M14X Shuts Down on Battery

Greetings all,
I just wanted to re-state the overall intent of this thread, and more importantly, why I created it. Although this is purely circumstantial, it's obvious something was overlooked during the quality control and testing phase of this system. Also, depending on how each customer uses his/her system, they may never encounter the issue, even though it is present. I've been told by many co-workers that perception is reality, and there's a lot of truth to this statement. That's why 9 customers voted "No" on the poll.

Here are my reasons for this thread's creation:

1. I wanted to expose the problem for what it was, in an attempt to help customers understand what they are experiencing.
2. I wanted all the customers with the same problem to gather on one thread where they could all be helped.
3. I wanted Dell to see all the customers, along with the poll, and realise that this is a system wide issue.
4. And finally, I wanted Dell to resolve the issue in a timely manner.


This thread was never intended to motivate customers to exchange/return their systems, or create a hostile gathering.

Thanks,
Gabe

 

Honestly, looking at this from the outside, pretty much every high performance laptop throttles. Clevos, Asus, MSIs, you name it. Even the 17x R3 throttles on battery. It's really been like this for quite a while now, and I'm wondering why one would think these act differently.

Remember too, that the cheap way to fix this is gonna be a software change (Removing the ability to not throttle) rather than a hardware change. And we all know how much businesses like to take the easy route.

 

It's understandable and so far I think this thread has done a great job as making the the issue more aware to dell/alienware for a solution. If customers are exchanging their systems for new ones because of this issue, they should be more than entitled to do so. I think it's quite known that every piece of technology is going to have it's flaws but something such as using your laptop to it's fullest potential and all of a sudden it shutting down without notice is a big problem. People tend to depend on their laptop for all their house and work needs so imagine it just shutting down without notice and losing all your hours of work. Also, i'm happy that people who probably would of never encountered this issue were able to recreate it. We taught them the full capabilities of their system and they were able to realize that they have a high-end gaming system that has a problem and needs to be fixed.

I'm not trying to trying to create any hostility with anyone but just stating the obvious and some facts.

It all comes down to just being patient and waiting to see what solution is to come within the next week or two. In the end, this laptop is still amazing as it is.

 

Yes, you are right. That's I have to stick with the M14x like how i did with my M11x, which I sold. but anyway, I am hopeful that alienware will have this problem fixed in no time.

Buying an alienware requires for a person to know how to troubleshoot the system and it's not for the faint of heart.

Still love the m11x.. except for the screen. lol

WE WILL ALL GET THROUGH WITH THIS GUYS!!!! KEEP THAT LID UP, THAT BATTERY CHARGED, AND GAME!!! have a Great Weekend!

 

Copy...I love this laptop. The battery issue is the only flaw so far. I'm sure this will get fixed soon...

 

My M14x is scheduled to arrive very soon.
From what I read on this thread, engineers of Dell are already aware of this sudden shutdown on battery problem and the situation on which this occurs.

I don’t know the capacity or ampere of the current battery but it sounds like a revised battery with higher capacity and ampere, such as 10400 mAH or higher, would solve this problem.

Doing a software fix to throttle down the GPU to avoid this problem is in a way the same as telling the customers not to stress the GPU on the battery.

Is Dell working on revising the battery? Has Dell sent to anybody any replacement batteries?

On a side note, I understand why one would vote for no or yes before even receiving the laptop.

 

Pretty much correct. The components of the M11x have a low enough power consumption that even while on battery power, the battery can still provide 100% of the power to them without going over their current limit. Of course, the M14x with a full power mobile CPU and a more powerful GPU...that's a different matter.

The M14x will consume a lot more power than the M11x. The reason they've probably used the same battery is for cost reasons.

However, they really should have fitted a better battery.

You could call it both. The graphics card is probably trying to suck the same power that it would on mains from the battery, which can't provide that much power. In reality if you think about it, 'card drawing too much power' and 'battery not providing enough power' are pretty much the same thing.

Quite frankly, I'm expecting them to underclock it. Unless the problem isn't with the power draw, then the issue is quite simply that the components together are exceeding power limits in high performance. The only solution to this is to underclock it, unless Dell actually brings out a higher spec'd battery and replaces every battery with it (unlikely).

Correct on both counts. I'd like to see someone name a laptop this powerful (or more powerful) that doesn't throttle on battery.

And while Dell could potentially bring out a better replacement battery (expensive), that's not the plausible option compared to a BIOS update that will fix the same issue via underclocking.

A revised battery capable of higher current output would in theory solve the issue. Of course, that's not the path Dell are likely to take for reasons explained above.

Quite frankly, I expect that they'll underclock it on battery.


HOPEFULLY the underclocking on battery won't have to be too extreme. We should be able to achieve M11x levels of performance on battery (so that would be major CPU underclock, minor GPU underclock).

People act like it's the end of the world if it has to be underclocked, and that it's misadvertisement on Dell's part. Seriously, however, think about it. Can you actually name a laptop with components this powerful that doesn't throttle on battery?

 

@evilcorsair - yeah a software/bios update is cheaper than replacing all of users batteries. But i hope the battery that they'll provide for in the future will be sufficient enough.

 

Well, looks like I'll be waiting a while more to purchase one...

 

my laptop doesnt shut down but it lags when i play on battery mode. So far i've tried SC2 and WoW.

 

This thread is a little disheartening for me. When looking into gaming laptops I saw this and it instantly caught my attention. Basically the power of a desktop in a 14 inch laptop with Alienwares aesthetics was exactly what I wanted, with a reasonable price to boot (compared to the 17x and 18x I think the price of the 14 is extremely reasonable).

Reading some of these problems makes me a little iffy if I want to save up and commit to this laptop over another one when there is such a major problem like this. I realize nothing will be perfect and that playing games off the battery on a laptop will never be as good as AC or a desktop, but from what it sounds like playing games on battery with this is next to impossible which I think is a major, major flaw. If I was buying a laptop (mainly this one) I'm buying it to be portable, to be able to unplug and take outside with me or into another room for a little bit. Assuming the battery is fine I don't think you should have to worry about "Oh if something kicks my graphics card up a little my laptop will crash, and not only that but I will need to access the AC adapter to be able to turn it back on". That's just not right.

Not trying to cause hostility like Gabe mentioned but this is a major issue that turns off future buyers like me from wanting to purchase this system. Here's to hoping there is a fix by the time I can afford it. This thread is great and I hope you guys keep working to find little things that may lead to people being able to use their laptops how they were meant to.

 

To be fair, it is my understanding that you have to manually override several settings each time for it to fail in this manner... (setting 60hz in intel, max perf in nvidia, and max perf in windows).

It isn't as though if you're playing WoW and want to move to another room you've killed the laptop.

 

The thing is that if the issue really lies with the battery, and should Dell do a total recall, they need not totally discard all the batteries as they could still be sold as refurbished for the m11x since these batteries are practically new, while those sitting around in their factories could simply be channeled towards the m11x since they share the same batts anyway. This way, it isn't a total loss yet and hopefully it's the action Dell will take.

 

odd i have been testing this for 10 minutes now on battlefield bad company 2.....
getting good frame rate with mildy overclocked gpu,

all settings set to high, on high power, also on high in command center....


maybe the 3gb card is worth the extra dough

will continue to test but this far this laptop crushes!


EDIT:
ok..... it shut down after a good 15-20 minutes on battery...... has 4 bars left on the battery... spoke to soon

but realistically, when the hell am i gonna game hardcore on battery? i expect that the battery wouldnt last long anyway

 

Does this happen with video editing, or other cpu/gpu intensive work other than games?

 

Then you're not turning the graphics performance up in the nVidia control panel, not setting the screen to 60Hz, not setting your laptop to max performance etc.

You can't expect to get desktop grade performance on battery. It's that simple. As has been said before, very very few (if any) laptops of this power or higher can actually run on full power while on battery.

It's not a case of unplugging it will turn it off instantly. People are manually changing the settings to use same power as on mains while on battery. Granted it shouldn't be possible to turn it up that far on battery but that's what people are doing.

You will still be able to play games on battery. But don't expect to get the same performance you can get out of the mains.

Correct. It's been shown many times in this thread that if you don't set the performance settings to maximum then there's no problem with crashing, seemingly.

In theory it will happen with anything that stresses the components to that level. In reality it'll still require you to manually turn the settings to max performance in the nVidia control panel.

 

upon further review its very sparatic..... I have been gaming for 30+ minutes with no issues..... only 1 crash so far and it was when i was loading a map?

from what I read here its usually fast?

after a while on battery tho it does start dropping frames...

hasnt shut down tho....

 

For the people saying they tried gaming on the battery and it worked fine. It doesn't matter what your OC software says your GPU is running at. Its not 100% on the battery unless you go into your power options through control panel and set it to use 100% GPU on battery.

You will get shutdowns after you set it to use all of your GPU on battery.

Have fun with that.

 

I expect to run same power from laptop from mains and battery.
Underclocking will not be an option for me. Dun mind a topup for a battery exchange. Since hardware problems are covered under warranty. Cant expect customers to suck thumb.
If it isnt fixed in timely manners, i would return it.
When u wan to be the best laptop brand, better be able to provide the best quality and service.

 

I was one of those people who voted "no" but I found out just now that I was wrong. I changed one of the settings in the Nvidia control panel and then I ran Crysis 2. Within the first minute of playing, it shut down.

 

Return it then. And I guarantee you that you won't find a laptop of the same power that does run with the same performance on battery as on mains.

Laptop grade batteries are not physically possible of supplying that sort of power without serious damage, it's that simple. It's not a case of Alienware being poor quality, unless you want to say every gaming laptop out there is also lacking.

Even if you potentially could get the same performance on battery as on mains, it would last for less than an hour of battery life; most likely significantly less than an hour. There would be little point in that.

 

Just to clarify I know and don't expect to get full AC performance from running on battery. I didn't realize for it to crash you had to manually set everything to high. I've seen other laptops where you can set it to high while using the battery and do stuff, and while it won't actually be equivalent to high with the AC performance wise, it still lets you set it to high.

Either way I'm glad I have that clarified now because if I was gaming on the battery, I wouldn't need to have everything running at the highest settings and would probably not have it set to the highest stuff anyway to conserve batter.

 

I can assure u i can find one.

 

Indeed. You have to manually set the GPU to run at maximum performance in the nVidia control panel. Without that you shouldn't experience any crashes.

Obviously you'll suffer a performance loss but you still should be able to play all your games, possibly in lower detail.

Don't assure me you can find one. Do it. Go and find one.

Find one laptop with the same or better performance as the M14x, in the same size category, that will run at 100% performance (including graphics and processor) on battery. I seriously doubt such a laptop exists.

The reason they don't exist is twofold; first, it's due to fundamental properties of every battery. Yes, there are probably higher grade batteries that should manage it but they will be much more expensive. Secondly, even if a customer was willing to pay that extra cost, there would be next to no point unless you want to get a battery life of 30 minutes or less while gaming on battery.

 

When are we getting our fix?

 

My g/f's old 17" laptop which was a Gateway FX 7811 (core 2 duo 2.26 Ghz)(nvidia 9800m GTS )(4GB DDR3 RAM)(2 hard drives) ran off of battery with everything on high performance and gaming for "atleast" an hour

So im sorry EvilCorsar, It is possible

 

He said in the same size category. 17" is not in the same size category as a 14"

 

Although it is 'High performance', is the benchmark/performance going to be identical to connected to mains? WEI says the score dont apply when using battery for a reason.

BTW Are you sure a C2D machine is using ddr3?

 

There is a reason why we get alienware systems. Be it the lights, warranty or just for the sake of attention.

I mean who wants a product which actually under perform while it claimed to be able to do this and that. Battery is covered 1 year from invoice date anyway. And I believe strongly they are trying their very best to solve this issue.

Meanwhile just play plugged in. Is it really that hard?

 

c1ro was there before me. Just because the settings are high performance does not mean the machine is still on the same level of performace as plugged in. It might be possible, but in this case it would be due to the larger capacity battery of a 17" notebook, as well as a much lower power processor. Even so I doubt it; I need to see benchmarks before I'm convinced

In particular the fact it can game for 'at least an hour' makes me more doubtful. If the machine was truly running maxed out, it would drain even a high capacity battery faster than that.

Oh, and yes c1ro, a C2D machine can use DDR3. Mine does. (yes, it's a Core 2 Quad but it's essentially just two C2D processors on one chip)

 

Guaranteed it's a C2D with DDR3.

This is some hybrid machine my girl bought a while back lmao

Could be a reason why we don't see gateways anymore O_O

http://support.gateway.com/s/Mobile/2008/GodzillaFX/1015641R/1015641Rsp2.shtml

 

lol it is hard to believe... That thing would get so hot it was literally untouchable or you would get burned.

 

When I get my M11xr1 back I still might consider to buy the M14x to replace my Asus G71. I don't know whether to consider this to be a defect or a normal way in which a laptop will save on battery?

 

I just want the screen to default @60hz rather than 40hz.

I hope they have a bios, firmware, or driver update for this one.

 

Can anybody try running a CPU Stress test like Prime 95 (64bit)?

If the machine switches off, this would confirm that its not only happening with the GPU, and the culprit is the battery.

 

Like I said, I won't believe it until I see benchmarks. It doesn't matter how high I have the settings on my laptop, I still suffer a major performance hit on battery.

Agreed. Or at least there should be a BIOS or driver option for what it defaults to.

A CPU stress test alone would quite possibly fail to exceed any battery limits. The TDP is 45W; if the rest of the machine isn't using much power then a laptop battery could supply that.

It would be a nice test, but it probably won't 100% confirm anything.

 

Guys I have had this issue , but then the workaround to this is KEEP YOUR SETTINGS ON HIGH PERFORMANCE ! , there something DELL internally calls a stealth MODE in laptop batteries . where in, because of performance ,battery goes to this mode and then you can't even start your machine once it shuts down !

Go ahead and then change the battery mode to HIGH PERFORMANCE from alineware command center and then the control panel as well .
The only thing which is creepy is the game performance dips to 13-15 frames if you play the game on battery rather than adapter from 40 to 50 frames (in BAD COMPANY 2) on HIGH settings .

 

So you're saying that the workaround to a system crash, where the likely problem is the system sucking too much power from the battery, is to keep it in high performance. Erm, no.

Honestly, do you even know what Stealth Mode is? Or for that matter, do you know anything about the possible causes of the problem? The probable reason you can't boot it up on battery after shutdown (if the issue is the battery, which it looks like it is) is due to the battery's emergency safety systems that have already shut the battery off after an overload, caused by the system being in highest performance settings in the first place.

The reason game performance drops isn't creepy at all, it's because the battery can't supply the same power as the mains adapter. And when people change command centre settings so it does try and suck the same power from battery, it crashes.

No offense but please don't try and offer advice when you don't know anything about the problem.

EDIT: Just thought I'd get a reference in here: "That's, like, wrong in eight different ways!"

 

^ i LOLED.... anyway.... glad to see this is gaining more viewers...

 

Happened to me this morning. M14x, 3GB VM 1600 display.
I was playing C&C 4 Tiberum Twlight on the train and noticed that the game was significantly laggy compared to when I was playing connect to a power source. Nothing was different, just using the battery instead of connected to power.
So when I got to work I looked deep into the settings and set the Graphics Performance to maximum my screen refresh was 60 hz.
I noticed that the gaming performance returned to how it was connected to power but without warning completely shutdown and I cannot get it to start up.

I checked the battery level and it's about 3/4 full......
What the hell is going on here?
Should I contact Dell or something?
This is a joke right? I just dropped $1500 for this garbage.
I'm going back to Apple

 

They're gonna be trying to get a fix on the 19th.

 

Really? Should I seek any form of compensation?
What kind of fix is it?
So when gaming with just the battery what settings should I have it on?
Thanks

 

I just spoke to a DELL and he said quote 'It is normal'
mmmmmmm really?
Is it normal to spend $1500 and expect this I wonder?

 

We would all want to seek compensation because the performance was not what we expected. "Annihilate from Anywhere" but Dell engineers are working on a bios fix right now so we can game on battery. I spent $1200 on the m11x last year and the same pattern of issues occurred. within a month or so, everything was good and ok. Right now we all spent $1500(no discounts) on our machines. We can do a mass return, or we can wait for the fix. The Bios fix may downclock the proc and the video card to match the M11x's clocks/power/frequency.<<--- pure speculation.

 

using intel's latest drivers from their site the refresh rate stays at 60Hz and does not go back down to 40Hz

 

I will try that later at home... ftw? How could I have not thought of that.
Thanks, Titan!

 

can you link where to download the intel's latest driver?

 

google intel drivers,

then click the link for intel drivers download and then search for "intel graphics media accelerator"

 

What do you guys think about this as an alternative, which has much better graphics card, slightly heavier and 15.6
Prostar P150HM Gaming Laptop | Clevo P150HM Gaming Laptop | Sager NP8150 Gaming Laptop | Custom Built Gaming Laptop

 

I have rewd most of this thread, has it been confirmed that it a lack of power to use high settings from the bat? Does it have any issues while running in balanced mode? I have wantd an alienware laptop for almost as long as they have made them and will soon have the money to order one how ever I want it configured and I feel the M14x will be the best portable work horse and be able to play my older games lile Americas Army and UT. I might play some other first person shooters. I know I will convert DVDs into digital format and heavy photoshop and 3D art work and will need times to run off bartery and can't afford to lose a art job if the machine will crash during a render. If running in balanced mode will still be worlds better then my last laptop which was basically a low end machine. I was able to convert digital home movies into DVDs with convertx in 40 minutes and people liked it. Would want or expect at least to cut that time in half wirh this machine. Hope my dream isn't crush when I get it.