Dead(dying?) Motherboard on an R3 any advice is much appreciated.

Hello again!

I had previously posted about an issue I had assumed was my hard drives.

The issue was bouts of lag would come in on a set interval, and would leave after a set amount of time.

This would happen every few mins and basically makes every game totally unplayable.

Originally I assumed it was a hard drive issue, because I could remove D3 (the issue first started while I was playing D3 and didn't seem to affect other games, but it's getting worse and worse) from the HDD and move it on to a USB drive and the affect would be dramatically reduced.

However, not removed.

Since that post I've done a full format, and ran some tests. During the diagnostics test my System Board failed due to the System Timer Interval check.

This lines up with what I though it might be before I read about the HDD issue and D3 stuttering (I assumed the windows timer service was trying to fire something off).

So my questions today are:

I'm going to try a Bios flash in a vain attempt to fix what I believe is a hardware problem.
Is there a version of the M17x-R3 bios that I should avoid?
Or do I just go and grab the latest version?

And, likely I will need to call for a new MB (no longer under warranty, QQ), has anyone done this before?
Any idea on price?
Should I do the install myself, or should I get a tech to do it?

There was no crying face icon, so I picked the question mark.

:'(

 

So I found this at the alienware site:

-Error code: 2000-0221
-ePSA: Timer - Interval timer not functional
-Flash the latest BIOS and retry the diagnostics.

This brings some light to my day.

 

With the R3, try the official A08 BIOS. That will bring your SATA speeds back up to SATA III as a bonus. You can always try the latest BIOS version...I believe its A10, but it limits the SATA speeds to SATA II.

 

Thanks!

I'll try A08 first, then A10 after that!

 

Are you sure you aren't expeirenceing GPU throttling?

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S2 running Resurrection Remix

 

Thanks radji for your suggestion of upgrading my Bios.
It did fix the diagnostic error, I have moved onto A08.

The main issue of bouts of lag persists.

Bigtony, I have also come to the conclusion that this may be the case. But could it be CPU instead of GPU?

When I run CPU-z and my fans are on, it's holds a pretty steady voltage and speed.

Once the fans turn off, it goes crazy, the voltage and speed change rapidly, easily twice a second. Is this common, for a CPU to speed up and down so fast?

So, My questions today are:

What are the average running tempuratures of the m17x r3?
(I know thats a lot of work to find, but if someone has a good working machine with speed fan installed, I'd be eternally greatfull if you could post your cpg/gpu temps at either a standstill or while running a game)

(When I was running at a stand still Speedfan was reporting that the machine was very hot (small fire icon lol!) beside the temps, but from what the temps were (sub 70) I don't think that's too bad)

Is there a program that I can use to turn on the fans constantly?
I couldn't find that option in speed fan, it didn't seem to detect my fans?

And last but not least, I'm going to dismantle the machine and clean it, I don't live/work/play in the worst conditions, but I do take my laptop around with me to a large number of locations.

Is there a recommended tear down video on youtube, maybe one that someone here has posted, that I should watch?

As always, thanks for your help with this matter.

 

I have the exact same problem while playing most games but especially D3. I did a full format and cleaned up the fans which had no dusts whatsoever since I clean them every 3 months. It is still acting up and I am not sure why. It just happened suddenly.

I am going to call Dell soon to see what they have to say about that.

I have no GPU throttling and no heating problems during gameplay. I am suspecting something might be up with the motherboard or maybe something stupid like the wifi card since it only happens on games which requires an internet connection. If I play Starcraft solo, the issue does not exist.

 

Have you checked the clock speeds of your GPU while playing games? That would let you know if its a GPU issue or not. as to your temps, If your running below 70C during these lag times I don't think that it's a thermal issue.

I would try to use HWINFO64 as you can setup either a manual speed, or a different fan table. HWINFO64 Link

I would try to figure out the exact issue before you tear down your machine so you know what to fix.

 

If it is the same issue I am experiencing, there is no doubt the GPU or the CPU is not at fault. Both are within perfect thermal range and I followed what they do during gaming for hours, it's not the problem...

 

@ Joe

It's comforting to hear I'm not the only one with this issue.
D3 is dramatically affected by this issue.

Sc2 online, and CS:GO online, and Minecraft online are all also affected.
I do not play single player games, but I'll give it a run to see if single player SC2 is affected, thanks for the test case.

I should have mentioned this up top, but I do believe mine is a heat issue, as when I turn the laptop on from a cold state, the issue does not arise until the laptop has reached it's running temperature.
Joe do you see this issue when the laptop is cool? or just when it's hot like me?

@bigtony
The lag seems to coincide with the fans turning off, and the clock speed going wild up and down. but thats information gleened from an incredibly quick glance, so the reality of the situation may be different. Tonight is lan party night for me, so I'll be able to run test cases while everyone else plays SC2.

Also, the tear down part is just becasue I want to tear down the machine I've been inside many laptops while I spent years as a Tech, I should be more then capable of getting it apart and back together, thank you for the concern though

OK

So, tonight I will:

Test SC2 offline.

Gather temperature data during non lagging cool period.

Gather temperature data during lagging hot period.

Install HWINFO64 and test out running with the fans on max speed.


If anyone has any other suggestions, or ideas what it may be please sound off

++rep for the helpers in the thread!
(lol seems like I have +reped you guys too recently, thanks for all of the help you guys have obviously given me )

 

Yeah I have no doubt my issue is not heat related, I checked the temps for hours and I have logs. The issue also does happen 2 or 3 minutes after starting the PC.

We might not have the same issue then but if yours is a heat issue than most likely your fans are clogged and that is an amazingly easy thing to fix especially in the Alienware PC as it is so easy to access the fans and take them out to clean them up.

 

I'll let you know how that goes, as I'll do that cleaning this weekend.

 

Good luck. A bit late to the party but how are you monitoring the temps/clock speeds? If you use afterburner in conjunction with HWInfo you can set-up the on-screen display to show you CPU and GPU temps, clock speeds and frame-rate in real-time as you game. Will help identify the trigger point and which is possibly throttling?

 

I personally use HWinfo with afterburner which is probably the easiest way to monitor temps, clock speed...

 

I've been using SpeedFan, but only for a very short time, I'm goin to setup HWINFO and Afterburner tonight.

 

Idles for your CPU should be around 50C. Highs while gaming between 70C-75C. Some users get up to 80C-85C without incident. Once you start hitting the 90's, then you might have a cooling issue. Have you ran the PSA again to see if there are any more error codes coming up? Remember, these tests will check your RAM, CPU, Northbridge, Southbridge, etc. but not your discrete GPU.

If the issues do not present themselves until your system warms up, that gives merit to your throttling argument. However, I think it might be your GPU that is throttling. As far as the CPU voltages jumping while the fans are off, that SHOULD be normal...but don't quote me on it. I know its normal for my R2 with its i7-920XM. Its part of the passive cooling system that slows the CPU before it engages the system fans. You can change that setting in your power options control panel. I have read thru all your posts and you haven't mentioned what GPU you are running. One thing to consider is that certain m17x GPUs have known throttling issues.

All-in-all, here's what I figure: working from the tenuous assumption that we are not idiots, we've examined and tested your CPU up, down, backwards and sideways declaring it to be fine. It's temps are normal, and it presents no other issues during normal use, yet it still lags during gaming. Well your CPU isn't the only thing under load while gaming. You may not realize it, but just because the games you are playing aren't using much CPU power doesn't mean those same games aren't stressing your GPU like an old pack mule. You should definitely try using GPU-z to log your discrete card's stats and performance to see if that is the culprit. You might be surprised at the results.

 

After a weekend of running test cases I can say with 100% certainty it has nothing to do with temps.

I spent the majority of the time tracking the GPU temp (low mid 60's, high 78).

Whats next to try and fix, throttling I guess?

I'm sorry for not giving my graphics card upfront I bet that could have helped!

I'm rocking the old Geforce 460m.

I was under the impression that throttling only happened on these machines when they were over clocked?

However, I also believe that there was a fix discovered, can someone link me to that thread by chance? I'll try to search for it as well and edit this post if I find it.

 

Same here, I spend most of the weekend trying to troubleshoot the issue. Temps are not the issue and I don't see downward spikes in CPU or GPU so no throttling is happening.

I am suspecting either the wireless card is going bad or the motherboard which might actually be the case since for the first time this weekend my blu-ray was acting up and not functioning properly as well as the card reader.

I took the time to re-format and install all the latest drivers, the issues of being disconnected still happens.

I guess I will have no choice but to call Dell, spend over 5 hours with a useless technician that thinks he knows better and he will try to fix the PC remotely for that long until he gives up and says, well why don't you just send the PC in and it will leave me without my laptop for weeks and weeks...

Not happy right now...

 

You have the Geforce 460m too?

Please let me know how your call to Dell goes, my machine is off warranty.


I have also formatted and installed all the current drivers.

One thing I did notice was a screw that had come loose in my computer. I took the case off to clean the fans in an effort to give it the best possible temperature readings. Well one of my HDD screws had come lose and was just sitting pinned in a spot.

But the reality is, I have no idea if it touched the mother board when it originally dropped loose (there is exposed motherboard right there).

If anyone thinks that a screw touching the MB can cause this kind of damage I can take a picture of the situation to post.

 

My PC is still under warranty and I have the 6970M. I am almost positive the motherboard is at fault but not 100% sure.

 

Your system will throttle when it hits 78C. That's probably why your games lag. I would recommend cleaning your fans and maybe a repaste as I never even got close to that temp level with my 460m. That should fix your issue.

 

Too bad.

I was hoping it was my graphics card so I could upgrade it lol.

 

If that is the issue, I never really saw it occur at full temp and when the issue arose the temp dropped drastically.

But thank you for the information, and I'll tackle this as a throttling issue!

 

exactly, when the graphics card hits 78C, the machine will throttle the 460m and the clock speed will drop like a rock. That is probably what you are experiencing.

 

Isn't there a fix for the throttling on the Nvidia cards? I could have sworn that this issue has come up with before and someone was able to come up with a fix for it.

 

I see a number of "fixes" for the 580.
I'm going to try some of them out tonight and see how it goes.

 

most of those fixes are for the 580m power throttle, not the thermal throttle. You could try yoda's fix though that should fix your thermal throttle.

 

Yes Yoda's was the fix I was eyeballing.

Have you tried it?
Did it work for you?

Unfortunately I wasn't able to find the time last night to test it out.
I will try again tonight.

 

I never needed to use it as my 460m Never even got close to 78C.

 

Reading this made something click in my brain

It's super low chance.
I'll have to take my machine apart again to look.

But I did have a screw that came loose from my HDD slot.

It was sitting pinched between the video card heat sink and another piece of the case.

maybe the system cooled down and that screw got pinched, and when the parts were shrinking the fraction of a millimeter they will when cooling off, the screw stopped the video card heat sink from shrinking into the same spot, separating the thermal paste.

We would be talking a dramatically small push from this screw, but maybe it would be enough?

I will look into repasting the card.

 

After a day of heavy testing my issue is 100% heat related my GPU is hitting the 78c throttle.

I went out and bought a vial of MX-2 thermal paste and will be repasting my GPU heat sink tonight.

I AM EXCITE!!!

 

Tear down complete.

Cleaning and repairing complete.

Rebuild complete.

After thoroughly testing the computer last night I couldn't get it above 68c, with the average being close to 65c - 66c.

For a total reduction of 12.5c on average.

Thanks everyone for giving ideas and help!
Rep applied where ever I can give it!

Thanks again guys, computer is working like a charm!