M18xR1 2026 BIOS Update! Testers Needed!

[ssj92]

Following my M17xR3 bios, I have decided to release this one early. 

 

 

Attached is a bios made with time, effort, money, and love. This file is BUILD 285 (from M17xR3) ported to M18x!

***Alienware M18xR1 BIOS Version A26CS Changelog:***

-Updated CPU Microcode to latest available in 2026
-Updated Intel RST (RAID) OPROM to 13.5 which supports TRIM in RAID0 for SSDs
-Updated Intel iGPU vBIOS to v2171 
-Fixed PEG mode allowing Maxwell 2 (980M, 970M, M3000M, M4000M, M5000M) and Pascal (P5000, etc) to work (Turing is still not working in PEG eDP) [NOTE: Pascal doesn't work on LVDS display so for now, this is only true for M17xR3. Pascal DOES work in SG.]
-Fixed SG mode for Maxwell 2. Pascal and Turing work as well. Need amphere and ada testers!
-Some other changes I might have forgotten. I am still trying to port 16GB memory support, UEFI support, and potential Above 4G DECODE

 

 

Download Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-RfvaQ9otmHO9HjbiRn2nYnDiK_lxDlc/view?usp=sharing

 

Feel free to buy me a coffee or 12 pack of beer: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=XBHCLPNYCMDP2

 

I still have more plans to update these BIOS' but wanted to get some feedback at least since I don't have a inf amount of cards. 

[melissa2006]

I was able to boot with Tesla m6 only! Amazing work. Just curious what did you fix to make Maxwell 2 to work?

[ssj92]

37 minutes ago, melissa2006 said:

I was able to boot with Tesla m6 only! Amazing work. Just curious what did you fix to make Maxwell 2 to work?

Good to hear the bios works well. I haven't tested tesla m6. Is it in SG mode or PEG? PEG shouldn't work in M6 since it's missing display outputs. 

 

Do some more tests, run 3dmark firestrike to make sure the card actually clocks up. I haven't tested M18xR1 yet,but M17xR3 SG fix broke clocks and needed 100 more bios builds to fix. I ported the logic to M18x so it might work. 

 

PEG fix:
BIOS/display handoff patch so Maxwell can boot as primary GPU.

 

SG fix:
BIOS policy patch plus ACPI/AML porting so Intel graphics can own the display while the NVIDIA card is handled correctly as the secondary GPU.

[melissa2006]

1 hour ago, ssj92 said:

Try this M2000M vbios: https://drive.google.com/file/d/18D_VxdfP5vFDvV3QWdOqQ7v5JwK4SxtM/view?usp=sharing

 

Also I made a post for M18xR1 bios and M17xR3 bios

It is running at SG mode with 2920xm.

 

I have no idea what any of those are. But truly remarkable that you were able to make Maxwell work m18x.

 

i ran one stress test and my clocks were fine. But tesla m6 seemed to have a weird fan curve.

 

do you think this bios would help a single RTX 3000 to work in SG mode?

 

[ssj92]

2 hours ago, melissa2006 said:

It is running at SG mode with 2920xm.

 

I have no idea what any of those are. But truly remarkable that you were able to make Maxwell work m18x.

 

i ran one stress test and my clocks were fine. But tesla m6 seemed to have a weird fan curve.

 

do you think this bios would help a single RTX 3000 to work in SG mode?

 

You can run rtx 3000 but it will be limited to dx11. For some reason dx12 doesn't work with intel hd 3000. I am still looking into that 

[melissa2006]

17 hours ago, ssj92 said:

You can run rtx 3000 but it will be limited to dx11. For some reason dx12 doesn't work with intel hd 3000. I am still looking into that 

Thank you! Also a weird issue just happed. I used NVCleaninstall to install 980m lastest driver on Tesla M6.

 

However, it seems like programs are only using my Intel HD 3000. Games won't launch because hd 3000 doesn't even support DX11.

 

It doesn't appear my Tesla M6 is being used to launch games even though I've set it as the gpu for games in windows settings.

[melissa2006]

Just a quick update that I used your m2000m VBiOS (thanks again) and now I’m able to boot with M2000M + TESLA M6.

 

I’m testing to see if drivers work.

 

EDIT: How do you install drivers for M2000M + TESLA M6?

I used NVCLEAN Install and installed M2000M Quadro driver. TESLA M6 is still Microsoft Basic Display Adapter.

 

[melissa2006]

Update 2: I used NVCleanstall to install 960m GeForce driver on my m2000m. Then I used the disk method from Device Manager to install 980m driver on my Tesla M6.

 

i just played a game of siege and it was running DX12 on my TESLA M6. Everything looked normal.

 

Thanks again for making this mod possible. I will keep updating on how things go and any advice is appreciated.

****

PS:Some interesting stuff I’ve noticed:

SG Mode Intel HD 3000 + Tesla M6 = No games will launch due to directx error. Disabling HD3000 will allow games to launch but at extremely low performance.

 

M2000M - Only works with the BIOS you provided. It’s DirectX level is (12_11). GPU-Z UEFI has a checkmark. Tesla M6 doesn’t.

PEG Mode M2000M appeared to be handling all background tasks, which saves the GPU load and VRAM for Tesla M6.

 

M18X R1 Display gives me eye faitgue. Using novideo srgb showed that the display is 6bit?(there is also a coaxial display cable that I don’t know what it is for). It uses dynamic dithering to function as 8bit. I changed it to static dithering and saved my eye fatigue.

 

 

 

[ssj92]

8 hours ago, melissa2006 said:

Update 2: I used NVCleanstall to install 960m GeForce driver on my m2000m. Then I used the disk method from Device Manager to install 980m driver on my Tesla M6.

 

i just played a game of siege and it was running DX12 on my TESLA M6. Everything looked normal.

 

Thanks again for making this mod possible. I will keep updating on how things go and any advice is appreciated.

****

PS:Some interesting stuff I’ve noticed:

SG Mode Intel HD 3000 + Tesla M6 = No games will launch due to directx error. Disabling HD3000 will allow games to launch but at extremely low performance.

 

M2000M - Only works with the BIOS you provided. It’s DirectX level is (12_11). GPU-Z UEFI has a checkmark. Tesla M6 doesn’t.

PEG Mode M2000M appeared to be handling all background tasks, which saves the GPU load and VRAM for Tesla M6.

 

M18X R1 Display gives me eye faitgue. Using novideo srgb showed that the display is 6bit?(there is also a coaxial display cable that I don’t know what it is for). It uses dynamic dithering to function as 8bit. I changed it to static dithering and saved my eye fatigue.

 

 

 

In order to use GPU2 in SG or PEG mode, you need to perform registry edit. This is assuming you are on Windows 10 or 11. 

 

Here's the guide: 

 

Quote

Dual PEG reg edit

 

1. Win + R 
2. Regedit
3. Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}

 

1. There should be a couple of folders such as 0000, 0001, etc. Check each folder which GPU it corresponds to 
2. Create a new DWORD key inside the folder for your high performance GPU , name it EnableMsHybrid and set value to 1. Ex: EnableMsHybrid=1
3. Create a new DWORD key inside the folder for your power saving GPU , name it EnableMsHybrid and value is 2. Ex: EnableMsHybrid=2
4. Reboot.

 

Next Regedit: 

 

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\DirectX\UserGpuPreferences

 

create a new string value which name is “DirectXUserGlobalSettings”, and set its value to “HighPerfAdapter=xxx” where XXX stands for hardware ID’s VEN&DEV&SUBSYS of your graphics card, which can be found in device manager.

In the case of my 7800 XT "HighPerfAdapter=1002&747E&78011EAE" while device manager displays "PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_747E&SUBSYS_78011EAE&REV_C8"

 

Reboot

 

 

Now right click desktop and choose display settings. Then graphics settings. Add your app and choose high performance GPU for it 

 

 

Tesla P6 specific addition:

 

 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class{4d36e968-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318},

find where your tesla card is, change “AdapterType” value to “1” and “FeatureScore” value from “cf” to “d1”,

create a new dword key which name is “GridLicensedFeatures”, and set its value to “7”. Disable then enable tesla in the device manager.

This step changs the gefore driver into grid driver，and the tesla is in wddm mode now.

 

 

 

Now we need to hear @Braintwistah opinion on the bios, I think he has some GPUs to test too 

[melissa2006]

1 hour ago, ssj92 said:

In order to use GPU2 in SG or PEG mode, you need to perform registry edit. This is assuming you are on Windows 10 or 11. 

 

Here's the guide: 

 

 

Now we need to hear @Braintwistah opinion on the bios, I think he has some GPUs to test too 

Thank you for the registry mod!

 

My understanding is that:

SG RTX3000 only - limited to DX11

PEG M2000M + RTX 3000 = still have issues 

 

Will RTX 2060 work?

[ssj92]

22 minutes ago, melissa2006 said:

Thank you for the registry mod!

 

My understanding is that:

SG RTX3000 only - limited to DX11

PEG M2000M + RTX 3000 = still have issues 

 

Will RTX 2060 work?

I tested up to RTX 5000 in SG and PEG. 

 

SG is limited to DX11

 

M2000M + RTX 5000 works DX12