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    *OFFICIAL* Alienware 17 R2/R3 Owner's Lounge

    Discussion in '2015+ Alienware 13 / 15 / 17' started by Mr. Fox, Dec 10, 2014.

  1. juggar

    juggar Notebook Consultant

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    While I was discussing a delay with my laptop repair order I mentioned the issue with the 180 watt PSU and that it was not sufficient for a 980m laptop. I said id rather not have my battery degraded(hybrid BIOS) if I could help it.

    He looked into it and said that it certainly was an engineering oversight and that they would send me a 240 watt PSU overnight. So, im happy.

    I was chatting with dell tech support ProSupport, I had to register my AW 17 R2 service tag first before it let me chat using the service tag.
     
    Last edited: Dec 8, 2015
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  2. MSGaldenzi

    MSGaldenzi Notebook Deity

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    Thanks for the Tip! I didn't know you could even get to pro support through the registration.
     
  3. MSGaldenzi

    MSGaldenzi Notebook Deity

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    Chatted with alienware yesterday during the day... said I had to call :( Going to try again tomorrow.
     
  4. ChopperDoc0072

    ChopperDoc0072 Newbie

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    Hey everyone,
    I have a problem with my m.2 Samsung 960 pro pcie ssd, I installed it and it shows up in the bios (version 1.2.3) but it will not boot, tried to clone the operating system to the Samsung SSD with acronis but during reboot acronis said target device not powered on. I was reading online to change the csm to uefi but in this latest bios version there is no option for csm, if anyone has figured this out and is booting from the Samsung 960 pro please help me out.
     
  5. juggar

    juggar Notebook Consultant

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    Well, the guy came and replaced the touchpad, unfortunately he left on the clear plastic coating that your supposed to peel off on it. As a result it looks bad and has pretty bad sensitivity.

    Also the left macro keys 1-5 blue LED is no longer operable since the repair. So only Red and green on those keys now. Tech said he did the best he could considering he could tell lots of people had been in the laptop many times before. said the ribbon cable connectors had been through about as much as they could take and some were physically broken and had to be held in place with tape.

    Emailed my dell prosupport guy and asked for an exchange considering the circumstances, if no exchange ill sell it for a nice profit after I fix the touch-pad myself.

    Oh well, lessons learned, it was dirt cheap for a reason I guess.
     
  6. Robbo99999

    Robbo99999 Notebook Prophet

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    Yeah, that's not an acceptable level of quality for the internals there (refurb or not!) - damaged internals like you mentioned with the ribbon cable - they should definitely replace it for you.
     
  7. ChopperDoc0072

    ChopperDoc0072 Newbie

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    Update, I can only get the samsung 950 pro to work if I disable secure boot, with secure boot disabled it works fine, is this normal??
     
  8. thegh0sts

    thegh0sts Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    you're better off with secure boot off... i don't have it on.
     
  9. juggar

    juggar Notebook Consultant

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    I just got word that they will be replacing it with a system that is the same or better than it. It will be a certified refurb or better.

    I have to say I am really impressed with this certain Dell customer service rep. He has went above and beyond for me(he sent out the 240 watt psu) so far with no complaints. I suppose it really comes down to who you talk to.

    Its so nice to actually speak to someone who actually wants to help.
     
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  10. RugbyPlayer

    RugbyPlayer Notebook Consultant

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    my 17r3 has arrived! as soon as i can get off of bloody work o_O. What im wondering what are the first things i should do? It has the 970m but i have heard some reports of the 180 PSU causing the card/cpu to throttle, whats the best way to test this and know whether or not throttling is occuring?
     
  11. smp76

    smp76 Newbie

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    If you got the UHD screen 1 pixel is enough for a replacement, as is heavy screen bleed.
     
  12. MSGaldenzi

    MSGaldenzi Notebook Deity

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    FHD here so I am thinking its going to be more than just 1 and some bleed... its not as bad as I had thought at first... hardly notice it.
     
  13. sluggz

    sluggz Notebook Consultant

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    I thought this was more of an issue with a 980m. You could just call tech support and say you are aware that there is a problem with the 180 psu being a little underpowered and request a 240 watt one for free. Just start playing games on max settings and max cpu clocks and see if you have any throttling. There is also better version of the vbios avaiable for your gpu if you are interested in that. http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...-15-r2-17-r2-and-r3-performance-vbios.780158/
     
  14. Splintah

    Splintah Notebook Deity

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    Yea it's all about being polite and finding the right agent.
     
  15. MSGaldenzi

    MSGaldenzi Notebook Deity

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    I ended up calling in today and they are going to send me a 240w. The rep also deleted my nvidia drivers and reinstalled them... still didn't fix my issue with battlefield hardline. I am really hoping that after I get the 240w I can play. That is one of the few games that I really enjoy and having it be the only one that is acting up really stinks. If anyone has any other thoughts or things for me to try, feel free to suggest something. I have tried repairing the game install... no luck.

    #2 Anyone know where I can get a power adapter tip that plugs into the alienware and makes an L. (so it points to the back)...
     
  16. juggar

    juggar Notebook Consultant

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    Dells customer service is really surprising me lately. Instead of a refurb they are sending me a new system. I asked why the ship date was a week away and he said it was being built and added that he made sure it had the best GPU in it.

    If I receive a new 17 R3 with an 8gb 980m well... I'll be dell customer for life considering what I paid for the problem laptop($842).
     
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  17. MSGaldenzi

    MSGaldenzi Notebook Deity

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    Dannng! That's pretty awesome. I hope that the screen you get is a good one though, the R3 is supposed to be noticeably not as bright. I still think the top GPU is the 4gb 980m, but still... new is new. Skylake and thunderbolt port FTW.

    You really did get a bunk system from the get go though. I don't think it would be possible for anyone to replicate your deal. I am still thrilled with my deal of about 1100 for a 980m/16gb/1tb/128ssd/touchscreen and it really has been all I could have asked for and more... well if it would only play battlefield hardline, lol. (see above complaints).
     
  18. juggar

    juggar Notebook Consultant

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    I was able to lookup orders by using my billing address and....

    This is exactly what they have in production for me: http://www.dell.com/en-us/member/shop/productdetails/alienware-17-r3/dkcwg04bc

    A nearly $2000 config for my $842 scratch and dent dell outlet laptop. I added on the 256 gb m.2 ssd after I got the scratch and dent one so now I can do something else with it.

    The only weird thing is the 8gb of ram but hey it's DDR4 and the rest of the upgrades far, far offset it!

    Dells done right by me for sure haha

    I'm sure that 240 watt psu will help with your issues, it really is crazy they are still sending out 180 watt psu with dell outlet orders when new orders come with 240 watt psus. So weird lol
     
    Last edited: Dec 12, 2015
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  19. MSGaldenzi

    MSGaldenzi Notebook Deity

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    Well I got my 240w PSU and no dice on getting Battlefield Hardline working (no pun intended). I am going to try to delete the entire game and redownload it. It was working for 1 session when I first got the laptop, but hasn't worked since. Everyone knows that game is buggy as can be, so hopefully a reinstall will fix it.

    and to you Juggar... you are one lucky SOB! Congrats and yes, I am jealous, but not one of those... I want you to fail jealous guys... I am super happy for you and happy that dell pulled through.

    I just want to throw this out there too. The Dell Tech backpack 17' works great for this laptop. I think the build quality and storage space are better than the vindicator and its about 1/2 the cost. I got mine when it was on sale and I think I paid around $20 net after getting a dell giftcard and cashback. Either way, I know people are always looking for good packs for traveling and the AW18 even has an entire thread dedicated to this, so why not. Here is a link.
    http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=460-BBKM

    Just tried a full reinstall of the game and no luck... Can't get it running at all. Maybe I should be in a BFH forum bc at this point I am pretty sure its more of a software issue rather than hardware. *edit* Figured it out... just deleted my games saved data and there we go... works now.
     
    Last edited: Dec 12, 2015
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  20. RugbyPlayer

    RugbyPlayer Notebook Consultant

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    Soo I got my r3 in, but I'm having some pretty annoying problems with it.

    First off, my download speeds on wifi are GARBAGE. Meaning It tanks from 70+ Mbps when wired to less than 5 wireless, and it never increases and it just outright drops the connection randomly.

    Secondly my display driver keeps crashing its rather annoying.

    Last...not really an issue, I hate how the fade option on alienfx isn't smooth at all, it like makes major transitions that are really jaunting
     
  21. Robbo99999

    Robbo99999 Notebook Prophet

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    For the display driver crashing I'd uninstall NVidia graphics drivers, then use a free program called DDU to remove all traces of NVidia drivers ( http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html), then reinstall the Dell NVidia drivers & retest. If necessary install the latest NVidia drives from the NVidia website after installing the Dell NVidia drivers.

    For the wireless problems I'd do the same - uininstall the driver & then reinstall it (the one from the Dell website).
     
  22. leggomygreggo8

    leggomygreggo8 Newbie

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    So I am going to get an R2 for Christmas and it has 8 GB of RAM. Is it enough for today's games?
     
  23. Robbo99999

    Robbo99999 Notebook Prophet

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    As far as I know 8GB system RAM is enough for all games apart from Batman Arkham Knight - a minimum of 12GB is recommended for Windows 10 users when running that particular game. System RAM is pretty cheap though, so you should be able to add another 8GB RAM yourself after you receive your laptop - in fact it might make more financial sense to do it that way (you'd have to compare the price between an 8GB & 16GB system when bought directly from Dell). To give your laptop more future proofing I'd go with 16GB with a laptop being bought today.
     
  24. rtg

    rtg Notebook Enthusiast

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    I found the video crashing occurred when using Firefox. Since using Chrome have not had one crash.

    Make sure you are up to date on drivers and windows updates.

    Good Luck,

    Rob
     
  25. RugbyPlayer

    RugbyPlayer Notebook Consultant

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    Which driver do i get? I cant find any on the alienware site that is for a later os than vista, and dell i cant find the right chipset. Also my memory usage seems high...sitting at 24% with nothing running. the process using the most is "Antimalware Service Executable"
     
  26. juggar

    juggar Notebook Consultant

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    Bruh...

    Use your service tag to lookup drivers on the dell support site.

    Also, 24% is fine and anti malware is just Windows doing its thing.
     
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  27. webjeff

    webjeff Notebook Evangelist

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    Can someone please post a picture of their AW 17 R3 (Nvidia Control Panel -> System Information [lower left of control panel) for the 980m 4GB? I would like to compare it to my 8GB.

    Thank you
     
  28. cruisin5268d

    cruisin5268d Notebook Evangelist

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    I have an Asus ROG Swift connected via Display port (Type-c to display port adapter). Why can't I get G-Sync to work? These are all the options I have in the Nvidia Control Panel. Just the 3D Settings menu....
     

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  29. Robbo99999

    Robbo99999 Notebook Prophet

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    You don't have a 980M installed in your M17xR3 do you??
     
  30. sluggz

    sluggz Notebook Consultant

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    You could try and download the newer driver for the killer wireless suite from killers website. I haven't seen anything about it on here but some people have had issues with display driver crashing on windows 10. There is a new intel display driver available on the dell website and you could always use ddu to get rid of all nvidia drivers and re install the newest driver available on their site. No idea if that will help but its worth a shot
     
  31. webjeff

    webjeff Notebook Evangelist

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    Thanks! The lower-left of that is cut off, that should have the system information. Here's what it should look like in the lower left (see System Information), that should pop a box as well. I'd like to see the contents for a 980m 4GB version:
     

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  32. webjeff

    webjeff Notebook Evangelist

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    Sorry, my sig is old. I just got the AW17 R3 (Latest version). My order clearly says 980m 8GB GDDR5. Frankly, I returned the same model just for the 8GB upgrade, and am now a bit upset.
     
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  33. cruisin5268d

    cruisin5268d Notebook Evangelist

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    I am about to return my model for the 8 GB one as well. I really hope they didn't incorrectly post an 8GB option when no such thing is available...
     
  34. webjeff

    webjeff Notebook Evangelist

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    Good luck, I returned mine, waited a month (still no refund) and got the same laptop (apparently)... damn :( I wanted the 8GB too... IF IT EXISTS!
     
  35. HunterZ0

    HunterZ0 Notebook Consultant

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    TL;DR: Having GPU issues - skip to the bottom!

    I just got an Alienware 17 R3 as an upgrade from my old XPS M1730 that finally more or less died from a bad GPU fan.

    It has 16GB system RAM and an 8GB nVidia GTX 980M.

    I bought a Samsung EVO 850 500GB 2.5" SATA SSD for it because it was much cheaper than what dell wanted for an SSD. Upon receiving the laptop I was disappointed to find that there is only one 2.5" drive slot (the M1730 had two) and 4 m.2 slots. I realized that the easiest way to rectify the situation was to remove the 1TB mechanical HDD (after booting it so that it would register the service tag and Windows key), replace it with the SSD, and then do a clean install of Windows 10 x64 from a USB stick.

    After installing Windows 10 to the SSD, I installed all of the Dell software from the support site (after letting it detect my service tag so that I would get personalized results), then installed the latest nVidia drivers, latest Samsung Magician for the SSD, and latest Logitech software for my new G502 mouse.

    I then installed Fallout 4 via Steam, and the launcher detected Low settings - apparently due to the integrated Intel GPU. I manually set Ultra and launched the game, and was immediately horrified at the multicolored snow artifacting on the main menu (usually an indicator of GPU hardware issues). Upon trying to load a saved game, the whole computer generally freezes and eventually BSODs with various errors (most related to the GPU).

    I tried downgrading back to the nVidia drivers provided by Dell, but the result is the same.

    Dell's GPU test suite and Unigine Heaven DX11 seem to work fine, but I just installed Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director's Cut and am seeing the same multicolor snow artifacts on the main menu, and the same freezing as soon as the actual game starts. DX:HR allows me to explicitly choose a GPU in its launcher, so I know I'm exercising the nVidia GTX 980M.

    I guess I need to get Dell to replace the GPU? What is the best way to contact them to get this done ASAP?
     
  36. MSGaldenzi

    MSGaldenzi Notebook Deity

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    Have you tried any other games? If not, try another semi-demanding FPS game and see if it works. Something easy like borderlands or bioshock could at least let you know if it works. You said that the dell GPU test was ok and that the benchmark you ran was ok too, so I really doubt its the GPU. I would try uninstalling the gpu drivers manually. Rebooting. Then getting the new drivers from Nvidia and trying again. I had an issue where I had 2 drivers that were fighting because for some reason when nvidia experience upgraded my drivers it left the old one there too. If all else fails, contact alienware support via the phone and they will walk you through their steps before getting an exchange. Be prepared to wait 2+ weeks though... could be better, but be ready for the worst. They will let you keep your system until the new one comes in though, so at least you aren't totally out.

    Oh yea, one more thing... This may sound weird but if you really want to try something, maybe put the old spinning drive in there and seeing if the game boots that way. I know this will be a pain, but who knows... maybe something went amess with fresh 10 install.
     
  37. juggar

    juggar Notebook Consultant

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    Just received my new 17 R3(exchange for R2) in today and wow! its so much better than what I had before.

    Runs so much cooler than the other one and the only hiccup was updating the Kionix freefall sensor driver.

    Just bought 16gb of DDR4 ram and after that I should be set. Again, really surprised how much cooler this one runs verses the old haswell unit.

    Any one else noticing that soon after booting into desktop, the left fan then right fan goes to 100% for maybe 1 second each. Is this a normal thing, it only happens once like its a test or something?
     
    Last edited: Dec 17, 2015
  38. HunterZ0

    HunterZ0 Notebook Consultant

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    I figured F4 and DX:HR were enough to warrant calling Dell.

    The Dell rep spent a half hour lobotomizing my drivers and trying to reinstall them before I had to hand over the phone to my wife and leave for an appointment. When I talked to my wife later, she said that the rep finally agreed with my assessment that it was a GPU issue (snowy artifacts usually means some kind of hardware issue, even if it's just overheating or undervolting).

    Apparently I will be getting a call on Monday from a local tech, who will be bringing a new motherboard (not sure why that and not just the GPU?) to my house to swap out.
     
  39. temp00876

    temp00876 Notebook Evangelist

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    What are the CFM rating of the fans? In the AW17 2013, by default it was 1.67 and 1.74 (not sure which is for the CPU and GPU). Had to mod my laptop to use 10.7 and 11.4 CFM fans.
     
    Last edited: Dec 18, 2015
  40. temp00876

    temp00876 Notebook Evangelist

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    The CPU and GPU are soldered :)
     
  41. HunterZ0

    HunterZ0 Notebook Consultant

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    I expected that for the Intel GPU, but the nVidia one is too?

    They'd better not screw up and downgrade me from the 8GB GTX 980M...
     
  42. juggar

    juggar Notebook Consultant

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    I would be very weary. Show the tech that you have 8gb before he changes it. if its 4 after then at least he will have witnessed it.
     
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  43. radam9

    radam9 Notebook Enthusiast

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  44. steveg66

    steveg66 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hoping this is a simple answer, because it's harder than heck to explain: Early 2015 17R2 which is doing pretty well, I'm a rather novice with computers especially of this caliber. I get a approx. second long "flicker" in the screen where the darker shades of gray lighten up and then it goes back.

    I think all of my drivers are up to date since i did that a month ago and still doing it.

    Anyone else have this problem? I've held off asking because it's so hard to describe. It's basically a second long flicker....

    Any thoughts?

    I'd really appreciate any remedies and or help in describing if you're aware of this type of thing so that if I need to send back to AW for warranty, they can fix while they've got it.

    Thanks,
    SteveG
     
  45. Gamespy

    Gamespy Notebook Enthusiast

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    Sry for tarzan english  :). Hi all i waited for mu aw17r3 5 mounth long story.... Tomorow it will arrive and by steps pls tell me what to do to check if the laptop works correctly (only fee benchmarks...). Im from Serbia and its hard to send it back again and again to usa to repair laptop. First one didnt work. Now i hope second will.... System is i7-6820, 16gb ddr4, 4k display, nvidia 980m 4gb, psu 240w, 1tb 7400 hdd. Yes i know its better to have sdd but i dont have a single dollar more to spend on anything because mouse, headphones, tablet, vindicator backpack cost around 400$. Tnx :D. I will be really dissapointed if its not working 100% :( :mad:. Replay here or to my mail [email protected]
     
    Last edited: Dec 19, 2015
  46. smp76

    smp76 Newbie

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    So got my AW17 R3 and DAMN this is one sweet machine :D Put in my 950 PRO right away and the speed is insane on those! http://prntscr.com/9fyqw4 and http://prntscr.com/9fyr0w

    Specs ended up as follows
    I7 6820HK 4.1Ghz
    16 GB Kingston HyperX 2133 DDR4
    GTX 980M 8GB Samsung 950 512GB boot + 1tb HDD (Will replace with a 850 EVO at some point)
    17" UHD IGZO IPS 400 Nits
    Windows 10 Home (Might upgrade it to pro)
    2 year on site warrenty

    Have not played around much with overclocking yet and dont use a GPU amp, did a quick 3dmark run with following results
    http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/9795962?

    The fans could be less noisy otherwise this is one insane laptop! Having owned both MSI GT72 and ASUS G751 i can say, of the 3, this one smokes the others :p
     
  47. sphinxx

    sphinxx Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hey guys, I just got my Alienware 17r3 for a week. I found that my Alienware has big trouble with the subwoofer. Whenever I plug USB/External hard drive in two USB ports next to Power jack. The subwoofer makes terribly annoying noise, I can even hear it in 3 meters (~9 feets) away. If I change to the other side USB port, problem gone. So, I tried to re-install Audio driver couple times, but it didn't work. What should I do to fix it ? Has anybody had same problem ? I love the machine so much. But this is such a bummer, because I listen to music a lot, and due to my table design, I can't use right side USB port with USB/External hard drive.
     
  48. HunterZ0

    HunterZ0 Notebook Consultant

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    @Gamespy @smp76 I opted out of SSD as well, as Dell wanted too much for one that would be big enough for me. Unfortunately I didn't realize that there is only one SATA bay/connector and 4 m.2 SSD slots, so I had to replace the 1TB SATA with the SATA 500GB 850 Evo SSD that I ordered on the same day as the laptop. Fortunately it was easy to replace the 1TB with the SSD and just do a clean install of Windows 10, but now I have a 1TB drive that isn't being used (I guess I'll put it in one of my desktops, although I have ~5TB of combined storage in those already).

    @sphinxx You have one HDD that plugs into 2 ports? Why is this? You're probably creating a ground loop or the USB HDD may just be putting noise on the ground line, and the subwoofer is probably sharing that ground line. If one of the USB plugs is for power, can you try powering it from a source other than the laptop? Another option is to use a USB isolator, but that may limit your USB speed. If you have a fast LAN, you could also try hosting the USB HDD on another computer and access it via the LAN. Yet another option may be to see if a right-angle USB adapter might get you access to your right side USB ports even with your table limitation.
     
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  49. HunterZ0

    HunterZ0 Notebook Consultant

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    Does it happen at a particular time? If it's random then I would suspect a hardware problem.
     
  50. Gamespy

    Gamespy Notebook Enthusiast

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    120 gb ssd and boot time ia 1 minute. What to doooooooo? :mad: :( :(
     
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