Alienware M17x R3 Issues, Help A Bro Out

I figure I post in here since everybody in that Dell forum are a bunch of incompetent fools that cannot post in my thread due to their lack of knowledge.

Basically the specs are in my sig.

Now the only time this POS computer works is bone stock with the RAM kit. No hard drive in slot 1 and the 320GB stock hard drive in slot 0.

Today I tried to put the SSD in slot 0 with no HD in slot 1 running RAID. It worked for a bit until I got my first 0xc00000e9 screen along with my first "a disk error has occured screen".

I get a lot of event 11s with this computer, this time it was the CD port. Usually it is some atapi error with the slot 0 SSD port.

Later, I put the 320GB that it came with in slot 1 and I get the 0xc00000e9 error and startup repair gives me the 0xc00000e9 error. The computer will not start in AHCI like this. I get a half a millisecond BSOD.

Prior to what I have been doing today, I have been getting these errors throughout my troubleshooting:

0x0000007b, 0x000000f4, 0xc00000e9, RQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (0x0000000A), and "A Disk Error Has Occured, ctrl-alt-del to restart"

I have tried:

Reflashing BIOS
Updating SSD Firmware
Reinstalling the OS several times, did full formats, repartitioned, etc. etc.
Changing slots
Etc

I ran the thorough diagnostic and everything passes. I am pretty sure it is not the SSD that is at fault because it worked before and worked on another computer.

Any input? This is the 3rd one I got. The 1st one had physical issues, the 2nd one shut off, and this 3rd one has a bunch of probs. I am on the verge of asking for a full refund but I want compensation and for this to be fixed.

Thanks all.

 

1> I've not done the SSD thang myself but from what I've read elsewhere on this forum - Slot 0 is flakey regarding the Sata 3 interface so the SSD should go into Slot 1.

See this thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...install-ssd-instructions-recommendations.html


2> I had similar problems with AHCI vs RAID with a fresh hard drive AFTER I had already formatted with the M17 set to RAID and was playing around with AHCI. I suspect there's some subtle read/write differences between the settings and that the stock drive might be assuming a RAID interface. Supposedly there's very little performance difference between AHCI and RAID and RAID is the preferred setting (even if you have 1 drive)

See this thread about that:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/589806-need-help-change-bios-setting-raid-ahci.html

 

I see, so the AHCI issue isn't just me.

I put it back in RAID and put the SSD in slot 1.

Now it started up and is running SATA 6GBs. Hmm I wonder if this will work I will keep running it and restarting it, etc.

And man I wonder what I did with my 2nd M17x R3 cause I was running in AHCI in slot 0 and with my 750GB in slot 1 fine....

Thanks for the response, keep em coming people, I will rep and keep you all updated.

 

0x0000007b, 0x000000f4, 0xc00000e9, RQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (0x0000000A)

I got that exact error with an unstable FSB overclock once. Probably doesn't help you much, but info's info.

 

Thanks for the info. My 2nd one just froze everytime I overclocked past 100.50 which was only like a 70mhz increase. This one went up to 102 and still coulda went but I stopped. The only issue I have seen so far is this HD problem.

So far it is working but I will keep you guys updated in a few hours or when this thing decides to ruin my day again

 

You might also try updating to Win7 SP1 if you haven't. I was having all sorts of weird BSOD's with my NVidia drivers until I did that.
(Then afterwards I had this weird sleep issue where making the M17 sleep on close and then wake up on lid reopen would make the screen turn off... permantently until a reboot. Everything was working... I could hear windows pop up and stuff... I just couldn't see anything).