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My upgradeable Area-51m BM revision 4001

post #1 of 75
10/10/04 at 4:16am
Thread Starter 
I owe it all to Craig. In the sticky > Unbelievable News (regarding uprgradeable graphics on the Area51m).thread I asked Notebook_gameer to give up the name and email address of his source at Alienware, he replied back that a mod asked him not to. This is where Craig comes in and says

Quote:
Originally Posted by Craig
Anyone wishing to speak with Alienware directly can call their sales or customer service phone numbers listed on the website.
So I did. I called to be an ass and yell and complain about this to some one, but when I asked when I could buy the MR9700 as an upgrade the guy said I could but it had to be approved by tech support and asked if he could put me on hold for “2 minuets” thin came back on the phone and told me he needed to know what MB revision I had I told him 4001 he thin said I could order and that I was to get 10% off as well. Thanks Craig!!!

I ordered on a Tuesday Oct. 5 and received it on Friday Oct. 8. Called tech support the guy I had told me I had to flash my BIOS to 1.16.36 thin uninstall the NV drivers, unplug the laptop pull the battery, thin to take off the big panel on the bottom thin remove it, take out the three screws that hold in the video card thin peel back some aluminum-foil tape and pull up on the video card thin unplug it. Plug in the MR9700 put back the tape screw it in put the cover back on boot it up and installed the ATI drivers 8.05

The whole thing took about 30 to 35 minuets and that is including downloading the drivers, new BIOS, burning the drive image for the BIOS flash and flashing the BIOS. It was so easy.
LL
LL
LL
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post #2 of 75
10/10/04 at 4:31am
Bout to install mine...getting mon/tues of this week

Jake-
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post #3 of 75
10/10/04 at 4:52am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by JakeBaggins
Bout to install mine...getting mon/tues of this week

Jake-
I thought that you were getting the NV go1000.
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post #4 of 75
10/10/04 at 11:12am
d00d thats awsome, I had to get mine through my broken laptop... Oh well, it got me a new mobo too. Good luck with that card!
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post #5 of 75
10/10/04 at 11:40am
Congrats Jeff! Don't thank me man, thank AW
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post #6 of 75
10/10/04 at 12:45pm
I'm a noob, this question will make that obvious.

Why did you have ot flash the bios?
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post #7 of 75
10/10/04 at 1:11pm
@jsd...I held out when I couldn't sell my current card...Then I bitched out like 40+ sales reps...getting the 9700 for $177

Jake-
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post #8 of 75
10/10/04 at 3:32pm
Just outta' curiosity Jeff, what did you end up paying for the 9700?

Dantes
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post #9 of 75
10/10/04 at 4:09pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dantes_InFresno
Just outta' curiosity Jeff, what did you end up paying for the 9700?

Dantes
My first invoice said $197.15 but thin after I got my tracking No. from FedEx my invoice on the AW site said $177.15.
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post #10 of 75
10/10/04 at 4:17pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by monkeyboy070
I'm a noob, this question will make that obvious.

Why did you have ot flash the bios?
My original BIOS were version 1.05 which is fine for the NV FX Go5600 and the ATI MR9600 but the NV FX go5700, NV Quadro FX Go1000 and the ATI MR9700 require BIOS version 1.16/1.19
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post #11 of 75
10/10/04 at 6:38pm
how do you find out what mb revision you have?
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post #12 of 75
10/10/04 at 6:43pm
Thread Starter 
There is a little sticker on the left had side of the laptop under the keyboard.
Here is a like on how to remove the keyboard.

http://help.alienware.com/cgi-bin/al...Z2U9MQ**&p_li=
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post #13 of 75
10/10/04 at 6:49pm
mine says rev 00 ...i take it thats not compatible?
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post #14 of 75
10/10/04 at 6:53pm
Thread Starter 
I don't know. I would call them. here is a chart.
LL
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post #15 of 75
10/10/04 at 7:22pm
Booma does the 40A6 dance.
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post #16 of 75
10/10/04 at 7:53pm
thanks for the chart..i cna't find any of thos numbers though..next to Rev on my keyboard it says 00..anywhere else that i can find this info?
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post #17 of 75
10/10/04 at 7:56pm
hold on so you can buy the 9700 now????
its not on there website
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post #18 of 75
10/10/04 at 8:04pm
apparently if you have the right mobo revision you can if its approved by tech.. i'm going to call them first thing tommorrow to see if i can order one or not
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post #19 of 75
10/10/04 at 8:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sephiroth209
thanks for the chart..i cna't find any of thos numbers though..next to Rev on my keyboard it says 00..anywhere else that i can find this info?
There should be a little white sticker on the metal panel under your keyboard with one of those numbers on it.
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post #20 of 75
10/10/04 at 8:05pm
my number from says rev00 so is mine okay??
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