeg (3024×4032)

 

I put it in half way onto the pins but no backlight on the card. have you tested any cards using eDP mod on M17xR4?

[SuperMG]

9 hours ago, ssj92 said:

Give me your m5000m vbios, I will add GOP for you so it works in UEFI. 

 

Regarding RTX 3000 spark....which one was this? It shouldn't have done that unless the laptop wasn't power drained. 

 

BTW idk if you guys tested M17xR3/R4 but I cannot get the eDP cable to go in on one side (3.3v side). 

 

The MXM port on M17xR3 puts the MXM card in deep, you can't see any pins when the card is in, the cable is still hitting the side of the mxm port despite me cutting off the sides.

 

 

F9E5bi1.jpeg (3024×4032)

 

I put it in half way onto the pins but no backlight on the card. have you tested any cards using eDP mod on M17xR4?

Hello, as far as I know, no one tested this mod on the M17x R4. The people who bought the cables were just Clevo and Dell users.

 

The Ampère and Ada cards could work in this laptop now since the RTX 3000 displays and boots to the bios. I didn't do any testing on the OS side, I need to modify the heatsink now.

 

You need to disassemble the whole laptop, I had to disassemble the whole laptop just to cut the nub... If you don't get a backlight on the screen then you didn't do it properly. Did you follow the PDF instructions I sent in the private message? The instructions shows how to put the 278, 280 cable.

 

Yes the first RTX 3000 is cooked. It's because it already had one of the capacitors that was already smoked so now the card has 2 dead capacitors.

[SuperMG]

Yup, no error code 43, I installed Windows 11 during the testing and the drivers are installed. RTX Turing works in eDP 120Hz on the M17X R4 like on the M6700 120Hz.

 

I didn't do any benchmarks yet. But as I said, RTX 5000 and T1000 will 1000% work with this laptop.

 

[sliderfra]

your link does not  work mate.

Hopefully the spark did not come from my r4 motherboard 😄

Dead motherboard within an hour of testing would've been really unfortunate 🤔

[ssj92]

8 hours ago, SuperMG said:

Hello, as far as I know, no one tested this mod on the M17x R4. The people who bought the cables were just Clevo and Dell users.

 

The Ampère and Ada cards could work in this laptop now since the RTX 3000 displays and boots to the bios. I didn't do any testing on the OS side, I need to modify the heatsink now.

 

You need to disassemble the whole laptop, I had to disassemble the whole laptop just to cut the nub... If you don't get a backlight on the screen then you didn't do it properly. Did you follow the PDF instructions I sent in the private message? The instructions shows how to put the 278, 280 cable.

 

Yes the first RTX 3000 is cooked. It's because it already had one of the capacitors that was already smoked so now the card has 2 dead capacitors.

I disassembled whole MB, cut the nubs and it still hits the side. Do you have any eDP cables to test yourself? It's not going to work, the cable part where the pins are need to be longer for AW M17xR3/R4 MXM slot. Might just resell them since I have no use outside of AW systems. 

 

  

3 hours ago, SuperMG said:

Yup, no error code 43, I installed Windows 11 during the testing and the drivers are installed. RTX Turing works in eDP 120Hz on the M17X R4 like on the M6700 120Hz.

 

I didn't do any benchmarks yet. But as I said, RTX 5000 and T1000 will 1000% work with this laptop.

 

Yes I've shown RTX 5000 working in M18xR1/R2 so it's only natural it works in M17xR4. 

 

https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/115357776?

 

eDP working is great, @TruenoG7 had rtx 3000 in his m17xr4 but mentioned the display would go out after some time. 

 

I might put rtx 5000 in my m17xr3 if I can get chicken to make a modified heatsink for r3/r4. 

 

If you have any rtx 3080/4070-4090 you can try your backlight cable and see if it works. 

[SuperMG]

57 minutes ago, ssj92 said:

I disassembled whole MB, cut the nubs and it still hits the side. Do you have any eDP cables to test yourself? It's not going to work, the cable part where the pins are need to be longer for AW M17xR3/R4 MXM slot. Might just resell them since I have no use outside of AW systems. 

 

  

Yes I've shown RTX 5000 working in M18xR1/R2 so it's only natural it works in M17xR4. 

 

https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/115357776?

 

eDP working is great, @TruenoG7 had rtx 3000 in his m17xr4 but mentioned the display would go out after some time. 

 

I might put rtx 5000 in my m17xr3 if I can get chicken to make a modified heatsink for r3/r4. 

 

If you have any rtx 3080/4070-4090 you can try your backlight cable and see if it works. 

But you tested the RTX 5000 in SG with Optimus!! That's the difference!

 

I actually sold every cables I think. Maybe try it in the AW17 R1? Dell precision?

 

Optimus and pure PEG is super different.

 

I saw on some threads that the RTX cards won't work in the 120Hz...

[ssj92]

11 hours ago, SuperMG said:

But you tested the RTX 5000 in SG with Optimus!! That's the difference!

 

I actually sold every cables I think. Maybe try it in the AW17 R1? Dell precision?

 

Optimus and pure PEG is super different.

 

I saw on some threads that the RTX cards won't work in the 120Hz...

They're different but also similar. For example, 980M doesn't work in SG & PEG in M17xR3/M18xR1. Even Optimus has issues, when I saw RTX 5000 working on such a old platform I knew eDP would work too as long as the card vBIOS/Physical card itself supported eDP. 

 

Now I am curious of trying rtx 4000 or 5000 in M17xR3 eDP. If it works in M17xR4, it might work in R3 which would be the fastest card tested so far. 

 

So you don't have any eDP cables left for yourself to test 3080 or 4070 in M17xR4?

[SuperMG]

3 hours ago, ssj92 said:

They're different but also similar. For example, 980M doesn't work in SG & PEG in M17xR3/M18xR1. Even Optimus has issues, when I saw RTX 5000 working on such a old platform I knew eDP would work too as long as the card vBIOS/Physical card itself supported eDP. 

 

Now I am curious of trying rtx 4000 or 5000 in M17xR3 eDP. If it works in M17xR4, it might work in R3 which would be the fastest card tested so far. 

 

So you don't have any eDP cables left for yourself to test 3080 or 4070 in M17xR4?

No. I did bought an RTX 4070 but it's for the M4800. I didn't get the shipping number yet.

 

Well I busted the myth of RTX cards in 120Hz in the Alienware. Works like on the M6700 120Hz.

 

I'm trying to mod the heatsink because one of the inductors doesn't fit correctly yet...

 

Some people said it won't work because the mux switch is too old for the RTX... I sold the 3080 (DP on DP_D) as I needed money for the 4090.