M17x R4, another GTX 1070 upgrade thread

Well I decided to venture into this a little more and flashed an unlocked A15+ BIOS process went smoothly but, couldn't boot after I was  going crazy but checked on setup that the boot optioned changed to RAID just had to return to AHCI and could boot normally, the only downside (which will obviously sound stupid) I lost my beautiful alienware head while booting the OS now a lame DELL logo appears... bummer, so now I have an unlocked BIOS what's next guys???

Hello @R1CK . There usually isn't any need to run the unlocked BIOS on the M17x R4 with the 1070 so if you want to go back to the nice Alienware logo then you should be able to. 

The 10 series cards prefer a eDP display which is what you have with the 120hz. This display is run directly off the Nvidia card and the Intel graphics are permanently disabled, This is called PEG mode in the BIOS. There is no way to get the Intel 4000 graphics to work on the 120hz display so if the GPU fails then you will get an 8 beep LCD error and no boot. If you choose iGFX mode or SG mode in the unlocked BIOS with the 120hz display then you'll also get no boot and 8 beeps, so don't do that. PEG mode only.

The 60hz display is LVDS and the 10 series cards don't really like having to piggyback off the Intel graphics in SG mode but it will work, with a small performance loss. The M17x R4 and 17 with the 60hz has SG mode set as default so the 1070 will work without the need for an unlocked BIOS but it will work better with the 120hz PEG display. 

The unlocked BIOS is only required on the M18x R2 and 18 as there is no option to switch to SG mode in the official Dell BIOS. As these only have a 60hz LVDS display, SG mode is required to get the 1070 to run but this isn't a default option in these systems. Only the unlocked BIOS opens up the option to switch the system from PEG or iGFX to SG.

There are 3 main video modes in these old 17" and 18" systems. These are set as default depending on the system and cannot be changed without the unlocked BIOS. The 18" systems can be swapped between iGFX and PEG using a function key and a reboot. 

iGFX - Integrated graphics (Intel)

PEG - Dedicated Graphics (Nvidia or AMD)

SG - Switchable Graphics (Optimus for Nvidia)

There is usually a 4th mode but that should never be selected or you may cause some problems. 

Hopefully that all makes sense. I probably rambled on a bit. 

As far as the Nvidia driver mod is concerned, there are a few guides out there. A mate of mine made a Youtube video which could help you and I'll link another guide that I used to teach myself. I'm happy to help if you're having problems. It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8igM5DcTukw

https://null-src.com/posts/nvidia-notebook-driver-inf-mod/post.php

Hey Matty! I probably have read all the posts and threadsyou have chimed in regarding this topic lol, I'll leave the unlocked BIOS for a while in case it comes handy in the future or while performing the upgrade, but my OCD really misses the alien head  lol, funnily the logo appears if I boot in UEFI with secure boot disabled but with the load legacy option ROM enabled, can I leave it like that just for the alien head? or it will mess up something when I install the 1070?

Thank you very much for your help Matty, I can't wait for the card to arrive, also, on some threads they say I must change the heat sink for the GPU from which model is it advisable? I found some on ebay but don't know if they will fit.

and as for modifying the .inf file can I do it now? or the process varies and I need to first have my card.

You should be able to run the 1070 with the legacy option ROM enabled. Many people said that the 10 series had to run in UEFI with the other options disabled just like the 900M series had to be but I've heard from some people that they've had the 10 series running in Legacy mode. I had my M18x set to full UEFI for my 1070 so I can't confirm this. I don't have my 1070 anymore so I can't test it. You can try leaving it enabled and see what happens. If the system doesn't boot you can reinstall your 60hz display and remove the 1070 to get back into the BIOS. I'd also suggest not to get rid of your old display as it will come in handy if you need to troubleshoot later or if the 1070 fails and you don't have a working GPU.

If you have the standard 3 pipe heatsink then you should be ok. You'll need some new thermal pads and some very good thermal compound to help keep the temps as low as possible. There is a guy on ebay who makes custom copper heatsinks and lots of guys decided to grab one but I'm not sure how much difference they made. Worth a shot if you're not worried about the extra cost. Below is a link to the guys 5 pipe heatsink for the 17 R1. I can't see one for the M17x R4 but you could contact him and see what he can do. The 17 R1 heatsink is almost exactly the M17x R4 but one is slightly longer than the other, can't remember which way it is. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/253463972411?epid=1174535971&hash=item3b03a14a3b:g:AfMAAOSwmuVafDUN

Best to wait until the card is installed to do the driver mod as you need certain information from the card in Device Manager. 

Hello Matty,

received my card yesterday, but I could only try to make it work a few hours ago, seems the card works since it doesn't have the 8 beep and I have graphics, I have a few questions, I was following the youtube video you kindly provided to me, but I have some differences from the tutorial:

1) on device manager, my GTX is not showing up I just have Generic PnP monitor and Microsoft basic screen adapter

2) my .inf file doesn't have the same name as on the tutorial, it is called nv_dispig as you can see, but when I open it for edition it says Display INF file so I guess that's the correct file? how and what lines do I need to edit? or I need to do something before as my card is not showing up on device manager?

sorry attached files are in spanish but that's my native language

The Microsoft Basic Display Adapter is your new card just without the driver installed. Use this one to find the hardware ID's for the driver inf mod.

I think if you scroll down further in the driver files you will find the nvdmiw file. If you downloaded the correct driver then it should definitely be there

Well after fiddling around yesterday with the .inf file it was really easy as you correctly said Matty, once you get the hang of it, I had to do the procedure twice as I decided to revert to the OEM BIOS just to get the alienhead logo again lol, then the drivers stopped working but the second time of doing it, I could do the changes in about 10 minutes, for anyone attempting the swap it is not that hard at all, I just had to swap the m17x R4 bracket from the original card into my new GTX 1070, new thermal pads and quality thermal paste, everything bolted up like OEM, and then you just need to watch this youtube video that Matty kindly provided:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8igM5DcTukw

and some reading in here:

https://null-src.com/posts/nvidia-notebook-driver-inf-mod/post.php

but mostly this image tells you the correct name for the .inf file as it changes depending on the laptop manufacturer

so in our case it is called nvdmig.inf and then just follow the steps on the youtube video, it's really easy to perform as at first I was really scared that I might mess up something or just too hard to perform, none of that! just get the correct form factor on the card! Also I would like to add that my GPU fan works like before as I saw on some threads that afther the upgrade some users lost that feature and had to manually start the fan with other apps, in my case everything works like if the PC came with the 1070 from factory Nvidia experience program also works without a hiccup, I had the opportunity to do some gaming yesterday and it is really a new machine, considreing I got mine for $200 and the card for $300 I can honestly say my system now rivals much newer laptops for a lot less.

Thank tou very much for all your help and advice Matty as all of this couldn't have happened without your knowledge.

@R1CK Congrats on the successful upgrade! It's not always smooth sailing but it looks like you've got it working properly. I love seeing these old systems still kicking along after all these years and it's a testament to the design and quality that these old laptops were built with.

If only modern laptops were as upgradeable and weren't turned into e-waste the moment something goes wrong out of warranty. 

All the best with the 1070. I'd suggest to join the NotebookTalk.net forum. Unfortunately it's not quite the same after the NotebookReview site was taken down but there are still a few guys keeping these older systems alive. There are less and less of us though as time goes on. 

Just entered the AW scene with a m18x R2 and i have installed a 1070 without flashing bios is this normal to have 8 beeps no video? 

@MyApocalypse yes that is normal. You can't install the 1070 in the M18x R2 without flashing the unlocked BIOS and changing the Advanced video mode to SG. You will need to remove the card to do this so you can remove the beep code.

After you remove the card, flash the BIOS and switch to SG mode then you can reinstall the card and install the modified Nvidia driver. Have you looked up how to do this?

The M18x has two default video modes which can be swapped using the FN - F7 keys. ;

iGFX - Integrated Graphics

PEG - Dedicated Graphics (Nvidia or AMD card)

The other laptops of the time also have SG mode available which is Switchable Graphics (Optimus) but this is disabled in the M18x as it doesn't work with SLI. 

The 1070 doesn't work in PEG mode as the M18x only has a 60hz LVDS display and the 10 series cards and higher require an eDP display. You can get around this by using SG mode which allows the 1070 to piggyback off the Intel graphics. 

@mattyb3 After doing the above i will get into driver editing.

I have Win7 atm will the 1070 be recognized after A11 flash? or is there a newer vbios?

Does it matter what bios i am on to flash vbios on the R2?

Thanks for the prompt reply.

You are much better off with Windows 10 and you should still be able to upgrade for free. 

The A11 Unlocked BIOS is the one you can use. Many of us have used it and it works great. This isn't a simple .exe installation though so read the instructions to make sure you do it properly. You'll need to use a bootable USB drive.

The system BIOS doesn't impact what vBIOS you flash. Why are you planning on flashing a vBIOS? It shouldn't be required unless the card you're installing doesn't currently have a compatible Dell vBIOS. 

@mattyb3 Oh noes! I just meant bios lol my phone autocorrected. I had to build a Z790 desktop last night for a friend getting back to this project I will post back progress here soon. Much thanks