M17x R2 Teardown Video
The last magnesium made case 17" laptop by Alienware, the third revision features a lighter but plastic one. With dual GPU support and extreme 1st generation processors, this model is still wanted by a lot of gamer enthusiasts.
Bios:
A01:
* Disable USB full-speed/low-speed port staggering according to Intel USB Sighting alert #3622166
* Add a mechanism to tell EC what graphic card in installed for the usage of thermal table
* Fix issue - "TouchPad OSD icon always shows disabled by press Fn+F12 under DC mode"
* Fix issue - "WLAN / BT function cannot be enabled / disabled by press WLAN button under DC"
* Fix issue - "Webcam function cannot be enabled / disabled by press Fn+F9 under DC mode"
* Support when OSD AP absent, EC will emergency system when below 3 condition
(a) Battery discharge, battery current over 10A and keep 3minutes
(b) Battery discharge, battery temperature over 65 degree C
(c) Battery capacity low then 3% and does to doing shutdown or hibernation
* Support another media board control IC -MAXIM 7313D
* Modify code for AMD boardway GFX card and NV N11E thermal reading
* Implement CPU P-step control to replace the CPU clock throttle function
* Fixed when battery temperature over 57 degree no need to doing CPU throttle
* Modify CPU P-state control to CPU clock throttle control method
A02: ftp://ftp.dell.com/bios/M17xR2A02.zip
3/2/10
* Fixed issue where video would flicker from time to time when using an over-clocked XE cpu in conjunction with a dual SLI video card configuration
* Modify AC adaptor over current de-bounce time, continuous 1 seconds then EC set MXM to low power mode,if over 3 seconds then let CPU throttle
A03:
* Fix issue "The system halt during reboot with Arrandale CPU + Broadway VGA"
* Support NV N11E to work on CFD and ARD CPU platform
* Fix the SVID and SSID sometimes can not be written to NV NE11E
* Support multi verb tables for N11E and Broadway/M98XT
* Remove NVIF method in ASL code per suggestion
* Disable the audio device of the slave AMD Broadway VGA card
* Add a workaround for AMD Broadway XT per suggestion (Disable PCI Express Completion Timeout on the root port)
* Change IRQ No. from IRQA to IRQ5 for the 2nd N11E VGA in DOS mode
* Fix AMD Broadway card external thermal sensor read issue
A04:
* Add a workaround to fix "AMD DOS diag tool stop running" issue on CFD CPU + dual Broadway XT system configuration
* Fix when battery is lower than 7.2V, the battery must need remove then insert then system just can check the battery exist issue
* Support BWXT external thermal sensor
A05: ftp://ftp.dell.com/bios/R267400.exe
5/12/10
* Add an option of Intel(R) Virtualization Technology in BIOS setup menu to fix Cannot run XP virtual mode issue
* Support AMD Broadway MXM card used different thermal SMBUS address
A06: ftp://ftp.dell.com/bios/R273034.exe
7/7/10
* Enhanced the 920XE and Crossfire current draw on DC mode
* Enabled Intel Turbo Boost feature for Arrandale CPUs
* Fixed automated RAID tool for system integration in factory
* Enabled support for new Intel Core i7 740QM, 840QM, & 940XM CPUs
A07: ftp://ftp.dell.com/bios/R276847.exe
8/9/10
* Added support for the new Intel K-0 stepping CPUs
* Implemented Intel EMRR support for K-0 CPUs
A08: ftp://ftp.dell.com/bios/R279733.exe
9/3/10
* Implemented Turbo Ratio limits to default values
* Improved touchpad polling rates
A09: ftp://ftp.dell.com/bios/R282206.exe
9/20/10
* Implemented Turbo Ratio limits for maximum performance
A10: ftp://ftp.dell.com/bios/M17xR2A10.zip
1/19/11
* Modify EC code to get PSID delay 1 second.
* Modify the bad battery stop charge reason ID code for debug
* Disable USB full-speed/low-speed port staggering according to Intel USB Sighting alert #3622166
* Add a mechanism to tell EC what graphic card in installed for the usage of thermal table
* Fix issue - "TouchPad OSD icon always shows disabled by press Fn+F12 under DC mode"
* Fix issue - "WLAN / BT function cannot be enabled / disabled by press WLAN button under DC"
* Fix issue - "Webcam function cannot be enabled / disabled by press Fn+F9 under DC mode"
* Support when OSD AP absent, EC will emergency system when below 3 condition
(a) Battery discharge, battery current over 10A and keep 3minutes
(b) Battery discharge, battery temperature over 65 degree C
(c) Battery capacity low then 3% and does to doing shutdown or hibernation
* Support another media board control IC -MAXIM 7313D
* Modify code for AMD boardway GFX card and NV N11E thermal reading
* Implement CPU P-step control to replace the CPU clock throttle function
* Fixed when battery temperature over 57 degree no need to doing CPU throttle
* Modify CPU P-state control to CPU clock throttle control method
A02: ftp://ftp.dell.com/bios/M17xR2A02.zip
3/2/10
* Fixed issue where video would flicker from time to time when using an over-clocked XE cpu in conjunction with a dual SLI video card configuration
* Modify AC adaptor over current de-bounce time, continuous 1 seconds then EC set MXM to low power mode,if over 3 seconds then let CPU throttle
A03:
* Fix issue "The system halt during reboot with Arrandale CPU + Broadway VGA"
* Support NV N11E to work on CFD and ARD CPU platform
* Fix the SVID and SSID sometimes can not be written to NV NE11E
* Support multi verb tables for N11E and Broadway/M98XT
* Remove NVIF method in ASL code per suggestion
* Disable the audio device of the slave AMD Broadway VGA card
* Add a workaround for AMD Broadway XT per suggestion (Disable PCI Express Completion Timeout on the root port)
* Change IRQ No. from IRQA to IRQ5 for the 2nd N11E VGA in DOS mode
* Fix AMD Broadway card external thermal sensor read issue
A04:
* Add a workaround to fix "AMD DOS diag tool stop running" issue on CFD CPU + dual Broadway XT system configuration
* Fix when battery is lower than 7.2V, the battery must need remove then insert then system just can check the battery exist issue
* Support BWXT external thermal sensor
A05: ftp://ftp.dell.com/bios/R267400.exe
5/12/10
* Add an option of Intel(R) Virtualization Technology in BIOS setup menu to fix Cannot run XP virtual mode issue
* Support AMD Broadway MXM card used different thermal SMBUS address
A06: ftp://ftp.dell.com/bios/R273034.exe
7/7/10
* Enhanced the 920XE and Crossfire current draw on DC mode
* Enabled Intel Turbo Boost feature for Arrandale CPUs
* Fixed automated RAID tool for system integration in factory
* Enabled support for new Intel Core i7 740QM, 840QM, & 940XM CPUs
A07: ftp://ftp.dell.com/bios/R276847.exe
8/9/10
* Added support for the new Intel K-0 stepping CPUs
* Implemented Intel EMRR support for K-0 CPUs
A08: ftp://ftp.dell.com/bios/R279733.exe
9/3/10
* Implemented Turbo Ratio limits to default values
* Improved touchpad polling rates
A09: ftp://ftp.dell.com/bios/R282206.exe
9/20/10
* Implemented Turbo Ratio limits for maximum performance
A10: ftp://ftp.dell.com/bios/M17xR2A10.zip
1/19/11
* Modify EC code to get PSID delay 1 second.
* Modify the bad battery stop charge reason ID code for debug