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    *OFFICIAL* Alienware Area-51M R1 Owner's Lounge

    Discussion in '2015+ Alienware 13 / 15 / 17' started by ssj92, Jan 8, 2019.

  1. HaloGod2012

    HaloGod2012 Notebook Virtuoso

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    Anyone find out how upgrades are handled yet? Are they selling GPU upgrades through dell?
     
  2. SacraficeMyGoat

    SacraficeMyGoat Notebook Evangelist

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    Nothing yet. Let's hope they stick to their word and release DGFF upgrades before the year is over..
     
  3. Timoonn

    Timoonn Notebook Geek

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    Well, my one month old second unit is now having the same audio output problem than the first one.
    The output jack only work on left channel. The input port can work as an output and work normally.
     
    Last edited: Sep 10, 2019
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  4. Vasudev

    Vasudev Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Even I have the same issue on my older AW though I can see it on Ubuntu but not in Windows. It seems to default to High security mode that can accept only approved docks or something.
     
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  5. doofus99

    doofus99 Notebook Deity

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    What is the model name / where can this be seen ?
     
  6. Nicolas Paiva

    Nicolas Paiva Notebook Geek

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  7. Spartan@HIDevolution

    Spartan@HIDevolution Company Representative

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    @Papusan @Mr. Fox

    So here's Alienware Support's reply on Twitter regarding my concern of why they are updating the graphics drivers for all laptops EXCEPT their freakin' flagship model!

    Classical Dell Sw!ss Ch33$3
     
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  8. doofus99

    doofus99 Notebook Deity

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    Did you not once say that your machine is running just great and until and unless yours had stopped working you'd blame all the blow-ups, fires and crashes on the user? Apologies if that statement was not from you.

    I had the same on two of my Clevos, bad quality 3.5mm socket, did you try to jiggle the connector a little to see if it makes a difference?
     
  9. Papusan

    Papusan Jokebook's Sucks! Dont waste your $$$ on Filthy

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    They probaly need them themself :)
    Guess who of them got some love from Alienware, yesterday? AW 17r2 vs Area-51m
    upload_2019-9-10_21-32-0.png
    They treat their flagship ship as the stepchild [​IMG]
     
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  10. Timoonn

    Timoonn Notebook Geek

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    If I jiggle the jack, the sound jump from left only to stero, but no stable position.
     
  11. jclausius

    jclausius Notebook Virtuoso

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    With all the replacements made to this unit, just one more thing to go bye-bye, right? ( In this thread you mention how this machine's replacements in one way or another have had bad luck. http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...-owners-lounge.826831/page-1456#post-10938793 )

    If anyone thinks the machine is bringing you bad luck, with all the items you've mentioned over these past months, it's more like you walked under a ladder inside while holding an opened umbrella, tripped over a black cat that also crossed your path, which then caused you to stumble and break a mirror and spill a shaker of salt.

     
    Last edited: Sep 11, 2019
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  12. ole!!!

    ole!!! Notebook Prophet

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    dell should really fix this and step it up. their next machine better have standard mxm and socket 10 core cpu with everything improved. quality really dropped since the m18xr1/r2 age.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 11, 2019
  13. RMLJD

    RMLJD Notebook Consultant

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    I have to test mine....but on witcher 3 its only putting out left Audio...

    Ok..I tested it and I have the same issue. With headphones, Volume loud on left side hardly there on right. Fast search shows others with this issue. Jiggling jack not helping.

    Anyone else have this issue? Any suggested fixes?

    Ok...try a headphone that has a mic. mine will only play both channels with my earbuds/mic and headphone/mic.

    My two no mic cans and earbuds...just left channel.

    When I set the popup to "headphones" instead of "headphones with mic" I lose the right channel even with the mic/headphones. .

    Anyone have any ideas?
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 11, 2019
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  14. Tim V.

    Tim V. Notebook Guru

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    -----

    I have the same issue with the audio jacks, ended up buying the 510H headphones so I can plug in via usb. Even then I have to make sure the connection into the headset is pushed in good and snug. But the sound is great.
     
  15. S.K

    S.K Batch 80286

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    I still stand by my comment. The hardware burning issues are still largely because of user maltreatment in addition to bad silicon luck/QC fail. In my case, nothing burned (in case you didn't read my comment closely enough). You cannot prevent the main chip from dying when it's time has come in case of nVidia. I have seen EVGA and STRIX water cooled cards with stock clocks go out in a similar fashion before (i have around 30 cards from GTX 10 series so you're hearing it from the horse's mouth).

    Yes I'm going through bad times these days as far as luck is concerned. Still recovering from a totally torn apart foot injury with multiple tendon amd ligament tears. Life can be a bioch at times but you gotta live through the hardships. ;)
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 11, 2019
  16. RMLJD

    RMLJD Notebook Consultant

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    So its even weirder...my headphone with mic will put out both channels only if I select "headphone with mic" from the dropdown that pops up when you plug in. If I pick "headphone" it drops Right channel .

    Anyone else have both kinds of headphones to test? I'm thinking this has something to do with the mic headphone combo having a 3 zone plug...vs 2 for non mic headphones.

    Had my left knee rebuilt after a MTB accident (cuse im too stubborn to accept ima old)

    Follow your PT completely, it gets better but you have to rehab right. Don't over do the recovery. I did and had about a cup of blood drained from the knee with a freakishly large needle. It was ....highly unpleasant! But im back on the bike with full use.

    Heck, the Eagles have a starting defensive lineman (Brandon Brooks) who is back from a Achilles tear in less then 7 months!
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 11, 2019
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  17. Fire Tiger

    Fire Tiger Notebook Deity

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    Does anyone know what screen the below is? Looking to see if this is LG/AUO/Mei Chi etc.

    LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY, 17.3FHD, AG, INX
     
  18. DaMafiaGamer

    DaMafiaGamer Switching laptops forever!

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    innolux aka Chi Mei - best in the game for fast response time panels...
     
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  19. Fire Tiger

    Fire Tiger Notebook Deity

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    Thanks for clarifying this, no G-Sync if I revert to the older BIOS then :(
     
  20. DaMafiaGamer

    DaMafiaGamer Switching laptops forever!

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    Yeah, it doesn’t have g-sync on older bioses as these panels came after LG and auo...
     
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  21. jc_denton

    jc_denton BGA? What a shame.

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  22. GerhardK

    GerhardK Notebook Guru

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    I think anyone with GPU failures should also note with bios and vbios they're using. Maybe make a summary thread. Maybe it's not random at all. Just throwing it out there.

    Edit: not trying to stir the pot, just a thought.
     
    Last edited: Sep 11, 2019
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  23. Papusan

    Papusan Jokebook's Sucks! Dont waste your $$$ on Filthy

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    I haven't seen many RTX cards dying in other brands notebooks. And neither in desktops.
     
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  24. DaMafiaGamer

    DaMafiaGamer Switching laptops forever!

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    Neither and I have a feeling that the vrms used on the gpu may not be doing their job properly. It could very well be that poor voltage control has killed the die, such as poor voltage ripple isolation when the gpu switches p states....

    My HP omen has the same vrms (ncp303150) but more of them lol, as mentioned before yet they use a 150w vbios. I wonder why, maybe because they know and understand that going any higher may result in instability :)
     
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  25. AlexIonita

    AlexIonita Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hello everyone.
    I've bought an Alienware area51m system( i9 9900k, 32gbram ddr4 2666mhz, SSD, RTX2060)
    I use the laptop when I m away from home to render 3d images (this program uses 100% of the cpu to render an image over a period of time of 2-3 hours each frame at high res)

    Yesterday I started using it and in the first seconds of rendering I get 98-99 degrees celsius on the CPU. I contacted Dell and they say it s perfectly fine to have temperatures that high as long as it doesn t reach over 100 Celsius. They also said that the wear of the components isn't greater at these high temps and that the i9900k is made to sustain these high core temps.

    I do not trust them since it might slowly cook my motherboard and other components. My previous system: acer predator i7 7700hq only peaked as high as 80 degrees celsius, but it is 3 times slower than the new i9

    WHAT SHOULD I DO ?
    1) undervolt ? I would but I have no balanced scheme for it. Is there anyone that found a good one for i9900k ?
    2) return it ?
    3) use a cooling pad ? but that will not really do anything great
    4) change the thermal paste ? if yes, what s the best one ?

    Thanks everyone for your help !
     
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  26. Papusan

    Papusan Jokebook's Sucks! Dont waste your $$$ on Filthy

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    From what I know...

    Clevo RTX 2080 uses 11 single FET phases
    AW RTX 2080 uses 6 doubled FET phases
    MSI uses 6 single + 2 doubled FET phases

    Have you seen specs for Asus 2080 Mobile graphics power delivery layout? Should be 200w card from the beginning (the reason Azor forced his engineers to add 200w vBios he later downgraded to 180 or 190w TGP with latest vBios update). And none of Asus BGA cards have died as far as I know.

    And the GPU power delivery is active cooled on all other brands models.
    WHAT SHOULD I DO ?
    1) undervolt ? I would but I have no balanced scheme for it. Is there anyone that found a good one for i9900k ? Start with -100mv undervolt
    2) return it ? Up to you (read the thread). But check also GPU, VRM, PCH and SSD temps.
    3) use a cooling pad ? but that will not really do anything great. Won't help much.
    4) change the thermal paste ? if yes, what s the best one ? Conductonaut liquid metal or Phobya Nano Grease Extreme. + check thermal pads imprint from the components.
     
    Last edited: Sep 11, 2019
  27. AlexIonita

    AlexIonita Notebook Enthusiast

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    Do you guys think Dell is telling the truth about the fact that running i9 9900k processor on Alienware laptop at 90+ degrees C over long periods of time won t damage it (I mean the wear won t be higher ?)

    Basically they are telling me that if I run it under 100 degrees C there will be no extra wear as long as the temp doesn t exceed that peak.
     
  28. Papusan

    Papusan Jokebook's Sucks! Dont waste your $$$ on Filthy

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    I wouldn't run it at 100C 24/7.

    Read my posts... For Dell support is 100C ok. What they in short say... The Coffee Lake processor supports a higher clock rate than Kaby Lake or older processors. That means these systems noticeably generate more heat and fan speed when compared to any previous generation of systems. Because of this, Dell engineering has designed the systems to tolerate higher temperatures. These are working as designed. The new specifications are:
    http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...m-owners-lounge.826831/page-664#post-10890152

    They have designed the systems to tolerate.... Sure. They prefer use Intel's max temp specs as target https://ark.intel.com/content/www/u...9900k-processor-16m-cache-up-to-5-00-ghz.html
    upload_2019-9-11_18-21-7.png
     
    Last edited: Sep 11, 2019
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  29. Fabietto

    Fabietto Newbie

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    Hi guys, I live in Italy and excuse my English. today I am making the second return of the 51m area (i9 9900k + rtx 2080) because as soon as the GPU reaches 78 degrees the performance drops drastically, the technical support says that it does not know the reason for this problem. since it is the second consecutive unit that has this problem, I ask you if here in the forum there is someone who does not find this problem? I want to understand if it's worth trying with a third unit or should I choose another notebook?
     
  30. GerhardK

    GerhardK Notebook Guru

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    This is well documented on this forum: The newer bios throttles the GPU at that temperature. It will always occur unless you install an earlier bios (1.5 or previous) or wait until they release a newer bios without the throttling (if they ever do). You could try setting the thermal limit in ACC or another GPU OC software to 76 to see if that makes it a slight throttle down-clock vs a hard throttle. I find it funny the technical support doesn't even know that this happens LOL. Double check and post your bios and vbios versions to confirm that's actually whats happening maybe?
     
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  31. Dc_Striker

    Dc_Striker Notebook Guru

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    It’s the bios? What bios are you running?
     
  32. Fabietto

    Fabietto Newbie

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    I'm asking right here for the answers I got from Dell support, even today he was telling me that he had 2 area 51m in the office that was great and he advised me to make another return because it was definitely a factory problem .... bios 1.7.2 and vbios v1.0.0.5
     
  33. GerhardK

    GerhardK Notebook Guru

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    Well you have your answer now. It's the bios versions 1.5.2 and above that cause the GPU to throttle at those temps. I believe prior to 1.7.2 it was throttling at 74 so there's a slight improvement there. If you order another one and it has the same updated bios it will continue to keep happening. Not necessarily anything wrong with the computer, dell is simply trying to avoid frying new GPU's.
     
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  34. Fabietto

    Fabietto Newbie

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    ok but this way the pc is unusable, every 7/10 minutes this happens, the pc is fantastic, but it's a gaming pc and if i can't play i'll have to choose another notebbok .... thanks guys
     
  35. GerhardK

    GerhardK Notebook Guru

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    You'll have to lower the clocks and undervolt the GPU, repaste and repad, and/or limit the temperature to before the throttle.

    Or just return it.
     
  36. Fabietto

    Fabietto Newbie

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    I lowered the gpu clock 500Mhz and the problem still appears after about 30/40 minutes..undervolt gpu I don't know how to do it
     
  37. GerhardK

    GerhardK Notebook Guru

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    Just one example, the guy goes through it pretty well and he's actually using the area 51m too. There's plenty of other similar videos as well. Might drop your temps a few degrees especially if you've underclocked it. I would repaste as well (if your comfortable with that) and/or make sure it's clamped down properly.

    EDIT: Also if you follow that video, use the OC scanner first before you start changing voltages and clock speeds.
     
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  38. Timoonn

    Timoonn Notebook Geek

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    I tried to undervolt the 9900k with XTU, it worked fine at -100 but the soft never keep the value after a reboot.
     
  39. GerhardK

    GerhardK Notebook Guru

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    Several people have had that issue. That's why throttle stop is a better program in that regard. Can set it to open and auto UV on startup.
     
  40. Spartan@HIDevolution

    Spartan@HIDevolution Company Representative

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    Alienware Area-51m Drivers 11-Sep-19

    New nVIDIA Graphics Driver, LAN, WLAN, and Bluetooth Drivers

    After downloading the ZIP file, make sure you right click on it, then go to Properties, then tick the box at the bottom right which says unblock. If you don't do this an extract the ZIP while it's blocked, then every file within the ZIP will be extracted with a BLOCKED status which might lead to failed or erroneous installs.
     
  41. Fabietto

    Fabietto Newbie

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    I tried until now about 1 hour of game, clock 1830 Mhz and 0.950 Mv maximum temperature 70/71 degrees ... good.
    Thank you very much
     
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  42. GerhardK

    GerhardK Notebook Guru

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    No problem!
     
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  43. RMLJD

    RMLJD Notebook Consultant

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    If anyone has a standard non mic headphones could you please plug them in and see if you have L and R channel sound? Im thinking it will just be left channel...

    I would be grateful.
     
  44. S.K

    S.K Batch 80286

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    1: Delid the CPU and put some liquid metal between the dye and IHS.
    2: Undervolt the CPU. Start with -100mV and move your way down from there until it starts crashing. Once it crashes, bump it up a couple of notches and call it a day. A good stress test for CPU is NFS Payback (the game). Works better for determining CPU stability than a lot of benchmarks out there. 15-20 minutes of game play will crash the machine if CPU is unstable, so you know and can increase the voltage back until it stops crashing.


    Move to BIOS 1.5 and vBIOS 1.0.0.3. You should be able to downgrade directly. If not, use the BIOS downgrade guide link that I've placed in my signature below my post. Your machine is most likely OK. This is just BIOS effing things up for you.
     
    Last edited: Sep 11, 2019
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  45. Trulyfatal

    Trulyfatal Notebook Consultant

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    So today started up my 51M noticed some numpad keys not working anymore like 0, or . + *

    did this happen to anyone else here ?
     
  46. raza1983

    raza1983 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Is it just me or does this laptop boot up slower than expected? About 15 sec, 6 seconds of which it's at the rainbow effect / bios post stage (hope that makes sense)

    My old Asus g751 used to boot in half that.

    It's a 9700k/rtx2070 machine so I have all updates to the newest as I don't get near the throttle limits even on balanced fan profile.
     
  47. Fire Tiger

    Fire Tiger Notebook Deity

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    Highly unlikely to be this, but have you made sure that the OS isn't pre-installed on the 1TB SSHD (if you have one)? Some people were reporting that the OS had been installed on their SSHD/HDD instead of the SSD.
     
  48. raza1983

    raza1983 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I did a clean install of Windows shortly after receiving the laptop so it's definitely running off the m.2 SSD.
    I also have fast startup enabled and unnecessary apps at boot are disabled.

    I know it's not a huge boot time but I just expected a laptop with such a massive increase in power to boot up at least as fast as a 5 year old laptop lol
     
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  49. custom90gt

    custom90gt Doc Mod Super Moderator

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    DDR4 and NVMe SSDs add seconds to the pre-boot (bios) as they initialize. It's not limited to the 51M.
     
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  50. raza1983

    raza1983 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Ahhh so it's working as it should, cheers for the info
     
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