At the end of my tether, what can I do?

I'm at the breaking point. I'm about to get rid of this piece of , why this piece of junk cannot cool itself and why that wasn't prioritised in the design I will never know.

I have had motherboard/cooling fan/heatpipes and so on replaced by Dell.
I do not overclock.
I use a cooling pad.
Turboboost is turned off.
I have repasted multiple times.

This thing is so friggin hot it literally burns my if I touch the strip above the keyboard. I'm not even running a game.
Just having the computer turned on results in the lower right palm area being untouchable and the surrounding computer going ballistic - I could cook eggs on this thing.
The entire computer throttles, no matter what I'm doing, no matter how long its been running for. What the .

Are there any final measures to take before I get rid of this absoloute waste of a machine?

 

That's impressive. If you still have warranty with it , try get dell move on m14x-r2 for ya.

 

Still on warranty, the best they will do is swap out the cooling components - which they have already done. It'd didn't make sweet FA difference, if anything its now worse now than what it was.

Any way I can run this thing underwater?
Seriously, these days I type with my hand hovering off the keyboard cause the bloody thing is so friggin hot.

 

I'd personally get rid if it and go with this instead G46VW - Strike on the Move (14'' Asus Laptop, better GPU and cooling) The display isnt really that good but later on Asus announced that they will have a better disaply and CPU upgrade. It uses a dual-fan 1 for CPU and 1 for GPU it's what Alienware should have utilized in the first place instead of having just 1 fan for both CPU/GPU

When I ordered my M14x R2 I opened it up and it was a dud, it was basically DOA. If my 2nd one becomes DOA I'm just returning it and getting my money back, I'm tired of this headache that Dell does to their customers. I'm also never looking back in buying another Alienware again. I'm done. So yeah I understand your frustration brother, I just hope my 2nd system that's being built doesn't screw me over.

 

Can you check your GPU and CPU temps and see what exactly is hot (CPU or GPU)?

 

Exactly, you should locate it, and when you did so, try to re-install your specific drivers. One faulty driver is enough to heat up your device/ let your fan run on full throttle without even
doing something. If this doesn't work, I'd fully support your decision to return your AW and buy something else to get happy with.

 

can you check task manager to see how many processes are running right after boot? just curious...

Sent from my PI39100 using Board Express

 

I know that it’s the CPU that’s spastically overheating - it sits 90C+ under normal operating load. I guess this is why the whole computer throttles rather than just the graphics.
When I contacted Dell about it they used remote access to log into and install monitors on my computer. They said my computer had 'no issue' because the GPU was operating fine under load and therefore I couldn't blame the FPS drops and throttling in games upon the computer (???) despite my CPU throttling between 96C and 98C.This is when I eventually convinced them to replace the cooling assembly.
Windows has just had a fresh install (cause that’s what one of the first Dell clowns suggested to do to fix any driver/software issues, won't make that mistake of believing them again) so boot processes are pretty minimal.
Under normal operation my CPU is on something like 4-16% load.
Just browsing the net looking at real estate was causing it to heat up like a and caused stutters.
Try to play a game, whether its Darksiders, BF3, BL2, LoL, whatever, and its more or less setting a record for the deathcount due to the FPS.
Thank god I have a work PC for when I have to do something productive.]

 

Yeah I was expecting it to be your CPU. There must be something wrong to have those temps.

Maybe consider a downgrade to a dual core CPU. Shouldn't hurt gaming too much. Even though that would help with temps, still dell should fix the underlying problem.

 

I don't like the idea of downgrading a computer that I paid good money for just to have functionality, especially as its still under warranty - just can't seem to put some reason in Dell's corporate head. Plus at the end of next month I won't have my work PC so I'll need to be running finite element analysis and CAD programs on the Alienware (if I haven't already flogged it off a bridge), reducing the CPU will definitely inhibit that.

Aah screw it, its nice and portable, but I think its time to move to something a bit more powerful with a bigger screen (and less AW) at the cost of some portability. I guess the resale value is gonna take a dive as soon as the warranty period is up.

 

Have you tried repasting your CPU and cleaning out your fans? sounds like it has to do with contact on with the CPU/heatsink as your machine shouldn't be getting nearly that hot. (even other m14x r1's don't usually run that hot).

 

...........

 

my bad man just trying help you resolve your issues. what type of thermal paste did you use?

 

To add to this question, what technique did you use to apply the paste.

Also did you try applying paste, then putting the heatsink on. Then taking the heatsink off to check the paste spread well and there was good contact?

 

I have tried IC diamond and Silver something X5, my brother (who is decent with hardware) and two different Dell technicians have also repasted it in addition to myself. Honestly the Dell guys did the worst job.

I know how to apply the stuff too...

 

you're still dodging the issue. did your brother use a proper cleaner to remove the old paste? a second polishing solution? a micro-fiber cloth to buff? correct amounts of paste? correct tightening of heatsink?

the r1 is notorious for running HOT, period, so you need to make sure it's not sloppily serviced.

my brand new r1 (this is about one year ago now) would hit 98c/99c CPU temps while under load. my understanding is that the best i could hope for was a 10c reduction after doing a precise repaste. i guess a notebook cooler, disabling turbo, and/or propping the back up may have helped a little more ... but i saw the writing on the wall and argued for an r2 right away. it took 5 months to finally be upgraded, but it craps all over the r1. like a different computer when running demanding tasks. .

also, disabling Flash while surfing the Web can help temps/battery.

 

Yes, of course it was properly cleaned off and correctly applied. Its not like i'm gonna F that up every one of the half-dozen times I've tried. I USE my computer on a cooler, with turbo disabled as stated and I still completely overheat. I don't even want the R2, if their warranty has been this useless so far why would I want to continue my relationship with this company?

 

Sorry if I'm coming across as abrupt, but I started this thread really hoping for something other than the usual "oMgZZ repAs$te taht shizz" insta replies that occur to make an excuse for every Alienware ever talked about here.

 

I kinda agree with you , not everyone know how to open up the machine & repaste , most customer wants their laptop run & go without doing annoying stuff.

 

of course, but the paste is the #1 offender and an easy fix typically. hence, the abundance of replies. we see people AND techs mess these operations up all the time and they end up here. good luck.

 

I'm out of ideas if its not the heatsink/contact with CPU or the fan itself. It all doesn't really make sense to me.

 

disable 1 core using run > msconfig. set number of cores to 6.
maybe faulyu or ES CPU.
check all air outut holes.

 

While my situation is not as severe as yours, I've had a repaste done with arctic silver mx-2 due to the fan constantly being on now even with just browsing (temperatures idle at 50-55) and it did nothing at all to change what was happening. Really sick of always hearing this stupid fan, I paid top dollar for this POS, I think I will go with an asus g46vw since it's not even remotely expensive like the alienware + quiet EVEN WHEN GAMING! I have found no solution so far besides selling this laptop to pay for the new one but I think it's completely worth it.

 

I still find it very strange that there is only a few people experiencing issues like this. Are you sure your properly applying the thermal paste and making sure to tighten down the heatsink evenly?

 

It seems like a great deal of the posts in this forum are some sort of heating issue?

 

I've been semi active in the m14x forum since it's creation and there have always been issues like this. What I'm trying to say though, is that most people's systems run fine when it comes to heat. I don't know if it's because of a difference in ambient temps or something, but a lot of people's systems run under 85C maxed out if they have clean fans, decent paste, and the heatsink being tightened down correctly.

 

the thing that drives me batty is how people come here and don't specify r1 or r2 in their posts

they are totally different machines on this front

 

My machine is M14x R1. Maybe the issue is limited to that revision?

 

Typically the GPU is a giveaway...
Currently I'm in QLD, Australia (30C indoors) but even when I'm in Tasmania, Australia it overheats with the same issues. It's between 10-15C indoors down there.


FYI this isn't the only trouble I've had with my computer. It's been five times now. Two LCD replacements, mobo replacement, heatsink/fan replacement, HDD failure, powerpack failure, LED lighting issues and so on.

 

Did you do what people suggested?

 

I'm in SA, Australia, I've repasted multiple times as well with arctic silver 5 (properly to) on my r1 and when i'm playing battlefield 3 and i dont have the laptop raised at the back my temps see 99 degrees, but if i do raise the back up it drops the temps by 10 - 15 degrees.

I know I shouldnt, but i've just accepted that this laptop is like this, i've never once had throttling on the laptop, and when the warranty is up next year in july i'll be getting something else, sort of been burnt by alienware also (pun intended)

Hopefully you get yours sorted mate