Multiple questions concering M17x issues!

First off - I want to say that I have searched through Google and multiple forums built in search functions for quite a few of these issues; and either I haven't found an answer I like, it's an outdated post, not sure if it's compatible for my issue, etc etc. I also noticed that there is a stickied M17x support thread; but since I believe I'll be responding multiple times(and because there is multiple questions) I felt it might be easier on myself - as well as others who are willing to help if everything was consolidated into it's own thread. Sorry, and thanks in advance for any help that can be generated! Anywho...the long post begins!

• Weird buzzing/beeping/morsecodesounding noise:
  
  This first issue has only started happening in the past month or so. I first noticed it when I booted up a game I play(Lord of the Rings Online) and has have had it happen a few times outside of the game as well; although I don't recall what I was doing at the time when it did it.
  
  I had orignally contacted Turbine(Lord of the rings online developer) technical support thinking that it was something to do with a game update/file error/etc, and after speaking with them through 10 or so emails - they just quit responding. Although, after having it happen outside of the game I figured it was a hardware issue - and not a game related issue.
  
  Anyways, it seems to be when the HDD is being accessed/heavy resource strain(playing some games/lots of programs open) it hasn't happened when only having a few things up or on very low requirements games. When it does happen - it's a beeping/grinding type noise(almost like morse code, lol). It doesn't happen when I turn my laptop on(so I don't think it's my fans) but will happen 100% of the time I open the LoTRO client. Could this be a file fragmentation issue or something of that sort?[Although I defrag once a week automatically]
  [*]Fans seem to run at full power regardless of 'work load' during games:
  
  This one is pretty self explanatory, it seems that for the majority of my games - whenever I boot them up, my fans come on at a very high level even though they haven't been on but for a brief second. Is this a 'built in preemptive function' that is normal - or is there a setting turned on to force it to do this? [This doesn't happen when doing normal non-gaming related things - so I'm guessing it has something to do with my SLI configuration coming on during gaming?]
  [*]Driver is out of date, Dell said they aren't?
  
  I just noticed I never provided any system information(can provide any info needed if asked for). I'll admit I'm not a very tech savvy guy, even though I'm a hardcore gamer; but I was told my quite a few people that some of my issues may be because of my outdated driver.
  
  
  Spoiler

  Current Mode: 1920 x 1200 (32 bit) (59Hz)
  Monitor Name: Generic PnP Monitor
  Monitor Model: unknown
  Monitor Id: SEC5443
  Native Mode: 1920 x 1200(p) (59.964Hz)
  Output Type: Internal
  Driver Name: nvd3dumx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvd3dum,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um
  Driver File Version: 8.15.0011.8664 (English)
  Driver Version: 8.15.11.8664
  DDI Version: 10
  Driver Model: WDDM 1.1
  Driver Attributes: Final Retail
  Driver Date/Size: 8/6/2009 17:16:00, 9492480 bytes
  WHQL Logo'd: n/a
  WHQL Date Stamp: n/a
  Device Identifier: {D7B71E3E-4558-11CF-4052-AA2202C2C535}
  Vendor ID: 0x10DE
  Device ID: 0x0618
  SubSys ID: 0x02A11028
  Revision ID: 0x00A2
  Driver Strong Name: oem45.inf:NVIDIA_SetA_Devices.NTamd64.6.1:Section010:8.15.11.8664 ci\ven_10de&dev_0618&subsys_02a11028
  Rank Of Driver: 00E60001
  Video Accel: ModeMPEG2_A ModeMPEG2_C ModeVC1_C ModeWMV9_C
  Deinterlace Caps: {6CB69578-7617-4637-91E5-1C02DB810285}: Format(In/Out)=(YUY2,YUY2) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
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  D3D9 Overlay: Supported
  DXVA-HD: Supported
  DDraw Status: Enabled
  D3D Status: Enabled
  AGP Status: Enabled
  
  I had checked on the Dell website and noticed that their latest driver for my card [GTX 260M - Win7x64] was a few months ago. I've never uninstalled/reinstalled drivers, so I had actually called Dell to see if they would do it for me(I purchased the supreme super duper megazord tech support package so was worth a try) he told me that their support doesn't cover it but he'll check to see if it actually is outdated; and proceeded to tell me that it actually isn't out of date and I'm misinformed. So I'm curious, is it actually out of date, what's the most up-to-date version(can you get it from a non dell site?) etc.
  [*]SLI doesn't seem to work on some games:
  
  This is pretty generic and through my research it seems that SLI needs 'profiles' in order to work for new games that are provided through their drivers(which mine are out of date I suppose) and it also doesn't work on DX9 games. I've also heard you can 'clone' a fake profile based on crysis and rename it to the .exe and it might work to make SLI work for said game, although I don't understand how that works; and/or if it can damage things if you do. Any generic info/links for this stuff would be appreciated(if you have a preferred site for this[probably Nvidias main site?], since I've exhausted my Google skills it seems).
  [*]Prefered GPU/CPU monitoring tool:
  
  It seems every 'informed gamer' nowadays runs with a GPU/CPU monitoring tool, and there are tons out there(got thousands of software products searching for one), but I figured since this forum fork is dedicated to my equipement maybe I could find the one suited best for my hardware. I don't need one with all the bells and whistles(or anything that I could mess my system up with), but I would like one to check GPU temp for my own knowledge/diagnostics and to see where my SLI setup is/isn't working and the like. I know GPUz is popular but does it work well with this rig?
  

I know this is a very elongated and wordy post - but I can't seem to get many answers from any other site around, so any help will be greatly appreciated and meet with many cookies! So anywho, any help greatly appreciated; thanks in advance.

Brief system specs:

Spoiler

Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_gdr.100618-1621)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Alienware
System Model: M17x
BIOS: Ver A05 1.00PARTTBLZ
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU P8700 @ 2.53GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.5GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 4094MB RAM
Page File: 2149MB used, 6037MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
DxDiag Version: 6.01.7600.16385 32bit Unicode

Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce GTX 260M
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0618&SUBSYS_02A11028&REV_A2
Display Memory: 2799 MB
Dedicated Memory: 1007 MB
Shared Memory: 1791 MB
Current Mode: 1920 x 1200 (32 bit) (59Hz)
Monitor Name: Generic PnP Monitor
Monitor Model: unknown
Monitor Id: SEC5443
Native Mode: 1920 x 1200(p) (59.964Hz)
Output Type: Internal
Driver Name: nvd3dumx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvd3dum,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um
Driver File Version: 8.15.0011.8664 (English)
Driver Version: 8.15.11.8664
DDI Version: 10
Driver Model: WDDM 1.1
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 8/6/2009 17:16:00, 9492480 bytes

 

Have you tried clean installing/reinstalling the graphics driver (uninstall driver~restart in safe mode~use ccleaner~restart~install driver)? The latest driver is below but I and several others have found it to be a bit unstable:

Drivers and Downloads

Or you could try installing the beta driver below, which I have using for many months without issue.

Drivers and Downloads

As for the noisey HDD, dare I say its on last legs? It depends how loud these noises are and sometimes some drives are louder than other.

 

Hey starry!

That LoTRO client needs to be checked on another computer if possible, if the noises only appear for that game. Sometimes DirectX gets corrupt as well, and sound it the first to get affected by this.

The sound in the system doesnt have the best shielding either, so a noisy hard drive can make the sound quality worse.

It is normal for your fans to start going high speed for games. Even before they are fully loaded because at that moment both the CPU and the GPU can be running full speed to load the program, textures, etc.

You can find modified drivers on the internet to try, but they will not be supported by dell. Dell takes a while to update drivers. this will also fix your sli problem, as the new drivers have the new sli profiles.

We use the monitoring tools to help each other trouble shoot, or to see if something is too hot. I use HWiNFO. It is ok but not the most stable program, but it also has very good sensor readers.

Hope this helps!

 

Sorry for the absolutely late responses, I got called out of town on business and didn't have access to my personal laptop Thanks for the answers already provided!

Well my hardware is just over a year old and I don't overtax it very often. So I'm fairly confident that if it's anything it may just be faulty. All of my other computers(2 desktops and 2 laptops) are well over 4+ years older and don't have the issue with any of them.

I have the game installed on an XPS laptop as well as barebones PC and neither of them have the noise coming from it when the game is being booted up! It's isolated to my system.

Yea, I figured I would have to go out of the 'Dell security blanket' and just install the newest Nvidia drivers for my hardware(GTX 260M). I'm just weary on how well they will perform / if they could damage my system. In the past I had an XPS that I updated through Nvidia as opposed to Dell and the drivers were almost always very unstable. I've heard that nowadays it's not normally the case though.

Thanks again for the previous responses, but I've got another round of questions if someone wouldn't mind. I've been having an issue as of late where if I hit certain keys(namely NumLock, CapsLock) during a game my screen will black out and blink for a handful of seconds. Then come back into the game(or minimize my game window onto my desktop-- depends on the game).

I'm wondering if this may be an issue with all of my games loading(maybe something in directx or something 'universal' to many games). Although truthfully I have no idea. It seems like it's keys that provide a 'popup' when pushed in(when I hit caps lock it says so in the bottom right corner). So it's flashing in and out to let it pop up. Some games after doing it the first time will allow me to hit the keys without it doing it again. While others everytime I hit the key it will do it's spazzing out thing.

Has anyone else had this issue by any chance? Thanks in advance

 

I did a little bit more digging into the issue that was posted above(trying to disable the popup stating that capslock was on and the like) and I found a ton of threads. This one in particular ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...k-notification-popup-monitor.html#post5890535 ) and it states to uncheck the box that says show...(etc) and I noticed that I already have it unchecked. So is there any other program/setting/etc that is causing it to show up still?

Edit: My mistake accidentally double posted

 

Actually, I just started playing LOTRO on my M17xR2 as well and I too have noticed the two symptoms up above.

When the game starts, during the title screens, I have a very faint high-pitch electronic crackling/buzzing noise that I can hear. The thing is, I'm running 2 SSDs in RAID0 and I have dual 4870s. After the title screen, the fans turn on at 100% and stay at 100% no matter what the load.

Strangely, when I played WoW, I could turn down the resolution or details and the fans would barely be on. With LOTRO, I can have it on the lowest resolution and details but the fans stay on 100%! I even tried using the DX9c versus the DX10.

I enjoy playing LOTRO but the noise is just killing me to the point I don't like playing!