[SOLVED] Booting installer with new Alienware m17 r4 (2021)

Feartech · May 16, 2021

jamesst20 said:
Hi again

I think we might still need to edit my bios: my thunderbolt video output is using Nvidia according to Windows. Do you think we might be able to update that?

Would you know how to unlock "hidden menu" ?

Also, there is a newer version of AMIBCP v5.02.0031 which didn't give me any error when opening the bios dump. I can see interesting strings such as "External Gfx Card Primary Display Configuration" or

(008B) 64MB
(008C) 128MB
(008D) 256MB
(008E) Auto

Which makes me think I could have customized IGPU memory.

when i extract my rom file, i have other options:

the setup configuration

and then they can be expanded to show more information, the menu items:

then you can change the "Optimal" options to whatever is needed

in the case above, i chose to disable trusted computing, this helps my laptop after 2x sleep without it rebooting

so then, after saving the bios, i rewrite the bios, enter bios settings and then choose load optimal settings

jamesst20 · May 16, 2021

Feartech said:
when i extract my rom file, i have other options:

View attachment 518727
the setup configuration

and then they can be expanded to show more information, the menu items:

View attachment 518728

then you can change the "Optimal" options to whatever is needed

in the case above, i chose to disable trusted computing, this helps my laptop after 2x sleep without it rebooting

so then, after saving the bios, i rewrite the bios, enter bios settings and then choose load optimal settings

That's very interesting! and I am guessing you can change de 'Show' value of menu too right? However, the label is not present, that's odd.

I tried to dump the BIOS like you said, however, this is what I get

I will try the DOS version

Feartech · May 16, 2021

jamesst20 said:
That's very interesting! and I am guessing you can change de 'Show' value of menu too right? However, the label is not present, that's odd.

I tried to dump the BIOS like you said, however, this is what I get

View attachment 518731

I will try the DOS version

i made a dos usb bootable drive and used the dos version to extract the bios file

jamesst20 · May 16, 2021

Feartech said:
i made a dos usb bootable drive and used the dos version to extract the bios file

I just tried and my BIOS doesn't have "Legacy USB or CSM support" and FreeDos doesn't support UEFI :S

Feartech · May 16, 2021

jamesst20 said:
I just tried and my BIOS doesn't have "Legacy USB or CSM support" and FreeDos doesn't support UEFI :S

maybe something like this:
https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Thread-REQUEST-Dell-Alienware-M17x-R4-BIOS-Unlock?page=3 ?

jamesst20 · May 16, 2021

Feartech said:
maybe something like this:
https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Thread-REQUEST-Dell-Alienware-M17x-R4-BIOS-Unlock?page=3 ?

The thing is there is 2 versions of Alienware M17 R4. The 2017 and 2021 version. They are very different physically too so I'm afraid these bios are not for mine.

I went ahead and tried the EFI version, am I doing something wrong?

Feartech · May 16, 2021

jamesst20 said:
The thing is there is 2 versions of Alienware M17 R4. The 2017 and 2021 version. They are very different physically too so I'm afraid these bios are not for mine.

I went ahead and tried the EFI version, am I doing something wrong?

View attachment 518733

try .bin

Code:

afuefix64.efi original-rom.bin /O

jamesst20 · May 16, 2021

Feartech said:
try .bin

Code:

afuefix64.efi original-rom.bin /O

Same error

Feartech · May 16, 2021

jamesst20 said:
Same error

can you disable intel bios guard in bios?

jamesst20 · May 16, 2021

Feartech said:
can you disable intel bios guard in bios?

I'm afraid not

Here are screenshots of my bios