New Alienware 17 R4 w/ 1080 Issue - PLEASE HELP

Hello everyone.

This is my very first time posting and would like to get some suggestions or advice with a problem that I am having. I was talking with Alienware Tech support and currently waiting for them to contact me after escalating my issue to Level 3.

I have received this laptop this week on 2/6/17.
Current spec:
- Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6820HK CPU @ 2.70GHz (8 CPUs), ~2.7GHz
- 32 GB Memory
- BIOS 1.0.9
- Windows 10 Pro
- GeForce GTX 1080 8 GB
- 512GB PCIe SSD (Boot) + 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s (Storage)

After installing all my preferred programs (avast, chrome, ccleaner, etc...) I begin to install my games from Blizzard and Steam. With the SSD space I have i decide to install my main games like World of Warcraft, Overwatch, and Heroes of the Storm. I also have an EA Origin account with the Sims 3 & 4 that i decide to install on the SSD. With over 500+ games on Steam I decide to install it on my 1TB storage. I decide to install games like The Witcher 3 and ARK: Survival Evolved on there.

I noticed that when I start up Ark and join a server, I crash within a minute barely being able to move. The error says that my video driver has crashed and was reset. This did not bother me as much as I know that the game has had some issues in the past before and my other Blizzard games WoW and Heroes was working. I look into this and find out that some people have the same issue. The recommendations were reinstalling the NVIDIA driver or even going back to install a previous version. I have done both ways with complete reinstall and still have the issue. I even tune down my settings to the lowest and mess with some NVIDIA settings and still get this message. I even reinstall the game and the same thing happens. I decide to install The Witcher 3 overnight and when I load up the game the next day my game freezes with background sound still going on and Steam eventually crashes without a warning. After this I finally realize that there might be a problem with my GPU. I have went through Alienware/Dell diagnostic for my whole PC and specifically for my GPU and there were no problems detected.

I finally call Alienware support and spoke with a representative for about 2 hours that shared my screen and went over a few steps. She had done some things and looked into my devices then made me run the games that had this problem and the issue was still going on. Finally we ran the UNIGINE HEAVEN to monitor the GPU and there were no problems with the benchmark. Everything ran smooth and looked beautiful. The last step was to reinstall my Steam w/ all the games completely and reinstall. I told the rep that it would take about and hour and she emailed me to be in contact with her. There were other minor Steam games that worked but Witcher and ARK are GPU intense so I figured the problem might lie within the GPU. After I get off the phone and start to reinstall I decide to check out all my Blizzard games again and I did run into a problem with Overwatch with the error "rendering device has been lost". I am completely confused at this point as it has only been 2 days since I had the laptop and right now I am to wait 24-48 hours to work on a solution and they will contact me.

I have done a lot of research with this particular laptop and possible problems that people have had and I cannot find a similar one. Some games work and when they do it works beautifully. No heating problems or performance issues. The ones that I do have problems do not work at all and it is only on particular games that are graphic intense. The rep told me the next step might be to reformat but I am waiting to hear back from them before I do anything. If anyone has any suggestions or might know something please let me know. Thank you for reading this. Sorry that this is long but I want to be detailed.

 

This may or may not help you but have you tried disabling Intel Storage Technology? Make sure to restart right after you've disabled it.

 

I have not. The only option I see to disable is for the Link Power Management. I do have this running in the background. Should I disable this and restart or is there something to completely disable it?

 

Yes, disable link power management and restart, run some games and see how it goes.

 

This did not work. Now I am having bluetooth issues once I disabled the option. I have enabled and restarted and can't connect now.

 

Intel Rapid Storage Technology has nothing to do with Bluetooth. I've experienced the same major freezes with sound in the background still going, and crashes even the error "rendering device has been lost" it took me 3 weeks troubleshooting and reading through MSI GT80S owner's lounge but with no luck of fixing it, tried changing my HDD and SSD but the same problem, I also thought that there might be a major problem within the laptop's hardware, but I discovered that Intel Rapid Storage Technology is the culprit behind all that, so I disabled mine (Power Link Management) and finally fixed those annoying freeze and crashes.

But like I said it may or may not help you, the problem with your unit seems to be deeper than expected with most Alienware products.

 

T

Thank you for the suggestion. I hoped it would work but I fear it may be as you said a deeper issue. I'm contemplating a reformat possibly at this point.

 

Don't reformat just yet, wait for other AW owners they might have a solution.

 

Will hold off for now.Thanks!

 

Driver crashing might be due to hitting power or temperature limit.

Download HWinfo64, leave sensors tab open in the background and start whatever causes the crash.

Then after crashing check in the sensors tab the maximum power consumption of the GPU and maximum temperature and this will tell us where the problem is.

 

ARK power consumption of GPU is 156.507W and max GPU temp was 86 C. Can run for barely a minute after loading into game.

For Witcher power consumption is 153.665W and GPU temp was 79 C.

 

I would say temperature is your problem, I believe I read somewhere that Pascal is very temperature sensitive. I would recommend that you underclock your GPU and test again. I am sure that it won't crash.

 

@ Strychnynegirl

Those temps are not that bad tbh, my MSI GT80S in 85 C (during intense gaming) before I re-pasted it and it still run games pretty smoothly and it could take an hour or two until you notice an FPS drops with a little bit of stutter but not to the point where its bothersome, after a proper re-paste its now 65 C (during intense gaming) with the help of MSI software called "Silent Option" for fan speed control set to max.

My point is even with that temp it won't be frequently freezing and crashing within just a few minutes of gameplay, a stutter is acceptable, an FPS drops after an hour is acceptable due to the temperature ramping up.

I think it's not worth your money if its giving you a headache right out of the box, Dell should have fix that before they sell their garbage to the public --- now I'm no means bashing (I like AW's because of their build quality and obviously the aesthetics) but they failed to fix the hardware specifically the heat sinks of their laptop. However there are some re-pasting tutorials created by @iunlock

http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...5r3-disassembly-repaste-guide-results.797373/

or you can send your unit to him @iunlock for a proper re-paste, here is one of the testimonial

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/iunlock-re-paste-review.801103/#post-10454183

or a better solution is to return the unit and ask for a full refund, if you're still wanting an AW wait a few more months if not until next year until Dell fix the problem.

 

I think at this point all I have left to do is wait to hear from Dell/AW support and see what my next steps are. Reformatting was their next step but they decided to escalate the issue. I am hoping there is a solution after their update. I have a feeling they would try to get someone to look at the laptop or have me send it in and wait weeks or over a month. If it gets that far I think I might just want a refund. This is disappointing because everything about the laptop and the working games are great. The games that I can play without any issues have the same power usage and GPU temperature.

 

Yep, so let's hope that a simply reformat will fix it, if not ask for a refund.

 

Just looked today and the Alienware 17r4 with gtx1080 and 6820hk is listed for more on Dell.com than it is on HIDevolution.com.. lol

HIDEvo - $3,379.00

DELL - $3,529.99