M17xR3 various problems

Hey all. Just got this Alienware M17xR3 a few days ago from someone. Had to reinstall Windows as he wanted the HDD with all it's information.
Well, it's been nothing but fighting since.
After I tackled the initial problem of finding and installing all the drivers, I've had 3 major problems.
1. When I'm plugged in and playing a game, all is dandy. If the power gets unplugged (the connection is a little loose, meaning if the laptop is stable on a table or stand it's fine, but on a lap a little too much shaking and it wiggles loose) it switches to integrated graphics. At that point, even if I plug the power back in, it is still stuck on integrated graphics. Quit the game, restart, still stuck on integrated graphics. Even after setting the nVidia control panel to "High Performance Graphics Preferred" and restarting the game, STILL stuck in integrated graphics. This has happened in every game I've tried - not many, since I did just get it a few days ago - Battlefield 3, Skyrim, Counterstrike Source, Team Fortress 2, and Aion.
I can't manually switch it back to the dedicated, either.

2. Every once in a while, "randomly", I get a BSOD with "driver power state failure". I have had it about 4 times today. I set my startup and recovery options to give me a minidump next time it happens, so I'll post that as soon as I can.

3. The computer just "Starts off" very sluggish. The boot time is fine and all, but after I have gotten to desktop, nothing wants to open. Chrome, Steam, even the start menu, for about 30-60 seconds after boot they just don't open. I can click them and I will get the loading cursor till they open. I know that startup takes a while, but even my ole 2.3ghz celeron Toshiba can open Chrome within a few seconds of boot. I know computers (well enough to know) and it shouldn't be taking this long. Any idea why?

Now, for my computer specs...

CPU : Intel i7 2630QM (2ghz Quad core, 8 thread)
GPU : nVidia 460m Optimus
RAM : 4 x 4GB = 16GB
Display : 1920x1080 NON 3D
640GB Western Digital HDD

If you need any other info to help, please do ask... I'm sad that this monster I got isn't performing as well as Alienware is hyped to be...

P.S. I have popped off the bottom and cleaned the vents and such, and watched heat - it's getting no where near overheating with furmark maxing the GPU temp in about 10 min at 59deg Celsius, and the CPU hasn't even heated above 60.

Thanks in advance all

 

not sure what is going on with the integrated graphics switching as i dont have optimus, but ive had problems very similar to what you are having on bootup many times. this should fix you up:

How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista or in Windows 7

its not fun, but you should be able to indentify the bootup conflict that you are having. most recently mine was a networking program i had installed.

edit: i was just thinking you may want to whitelist your games and see if that fixes the optimus problem. also make sure all your settings in power management are set to high performance. i also think that on battery power all games are going to throttle cause the battery just cant feed the video card enough juice.

 

I know they will be throttled a little on battery but that shouldnt cause me to have to reboot to use dedicated once i'm plugged back in. Ill try that clean boot thing tomorrow after I get up, thanks!

 

I will address the problems in the order you listed them:

1. There are 2 things that you can try. One is a full power drain. To do this, unplug the computer, remove battery and the CMOS battery under the back panel. Press the power button and keep it pressed for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Release the power button and leave the computer for another minute. Replace the CMOS battery, back panel, laptop battery and then plug the machine back in. Turn it on and you may get a blank screen with 5 beeps. Force a shut down but holding down the power button and then turn the machine back on.
If this doesn't resolve the issue, you may want to consider flashing to the unlocked A08 BIOS and disable the integrated graphics all together. More on this later if you choose this option.

2. When you upload your dump files from C:\Windows\Minidump\ I'll analyze them for you. From there, we can troubleshoot your BSOD's.

3. For slow startups, read the following links:
Optimize Your Windows 7 PC
Optimize Windows 7
Startup Programs - Change
Services - Start or Disable
Please read the articles very carefully and understand the instructions before attempting any of the optimizations. It's also a good idea to backup your files and create a system restore point before beginning in case things go south.

 

Alright, minidump it zipped up and attached. I haven't been having the slow boot up problem so maybe it cleared itself up... Not quite sure.
Ill look into the solutions for my graphics problem, but I actually dont mind the idea of updating Bios to E08... But what about the newer ones, E10 or E12 I believe is out, would those not work?

 

This article will help you with that specific Bluescreen on the m17x R3. Please follow the instructions listed there and let us know what happened.

 

Looked at it and once I finished downloading something I'm going to disable speedstep.
My PSU IS 240watt.
Now I went into CPU-Z and the stupid core speed is switching between 800mhz and 2.6ghz every few seconds. What's up with that?! That might the problem...? Will disabling speedstep fix that?

 

It does that because it doesn't work all the time at maximum, only while running something it should be getting the top speed, speedstep is used to save power so it may actually help. The 9F bluescreen is more related to GFX than the CPU.

 

The BSOD happens sometimes when Im just browsing a webpage, without a game even open.
From that page, I : Have 16gb ram so virtual memory shouldnt be a problem.
Have updated all drivers.
Have overclocks disabled.
So next steps for me will be :
Windows Update
then Bios update
then Clean system boot

 

Yes, it may be related to the switch between the 2 video cards, "Optimus". That is why it may happen on any of them. Hope it gets fixed with that but in the case that you still have the problem please send the e-mail to the address listed at the end.

 

Disabling Speedstep will lock your CPU into Low Frequency Mode (8x) and kill turboboost, destroying your performance. If that's the cure, it's worse than the disease.

 

Well, I'm -outta-ideas. Windows Update gets stuck at 0% when downloading. No antivirus or firewall enabled.

 

Google is your friend, buddy.

 

You think I didn't try that already? Tried multiple solutions from regedits to deleting update files to setting it to download then notify. nothing worked.

 

I apologize. Have you tried another internet connection? Have you ensured you're not behind a proxy?

 

S'alright
I ended up putting it on "install all update automatically" at 4 (was 3:50) and a few minutes after 4 I get a yellow exclamation point asking me to shut down so it can install updates..
Guess Windows just doesnt like being told what to do!
So BIOS is updated to E10 and Windows is updated to most recent.
We'll see if I BSOD now.

 

Alright, another question since (for now) all (might) be fine.
I want to try red/blue 3D that I know I can do on my desktop. Meaning not 120hz monitor, but just the "experience 3d" mode you uses red/cyan glasses for.
There is no option for 3D in nVidia like there is on my desktop. Am i missing something or do I need to install something, or is it impossible?

 

That was indeed a 0x9F POWER_DRIVER_STATE_FAILURE stop error caused by ACPI.sys with involvement of nvlddmkm.sys. Looks like Luis has you covered though. Let us know how it goes

 

Played RAGE for 3 hours last night among other things and not a BSOD since BIOS/Windows updates.
Hope that means it's cured up
And the problem with it being laggy at startup seems to be gone too
As far as the integrated graphics problem I'm not sure, haven't unplugged it mid-game again yet.

 

Awesome! I hope it was fixed properly with that!

 

Well I went the whole evening Monday, all day tuesday (including a lot of gaming a good 5-8 hours probably) and this morning just browsing Reddit : BSOD. I can give you the minidump of this crash but its probably the same since it was driver_power_state_failure again.
What to try next? Clean boot?
@Alienware_L_Porras : Not trying to be rude, but in all honesty, is the Dell PC Diagnostic worth running? I know you won't sugar coat how well it works. Its not that I think Dell would put out crappy software, it's just I know that most error checking programs aren't the most useful.
Thanks again

 

The PSA is a very good test it normally comes out with errors on the HDD, or RAM if there is one, for me the best thing to do is to do the clean boot and finally contact the support team @ [email protected]

 

I've been reading about driver_state_power_failures with nvlddmkm.sys and some are saying to try updating drivers, I'm at the current "stable" driver from nVidia but what do you think about me updating to current beta release? Could that fix it?

 

It's always good to give those things a try, it's always worth it. It might work fine. Give it a try and let us know.

 

I've been having this same issue since I got my m17x in February. Here are my specs, see what we have in common:

i7-2860
Stock 750 GB HDD
GTX 580m
Killer-N Wireless
8 GB RAM

I've tried the following:
Clean Windows 7 install
Clean Windows 8 install
Clean Windows 7 install on SSD

I've gotten the exact same BSoD error each and every time (POWER STATE FAILURE).

This only happens when the laptop is on battery power. When the computer is plugged, it has been rock solid. I've played games for hours (Diablo 3, Skyrim) with zero issues, but if I'm browsing the web (or doing something else) while the laptop is unplugged, then it's only a matter of time before the dreaded BSoD appears.

The only reason I haven't returned this thing is because I'm currently outside the country doing a project, but it's beyond frustrating especially for such an expensive machine.

 

Understood, sorry about the inconveniences, give it a try with my recommendation at the beginning, if it does not work contact us at [email protected], they will help you making a change on the configuration for it to be rock solid always.

 

Hm.... I was using my laptop on power almost all day without a crash... this morning when it crashed I WAS using battery... I wonder if this is the same problem...
Edit; nope. Was using for 20 minutes after BSOD plugged in the whole time and it BSOD'd again.
How can I "disable" the IGP so it only uses the 460m? I'm not worried about the battery life (right now) as I keep it plugged in most of the time anyway.
If I can disable the IGP then I can rule out the possibility of it being a problem with the graphics switching.

 

Okay, now I'm getting pissed off.
It worked fine all Monday night, ALL day yesterday, and today it has done the BSOD 3 times in about an hour.

@Alienware_L_Porras, I got the laptop used from someone and as such it's not in my name. I tried to use the 30 days of warranty left on it and it won't let me because I'm not the original owner. Will the support at that email still be able to help me?

 

Sorry about that, that kind of things happen.

The support can only be provided to the owner of the machine, in that case to get it you will need to get the warranty under your name by filling the ownership transfer form. Here is why and how.

 

It's no problem, I've had computer trouble before
I installed the E08 unlocked BIOS and completely disabled the IGP, will see if that fixes anything.