Can I keep it plugged in all the time?

So I just wanted to know if I can leave my M17x plugged in the charger
Even when turned off? Because I think remove and plugging it on every time I turn off and on the M17x causes the BSODs and crossfireX missing issues, just a guess.

 

You shuldn't be experiencing BSOD and crossfire issue in the first place.

Can you post your configuration? also v-bios/driver combination and System Bios revision

 

I have the VBIOS from DELL's website and the GPU driver is 11.3. My system BIOS is A10. I will post pics of GPUz once I get on my M17x.

 

so you are on v-bios A01 (gpu-z should show 012.020.000.027.037640, if you open 2 instances of it, both of them must be the same). To install 11.3, have you first completely erased any previous driver version using drivers sweeper and cleaned the registry with ccleaner?

Could you explain exactly in wich condition or after wich operation you experience the BSOD and lost of crossfire issue? Also your BSOD is related to some specific driver?

check also this procedure out in the case you need or may want to redo the vbios flash Link

 

I never knew you can check the drivers for both cards, I'll find out later.
I get the BSOD after useing the laptop for long hours like 4-5hrs of gaming, when I shut the laptop down the screen shuts off but the laptop is still running. If I leave it like that I'll get the BSOD after 10 mins.

 

How the fan speed and temp of the GPU(s)?

 

So here is the GPUz of the first card and it's sensors
http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/11/04/26/9ky.png
http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/11/04/26/c99.png

Here is for the second card
http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/11/04/26/ahk.png
http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/11/04/26/g5b.png

Also about the charger, can I keep it plugged all the time even when I'm not using it?

 

About the charger it doesn't hurt. Some may say that will accelerate the battery wear, i'm not so sure.

I personally disconnect it from the charger if off, and also i unplug the power cord from the wall socket whenever it is not used. This is just me, it is not becouse of potential damage or so.

Also, use hwinfo32 to monitor temperatures and fan speed. With laptops gpu-z doesn't work so well

 

For some reason the BSOD issue after shut down isn't happening anymore and the system shuts down completely. The crossfire enabled logo disappeared but crossfire is enabled and the performance is good. Don't know what happened, but maybe using ccleaner helped?

 

Still is it healthy for the battery to have the laptop plugged all the time?

I mean, if I want to play a game, i use 6970 video card... but on battery it is really not a good idea and you need to plug it...

soo.. someone, is it really bad if you keep it plugged?

 

No guys, it is not a bad idea and won't kill your AW neither your Battery.

 

@ CptXabaras

How long you have M17xR2? do you have it plugged most of the time?

How long the battery keeps the laptop if unplugged? Do you feel a difference , I mean, it drains the battery power?


We need someone that has an M17xR2 for at least 1 year that keeps it plugged most of the time in order to share us his battery behavior after this time..

thanks!

 

I'm pretty sure this was discussed before just a couple weeks ago.

It is safe to keep the battery plugged in, as once the laptop detects that the power cord is plugged in, it doesn't draw power from the battery anymore. Once, the battery life is charged 100%, the power just goes straight to the laptop, instead of through the battery.

If laptop batteries were being drained/charged constantly, as some people may fear, our batteries would drop to like 10 minutes of battery life within a month. So, don't worry. Laptop batteries were designed to stay in your laptop, or else there would have been a warning label instructing you to "remove the battery when plugged in".

 

what he said

 

Right, Jaunderful has it. In *theory* computer batteries can age slightly faster when they are kept topped off (fully charged) all the time and *can* get a total lifetime that is slightly longer if they are not kept for real long periods at a maxed-out charge, but this is not a big effect. Further, the Alienware charging system is very intelligent (notice how expensive and quirky it is; that isn't an accident) and should not cause any significant premature battery kill. This topic has been through here before, and several people at that time, in my opinion, were way over-concerned about it. Your battery will be fine.

 

Okay I got the BSOD.

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.768.3
Locale ID: 1033

Additional information about the problem:
BCCode: 9f
BCP1: 0000000000000003
BCP2: FFFFFA800642E060
BCP3: FFFFF80000B9C518
BCP4: FFFFFA800A587420
OS Version: 6_1_7600
Service Pack: 0_0
Product: 768_1

Files that help describe the problem:
C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\050311-14086-01.dmp
C:\Users\Dorothy\AppData\Local\Temp\WER-4253850-0.sysdata.xml

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Had anyone had a similar error like this before?