M17xR2 Lasting problems

Ill start of with my computers specs I have included an attachment of my CPUZ:
M17x R2
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
Intel® Core™ i7 720QM 1.6GHz (2.8 GHz Turbo Mode, 6MB Cache)
1GB GDDR5 ATI Radeon™ Mobility HD 5870
17-inch WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 RGB LED (1200p)
4GB Dual Channel Memory (2x 2GB DDR3)
640GB RAID 0 7,200RPM SATA-II HDD
Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
Intel® Ultimate N WiFi Link 6300 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO Technology

When i first got my computer it ran great until i let a couple of my roommates use it and they got a virus on it so i fail to get rid of it so i decided to format. After that format my computer has not been the same. Ive installed all the drivers and even called dell tech support they did not resolve my problem as they did the same stuff i did, reinstall drivers. After reinstalling the drivers i noticed on the device manager there was still a couple things under "Other devices" that say drivers were not installed. The device names are:

Base System Device
Base System Device
Bluetooth Peripheral Device
Ethernet controller

and yes i have used the list "Latest Drivers Checklist for the M17x-R2 with HD5870 (September 2010) incl. VBIOS Flash Guide" to make sure i installed all of them.

The one thing i could not do was update the 5870's VBios because when i click on the program it says that i do not have the proper card to install the vbios. I am positive i have a ati hd 5870 and have checked if i installed the correct drivers.

The second problem happens when i start up my computer. I get through the windows loading screen but every once in a while instead of displaying the login screen, there is just a black screen. I've countered this by force shutting down and starting up in safe mode and used the system recovery to the last point. It starts up fine after i do that but the problem still persist and i am forced to do that on a regular basis.

Also when shutting down my m17xr2 it doesn't fully turn off. windows does indeed shut down but then my laptop just displays a blank black screen and i can see the lights are still on and fans are running.

Occasionally when watching youtube videos or just a streamed video my computer will crash. I have tried using many internet browsers including Google Chrome, IE, Mozilla firefox.

Please help if you can it would be very much appreciated on this end. I paid good money for this laptop and am just trying to get it working properly. Thank you for your time.

 

Maybe you should reinstall the windows again and make sure you install all the drivers from the installation disks...

I've reinstalled windows several times and never had a problem. Ofcourse, it will take some time for all the drivers to be installed.

If you still will not succeed with the installation, you should call an expert who will be able to help you.

If this will not solve your problem, your system may have a hardware issue and if it is still under warranty, dell should send a technical support team and solve your problem.

Hope this helped...

 

That is a pretty heavy dose of problems. I agree you have to attack these one at a time, and I would start with that video card driver.

Please first reconfirm that you are still on windows 7 Home Premium and not something more exotic like Windows Server 2XXX. Then, uninstall the video card driver so you are back to the Microsoft VGA driver. After that confirm that you are installing DELLs/Alienware's latest driver. Unless that latest driver is installed correctly the flash utility will refuse to even make a flash disk. I had the same problem (still do actually) but this is due to me using a server OS. Please take a screenshot of the ATI driver installation at the point that is shows all the components it will be installing (Should say driver, installation framework, Control Center, plus two more things). If it doesnt list all of that during the install then it is not installing even if it says "Successful".

If you do get this far then go for the BIOS flash again and then maybe a few more things will work out for you. Good luck!

 

I have found a fix for a couple of the issues i included above.

The problem was that some how a ATI Radeon Mobility HD 5800 series generic driver was installed. I believe it was the dell tech support that suggested me trying this driver. Anyway the driver was a new version there for every time i tried to install the correct driver, the one on the dell site, did not overwrite the old driver because the old driver was a newer version and because of that the VBios update provided with the new driver would not install. I manually installed the correct driver in device manager by right clicking my Display adapter and going down to properties. Clicked on the second 'Driver" tab and clicked on the button thats says "Update driver" then i choose the folder with the new dell driver for the HD 5870. It installed correctly and then i did the Vbio's update. My computer seems to be running much smoother now and also it fixed the problem with the black screen on start up instead of the login screen. It fixed the problem i was having with it not shutting down all of the way also. I think having the incorrect display driver may have been the cause of the laptop crashing when watching streamed videos. I hope this will help anyone experiencing similar problems to what i was having.

One thing i have failed to fix is the problem with the "Other Devices" in device manager. There are still 2 Base System Device's that i cannot seem to find a driver for. Does all m17xR2's have the same problem? If not ill include the hardware ID's in hopes someone can give me an answer. The hardware ID's of the first one is [PCI\VEN_1180&DEV_E230&SUBSYS_043A1028&REV_01] and for the second [PCI\VEN_1180&DEV_E852&SUBSYS_043A1028&REV_01].

 

No, I do not have the same problem, all my devices are visible.

Be careful using the Driver disk that came with your M17X R2, as with mine the drivers on the disk where for the first relies of the M17X R2 and the display drivers where for the HD 4870. Also if you performed the Bios Update to A09 the Alien FX command centre (Old version on the Disk) can damage the chip that controls the lighting.

Your best bet is to go to the dell site, go to the drivers page, type in your TAG No. (Or if that does not work navigate to the Laptop - Alienware - M17X R2), download all the latest drivers, be careful since often more drivers than required may be listed like for the Display Card and the Network adapter there are a few wireless drivers just choose the correct one.

The device not recognized could be the IR receiver, which has a separate driver. Try reinstalling the chipset drivers.

Good Luck.

 

I second that. I downloaded all the latest drivers from the supported Dell website and it's working great.