M17xR3 worked great for one day, then experienced BSODs and extreme hiccups

On the first day I received my R3, I went though the install and configuaration stage, I installed a game or two, and a few essential programs (WinRAR, VLC player, etc.) On the first day, everything worked great; everything ran smoothly, there were no slowdowns, and everything worked like it should the first time. It was all very slick.

Then, after shutting it down for the night and coming back to it the second day, everything seemed normal. I went to play Starcraft II, but the program that loaded so readily the previous day was taking a very long time to do anything. After waiting for three or four minutes, I was hit with a bluescreen, telling me of a DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE. This was, needless to say, upsetting. Hoping it was just a fluke, I tried running Starcraft II again, and after a short amount of play, I was hit with the same error. A third reboot and a third try resulted in the same thing. This would later happen twice while I was doing nothing more than browsing the internet looking for a solution to this. After some looking, I came upon this site, and downloaded the drivers listed in the thread stickied at the top. After fully installing those, plus my Windows Updates, the bluescreens seem to have stopped.

Now, however, I am faced with another frustrating problem: Everything is EXTREMELY slow and sluggish on this machine. Where on the first day I could open Firefox and it would actually appear at my mouseclick, I now have to wait about 30 seconds to 1 minute for it to open. Loading a webpage is noticeably sluggish. Loading and logging into Steam is a 10 minute affair. Starcraft II takes several minutes to appear, and when I get into a game I have to turn the graphics settings down to medium or lower or the frame rate drops like a stone (I could play it comfortably on Ultra settings before.) Youtube videos are so slow that they actually cause the entire computer to slow down, and they play like the video and audio had been put into slow motion. Finally, I will occasionally hear little bits of feedback or static from the speakers or my headphones when I'm loading anything. It sounds a bit like the popping sound you hear when you plug in a stereo or headphones, and it usually happens during a major slowdown (which occurs without fail whenever I try to open up a game or anything bigger than Firefox).

I'm at my wit's end. I figured I'd ask here before trying to deal with Dell tech support. I'm hoping there will be something I can try to fix this without having to return my current machine for repair or look to buy elsewhere.

 

Specs of computer please.

 

M17x R3, i7-2720QM 2.20GHz, 8GB Ram, 1333MHz GTX 460m 1.5GB, running Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium

 

Very likely its the 460m card. It seems to have bsod issues right out of the box, something i've experienced myself.

Try this. Download the 267.64 A01 from the m17x page Drivers & Downloads Then uninstall ur current driver.
Press the windows key, type in "Device Manager" make sure u choose that option, then go to Display Adapters.
Right click on the nvidia 460m then choose "Uninstall."
Restart your computer, then reinstall the nvidia driver.

I hope this works for you, if you still get bsods however...I would call up dell and ask for a better card.

 

Do you think this would also solve the slowdown issues?

 

By any chance, are you playing it on battery when the slowdowns occur?

 

No, I've been using it plugged in the entire time.

 

Nothing is downloading without your notice is it? Like a bunch of windows updates?

 

Actually, now that you mention it, I looked at my task bar and there is a windows update downloading, but it's stuck at 0%... And right after I posted this thread, it asked me to restart to install a windows update. This is strange, because yesterday I installed the entire gamut of updates that the Windows Update notification center wanted me to do. Now that I think of it, I did notice something else as well; a few times when I restarted, the "Configuring Windows updates" screen would appear (even though I hadn't installed any new updates) and stay at 0% for a long time and then just move on to the Log In screen.

Do you have any idea what this might be indicative of?

 

For me, I had updates for just about everything. Office 2007, the security fix's and SP1 for windows 7. It's just one of the things you have to deal with when you own a windows system T_T

 

If you still get bsods on a daily/frequent basis, u might want to call dell and complain to them till they give u a better card, preferably the 6970.

 

I have the same the same pc, only differense is i got a 2.0GHz i7, but 8GB ram, gtx460m.
(also ofc m17x r3)
I find the pc awsome, BUT there are 2 different issues for me, HoN (Heroes of Newerth) has known issues with nvidia notebok GPU 3xxm 4xxm and 5xxm series, unless updated to 275.33, but that one cannot be installed without altering it.

I have 1 more week left where i can return the laptop for full refund, and i am seriously thinking about doing it, BUT if possible i want to keep the laptop, but cba if it keeps having this issue.


Are there anyone who thinks it is possible to fix it?

I have tryed 2-4 times now reinstalling win7 completely from the alienrespawn partition.

But randomly gives BSoD (Driver_power_state_failure) and 95% of the times i launch HoN it crashes at startup.
EDIT - And yes, when it actually makes me able of starting the game, after less than 10minutes of playing it gives that BSoD.

 

I know Hon has a certain memory issue that hasn't been fixed yet, where it accumulates ram usage after an extended period of time.

Check your ram sticks, make sure they aren't different branded ones.

That and you might have to return it for a full refund. That or complain to a non tech rep that it isn't working. and try to get free upgrades like replacing the 460m.

If you do return it for a full refund, look into this thread if you want to try to buy a better functioning machine.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/456885-aw-dell-ordering-advice-how-save.html

 

Sounds like an incompatible driver..

If i were you:

1) do a clean install of windows - see how the performance is (before installing drivers / updates) (disable windows auto updates and checking, it causes game lag, you can just install them when you want to install them)

2) then install the windows updates, restart and check performance.
(just a note: read all the updates you are installing. There is a particular update which if I install on my R3 it causes the PC to REALLY slow down, its the one to "prepare your PC for future updates" or something like that, don't install that one and i never installed any of the ones for Internet explorer either since I don't use it)

3) Install the drivers one by one, restarting after each and checking performance to find the faulty driver
(for me the incompatible driver was the SD card. According to what I've read if you install all windows updates then re-install it should work but I wont risk it)

When you find the faulty driver you may need to go into safe mode to uninstall it. PM me if you want to ask me anything.

*if that doesn't fix it, I also read somewhere that you can try a full power drain, I don't know how to do it but you could search the forum or ask someone*

 

I had some hiccups on my 460m as well. I simply updated my Nvidia drivers to 275.33 and everything is working perfectly.

New Nvidia Driver 275.33 WHQL

Be sure to follow the guide. You may want to do a clean install, but I doubt it's necessary.

 

How did you clean install the 275.33? I tried it every way but the computer wouldnt even start up. T_T