M17x-R3 Aero Issues

Hey all,

I read the story on the front page about M18x users having issues with Aero and did a quick search of the M17x forum and didn’t find anyone reporting the same issue. I am a bit surprised because both of my buddies have M17x-R3s, with almost the same specs, and have that issue.

Specs: I7 2820QMs, GTX 460m w/ 3d screen, 16gb hyper-x ram, windows 7 ultimate, A04 bios. The only difference is hard drives where one has stock Seagate hard drives in raid, the other has an intel SSD w/ 500gb WD backup drive.

Both are having the issue. Sometimes they boot up w/out Aero (a reboot usually fixes this) or out of the blue, they will lose Aero and revert back to windows basic.

We have tried multiple drivers; both are running the latest ones from NVidia (280.26). No matter what driver is used, same issue happens. Both have even tried to clean install Windows but still have the same issue.

Any of you guys w/ the M17x-R3s having the same issue?

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BB EDIT:

OSD has been updated (9/25). Please be sure to update to the current version of OSD. This should resolve the Aero issues.

http://support.dell.com/support/dow...dateid=-1&formatid=-1&source=-1&fileid=476736

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I have the same issue, but with a 6970m GPU. Weird, I always assumed it was graphics drivers, but maybe it's not...

 

I think this is an issue with all R3's. Mine does the same thing, every now and then starting with Aero disabled. Logging out and back in will often be enough to fix it. My guess it has to do with the GPU throttling to save power, or possibly with the graphics switching.

 

Yeh, its a windows bug. Only started to happen to me after a fresh install. Fixed it by running Windows experience index and rebooting. unfortunetley, every time you switch between IGP and GPU it switches to windows basic and you have to do another restart, sometimes two to get it to work again.
Well, for AMD that is. Not sure about Nvidia

 

That is pretty weird.

As far as I know, since both of their laptops are "3D", they don't have graphics switching/integrated graphics.

 

yeh, its been reported as a Windows bug, its happening on a wide range of machines, not just ours. Dont think theres a fix either.

 

I went ahead and posted this issue over on Dell's site. Let's see if any of the Dell folks can chime in.

Here is the link: M17x-R3 Aero Issues - Alienware Forum - Alienware Club - Dell Community

 

The first thing this thread needs to do is PM a moderator to get this thread sticky'ed!!!


We M18x owners, have been desperately trying to troubleshoot this issue for quite some time here at NBR http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m18x/588142-m18x-windows-aero.html and at Dell Re: M18x Aero issues - Alienware Forum - Alienware Club - Dell Community . M17x R3 owners deserve a fix for this issue just as much as we M18x owners.


M17x R3 owners need to get involved in the discussions and let the author of the story know that M17x R3 owners are affected by this problem.
We should all work together to resolve this issue.
Alienware M18x Owners Experiencing Windows Aero Issues

Here is a temporary fix for re-enabling Windows Aero that works for the M18x and probably works on the M17x R3.

 

I had this problem, but it randomly fixed itself...

 

It you would like to see it return run 3DMark06 4 times in a row or run a few blu-rays with PowerDVD.

 

thanks for this.

 

No problem glad I could help. Could you please rep the author of that software, to show that his/hers work is greatly appreciated.

 

We have successfully replicated the issue and are working with several teams here at Dell and with Microsoft to solve it.

 

Excellent, I can't wait for the fix to come out!

 

RangerEdgeO2,

Me too...

 

Great news Chris, thanks.

Just quoting a post of mine relating my experience:

That was near 2 months ago. Since then I've only had Aero disable itself 4 times on boot up.

 

skygunner, thanks for giving the quote of leigh_vh showing a temporary fix to this problem! And another thanks to leigh_vh for making this program that fixes it without a restart of your computer!

Hopefully Dell/Alienware/Microsoft will have a official fix out soon!

 

Maybe you guys can fix the 580M throttling issue now, since it is affecting people even on stock clocks.

 

Hmm... Just wanted to report in that this happened to me like once or twice when I first got the R3. 6970 owner here.

 

i have aero issue when switching user.
also aero crashes when switching from ati to intel and vice versa.
specs see sig.

 

NP. Glad I can help. +1 rep back!

 

I have experienced this problem only after fresh install onto SSD. Never had this problem on AW provided installation that comes with machine.

 

just reinstalled onto a new ssd and bang the bling is gone -.-

that alienwareaero fix thingy works tho

 

Had the same issue with mine - 6970 owner here. Usually if it happened on boot-up, I would start an application (game or something) and it would correct itself within a minute or so. Good to see that a fix is coming from the official channels.

 

I'm having the same issue. Occasionally when I startup the R3 for the first time and login, it reverts to Aero Basic. However, I do not have to restart. I just logout and log back in and that usually fixes it.

460M with Optimus.

I'll try the AlienwareFix later, when I'm off work.

 

If anyone from this thread receives any info on a possible fix can you please notify us in this thread http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m18x/588142-m18x-windows-aero.html . Thank you.

 

Interestingly my AlienwareAreoFix utility couldn't reset the aero flake out this morning whilst I had Mozilla Thunderbird running; after I closed Thunderbird AlienwareAeroFix worked. I am uncertain as to whether this is good or bad news as it could mean that this is a more fundamental (i.e. Microsoft) problem rather than a Dell/Alienware problem with the OSD application.

/Leigh

 

I did not have this issue at all but I did reinstalling my comp within 2 hours of receiving it.

 

Thought I was the only one with this issue. Happens to me once out of say every 10 cold boots. I've always had to reboot to fix. Nice to know a resolution is finally being worked on

 

It happens to me once in a blue moon, it has nothing to do with the computer itself.

 

My aero issues are a bit worse. I have horrizontal artifact like lines accross my screen when aero enabled. if its off theres no artifacts. My only fix ive found is to decrease my refresh rate to 40 hz that makes them dissapear.

 

Not sure if it's related but in my case all WPF apps look blurry. Messenger is almost unreadable.

 

Hello there. I have the same problem, it happens several times really... randomly. I just did a reboot and then it goes back to normal, BUT reboot can't seem to fix it definitely cuz there are chances that even if you did a reboot Aero won't still come back. Based on my study through this, it's not in your Alienware but it's in the Operating System, i got a buddy who owns an Acer laptop, OS is Windows 7 Ultimate Edition, he also... is having the same kind of problem as we did.

 

Finally!!! It seems Dell has updated some drivers; "Fix Aero transparency effect failure sometimes"

Link for Spanish users at

Descargas

English users at

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m18x/588142-m18x-windows-aero-111.html#post7942610

 

Just updated this Monday. Yeah, it seems the Aero issue is gone

 

I've been running this fix for about a week now and no Aero issues at all.

Thanks, Zaraneo!

 

for me installing the 285.38 drivers did the trick, no more aero and bsod problems

 

The fix has been working excellent for me as well!

 

yep. In fact i now keep aero even while running high perf 3d stuff. e.g. aero active when alt tabbbing in/out of BF3 beta or when running it windowed. w00t!

 

updated post#1 with link to current OSD. Removing thread from sticky status as this appears resolved.

 

Thanks Chris! I can't wait for a fix. I have had this issue twice on my M17x (specs in my sig) and nothing I do seems to stop it from happening.

I've found that in the game Guild Wars, I also had a weird bout of input lag with both my keyboard and external keyboard when this bug happened mid-game.

Thanks!

 

I had the issue when I first got the lappy, october 2011, then found a fix from m18x forum, downloaded the following driver from dell

R315150.exe (don't remember what is it)

but it solved the aero issue, didn't have the problem again

 

You need to go to the website and download the new OSD driver. It will be under "Applications".