M17x R3 crashing and bluescreening out of the box

Hi there,

I recently purchased an Alienware M17x R3 laptop, which I received yesterday. After setting it up, I've had trouble running games and a number of other problems.

The system's specifications are as follows:

Processor: Intel Core i7 2720QM (2.2Ghz)
Memory: 4 GB
Graphics Card: Nvidia Geforce GTX 460M
Hard drive: 320 GB, 7200 RPM
Operating System: Windows 7

The first issue I noticed is that it runs things very slowly or not at all. Even when the Task Manager is showing no CPU usage, things take forever to load, especially starting up and logging in. The Nvidia Control Panel has the most trouble, as it has gone to Not Responding repeatedly. Some games, like Resident Evil 5, run smoothly, while Dragon Age 2 and others have unplayable stuttering or just crash.

Secondly, I'm getting blue screens even when just surfing the web. The error message relayed is DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE. This first happened right after I set it up; I had barely used it for longer than fifteen minutes.

Third, it seems impossible to update the graphics drivers to try and solve any problems. This Optimus technology crap is forcing me to use the Intel GPU unless I'm playing games, and some of my games won't even load because it doesn't recognize the Intel GPU. My System Information shows the Intel chip as my graphics processor. Why can't I use the 460M as my primary?

It's impossible to find updated drivers for Optimus, it seems. The pre-installed drivers on the system say they were updated last year, and there's no search option for Optimus drivers on Nvidia's website.

Please help me out based on the information given. Dell's technical support hung up on me twice now, and I'm not sure what else to do.

Thank you kindly.

 

Download 267.28 from nvidia's website
extract the installer

Grab nvdm.txt attached at end of this message
change .txt to .inf
paste it into folder "display driver" or something like that (can't remember and feel sick, sorry)
install 267.28


Works great for DragonAge2, CS5, Autocad 2011 (but not 2012), etc...
Slightly below average in some other games though.

Sorry, the inf isn't very well done as I did it myself in a hurry a few weeks ago. Thought I'd share this one tho since you mentioned Dragon Age 2

 

sounds to me like you have a hardware fault

nobody else has reported a problem like this and all the systems leave the factory with the same image depending on spec, time to call Dell if it was me

 

Thanks for the replies.

I spent two hours on the phone with an Alienware tech support agent. He performed remote assistance and did some diagnostics to isolate the issue. We came to the conclusion that there's something wrong with the GPUs, as it bluescreened again when he was reinstalling the drivers and the performance of the GPUs are incredibly lacking. Sure, I could have done all of this myself, but it's good to know they're willing to help you out.

After reinstalling everything and running tests, he said I should test the system out, and if it continues being problematic I can send it back for either a replacement system or a refund.

Ten minutes after I got off the phone, it bluescreened again. I guess my only option is to send it back. How did they not run into this issue during building and testing?

 

who knows, believe it or not electronic components fail in the first few moments of their life if they are going to fail then go on for a long time after that, exception to this rule is where you have thermal wear like on CPU and GPU heatsinks where the thermal paste breaks down and needs re-doing now and again, but then thermal paste is not an electronic component

at this point a replacement sounds good

 

I would send it back or request a replacement.

 

I hope the OP has managed to get some useful help from this thread concerning his issue, 50% of the replies are off topic, that's the truth

 

Agreed, now that I flipped through the pages of this thread lolz. On a more related note, I haven't seen any BSODs, which is a good thing.

 

the problem on these forums is simple, take this thread as a fine example

the op reports an issue and asks for help

several people reply offering their opinion and sometimes expertise about the op's problem

then someone instead of offering the same help or opinion or expertise instead critisises one of the replies (and in this case quite rudly) taking the thread off topic and down a rathole - right there it has become personal and might I add unacceptable behavior, I have noticed about 3 people on these Mx17 threads that do this constantly, they take a thread to a personal level which should not happen.

The op on this thread wanted help with as he described it - bsod out of the box - there have been many people reporting bsods with the R3, to assume they are all the same cause is a mistake, many have already been attributed to upgrading drivers or games or OS to sp1, MS have already admitted this as a MSW 7 issue, others have had issues updating SSD drives and other HW, also a lot of the bsods people experienced outside of those mentioned for the reasons above have not yielded an error message remotely like the one the op mentioned, this would lead me to believe that his problem is a first off and could possibly desribe a HW fault as yet not encountered by anyone else, now if someone wants to personnaly attack me for this post go ahead, I have given my opinion regarding the op's issue and gone into greater detail in explaining that opinion, if anyone here has something else to add please do

 

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To the OP -
There is nothing wrong with the NV 460. There will always be the AMD vs. NV and NV vs. AMD camps.

As for your issue - it sounds to me that you may have ended up with a botched driver install. Either from trying other drivers or from when the tech support rep remotely connected and started mucking about. My advice follows -

I suggest disabling Windows Automatic Driver Install before updating drivers - reference this LINK

1. Uninstall the NVIDIA display and Intel HD Graphics drivers. Once done, run CCleaner's registry module in Safe Mode and resolve any problems it encounters.
2. Once step 1 is complete, boot the system normally (no safe mode this time) and once at the desktop install in the following order -

a. Intel HD Graphics Driver -
Drivers and Downloads

reboot,

b. NVIDIA 460 Driver
Drivers and Downloads

If this still does not resolve your issue, contact support and discuss options. If it were me, I'd lean toward a return and re-order vs. having a tech come out to replace the GPU.

 

If this machine has been causing issues right out of the box, then consider it a DOA. Ask for a new machine

 

Got mine today, I reformatted, put Win7 Ult on, no problems installing, BUT... any time I run anything graphic intensive, or something as small as a Windows Dock, I get a blue screen, bumps, then reboot... If I am lucky I can get it to reboot normally, and not have to do a safe mode boot. I have tried reformatting twice now, and I am at my ropes end. I am going to give it one more shot, and call for a bloody replacement. Any tips B4 I do so? I am following the installation instructions posted here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...er-install-order-guide-alienware-systems.html

 

Update:
I thought I should mention this. I had many problems after installing every driver on the disk. I later found out that the Nvidia driver I have conflicts with the Audio driver... 0_o after a reformat letting Nvidia (the 267 driver) take over the audio device, everything went well. The computer runs great! Why, O' why would AW/DELL put conflicting drivers on an disk they give out to people!?! I would love to hear from other M17x R3 owners to see if I am the only one, or not that had these drivers on his disk.

 

so now that it's working what audio driver are you using ?

 

If you followed my instructions for clean install on M17xR3 instead of the generic instructions you wouldn't have had the problem

But, I'm glad you resolved it!

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...instructions-recommendations.html#post7263615

 

I let the Nvidia 267 driver take over the audio device. works like a charm, no problems any more. optical, 5.1, ext... everything works =^_^= Been running FFXIV in 3D High settings, 8xCSAA, ext... wow! no problems!