*OFFICIAL* Alienware 15 R1/R2 Owner's Lounge

Update intel driver to latest after using DDu to remove older driver in safe mode. Make sure you've Nvidia Container LS service running, otherwise you get a message box like in screenshot.
Change power management mode from optimal to adaptive.

 

So tech came to my house and replaced dc cable. After that, I ran firestrike with hwinfo on and the laptop still throttled, this time, not 1.xGhz but 800Mhz was reportd as the minimum frequency and he only cared about the current frequency in hwinfo but not the minimum. Then he opened task manager and said I should watched the cpu frequency in it as it's the most reliable source. I ran the witcher 3 to showed him that the cpu dropped toaround 1.8-2.6Ghz but because the fps didn't drop much, he said it's normal, just use it as it's work as how it should.
I has pmed 2 aw representative but they don't active recently.

 

Have seen @Alienware-K_Castro and @Alienware-Wasserman on the forum a few days ago. They will probably pop up and help you out with this as they now is tagged in the thread/post.

 

I went ahead and replied to you via PM.

 

So I got mail from Dell (vietnam). They still said it's normal. Dont care about those cpu's frequency and only care about if it still perform good enough or not. Now they don't accept 3dmark, heaven/valley and tell me only run cpu stress test only. My first config was 4710HQ, they upgraded to 4720HQ for me so now if I ask for another mobo replace, they will only give me 4710HQ. I'm mad now.

I got the mail here so if you want to read, please use google translate because it's in vietnamese

 

So on the new board, have you updated to latest BIOS A09?

 

Yes, latest bios A09, running at High Performance mode, undervolted 80mV. When running Heaven/Valley extreme at 1440p and cpu throttle to 1.8-2.0ghz but throttlestop shows no throttle.

 

use rivatuner osd to find cpu usage, if its on 100% and speeds are under 2GHz then its a problem otherwise the cpu is idling itself because its a GPU based benchmark.

 

I dont think so. It's running at High Performance mode, which means the cpu should run at its turbo boost, shoudnt it?

 

Not always though. It was kick into lower power states t conserve energy since you have speedstep technology

 

Could you run Heaven/Valley extreme at 1440p and see if the cpu frequency goes down? I'm just confused. Thanks

 

I'm not at home, so I cannot run it. Mine is a skylake version. Better ask @judal57
BTW, my screen is FHD so 1440p is out of question on mine inferior screen.
Try Aida64 CPu and GPU stress test, mine stays at constant 2.8GHz or 3.1GHz (AVX2) calculations.

 

Running aida64 CPU (not fpu) and GPU stress test, all seem good, 3.4ghz stable for 30 minutes and no drop.
Running 3dmark combined stress test and it drops to 2.0ghz.
Playing games for the first 1h, it got stable at 3.1-3.4ghz, after that it ran at 2.5-3.4ghz but sometimes it dropped to 2.0ghz but fps not drop much.

 

Lift up the rear of the laptop and that should reduce the temps by 5-6C.

 

Temps are ok and I always lift up the rear. 75*C on cpu and 65*C on gpu, so no problem with temps

 

No excuse for the mess. Clocks shouldn’t drop if you put proper powa settings in Windoze, bios and oc software. It’s the way Dellienware wanted it to be. Turbo Boost issues is what it is and Dell Never wanted or wasn’t able to fix it. Put what’s fit. The models was broken from the birth!! Stated by @Lord Zog

 

Double post.

 

I have actually tweaked the turbo time limit to 28 secs so it maintains the turbo for longer time.
My PC can hold turbo boost 3.1GHz for 12 mins with temps under 75C. On AIDA64 the cpu speed is averaging around 2.8-3.1GHz.

 

Thanks for making clear. I will ask for another mobo but this time they will give me 4710hq only.

 

Mind j00, It's a difference between old Hotwell vs. Skylake First AW *Echo* with Haswell BGA was a disaster!! And Dell didn't do nothing to fix it.

 

I forget them every time. @judal57 said Lm is the way to go on Hotwell for decreased temps on stock and OC.

 

Hallo,

i want to buy this week a new Alienware R3 15 with following specifications:

Intel® Core™ i7-7820HK
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1070, 8 GB GDDR
15,6", Full HD (1.920 x 1.080), 120Hz, with NVIDIA G-SYNC
Killer 1535 (802.11ac, 2x2, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1)

My question is, will I have problems with high temperature? Or they solve the problem with the high temperatures?

Thank you and greets

 

You posted in wrong thread and yes there are units with faulty heatsink that cause high temps. WHere are you buying it from?

 

Yeah sorry, false thread :--/

I want to buy it in germany. does it matter?

 

Guys - would appreciate some tips:

AW 15 with i7 Quad & M295 AMD was a bit warmer than expected (reaching 94% in Furmark with CPU). I took it apart (had to take the whole thing apart just to repaste - wish it was easier - still not as bad as those MSI where you need to undo the MB to upgrade the RAM). Was notably cooler after the repaste, about 10 degrees c cooler under full load with CPU stress as well. Soon after, I noticed something was wrong. It worked fine initially. Though later when using it on my lap, I tapped/closed the lid / the screen gone fuzzy & the laptop unresponsive; rebooted - occurred again, it's fine upto the Windows for a bit (soon after this issue occurs). Then I realised it occurred mostly when I tapped/moved the lid/base slightly. I guessed it was the display cable that's gone wrong slightly upon putting it back.

So I opened it up again, this time gently pulled the display ribbon slightly outwards, closer to the MB connector ( think it was getting pulled there before - as the issue occurred when I closed the lid - which would pull the ribbon slightly away from MB unless seated properly). After releasing the pull pressure on the cable, the unit seems better (working without issue for now). Just wanted to ask, is there a particular way to do the display cable on AW15? Or is applying some common sense okay? Will keep an eye for a few days just in case. Tips would be appreciated.

(another Dell I changed lid on came back yesterday with some display cable issue) Starting to get an idea these cables are super fragile! I think I need to open a few tutorials on how to do display cables.

 

Hi
I replaced my FHD display with a UHD but it didn't work
the screen is black but the touch is working fine .. i can see it working on my external monitor.
Is there a way to make it works?

Alienware 15 r2 4710HQ
GTX980m

 

You replaced only the panel, correct?
Did you try increasing the brightness using hotkeys?
@bloodhawk Is it the same problem caused by misconfigured display panel firmware>

 

Good chance yes.
AW's are picky about their displays. Specially on some of the recent BIOS'.

 

fall creators update wrecked my mobile hotspot, it now does not work, be warned.

 

Hi guys,

I'm looking for the best dock for my 15 R2. At the moment, I only use a single display so I don't need something with multiple display setups (yet). Any idea what the best dock would be? I understand there are type C docks that require just one connection to the system. My first dock so something simple and low profile would be of help.

 

@Papusan Yesterday my AW battery was erratically working and I think its failing and it feels very hot to touch. It doesn't charge beyond 50%.
@Alienware-K_Castro @Alienware-L_Porras @Alienware-Wasserman I following the guide as per Dell Alienware site, power reset the battery and put it on AC for charging whilst the PC is switched off. The wear shows 13% and I should get a decent battery life and I'm getting only 40-50 mins for web browsing only considering the fact I used to get 6-8 hrs when wear level was 10%. ePSA shows nothing it only states Charge cycles = 99.
I reckon the battery is dying.

 

1hour on battery.. seriously something is wrong.. just try to drain battery fully.. and then charge to full again.. use different bios with fresh OS install and see if the battery discharge level changes.. i had wear level 13% 1 month back.. after drain + full charge 3 times, i got wear level of 1.3% now.. weird right.. i get 6-7 hours of life.. watching youtube HD videos @ 40% brightness.. this is on windows 10 Fall creators update..

 

I tried draining fully i.e when system powered down itself thrice, it stopped charging at 63%, 60% and now its 51%.
I got 6-7 hrs on Linux and Windows w/ iGPU on web browsing, 10 hrs on music playback(W10).
Have you installed AW OSD?

 

Previously i had it installed.. but i never turned on.. Enable battery protection.. it was always there just for the sake of missing compal driver.. 10hours.. wow thats great.. with screen brightness of 40% ?? i gotta say this.. lots of things messed up between drivers and hardware.. ill report back with the OSD battery thing enabled..

 

Screen brightness of 30-40%. Uninstalled AW OSD, no difference at all, battery is dead I think. I am really busy this week.
With TS, I get consistent battery life of 6+ hrs like Apple MBP. I really am using 5G 11ac so couple of watts increased because of that. -11.0W is the best case scenario for me.

 

SOunds like a faulty cell. If it doesnt charge past a certain percentage thats most often the case. If it was just plain battery wear it would show 100% and the battey wear level in statistics. Unfortunately even though the AW batteries are of pretty good quality, it sitll can be a miss.

 

Long time no see. Even @judal57 showed me by disassembling the battery.
How can they initiate a replacement when ePSA says its fine? It doesn't even charge beyond 50% and it feels very hot to touch as well. Battery drains faster too sometimes.

 

Haha yeah, I was extremely busy past months.

Dell will nto replace it for you at no cost. battery warranty is only 1 year at Dell. They can do it for a fairly high cost. More than 300 euro in Europe. If you knwo how to disassembly your laptop you can order a replacement for around 80 dollars yourself. BUt I would first test is before disassembly by disconnecting the battery cable and plug in the new one externally.

 

It still on warranty.

 

You sure? I have 2 years warranty, but still only 1 on battery.

But in that case best to call them. Diagnostics doesnt give an error? Often that gives an error way before the failure you are experiencing.

 

I didn't buy 2 year warranty. I just bought it just before 15 r3 was released.
ePSA simply looks at wear level and says its okay. I simply lost 50% of the battery.

 

Hmm then best too call I think. NO battery shoul dlose 50% in 1 year. 20% is considered normal if you wear it regularly but thats still a lot. I have a loss of 5% in 2 years.

 

welcome back.. regarding his Wear level.. i had 13% one month back.. now its back to 2%.. and im getting more battery life, so its a hit or miss.. can't rely on softwares to measure, take it to the battery experts they will help you out.. or if still under warranty better to have it replaced.. Battery comes under warranty if u purchased premium extension. but last time i met someone from DELL they said replacement policies have changed. so check it out..

 

Mine turned up worse from 1% to 10% on everyday battery usage during 4 months. I didn't use the battery at all for couple of months and when I used it, now it doesn't even charge anymore. I'll mail them and see if there's any resolution or else I'm buying the battery myself, can't risk blowing up the PC since the palm rest gets pretty hot when I use battery for a minute or two.

 

Yeah gaming under battery, even my system gets hot.. specially on left battery.. try buying it from ebay.com.. something around 70-90USD.. or if u can find it for cheaper price.. go ahead..

 

I never game on battery, I stopped it. Worst case scenario I'll buy it from compuindia.com for Rs. 7000.

 

what's the latest video card driver we can upgrade to?

The last few from geforce experience have not worked D: I use the Alienware amplifier also.

 

Geforce 388 works best for me. Be sure to use @j95 nvidia driver thread to remove bloat from nvidia drivers by deleting unneeded folders for best experience. Don't download the inf file because it might be incompatible. I'm unsure about this.

 

gah, I downloaded v388.13 and it says incompatible. Do I need to disconnect my Alienware amplifier before updating? I have a GTX 1070 in it.

 

I think its not needed. Use stock drivers from nvidia with certain folders removed.