The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    M17x R3 Completely locking - any ideas on how to track it down?

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by The Zen Crane, Feb 17, 2012.

  1. The Zen Crane

    The Zen Crane Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    9
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Some of you may remember me from my threads on my thermal issue with my 580M card. I am happy to say that Dell fixed the problem! After a week of various testing, they agreed to send out a new card. Since I happen to know the video card engineer for Alienware, I took the box in to him and he determined the thermal pads where mis-installed at the factory on the stock card. The new one did the trick and now I am EASILY sitting 6-8 degrees cooler than the thermal cap without tilting the machine, any kind of thermal stand, or repasting. So good news on that front! Kudos to Dell for figuring it out!

    Unfortunantly it has revealed another problem. My machine has been constantly been completely freezing. Sometimes its while I am playing something, sometimes its after I walk away and come back a couple of hours - but it completely locks, accepting no input from mouse or keys. When I got the machine, it did this about once a week but now that I am using it alot its more like once a day. I was hoping it was related to the video card issue, but since that is resolved... no dice. I have to hold down the power button to get it to reboot. I have checked the event logs, and there is nothing there. There is no consistency in what is running when it locks (has happened during several different games or just at the desktop). The only real things I installed post getting the machine (which came with Steam and WoW) was AVG 2012, Rifts, SWTOR, and SCII.

    So how the HECK do I track down what the problem is. My hardware friend tells me it must be some software on the machine but I have no idea what it possibly could be! He recommends a complete rebuild. Ugh. Any other thoughts on what it could be or how I could trace down the problem? Since I can't cause it to lock, I have no idea where to even start to test whether a fix was successful or not!

    Again, thank you all for your help! I never thought finally getting myself a high end machine would be so stressful!
     
    The Zen Crane, Feb 17, 2012
    #1
  2. vic_doom69

    vic_doom69 Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    87
    Messages:
    248
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    this doesnt help with your problem, but i would do a clean install of windows and drivers and go from there.
     
    vic_doom69, Feb 17, 2012
    #2
  3. The Zen Crane

    The Zen Crane Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    9
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Yes and no. That's what my friend recommended as well. Being a software guy, I always like to blame it on hardware! :) But his recommendation was start with a clean install from the ground up and then if it STILL has problems, come back to the hardware angle.

    I have no serious heartburn about that approach other than it feels a bit like burning down a house and rebuilding it to see if you have a foundation problem. :) It works... but not neccesarily the most efficent way to go.

    So this is my plan A, once I figure out how to do a clean install of Windows without the disk. Was hoping for a really cool plan B. :)
     
    The Zen Crane, Feb 17, 2012
    #3
  4. vic_doom69

    vic_doom69 Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    87
    Messages:
    248
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    If you decide to go with plan a then check the stickies for a legal download of windows 7. You can get the windows 7 USB tool to make a bootable USB drive from the iso you downloaded. It's all legal and legit too, just use the windows serial on e bottom of your laptop
     
    vic_doom69, Feb 17, 2012
    #4
  5. The Zen Crane

    The Zen Crane Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    9
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    So... where do I download the ISO? I have the sticker at the bottom, but trolling around the microsoft site, I can't figure out where I need to enter it to download a copy. All I see is how to BUY a copy. :-(

    I had uninstalled alien respawn the Dell's advice (the factory install was jacked up). I am re-downloading it now. Hopefully I can use it to create somethign to recover to factory setting from.

    Thanks for your help. I feel like I am in for a long road just to test out if its a hardware problem or not. :-(
     
    The Zen Crane, Feb 17, 2012
    #5
  6. The Revelator

    The Revelator Notebook Prophet

    Reputations:
    5,395
    Messages:
    4,571
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    105
    Download a free legal copy of Windows 7 in .iso form from Digital River. Check here for further details: http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...-digitalriver-windows-7-sp1-13-languages.html. You'll need a key to activate, so download the version, i.e., Home Premium, Ultimate, etc, that matches the key on the bottom of your R3 or whatever other key you might have. It's slow. See also, Official Windows 7 SP1 ISO from Digital River My Digital Life. The best way to use is to burn the downloaded .iso to a USB memory stick to speed up installation significantly.
     
    The Revelator, Feb 17, 2012
    #6
  7. vic_doom69

    vic_doom69 Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    87
    Messages:
    248
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    vic_doom69, Feb 18, 2012
    #7