Alienware 17 R4 GTX1080 in game random Stutter & Freeze

The new MB fixed the issue for me. Been playing for months now without any stuttering. I haven't tried messing with the freefall sensor.

 

Thats definitely promising. I didnt just lay the laptop flat, but also uninstalled all Kionix sensor associated files as well and did not notice any difference.

 

Well after jumping through all the hoops, I finally got cleared to have the MB and heat sink replaced. I voiced my concern about using refurb parts but he mentioned that he doesn't know what they will use.
Anyway I am going to schedule a time to have the tech come over, but had a few questions for those who have gone down this route:

1. Would they frown up me having the laptop disassembled prior to the tech showing up so that I can make this process go by faster or will they claim voided warranty bc I opened it up?

2. Should I open it up before he gets in, remove the LM and repaste with traditional paste, or will this not be an issue (or maybe there isnt even an inspection of the old components)?

3. I would, of course, like to use LM on the new board and heatsink, but will the tech allow this (whether I am allowed to do it or him as well), or will I forced to open it up as soon as he leaves?

Thanks to all for any input.

 

1. I would do this. They cannot void your warranty because you opened it up. However if the tech did not disassemble it they might not know how to reassemble it and will be winging it. If they disassemble it they will recall how to properly reassemble.

2. I personally would remove the LM and re-paste, but not with the intent on hiding it or anything sneaky, but rather because I don't think the tech will know how to properly clean up the LM etc and will not be super careful.

3. I would never even attempt to get a tech to apply LM even if they were willing to do it. The chances the tech has experience applying LM is very remote.

 

Thank you so much for your input.
I guess a good compromise for 1 and 2 would be to remove it the day of the appointment, clean up the Mobo and repaste, then just hand the tech the old mobo and heatsink.
You raise another good point on not having the tech do the LM application on the new mobo. I don't mind doing it at all, but I would rather do before it gets reassembled so that I dont have to do more work.
Ideally, Id like to turn on the TV for the tech while I just do the work, but doubt that will happen. I just really hope the replacement fixes the issue.

 

I'll do this one: Grab new HSF and mobo and return old one to the tech and ask him if the formality is completed so that he can return quickly or ask if he can wait until assembling is over!

 

This would be very ideal, but we will see. The appointment for service is tomorrow and I made a request for the technician to call me prior to showing up so that I can gauge whether or not he (or she) is going to be a stickler or not. Either way, Ill have it apart (and all LM cleaned up) before they arrive so at the very least, they will have to deal with that.

 

Hey guys, made an account just to post this in case others are still looking for a solution.

Had the same issue (freezing would only happen when gaming on a cooling pad); Dell replaced the motherboard and heat sink, and that did the trick. Temperatures are super low now that I can play with the back raised with no stuttering. Uninstalling the Free Fall Sensor Driver never did anything for me.

 

66 pages of this however if you look there

https://hardforum.com/threads/gpuz-perfcap-reason-vrel.1935504/

it says:

"VRel just means the core is unable to step up to the next voltage bin on the Boost curve because the core will become unstable, thus limiting maximum Boost clock. Generally it's nothing to be worried about, as all cards will get this perfcap when running games because the Boost curve is defined beyond the maximum voltage that is reasonable. For example: The Boost curve on my Titan X doesn't stop until around 1.4V, a voltage which would probably kill the chip in very quick order."


As is the case with my GTX 1080, whenever there is any kind of load VREL is always on. I am not sure this is a reliable way to measure the heat on the voltage regulators.

 

Just wanted to say I was getting massive freezing on my machine manufactured in 2018 out of the box, downgrading the vBIOS pretty much totally fixed the issue.

 

You mean "hid" the issue

 

Hello, I currently have the same problem, and everyone has solved it or is there one that continues? I have the version of bios 1.5 and I can not do downgroade, change the pads and pasta and nothing, I'm desperate ...


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I had so many problems with my unit that they gave me the config that is now within my bio. If you're still in warranty/return period, do your level best to get a refund and/or return.

 

unfortunately I buy it second-hand, so I read it has to be the first buyer to make a transfer or claim the guarantee, is already over but let me extend it, which suits me in these cases? If I already opened and manipulated it, does the guarantee apply?


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Yes so long as you didn't break anything.
There are many threads guiding you to fix this. Main issue is the VRMs and MOSFETs around the GPU. You must ensure those pads are in proper contact with all these chips

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I did it like in 10 opportunities and it did not turn out, in the end I could buy the garnatia and dell I change the plate with the fans and until now 0 freezing and the low temperatures, I do not think the solution is the pads, it is a fault of the plate definitely


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A fault of the heatsink can only be corrected by the pads which is my point. Unless you're willing to bend the heatsink yourself which is a risky game. You need a heatgun top do this safely

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You can downgrade Bios, even if it is locked.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...3-owners-lounge.797884/page-674#post-10665979

 

but it is not necessary anymore because Dell replaced the motherboard, I made all those attempts and nothing turned out, what I do not know if it is normal the temperature of the gpu in 76 degrees demanding it to the maximum, the cpu in 80 degrees


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Now that this problem is fully documented you have 3 options:
1 - mask the problem by installing the non-OC vBIOS but it WILL return in demanding games
2 - tear the whole damn thing apart and reapply the cooling solution properly (thanks for nothing Dell QA/QC)
3 - get yourself an AGA and a 1080 Ti or 2080 series which is the best option if you can afford it

 

thanks, is it worth it to buy a 2080 and install it on the Alienware? loses performance by being a laptop vs. a desktop PC?


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Short answer, totally worth it IF you're the type of person that wants to run games with all graphics options cranked to 11. Longer answer, my laptop has great specs that will remain relatively high end for years but the one component that's already outdated only a year after I bought it? The mobile 1080. So instead of having to contemplate spending another 3 grand on a new laptop only a couple years into this current one, I spent a third of that on a 2080 Ti and an AGA and am now set for any game that comes out in the next 5 years.

 

perfect, thank you very much, but does not produce a bottleneck by having a seventh generation processor?


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No question you lose anywhere from 5 to 10% off the top just in general over a desktop setup but that's just baked in regardless with graphics amps. As far as bottlenecks with my particular CPU on TOP of that, no not that I've seen. I can play Battlefield V with everything at Ultra including ray tracing at 60+ fps (with the latest patches & drivers).

 

great, and you have the link where to buy the aga and gtx2080


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You have to shop around and be patient, I used a sale on Dell's website and points from buying the laptop to get the AGA for about 30 dollars about a year ago then a promotion (which expired almost instantly so I got lucky) on Newegg to get the Ti card for just under 1k a month ago.

 

thank you, but the water they sell is compatible with. the 2080? because I was reading and apparently it is bigger and it would not be well placed


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Chiming in to tell my short saga of stuttering.

Purchased a 17 r5 with a 1080 and 7th gen cpu from someone on reddit, it was in great quality, I was happy. At some point a day or two after buying it I updated everything, including the bios. It seems that this update started causing stuttering (I'll be honest, it may be that it was happening before the update as well, but I didn't notice as I only had it a couple days). At the time, I didn't know that there was a bios update that exacerbated this issue, so I assumed it was a thermal problem. I followed iunlock's guide to repaste (except I used non conductive TIM cuz I'm a wuss) and temps got a couple degrees better, but the issue persisted.

This is the point that I googled my actual stuttering issue and found this thread. Swallowing the news that I would have to go through this again was rough, I'm not experienced in taking apart laptops, but I decided to give it a go. This is basically what I did:

In iunlock's guide for my model, he recommends a specific set of pad sizes. I followed this example, but with these changes:

• For all of the "choke" points shown in this thread (basically the components that are much taller than the others) I used k5 pro. I have never used this before, but it seems to be working great, and was really easy to apply.
• For the thermal pad that overlaps the copper heat tubes (not sure what they're called), I found that I needed to break this up into multiple pads to fit properly. I put a 1mm pad on the heat tubes, cut to fit the contour so that it lines up with more elevated section of this thermal pad position. This made it line up better with the flat portion. At this point, I put another 1mm pad in the exact same way the guide shows, except I have that extra 1mm under the heat tube portion to get better contact. I'd advise experimenting with this one though as it is tricky, but the gist is that you need to add more pads on those heat tubes or you will not get good contact.
• I believe all other pads were identical to the guide.

I came to this conclusion after assembling and disassembling the heatsink 6 or 7 times. I started with 0.5mm thick pads everywhere (except for the choke points, I always intended on using k5 as ). I put on some dots of thermal paste on the gpu and cpu and tightened it all down. Took it apart and checked for indents in the thermal pads, and proper spread of the thermal paste. If there were no indents, I upped the size, if there was worse TIM spread, I decreased the size. Through this trial and error, I ended up with exactly what the guide said, minus the above points. As OP in this thread says, this is not going to be the case for everyone.

So the results, the stutter is finally gone! This was the first time I've dug into a laptop like this before, and it is almost surreal that this worked. To think the meticulous cutting of pads and spreading of paste actually paid off! I'm sure its not a surprise to most of you here, but it feels good to have it finally fixed!

Thanks to everyone in this thread for helping out us internet strangers!

 

Glad it worked out for you Sounds like you have become an expert yourself , good job !

 

Those who buy AW for the first time becomes an expert in fixing Dell PCs and probably will be the last AW or dell PCs they buy after facing too many issues that goes unfixed be it firmware or hardware.
Any plans for grading best laptops(BGA Jokebooks) with RTX this year? BIOS, CPU/GPU throttling, Best QA, best user experience out of the box, TB3 eGPU compatibility and performance (drop AGA since its present on AWs only) etc... It'd certainly help prospective gaming laptop buyers.

 

Yes, that would be a good video. I probably could do that once I have tested some more models including the new GTX ones. I sent a mail to Dell the other day saying that I refuse to buy any more to review . I have bought 12 in the past 2.5 years just to review as they don't send me review units. No response from them.

 

But they will give out review units to other YT channel who praise them. No point buying Dell PCs.... Rather Clevo and others should be given a chance.
They don't like critics or bad PR. They always want to hear things even its non-existent.

 

Did Alienware ever fix this stuttering issue with the 17 R4?

 

I had this issue and in the end only after a motherboard replacement it went away...

 

After 3 engineer call outs, ruling out mb issues and trying three different heat sinks, adding thermal padding I bought and repasting the problem finally went away. The a few months ago a power component on the mb broke and dell decided to fix it no questions asked even though I was out of warranty....sounds great right? Nope, got it back seeming fine, didn't play any games for a few months. Just tried some non-taxing games and lo and behold the stutter is back and now I'm out of warranty and need to start all over again. FFS.

 

Are you an enthusiast with a lot of spare cash, or are you doing this as a business?

Your issue then sounds like a heat/thermal issue ? Is anything else being affected at the same time, eg do you get GPU or CPU throttles?

 

I fix it for you

 

I did not watch it. Can't stand him. What did he say?

FWIW my favourite youtuber says he's struggling to pay for his daily meals - 00:39

 

Yep, its the classic issue as describe here with all the standard symptoms. It was fixed by getting the 2nd edition heat sink, seating it properly, adjusting thermal padding for better contact and repasting.

My situation now: A power component failed on the mobo in march. Dell recognised the fault and said no problem, we'll collect it and fix it. Great. Sent it off, they replaced the mobo, I got it back and everything seemed hunky-dory. Fast forward to now and I finally have some time to game a little after a few months. To my dismay the original stutter is now back again with my machine in the same broken state I first received it from the factory (I'm assuming once again due to their ****ty assembly).

I contacted them about it yesterday and was told that since a) my warranty has now expired and since b) I did not detect the problem they caused within the 3 month repair warranty period, I am now left with two options. I can either look and pay for a third party and hope they can do a good job, or I can pay dell to take it, examine it and then pay for the parts.

Does anyone have any suggestions or know how I can get to a senior alienware support person in the uk? To me this is utterly ridiculous. Like many of you I received a broken machine to begin with, dell acknowledged fault and I had multiple engineer callouts until it was fixed (what fixed it was making him read this thread several times until he acted on it). Now I send it in for an unrelated issue and they literally break my computer all over again and somehow have the nerve to tell me I have to pay them to fix it. This is really taking the piss.

 

if you want things done properly, do it yourself. and since your warranty is over, you dont have other choice

 

Even though Dell broke it?

 

You need to open it up, repad it and repaste it. I can help you with the process if needed.

 

I've been following this thread and followed the steps with regards to repasting and thermal pads replacement - thanks to @Alex for starting this thread.

I cannot get it to work and always stutter after few mins but i came to this video where it solves the stuttering issue. Played for hours and my laptop is running smoothly.



What i did is to set min and max processor state to 90%. I did not see notable dips in fps so im happy with result. Gpu and cpu Temps are around below 75 too

 

just an update the dell replace my laptop's motherboard and stuttering issue is gone. tested for few days and decided to re-paste and change the thermal pads after few days just to lower the temp.