Problems? See this thread at archive.org.
Hello everyone,
I recently bought a M17xR3 ( 2 weeks ago ) and happened to have frequent BSOD and FPS lost. I have read this forum for 2 weeks because i have had the problem since the beginning ( out of the box ) and think it is due to having a Geforce 460m as a graphic card and the switching with the Integrated Intel graphic card that makes the laptop unstable. Indeed, I noticed that BSOD and fps lost occur when the computer needs to use graphic cards ( to run a game, application etc... ).
I am not sure but I saw a lot of recurrent posts that had the same problem as me and kind of comfirm what I think. Im not a pro in computers so If someome is able to help us all that would be cool. It seems to only happen with recent Laptops recieved ( no more than a month ). I ordered mine from Dell Canada if it helps.
Here are some reports from WhoCrashed that might help :
System Information (local)
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computer name: JAAK-PC
windows version: Windows 7 Service Pack 1, 6.1, build: 7601
windows dir: C:\Windows
CPU: GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2630QM CPU @ 2.00GHz Intel586, level: 6
8 logical processors, active mask: 255
RAM: 4240257024 total
VM: 2147352576, free: 1962770432
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Crash Dump Analysis
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Crash dump directory: C:\Windows\Minidump
Crash dumps are enabled on your computer.
On Tue 7/5/2011 4:22:10 PM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\070511-30966-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x7FD00)
Bugcheck code: 0x9F (0x3, 0xFFFFFA800682DA10, 0xFFFFF80000B9C3D8, 0xFFFFFA8006F615C0)
Error: DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE
file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that the driver is in an inconsistent or invalid power state.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver which cannot be identified at this time.
On Tue 7/5/2011 4:22:10 PM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\memory.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntkrnlmp.exe (nt!KeBugCheckEx+0x0)
Bugcheck code: 0x9F (0x3, 0xFFFFFA800682DA10, 0xFFFFF80000B9C3D8, 0xFFFFFA8006F615C0)
Error: DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that the driver is in an inconsistent or invalid power state.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver which cannot be identified at this time.
On Tue 7/5/2011 1:55:20 PM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\070511-24180-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x7FD00)
Bugcheck code: 0x9F (0x3, 0xFFFFFA8006834A10, 0xFFFFF8000486E3D8, 0xFFFFFA800938A590)
Error: DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE
file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that the driver is in an inconsistent or invalid power state.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver which cannot be identified at this time.
On Thu 6/30/2011 7:12:35 PM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\063011-14960-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x7FD00)
Bugcheck code: 0x9F (0x3, 0xFFFFFA8006845A10, 0xFFFFF800051A73D8, 0xFFFFFA8004B4EE10)
Error: DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE
file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that the driver is in an inconsistent or invalid power state.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver which cannot be identified at this time.
On Thu 6/30/2011 4:15:08 PM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\063011-18860-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x7FD00)
Bugcheck code: 0x9F (0x3, 0xFFFFFA8006867A10, 0xFFFFF80000B9C3D8, 0xFFFFFA8004517B40)
Error: DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE
file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that the driver is in an inconsistent or invalid power state.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver which cannot be identified at this time.
On Thu 6/30/2011 3:31:41 PM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\063011-15288-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x7FD00)
Bugcheck code: 0x9F (0x3, 0xFFFFFA8006847A10, 0xFFFFF80000B9C3D8, 0xFFFFFA80041BC680)
Error: DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE
file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that the driver is in an inconsistent or invalid power state.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver which cannot be identified at this time.
On Wed 6/29/2011 12:08:40 AM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\062811-16738-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x7FD00)
Bugcheck code: 0x9F (0x3, 0xFFFFFA8006847A10, 0xFFFFF80000B9C3D8, 0xFFFFFA8006A810B0)
Error: DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE
file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that the driver is in an inconsistent or invalid power state.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver which cannot be identified at this time.
On Wed 6/22/2011 3:05:04 AM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\062111-17144-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x7FD00)
Bugcheck code: 0x9F (0x3, 0xFFFFFA8006924200, 0xFFFFF80000B9C3D8, 0xFFFFFA8008DF6860)
Error: DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE
file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that the driver is in an inconsistent or invalid power state.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver which cannot be identified at this time.
On Wed 6/22/2011 1:34:03 AM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\062111-15662-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x7FD00)
Bugcheck code: 0x9F (0x3, 0xFFFFFA8004F99A10, 0xFFFFF800051A73D8, 0xFFFFFA800477BA20)
Error: DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE
file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that the driver is in an inconsistent or invalid power state.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver which cannot be identified at this time.
On Tue 6/21/2011 3:40:17 AM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\062011-24741-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x7FD00)
Bugcheck code: 0x9F (0x3, 0xFFFFFA8006843A10, 0xFFFFF80000B9C3D8, 0xFFFFFA8007973BD0)
Error: DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE
file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that the driver is in an inconsistent or invalid power state.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver which cannot be identified at this time.
On Tue 6/21/2011 2:53:33 AM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\062011-28704-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x7FD00)
Bugcheck code: 0x9F (0x3, 0xFFFFFA8004F9BA10, 0xFFFFF800051A73D8, 0xFFFFFA8007072010)
Error: DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE
file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
Bug check description: This bug check indicates that the driver is in an inconsistent or invalid power state.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver which cannot be identified at this time.
As you can see I had my first crash on the 21st of June and I received it on the 20th of June ....
My driver for the nvidia card is the A01 version, that is, version 267.64 and I have the A04 bios. I did not try to revert to A03 bios or to the 266.08 version of the graphic card driver yet.
Aslo, I called AlienWare support and he told me to tell him about the BSOD bug code which was a 0x9F I think. Anyway, WhoCrashed will tell you more about it I guess lol. I=He also told me to run a hardware check ( memory, processor etc.. ) and everything seemed fine. I have to call him again to say that its not a hardware problem but I feel that alienware support are kind of slow and don't really know about the problems they are facing even if I heard that a lot of people was also complaining about the same thing...
SO what next ? Should I call Alienware back to see if they can maybe resend me a new laptop or maybe they found a cure ...
I can still play my games if I restart the computer so I don't really mind but today I got a BSOD while surfing on the web abd installing a game... It never happened before, the BSOD always haeppened when I was away but let my laptop on.
Oh also, I already put my power options on high performance and I am playing without the battery. I also change the settings that make my laptop never go on sleep or turn off my screen..
Sorry for the Huge wall of text, I usually try to solve problems by my own if I can but it has been 3 weeks without a clear solution for a problem seen among many ! So if someone is good enough please help a poor guy who just want to enjoy his expensive-as-hell AW lol !
Cheers,
Jaak
PS : sorry if for my poor English if i made some mistake etc... I am not a native English speaker
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I don't have the R3 which switches graphics cards. according to what you are saying you should try this solution which Simplified posted about doing a power drain:
"To do a full powerdrain follow these steps:
1) remove battery and coin cell battery
2) hold the power button for 10-15 secs
3) put back the batteries"
that was in this post
If that doesnt work I suggest a clean install of windows, installing the intel driver then the nvidia driver.
I've had my fair share of BSOD's and freezes with this laptop, I really think Dell could have done a better job with a 2000$+ laptop. I mean really the PC I had before this I custom built, never got a bluescreen or freezecreen once ever and it was a third of the price.. -
Thanks for the fast reply.
I already tried the Power drain option. It seems to be a good start to stabilize the laptop, but I don't think it should be a long term solution lol. I will try to reinstall windows and the drivers when I have more time ! I will tell if it is better ! -
Try leaving off or uninstalling the cougar point drivers.
INTEL_HM67-COUGAR-POINT-CHIP_A00_R298407
BSOD and FPS drop M17xR3
Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by Jaak, Jul 5, 2011.
