New M17x R4 RAID/Speaker Issues. DOA?

Hello,

I received my m17x last week and didn't get a chance to set it up until today. I have a couple issues I am looking for some guidance on, looks like tech support is now closed until tomorrow so perhaps the issue is me but I think my laptop might be DOA here.

I had no problems when I first booted the system but within 15 minutes of getting the initial personalization done on the system it blue screened and rebooted. Got a no boot device found error message but after a couple hard power cycles it booted back into Windows after a chkdsk and a ton of error recovery there. It worked for a while then crashed again, after another hard power off/on it booted after a couple no boot drive error message loops and I am back in Windows again. Steam is currently trying to complete a game download (again), I'll see if it crashes again tonight.

At this point I have to believe one of the drives is bad or going bad in the RAID set. On one of the boots I went into the BIOS and it only showed the 2nd Samsung HDD not the other one. The laptop is running all HW supplied by Dell - I made zero modifications to it. RAID 0 set was preconfigured per my request in the order using 2 Samsung SSD's.

The other thing I noticed when playing some music while it was working is that one of the speakers seems noticeably quieter than the other one. I have looked at the audio control panels and there is nothing changing the L/R balance I can see. Is there something else I should look at here or is the speaker possibly bad?

I have the standard 1 year warranty. Should I expect them to mail me parts or will they send a new system if it is a HW issue? At this point with the HD failures and crashes I am not even certain if Windows is clean after multiple chkdsks and errors.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Regards,
Craig

 

Just a point of order, you should have posted this in the m17x sub-forum. You will get a much quicker response for technical problems there...now on to your dilemma.

You are correct in the assertion it COULD be an error with your RAID array. Tell me this: are you able to boot into the BIOS without any problems? If yes, then boot into it and check both hard drive settings in the BIOS. They should both be set to RAID and make sure that the RAID setting for both are exactly the same. Also, what version of the BIOS is your R4 running?

Next thing to check is the PSA. Boot the notebook and hit F12 at startup. It should then list a bunch of startup options. Select diagnostics. This is the PSA (preboot systems assessment). Its a bunch of tests that check the CPU, RAM, chipset, etc. It will not check the hard drive data for corruption or errors nor will it check your Nvidia/AMD graphics card. The purpose of this is to really rule out any other hardware errors. Let is run thru ALL tests. If the PSA doesn't give you any failed tests or error codes, then its a good bet that all your hardware (minus the Hard Drives) are in good working order.

Your OP states the 2nd hard drive shows up, but the first one does not, yes? Barring any irrecoverable files you might have already transferred onto your new system, my next recommendation would be to remove the 1st hard drive totally (the one that doesn't show up), and put the 2nd Samsung hard drive in the HDD 0 bay. Then boot up, and change the settings in the BIOS for the hard drive from RAID to AHCI. Then get your Windows DVD that came with your new system and do a clean install of Windows. Make sure to erase all partitions on the hard drive and reformat it so it starts out with a clean slate. If the installation goes OK and Windows starts up normally, then you can try doing the same thing to the hard drive you removed (the one that you think is bad). IF the hard drive has gone bad, you will notice right away that Windows will not install to it, or if the installation goes thru, it will have the same problems and BSODs as the RAID array did. If BOTH hard drives individually have the same problems that the RAID array did after their clean install, then the problem could either be (a) both hard drives have gone bad (possible but unlikely) or (b) the SATA controller on the motherboard is malfunctioning (possible and likely). Run your tests and get back to us.

 

Not sure why this was in the main Alienware forum. I moved it to the M17x sub-forum where it belongs, and more likely to be noticed by other M17x owners that can help.

Edit: I see radji made that point after moving the thread7x

 

Hi Radji,

Thanks for the reply.

My apologies, I actually thought I posted this under the m17x sub-forum. If a mod can move this or it's better I delete this thread and re-post no problem.

I am running the A08 BIOS. Both Samsung drives are currently listed in the BIOS, the issue has been intermittent. The system has stayed running without a blue screen since I posted the message above which is the longest it has been online without a crash and reboot. Currently storage manager indicates a clean RAID set on boot. The PSA completed the initial battery of tests without issue, it's currently running the extended tests and if finds anything I'll post here.

The only apps I have installed from the start have been a couple steam games, Gtalk and Chrome. In the BIOS I cannot seem to move below the time/date on the main BIOS page, is there something I need to enable to be able to select the drives below and check their settings?

Craig

 

Thanks Mr. Fox for moving this to the right place!

 

Well, your BIOS version for the R4 is good. Not an earlier version that's glitchy. From your second post, it very well could be that the drives are good, and the RAID controller is functioning properly, but the Windows image or even all the drive's data could still be corrupt. BSODs are much more common to software and driver failures than they are to hardware failures. Keep it running and see where that takes you.

As far as your bum speaker goes, try testing it using the test tone function in the sounds control panel (right-click on speakers under the playback tab and select test). It will play a test sound for each speaker. If one speaker still sounds quieter, then play with the balance control and adjust it all the way to one side, then try the test sound again. The do the same thing with the balance control set all the way to the other side. If one speaker sounds quieter then, you probably have a bad speaker.