DoenerBoy123 Posted October 4, 2022 Share Posted October 4, 2022 Hello guys I've got a pretty weird problem with my M18x R2. I already searched the web but couldn't find an answer. A few days ago I changed some settings in the bios, if I remember correctly DMVT Pre-Allocated. After saving this setting the notebook refuses to even POST. I get no beep errors or anything. If I press the power button the system turns on, the LEDs turn on and then the system shuts itself off. I already reset the CMOS, the IME, tested different hardware configurations and so on. If I remove all the memory sticks I actually get the memory error code. At this point I'm pretty sure that the bios got corrupted for some reason when I saved these settings. Did anyone had a similar problem and got a solution for this? I repaired lots of notebooks but never had an error like this... EDIT: The Bios installed is the a15 unlocked which worked fine until recently. Overall there were no problems at all indicating different kind of problems. I also tried the backflash method with the A03 Bios but the system refuses to read the USB stick. I've used the same stick as last time I reflashed the Bios. Alienware Area 51 ALX R5 3600 32GB 3200MHz RTX 2080 Ti FE Alienware M18x R2 I7 3840QM 4.2GHz 16GB 1600MHz GTX 1070(Zotac MXM, 10 MOSFETs) Alienware M17x R4 I7 3630QM 16GB 1600MHz GTX 980M 8GB(six MOSFETs) MacBook Pro Retina I7 3820QM 16GB 1600MHz GT650M (for school) And lot's of other stuff in my hobby corner (old Clevo's 'n' stuff like that)😄 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maxware79 Posted October 4, 2022 Share Posted October 4, 2022 Sounds very similar to this post How did you clear the CMOS? Did you bridge the CMOS battery connector pins? It sounds like you've tried the blind flash but maybe you didn't quite do it right Alienware Aurora R15 - i9-13900KF - RTX 4090 - 32GB DDR5 Alienware M18x R2 - i7-3920XM - GTX 970M - 16GB 1866Mhz DDR3L - Samsung 970 Evo with MXM to NVMe Adapter - Custom Delft Blue Alienware X51 - i7-3770 - NO GPU - 16GB 1600Mhz DDR3 Alienware M17x R3 - i7-2760QM - GTX 580M - 16GB 1600Mhz DDR3 Alienware Area 51 ALX - i7-975 Extreme - GTX 980 - 16GB 1600Mhz DDR3 Alienware Aurora R2 - i7-3770K - GTX 670FTW - 16GB 1600Mhz DDR3 Alienware Aurora R4 ALX - i7-3930K - GTX 1060 - 16GB 1600Mhz DDR3 Alienware Aurora R4 ALX - i7-3930K - GTX 670FTW - 16GB 1600Mhz DDR3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoenerBoy123 Posted October 5, 2022 Author Share Posted October 5, 2022 Yes, it’s actually almost the same issue. The only difference is that I had no problems before at all. I changed these setting to get some performance increase as I’m running this thing in SG mode(GTX1070). I’ve done the CMOS reset in 3 different ways: 1. I unplugged the battery and waited some time. 2. I unplugged the battery and shorted the battery pins on the board. 3. I left the battery in place and shorted the clrcmos and reset ME pins on the board. These pins are hidden under the msata cable. These can also be found in the schematic which is easily available in the internet. At this moment I rather think it’s the Intel Management Engine firmware which is corrupted. I believe that as this piece of software is absolutely necessary as this initializes CPU. That’s also why it’s not possible to completely disable this junk. For me this would also explain why the reflash method does not work like in the past. The bad thing about that is that this firmware sits on its own rom on the board, so just taking the bios file and using an external programmer seems impossible without having a dump from that exact rom Alienware Area 51 ALX R5 3600 32GB 3200MHz RTX 2080 Ti FE Alienware M18x R2 I7 3840QM 4.2GHz 16GB 1600MHz GTX 1070(Zotac MXM, 10 MOSFETs) Alienware M17x R4 I7 3630QM 16GB 1600MHz GTX 980M 8GB(six MOSFETs) MacBook Pro Retina I7 3820QM 16GB 1600MHz GT650M (for school) And lot's of other stuff in my hobby corner (old Clevo's 'n' stuff like that)😄 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Expresstyle Posted October 5, 2022 Share Posted October 5, 2022 I dont know in m18x but in AW18 to reset the BIOS the only way to hard reset its to remove all RAM sticks Power on the lap and when u get the third beep (if am not wrong) u must to put at least One mem Stick before the fourth beep and It Will reboot, was something like this. I dont think that u have an corrupted BIOS or something like that, Just It doesnt work with Ur new settings Better dont mess up ti much with BIOS. Happened to me once hard reset method took me at default options Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerryzago Posted October 5, 2022 Share Posted October 5, 2022 First of all, is there an A15 unlocked bios for the M18X R2? Second, try the blind flash method, posted in another post. Most of BIOS problems regarding wrong settings, fix with the blind flash method! Spoiler Alienware M18x R2 i7 3720qm -> i7 3940XM Dual 7970m -> 980m SLI -> HP Quadro RTX 3000 Alienware 17 R1 4710MQ 880M GTX -> PNY Quadro RTX 3000 HP 8570w i7 3820qm Quadro K2000M HP DV6000 T72000 -> T9500 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aldarxt Posted October 10, 2022 Share Posted October 10, 2022 I dont know anything about DMVT Pre-Allocated. But this post on reddit says not to do it https://www.reddit.com/r/gpdwin/comments/5hxgpe/dont_change_dvmt_preallocated_video_memory_in/ Clevo P870DM3-G i9-9900k-32.0GB 2667mhz-RTX3080+GTX1080 Alienware M18x R2 i7-3920xm-32GB DDR3-RTX 3000 Alienware M17x R4 i7-3940XM-16GB DDR3-RTX 3000 Alienware M17x R4 i7-3940XM 20GB DDR3-P4000 120hz 3D Precision m6700 i7-3840QM-16GB DDR3-GTX 970M Precision m4700 i7-3840QM-16GB DDR3-T2000M HP ZBook 17 G6 i7 9850H-32GB DDR4-RTX4000maxQ GOBOXX SLM G2721-i7-10875H RTX 3000-32GB ddr4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoenerBoy123 Posted October 27, 2022 Author Share Posted October 27, 2022 Got a little update, it’s working again! it was actually the bios which was the culprit. I removed the SPI Rom chip and flashed a dump from another machine(thanks to the guy from Reddit who send me the dump). After that the backflash was working again(and necessary) and I downgraded back to A03. After lot’s of beeps I finally got a picture and it’s working fine now 😄 Alienware Area 51 ALX R5 3600 32GB 3200MHz RTX 2080 Ti FE Alienware M18x R2 I7 3840QM 4.2GHz 16GB 1600MHz GTX 1070(Zotac MXM, 10 MOSFETs) Alienware M17x R4 I7 3630QM 16GB 1600MHz GTX 980M 8GB(six MOSFETs) MacBook Pro Retina I7 3820QM 16GB 1600MHz GT650M (for school) And lot's of other stuff in my hobby corner (old Clevo's 'n' stuff like that)😄 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maxware79 Posted October 27, 2022 Share Posted October 27, 2022 Excellent news! Well done Alienware Aurora R15 - i9-13900KF - RTX 4090 - 32GB DDR5 Alienware M18x R2 - i7-3920XM - GTX 970M - 16GB 1866Mhz DDR3L - Samsung 970 Evo with MXM to NVMe Adapter - Custom Delft Blue Alienware X51 - i7-3770 - NO GPU - 16GB 1600Mhz DDR3 Alienware M17x R3 - i7-2760QM - GTX 580M - 16GB 1600Mhz DDR3 Alienware Area 51 ALX - i7-975 Extreme - GTX 980 - 16GB 1600Mhz DDR3 Alienware Aurora R2 - i7-3770K - GTX 670FTW - 16GB 1600Mhz DDR3 Alienware Aurora R4 ALX - i7-3930K - GTX 1060 - 16GB 1600Mhz DDR3 Alienware Aurora R4 ALX - i7-3930K - GTX 670FTW - 16GB 1600Mhz DDR3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aldarxt Posted October 31, 2022 Share Posted October 31, 2022 On 10/5/2022 at 11:33 AM, Expresstyle said: I dont know in m18x but in AW18 to reset the BIOS the only way to hard reset its to remove all RAM sticks Power on the lap and when u get the third beep (if am not wrong) u must to put at least One mem Stick before the fourth beep and It Will reboot, was something like this. I dont think that u have an corrupted BIOS or something like that, Just It doesnt work with Ur new settings Better dont mess up ti much with BIOS. Happened to me once hard reset method took me at default options Yea, here is the link https://www.dell.com/community/Alienware-General-Read-Only/Alienware-18-no-POST-How-to-reset-UEFI-BIOS-when-no-POST/td-p/5521711 The solution was posted 10-16-2013 by a BJFox, is it one in the same as our Bro here alias @MRFox ?!!! Clevo P870DM3-G i9-9900k-32.0GB 2667mhz-RTX3080+GTX1080 Alienware M18x R2 i7-3920xm-32GB DDR3-RTX 3000 Alienware M17x R4 i7-3940XM-16GB DDR3-RTX 3000 Alienware M17x R4 i7-3940XM 20GB DDR3-P4000 120hz 3D Precision m6700 i7-3840QM-16GB DDR3-GTX 970M Precision m4700 i7-3840QM-16GB DDR3-T2000M HP ZBook 17 G6 i7 9850H-32GB DDR4-RTX4000maxQ GOBOXX SLM G2721-i7-10875H RTX 3000-32GB ddr4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maxware79 Posted October 31, 2022 Share Posted October 31, 2022 Yes, the very same 1 Alienware Aurora R15 - i9-13900KF - RTX 4090 - 32GB DDR5 Alienware M18x R2 - i7-3920XM - GTX 970M - 16GB 1866Mhz DDR3L - Samsung 970 Evo with MXM to NVMe Adapter - Custom Delft Blue Alienware X51 - i7-3770 - NO GPU - 16GB 1600Mhz DDR3 Alienware M17x R3 - i7-2760QM - GTX 580M - 16GB 1600Mhz DDR3 Alienware Area 51 ALX - i7-975 Extreme - GTX 980 - 16GB 1600Mhz DDR3 Alienware Aurora R2 - i7-3770K - GTX 670FTW - 16GB 1600Mhz DDR3 Alienware Aurora R4 ALX - i7-3930K - GTX 1060 - 16GB 1600Mhz DDR3 Alienware Aurora R4 ALX - i7-3930K - GTX 670FTW - 16GB 1600Mhz DDR3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simon h Posted January 4, 2023 Share Posted January 4, 2023 Ok, just spotted this....reading Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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