Having updated to the A09 BIOS after being prompted by AlienRespawn, my Nvidia card no longer seems to work, with Nvidia control panel saying I'm not connected to an Nvidia GPU and device manager saying that windows has disabled the device because 'it has reported a problem'.
Reinstalling the drivers hasn't helped, and I don't seem to be able to revert to the older bios because of something to do with secure boot.
Has anyone else had this problem? Anyone have any ideas how to solve it?
I did extensive research before buying this laptop, but this issue never came up. I suspect that the only reason the problem is not better known is because most users don't even realize their GPUs are not working. I am looking at other brands, but Alienware is still really cheap for what you get. Has anyone heard of similar problems in the M17x?
I bought M14 R2 in July 2012. Everything was fine until it installed a BIOS update in Octorober then the NViDIA card stopped working. Went through all the steps with Tech Support, sent someone out to replace the motherboard, and then returned the computer to Alienware for repair. It was returned to me without the operating system, drivers, etc installed and the optical drive was not connected. Dell sent someone out to connect the optical drive.. After Tech Support reinstalled everything via the internet the same issue appeared the NVIDIA card was not working. Dell then decided to send me a completely new M14 R2. It arrived yesterday and was perfect except it showed that t an hat the sound card was not connected. I called Tech Support and she installed the drivers for the sound card and that fixed the sound problem. UNFORTUNATELY, the Tech Support technician installed the BIOS update (I have no idea why) and the NVIDIA card stopped functioning again!
It is apparently an issue with the BIOS update and, of course, there does not seem to be anyway to undo it. I am now waiting to call Tech Support to see where we go from here. In any event, DO NOT install the BIOS update on this computer.
I received my M14x R2 in July 2012. Everything was fine until the BIOS updated in October 2012. Called Tech Support and they uninstalled and reinstalled the NVIDIA drivers, sent someone out to replace the motherboard since the graphic card is attached, had me reformat hard drive and reinstall everything with the error still appearing. Then Alien had me send my system in. It took them over a month and two phone calls to get my system back. They replaced the motherboard again and the hard drive. When it was returned to me they had not installed the operating system, drivers, nothing. Since they did not "hook-up" the optical drive they had to send someone out to fix that problem. Once that was completed I reinstalled the operating system and drivers . . . same Code 43 error.
Tech Support then decided to send me a new system. I received the new system yesterday and found that it the sound was not working. That was an easy fix by Tech Support they just installed the driver for the sound card. HOWEVER, for some reason the Tech Support rep decided to update my BIOS and, you guessed it, now my NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M graphic card is not working and has the Code 43 error again.
At this point either they send me another new computer, fix the BIOS problem (apparently the UK has the A10 BIOS update available for their Alien M14x R2 computers and it fixed the problem per the forums), or I want my money back.
Was thinking of going to the M17 but looking through the forums it seems they are having the same problem.
Come on Dell/Alien get your act together! This laptop is too expensive to have this many problems and not a well trained tech support team to know what they are doing. This is really disappointing . . . .
Calling Tech Support again and hoping for a resolution.
This happened to me today also. I upgraded to A09 and my monitor stopped working. When I looked to see why, it seems the display port comes off the Nvidia card and that is no longer working properly. I tried to go back to A04 with the same problem as the original poster.
Try re-flashing the BIOS, maybe it was flashed incorrectly the first time.
Alienware-Natalia Dell | Alienware Technical Support #IWork4Dell Opening your case does not void your warranty! Check out Alienware Artificial Intelligence I can't always reply to PM's, if you need extra assistance visit:
I've tried this, and unfortunately it hasn't made a difference.
This exact thing has also happened to me. I have tried everything. Reinstalling drivers, using driver sweeper, rolling back the bios version and absolutely nothing seems to work.
There's something wrong with the implementation of Secure Boot in the new BIOSes. I'm having the same issue with my M18X and it's impossible to get anyone to acknowledge it.
Natalia if you see this please refer to here en.community.dell.com/.../19473294.aspx for a detailed analysis of the problem and what I've tried to fix it.
I have m14xR2, problem was a blinking screen when restarted. If you get the blinking, wait a minute and then press the power button once.
Once it has shut itself down, press power button and windows 8 should appear. Login in, and do not restart your computer!!!
This was a graphics driver problem on nvidia, the dell website provides old ones. Download the drivers directly from nvidia and intel. This will fix the problem.
Same goes for wireless card, killer n.
I had to use parents laptop to get the drivers, as my wireless card went down at same time.
Hope this helps!
My windows 8 pro 64bit now works perfectly, and itunes now works :)
get the driver directly from nvidia, it a graphics card driver problem (not BIOS). The dell site recommends older drivers.
I installed the newest nVidia drivers and it still didn't work.
I should probably of made that clear in my original post that I'm still on Windows 7.
I've tried the drivers from Dell's website, the ones from Nvidia's website and the ones provided by Windows Update without any luck.
An aditional issue I've noticed which may or may not be related, but started at the same time, is that when waking from sleep mode, my keyboard is non-responsive. The mouse works fine, but with no way to type the password to unlock the machine, there's nothing to do but click the shutdown button, which promptly causes it to crash.
I have updated both the Intel and NVIDIA drivers from their respective web pages and have uninstalled and used driver sweeper and reinstalled numerous times and cannot fix this problem. Still running Windows 7 64 bit.
Running Win7 64 Bit, I also installed the drivers from the Intel and Nvidia sites. Same problem.
Im having exactly the same problem, updated to A09 after being prompted to and the NVidia card will not work, Nvidia control panel will not open and says "Nvidia display setting are not available, you are currently not connected to an Nvidia GPU", in device manager it says "Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43)".
Im using an Nvidia GeForce GT 650M, Alienware m14x R2, wouldn't work on windows 7 64bit then updated to windows 8 64bit and still wouldn't work.
Tried deleting NVidia from the device manager, reinstalled with drivers from dell website, NVidia, device manager and Windows update, none of them worked, tried using driver sweeper to no avail.
DELL/ALIENWARE, these are expensive laptops why haven't these been thoroughly tested before release? It wont even let me roll back to BIOS A05, BIOS A08 doesn't work either. You'd think a new BIOS would improve the system not cause a major error, get this sorted soon and release an update we didn't pay all this money for a malfunctioning machine.
Im having the sleep problem also... dell come on!
Dell has released an update for the NVIDIA video drivers for all Alienware systems and graphic cards. I just installed it and it did NOT fix my problem. Also curious it appears that BIOS updates A08 and A09 have been pulled. I imagine that a new BIOS will be coming out soon.
I see that yeah, I've emailed and called support and they have forwarded all this information to the correct department, lets just hope they release a fix soon as I cant play NFS:MW, If its not fixed when black ops 2 is out I might cry :P