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

Hi guys, when i plug the charger my laptop freeze like 4 or 8 sec also sometime if my laptop freeze while the charger on i have to take it off to stop the freezing .

I did a new win 10 so know i have two win 10 and one win 7 the problem is in all of them .

Anyone know how to fix that or what is going.

Thank you
@Mr. Fox

 

I am not sure what would be causing it if it is a hardware problem, but it may be something like too much of a CPU or GPU undervolt. Try setting your BIOS to default values and if you have MSI Afterburner undervolting values set to be applied automatically change that to defaults. If you are using ThrottleStop to start at launch with an undervolt, delete the ThrottleStop.ini file to erase your custom settings. If the freezing problem goes away that would confirm the CPU and/or GPU undervolt was overly zealous and needs to be toned down.

 

Thank you for answering me I did try too many solution none of them work also

I have multiple windows installed on my Alienware 17 R2

1-windows 7 ( same problem)

2-windows 10 (same problem)

3- windows 10 installed 2 weeks ago ( same problem)

I'm NOT using MSI Afterburner or ThrottleStop
I tried to set my BIOS to default values the problem still the same.

Thank you for looking into my problem

 

Oh man. I am really sorry. It certainly seems like you're having a hardware failure of some kind. If all of those Windows installations have the same problem, that pretty much rules out a software related issue.

Any ideas @Papusan?

 

It looks like it's out of questions try reflash bios or flash an older one with the problems he have (when i plug the charger my laptop freeze like 4 or 8 sec also sometime if my laptop freeze while the charger on i have to take it off to stop the freezing). Not a good idea try this with this type problems.

Not sure if he have tried install new OS without installing any drivers or software. See how it works without anything installed. Maybe also try an another ssd for the OS.

 

Its ok i can do the flash i did that before

I also have every WINDOWS in different SSD, I have 3 SSD .


I also get this blue screen a lot on Windows 7 ONLY

 

See if WhoCrashed can catch some of the problems. Look into the log after freezes/BSOD and google the results. WhoCrashed Introduction https://www.resplendence.com/whocrashed

 

Does anything in Device Manager report a problem or error code?

 

No everything look good, Also when I start my laptop (after the pass screen) everything will freeze and one fan will go high speed then stop then the other one will do the same ( all that take about 2-8 second) but i got used to it .

 

Did you try running Windows Memory Diagnostic?

 

Well, yes I get too much blue screen in the past while I'm playing and I found out one RAM is defective (I have 16 RAM) and i did work with 8 RAM until i got new one, so I think there is no problem with that.

Also when I start my laptop (after the password screen then to the desktop) everything will freeze and one fan will go high speed then stop then the other one will do the same ( all that take about 2-8 second) but i got used to it .

 

I am running out of suggestions. Based on everything you have tried, and because it only seems to happen when connecting the AC adapter, it seems you have a hardware malfunction. If you already tried a different AC adapter and confirmed that the AC adapter is not at fault, I would be wondering about the motherboard. You seem to have ruled out everything else. Set Windows High performance power profile active. Make sure no Dell/Alienware software is installed. No "Support Assist" trash and no Alienware Command Center. Try running Linux from USB and see if the problem exists.

Seems that it might be one of the fringe benefits of owning a Dell product, but it shouldn't be. Maybe it is not unknown, but it certainly is not normal.

https://www.dell.com/community/Lapt...when-I-connect-AC-adapter/m-p/5015797#M893929

https://www.dell.com/community/Lapt...r-plugged-in-for-Charging/m-p/4699910#M871646

https://www.dell.com/community/Lapt...zes-when-inserting-power-adapter/td-p/3446446

 

Any freezes/BSOD when you used your old single ram stick?

What with temps?

 

I did tried 2 AC adapter (180W and 240w) , I think I really have a hardware malfunction no idea where or how to fix it

I will try to run Linux from USB ( i don't know how to do that so i need time to learn about it )


I'm not really good at this thing, but i do like to read to learn to try to fix thing.

Also do you have any comment for this problem when I start my laptop (after the password screen then to the desktop) everything will freeze and one fan will go high speed then stop then the other one will do the same ( all that take about 2-8 second) but i got used to it .

 

yes all old problem still until now no fix ( but the RAM problem was a new problem but it got fixed)

sorry my english is not that good its a second language

 

Have you checked the DC cable?
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/alienware-15r2-17r3-bios-1-6-1.821638/page-9#post-10783038

 

i will check later (i'm getting ready for work ) but i'm sure its ok coz i did check when I replaced my RAM

 

Download Linux Mint Cinnamon 20. https://linuxmint.com/download.php and use Rufus or Balena Etcher and create a bootable USB stick. Boot from that instead of Windows OS. https://linuxmint-installation-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/burn.html (choose a different language if you need to https://linuxmint.com/documentation.php)

Very possibly the issue with the fans is directly related to the freezing with AC adapter connected. If not the cable for the AC adapter jack, then possibly the motherboard.

 

If I remember correctly I had this issue with freezing and fan speed going high and freeze for a few seconds again. For my case the cause of the problem is Dell Support Assist but it seems you did not install this and still having a problem so can't really help there. Just giving you an idea. Also I have encountered an issue where my laptop freeze when idle and the cause of the problem was intel RST link power management. You need to disable this. Hope this might help. Again if you are having BSOD please install WhoCrashed as it will help identify the cause.

Edited:
Also can I ask what Bios are you on? Have you tried shorting the CLRP pins which are normally located behind the ram sticks on the motherboard. Note that a sign that the CMOS battery or the CLRP pins are shorted properly is when you first turn on the laptop the computer will turn on for a few seconds then suddenly turn off and again turn on again. I suggest when you short the pins take your time at least short it for a minute.
Hope this helps.

 

I believe this is nvidia optimus issue which can be fixed by installing latest DCH drivers from Intel. Make sure power profile for nvidia is set to optimal instead of adaptive.

 

That BSOD is because of W7 USB3 driver for skylake and Skylake model BIOS by Dell is fully locked down for W7 on EFI you can try it on Legacy mode.

This is usual Dell BIOS memory issue. I thought I had defective RAM and I re-flashed my BIOS using Dell BIOS recovery to restore it as new and popped the RAM in after cleaning the gold contact of RAM and SSD. I would suggest you to visit win-raid and flash latest MEI FW for PCH-H model since it solves most issues and vulnerabilities of Intel CPUs.

 

nothing new about my issue

I'm testing Linux Mint Cinnamon 20 so far no problem at all in this system

I'm still trying to find out what's going on lol


Thanks to all who tried to help and answered my questions . Thank you

@Papusan @Mr. Fox @Vasudev

 

I'd suggest keeping dGPU in Nvidia optimized mode if you want fractional scaling which works on intel GPU and not on proprietary GPU drivers from nvidia ! I setup linux in efi mode and signed everything and then found out nvidia driver has issues and now its in in-secure boot to allow undervolting of CPU at startup.

 

I will be resurrecting my AW 17 R3 (i7-6700 & 970m) here shortly..
It suffered from a cracked bottom case and a FHD screen with a hairline crack across the bottom.
Damage came from lugging it around in my Targus backpack a couple years ago and just got around to finding the funds to bring it out of storage. (Work gives me a new XPS 15 each year with a Dell dock, so even my AGA is mothballed)

I'm sure the battery is toast and the CMOS bat is drained.

List of activities to get done in the next 2 weeks:
- Clean fans/swap case bottom/screen and repaste (Kryonaut) cpu/gpu
- New keyboard (old one had some pretty worn out keys on it)
- New 32GB of ram (never messed with the 8GB it came with)
- New 512GB Adata XPG 8200 (512GB) and 1TB Adata Su800 (has been sitting on my shelf for a while now)
- Upgrade to an intel 8265 wifi card (never liked the "killer" for wifi at home)
- Install Win10 Pro (It has Home, but, can I do a "fresh" install or Pro?) [planning to stick with 1809 for now]
- New CX450m PSU, 92mm fan, and a 2nd hand 1070 G1 w/8GB in the AGA

Everything said and done for under $500 (If only I had bought the 3yr instead of 2yr warranty protection)

Only question I have is, if I added a 2nd NVMe drive, and wanted to install Ubuntu 20.04 on it, do I want to use Grub and install Ubuntu on the drive in bay1 after I install Win10 on the drive in bay2? (leaving my 1TB SSD/SATA drive for games)

[I'm going to be playing with Tensorflow in ubuntu on the 970m and the 1070 g1]

ETA - 20200926: All of these fixes and updates to my AW17R3 have been completed. Only had to wait for the new display to show, which was a week late. Smooth as ever now and runs cooler.

 

Use Single disk to install Ubuntu and W10. Its easier to maintain and reinstall is quicker since you don't have to remove other SSDs in case it wrecks the bootloaders.

 

Yeah, I'm kinda wondering about that. I did this on one other system, but, my AW 17 R3 has 3 drive bays (2xNVMe 1xSATA/SSD).
1. setup Ubuntu 20.04 LTS on the "first" NVME drive
2. remove Ubuntu NVME drive
3. Install Win10 + drivers on "second" NVME drive
4. re-install Ubuntu NVME drive
5. Update grub in Ubuntu and change boot order in Bios to start from that drive

I'd like to keep my Win10 drive "solo".

Only other question is if the 2nd NVMe drive will be at the same speed as the first. I thought I read where if you have 2xNVME drives installed, they don't both run at the same speed.

Thoughts?

 

Even I heard, 2xPCIe NVMe drive doesn't run at 4x and falls back to PCIe 3.0 2x. That's why i opted for SATA M.2.
You can use Boot repair x64 ISO to repair Grub2-efi or just use rEFInd to boot into your ubuntu 20 and then run update-grub from terminal.

 

If both drives top out at 800Mb/sec, vs 533MB/sec on the SATA drive, I'll be happy for now.

 

After a repaste and detailed cleaning of the fans, it running much cooler. I've not done any serious stress testing, but, most temps on idle are in the 40-50 range. Watching videos or during a drive scan it goes up around the 60s, popped up to 70C once or twice as frequency hit 3200(?) but never even approached anything more than that.

Its much snappier than I remember it, maybe because of the newer generation NVMe drive and 32GB of 2400 memory.

Just need to finish the Alienware "branding" and find a theme worth installing for Windows. Linux was boring to install and zero issue getting things going. Still need to setup the other Tensorflow libs and Python goodies.

 

Alienware Customization - Wallpapers, OEM Info, Start Menu

 

Thanks Spartan!!!

Super helpful. I've added those to my 17 R3 and I am in the process of getting the configs in Ubuntu to look similar.

 

Edited:
Nevermind all sorted

 

I reluctantly installed BIOS 1.8.0 a couple weeks ago. I can't recall exactly what BIOS I was on previously, but it was something more current than 1.3.12. Anyways, the problem I seemed to be having with 1.8.0 is when I restart the computer (Windows 10), I would be slow to get past the "Alienware" screen and then it would say "can't find boot device" or something along those lines. It was very consistent on reboots. I tried a fresh install of Windows 10 and that did not resolve the problem either. If I shut the computer down completely, it did not seem to have a problem booting up when I hit the power button.

Reading through this thread, I saw some references to boot issues with some of the current BIOS versions. Does my issue seem to be in-line with the problems folks were having? Assuming so, what are my options for possibly downgrading and will that even fix the issue?

 

I was having a weird problem with booting "cleanly" into either Ubuntu or Win10 after doing a fresh install. I've seen this happen before with a screwed up uefi entry.

After I did a windows 10 update (190x) and updated to the latest 20.04.1 LTS on ubuntu, I can swap back and forth on reboot and cold boot no problem.
NOTE: I am running a dual-drive arrangement for booting off of nvme with a sata/ssd for game/data

There are uefi clean up tools that are our there. do read through the notes on installation and precautions. Alienware bios is not like other Dell UEFI setups where you can manually select the file (at least not that I have seen)

 

It's weird that it only happens on "restarts".

 

Note I installed BIOS 1.11.0 that was released 10/30 and it fixed my boot issue(s). Ended up having to do a clean install of Windows 10 after the BIOS upgrade, but all is well now!

 

Can you kindly test if undervolting still works with the new bios? Thanks..

 

Where do I go in the BIOS to find this?

 

by doing this:
Could you please download ThrottleStop then run it and click on the FIVR tab? Even nicer if you could click unlock voltage in there and add -15mv offset for Core voltage and click apply. Post screenshot.
Once done to fully remove ThrottleStop you must delete it and shut down your laptop. Not just restart. Shut down is needed and once done all settings that you've change from ThrottleStop will revert to its default.

https://www.techpowerup.com/download/techpowerup-throttlestop/

 

It's all about the drivers.I recently reinstalled Windows 10 on Alienware 17R2.Drivers were quickly installed from the Internet.After that, there was a problem with the fans after loading the OS.
I had to reinstall Windows again.

1.I turned off the Internet completely(turned off the router).

2.Installed from a flash drive Windows 10, formatted the disk With.

3.On the desktop in order put the drivers downloaded from the site dell.com.

OTB-Survey-Dell-Customer-Connect_9WC61_WIN_1.5.1.0_A00 rebooted the laptop
Chipset_Driver_KVW38_WN_10.0.30.1072_A00 rebooted the laptop
Alienware-13_Chipset_Driver_NHJ0R_WN_10.0.20_A00 rebooted the laptop
Network_Driver_M33C6_WN32_1.1.54.1217_A00 rebooted the laptop
Video_Driver_R9FR7_WN32_20.19.15.4531_A04 rebooted the laptop
457.30-notebook-win10-64bit-international-dch-whql rebooted the laptop
Audio_Driver_483TY_WN32_1.1.0_A00 (this diver was playing from disk C) rebooted the laptop
Dell-Touchpad-Driver_9NNK9_WIN_19.2.17.70_A11 rebooted the laptop
Network_Driver_90M6T_WN_1.4.1_A00 rebooted the laptop
System-Utilities_Driver_TGP2J_WN_1.1.2.8_A00 rebooted the laptop
AWCC-enhance-for-NBs_00WMC_WIN64_4.0.54.0_A00 rebooted the laptop

You need to put the drivers in this order.

After that, I turned on the Internet and installed the remaining drivers using the Driver Booster Portable program.

2 weeks I have a laptop running and never have any problems with the fans after loading Windows.

 

I don't reccomend this.
I had a similar issue and it was caused by the dell SupportAssist and the services Dell Data Vault Data Collection Service. Disable them under task manager and see if that solves the problem.

 

yesterday I updated the bios on my 15 r2 from 1.7.0 to 1.8.0, the update went ok, nothing unusual, I checked the system for any changes, none, also the undervolting seems to be working correctly. so I went and installed the latest 1.11.0 bios update without any hesitation, the flashing procedure went fine, laptop boots to windows, all good. then the drama started when I opened XTU utility to check if the undervolt profile is running, it was not!, the voltage offset sliders were grayed out!, ffs why would dell do such a change? they certainly want to push their products as a human finger-thigh toaster - sandwich maker. anyways, I managed to downgrade the bios to 1.8.0 and I restored the beloved undervolting feature.
TLDR : if you want to keep undervolting your cpu BEWARE of updating the bios to version 1.11.0 unless you want to waste some time and gain some headache + some burn marks here and there.

regards.

 

According to users who knows their stuff very good, the HK processors has unlocked multiplier and voltage so non-HK CPUs are locked out from undervolting.

I have the unlocked HK CPU and still can undervolt on 1.11.0. Thanks for the clarification.

And for a update on the reseat memory issue during boot

Update, 2/26, from our Dell Rockstar interface:

"The latest update I found was stating there would be a fix/update for SupportAssist towards the end of March that should fix the Alienware and Inspiron systems."

https://www.dell.com/community/Alienware/17-R4-reseat-the-memory-message/td-p/7753621/page/31

 

I think I reported it in 15r2 and Black listed Thread that took out undervolting. I was checking fan noise on my lap and with BIOS 1.11 the laptop was very hot and fans ramped up to max in matter of minutes. Used Dell flash utility to rollback and ignored security warning and I'm not updating BIOS anymore.

 

New BIOS v1.12.0 - https://www.dell.com/support/home/e...fcxk&oscode=wt64a&productcode=alienware-17-r3
@ThomasAAT You updating?

 

Dell added in...
Important Information
You cannot downgrade the BIOS to version 1.11.0 and earlier, due to downgrade restrictions.

You'll never be able to downgrade below 1.11.0 with the Plundervolt patch if you one time will need it.

 

I would not mind that as long as you can undervolt. I am hoping they added the security patch but at the same time not disabling undervolt.

 

Yes, on doing it now. Report back.

 

Back after the flash. All went well. And regarding the undervolt, According to users who knows their stuff very good, the HK processors has unlocked multiplier and voltage so non-HK CPUs are locked out from undervolting. I have the HK so I should still be able to undervolt. And I do not plan to downgrade anyway, so for me it does not matter if its no longer possible.
Some info:

 

@ThomasAAT I am currently having an issue with my laptop which is on this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...dle-by-the-time-screen-display-is-off.835776/
I was wondering if you have any idea how to fix this. If not, can I ask a favor that you install GPUZ and check you intel graphics card if it shows Bios version. Mine is currently saying Unknown. Thanks.