Ray Tracing on M18xR2 - RTX 3000 MXM Upgrade!

[aldarxt]

I have bad news, my m18xr2 is in bad shape, looks like a long project in my path. Getting many BSOD's, system service exception, IRQL not less or equal, Page fault in non paged area, Kmode exception and others I can't keep up with. I was going to shelf it but decided to just make it a "Test Machine" now. It also has a bad 2nd GPU slot, so it needs a new MOBO which I have 1 but was unable to get it to power-up. I tried a GTX 980m in the 1st slot and the RTX 3000 in 2nd but because the 2nd slot is bad I got badly flickering screen. Also that Flat Ribbon HDD cable has to be the Downfall of the m18xr2! If I don't get it sitting just perfectly I have lost DATA on some drives. So I am transferring drives, upgrading other Laptops, reinstalling Blindows and trying to figure out what to do with this RTX 4050. Just feels like a big flop in my face BUT! I still LOVE that m18xr2

[aldarxt]

So @therhor70 on "RTX 3080 in M18xR2? Should I do it? lol" has suceeded with xvision GPU where I have failed. Hooray! xvision sell good cards!

[Maks0098]

6 hours ago, aldarxt said:

I have bad news, my m18xr2 is in bad shape, looks like a long project in my path. Getting many BSOD's, system service exception, IRQL not less or equal, Page fault in non paged area, Kmode exception and others I can't keep up with. I was going to shelf it but decided to just make it a "Test Machine" now. It also has a bad 2nd GPU slot, so it needs a new MOBO which I have 1 but was unable to get it to power-up. I tried a GTX 980m in the 1st slot and the RTX 3000 in 2nd but because the 2nd slot is bad I got badly flickering screen. Also that Flat Ribbon HDD cable has to be the Downfall of the m18xr2! If I don't get it sitting just perfectly I have lost DATA on some drives. So I am transferring drives, upgrading other Laptops, reinstalling Blindows and trying to figure out what to do with this RTX 4050. Just feels like a big flop in my face BUT! I still LOVE that m18xr2

did you use two cards in PEG or SG mode?

[Jerryzago]

7 hours ago, aldarxt said:

I have bad news, my m18xr2 is in bad shape, looks like a long project in my path. Getting many BSOD's, system service exception, IRQL not less or equal, Page fault in non paged area, Kmode exception and others I can't keep up with. I was going to shelf it but decided to just make it a "Test Machine" now. It also has a bad 2nd GPU slot, so it needs a new MOBO which I have 1 but was unable to get it to power-up. I tried a GTX 980m in the 1st slot and the RTX 3000 in 2nd but because the 2nd slot is bad I got badly flickering screen. Also that Flat Ribbon HDD cable has to be the Downfall of the m18xr2! If I don't get it sitting just perfectly I have lost DATA on some drives. So I am transferring drives, upgrading other Laptops, reinstalling Blindows and trying to figure out what to do with this RTX 4050. Just feels like a big flop in my face BUT! I still LOVE that m18xr2

Most of the first set of problems are related to hard drive communications. I say stop using the HDD caddy, get an msata for boot and place an SSD caddy to your Optical drive. There are options to put an 2230 Nvme to the Msata port via an msata to Nvme adapter. I will try it shortly to see results.

 

 

Also the flickering might be if you installed the 980m and RTX3000 and had set the Video settings to SG.

 

I places in both slots two RTX3000 (HP main slot, PNY secondary). PEG resulted in 8 beeps, SG resulted to flickering.

 

 

[aldarxt]

Thanks @Jerryzago for the confirmation on stop codes!

Looks like a good plan not using the flat ribbon cable. Now the m18xr2 will have a glove compartment lol

[aldarxt]

On 10/19/2024 at 3:32 PM, Maks0098 said:

did you use two cards in PEG or SG mode?

I set it in SG with 2 cards

[Maks0098]

5 hours ago, aldarxt said:

I set it in SG with 2 cards

you had to use PEG, SG can't work with two cards (without some complicated manipulations). You had to put in the main slot a card that works in PEG and in the second slot RTX, as you did, but you had to enable PEG.

[aldarxt]

6 hours ago, Maks0098 said:

you had to use PEG, SG can't work with two cards (without some complicated manipulations). You had to put in the main slot a card that works in PEG and in the second slot RTX, as you did, but you had to enable PEG.

OK, Thanks, that'll be my next move with the GTX 980m in 1st slot and the RTX 4050 in the 2nd.

Sure do wish I bought the RTX 3080 instead

[Derpmaster69]

@aldarxt Any luck? If it doesn't work, try connecting an external display and then install the RTX 4050 MXM in the 1st slot and then power it on. 

Edited October 22, 2024 by Derpmaster69
insufficient information

[Derpmaster69]

10 hours ago, aldarxt said:

OK, Thanks, that'll be my next move with the GTX 980m in 1st slot and the RTX 4050 in the 2nd.

Sure do wish I bought the RTX 3080 instead

You should've bought the 4060 since it is cheaper (360$), less tdp and it is more powerful.

[SuperMG3]

X-VSION seller told me that the RTX Ada won't work on M18X R2 and Alienware 18 due to the motherboard's BIOS.

 

But RTX Ampere works (Quadro and GeForce)

 

The BIOS should be modded differently. My hypothesis: Add ReBar maybe?

Edited December 10, 2024 by SuperMG3

[ssj92]

On 12/10/2024 at 4:54 AM, SuperMG3 said:

X-VSION seller told me that the RTX Ada won't work on M18X R2 and Alienware 18 due to the motherboard's BIOS.

 

But RTX Ampere works (Quadro and GeForce)

 

The BIOS should be modded differently. My hypothesis: Add ReBar maybe?

A4500 also didn't work for me from Aetina. 

 

If you know how to mod BIOS you can add this module and see if it helps:

 

https://github.com/xCuri0/ReBarUEFI

[SuperMG3]

4 hours ago, ssj92 said:

A4500 also didn't work for me from Aetina. 

 

If you know how to mod BIOS you can add this module and see if it helps:

 

https://github.com/xCuri0/ReBarUEFI

I think there's something about UEFI for the BIOS. Most Ampere VBIOS and all Ada won't work on Alienware M17X R4 and M18X R2.

 

For example, X-VSION Ampere work but not Aetina ones.

[ssj92]

5 hours ago, SuperMG3 said:

I think there's something about UEFI for the BIOS. Most Ampere VBIOS and all Ada won't work on Alienware M17X R4 and M18X R2.

 

For example, X-VSION Ampere work but not Aetina ones.

Interesting, I’ll have to take a look to see if I can find out what is different in vBIOS 

[zerokool]

On 12/23/2024 at 2:22 PM, ssj92 said:

A4500 also didn't work for me from Aetina. 

 

If you know how to mod BIOS you can add this module and see if it helps:

 

https://github.com/xCuri0/ReBarUEFI

Yeah we need a hero to patch the bios . Since at least on haswell you can use the sleep bug to flash modded bios . Rebar would  be a big win for haswell based Alienware units 

[zerokool]

Furthermore . I'm in talks with xvision s out the Rx 6600 . They have the xt and non . They are 130 watts so they will be a bit power limited at 110 until resister 004 is soldered . But I'm not sure if they will work on haswell 

[ssj92]

I can add the ReBar Module to the bios but need someone to test it and be able to flash back their backup bios via programmer is it fails. No clue if it will help booting newer GPUs 

[Maks0098]

13 hours ago, ssj92 said:

I can add the ReBar Module to the bios but need someone to test it and be able to flash back their backup bios via programmer is it fails. No clue if it will help booting newer GPUs 

I can flash it myself and then if anything with the help of a programmer back. but there you will need an RTX video card for proper testing of this, right?

[ssj92]

1 hour ago, Maks0098 said:

I can flash it myself and then if anything with the help of a programmer back. but there you will need an RTX video card for proper testing of this, right?

Yes but the first step will be to confirm the bios was modded correctly and flashes fine. If so I’m sure more people would be willing to try as well