*OFFICIAL* Alienware M17x R1/R2 Owner's Lounge Thread - Part 1

I have the rubbing alchohol, but lint free ear buds? Instead could I use like some cotton balls or something else I already have to clean it? The reason is not that I can't afford it, but we live in on a farm 35 minutes away from a town large enough to have these things.

 

Anything lint free is preferable, even coffee filters would work but cotton balls, although not ideal, will work fine. Just try not to leave any tiny strands behind after cleaning.

Oh and welcome to the forums

Edit: Here's a nice article to help with the disassembly and cleaning. You don't have to do the retention clip mod though. You can re-use the thermal pads so remove them carefully. There's a couple video's in the article to help as well.

 

Ok so I just got home and my dad has gone to the computer store. The guy there Says that my fan is probably busted and needs to be replaced. They want to charge me $60 to take it apart and "diagnose the problem". Then wants to charge me $30-$50 for a new fan. I don't think this is necessary. My dad is a Mac kind of guy though, and he believes that computers are magical tools that should only either be worked on by a professional or replaced by the manufacturer. Opinions?

And just putting it out there, I'm a pretty smart high school student who thinks it would be cool and worthwhile to learn and take apart this laptop. Worth it?

 

Yeah I'd definitely give the computer store a miss. With all the guides and videos available and the awesome community behind NBR and T|I you don't need to turn to a computer store who most probably wouldn't take as much care as you would disassembling your laptop. Read the guides and watch the videos a few times to familiarize yourself with the process then take your time in disassembling and cleaning your laptop.

If the fan is infact dead which I doubt since you can hear it (I suspect there is a large amount of dust build up that's dulling its noise) you can always purchase a replacement through ebay and install it yourself.

I would also service the fan by cleaning it and applying a little grease/oil, if you find that it is not working optimally. This knowledge will also come in handy if ever you decide to upgrade the CPU or GPU's.

 

Ok, so I decided to skip the thermal paste for now and just clean the fans and such. Once I got inside, I was surprised to see that the 260m's fan was already disconnected (I must have been hearing things previously). So I reconnected that and cleaned it out as well. I then reasembled everything. Now, I used to be able to disable hybrid, and then disable the integrated card in advanced-graphic settings in the bios and then everything would run fine (until it overheated). Now though if I do that, I only get a black screen. In my mind this means the computer is running and working fine, but the 260m is not doing its job of giving me graphics. Is it possible I did not push the 260 into the slot far enough? Other solutions?

Also, The odd thing is that when I go to manage my devices under hardware it lists that I do have the 9400 and the 260m functioning. This can't be though as I'm getting 24 fps in... minecraft.

 

Hmmm.. I'm not familiar with the hybrid graphics system in the R1. If you use the integrated card and boot into windows do you see the 260M under device manager? If it is supposed to be there and its not I would remove and re-install it. Make sure you slot it in at an angle making sure the pci-e connectors are fully in before lowering it down into place. Check the video if you are unsure of what I mean.

How was the dust build up? If the fan was disconnected there shouldn't have been much. It is weird that it was disconnected though.

 

Ok, I just took it apart and lined up the video card in properly this time. Now though, when I switch to only using the discrete card, I get a light gray screen. Note it is definately a light gray screen, not a black one. It also isn't a solid gray, but lighter around the edges. Computer still works though (I hear skype start up). Dust accumulation, moderate, but nothing crazy. Next?

 

That's wierd. Hopefully an R1 owner can provide more info on possible troubleshooting steps.

I find it strange that the fan was disconnected though. Try disconnecting the fan again and boot up and check if the card works. It might sound silly but lets just rule out that possibility.

 

OK, I disconnected the fan again, and I'm still gettting a gray screen. I wish I had an extra graphics card to test and see if that was the problem. Any sugestions?

 

Okay so its definitely not the fan then... you can connect that up again. Try a power drain ie. Remove battery, ac adapter, coin cell battery underneath the back cover and press and hold the power button for 15-20 secs. Then connect everything up again to check if its working.

 

@portablempire any luck with getting the card working again?

 

As of now, I have been in contact with dell, and I may be getting a new 280m for very cheap. I have messed with it a bit, but finals are tomorrow and I really want to keep the 4.0, so I've been plenty busy.

 

Hey guys, question for anyone who can help.

Today I noticed that my 940XM has started to undergo thermal throttling, after Windows started behaving weirdly during a video encode earlier (it lost my second hard drive of all things, stopping the encode mid session). Temps on Core 1 are something like 10-15C higher than the other cores when previously it would be something like 1-2C when using all cores. Core 1 also briefly hits 100C in HWMonitor in the max tab, but spikes from 86 to 96C. Basically it's barely hitting 100C before throttling kicks in. CPUZ also shows the multiplier hunting up and down with speeds are going from ~3.1GHz to ~800MHz

I've cleaned the vents, GPU heatsinks, and CPU heatsink (from below rather than taking it off, but unlike the GPUs there didn't appear to be much dust on it) but this has had a fairly minimal difference.

So a few questions:

1) How likely is this to have caused any damage to the processor? Up until today the only symptoms I've noticed are a lower frame rate in some games and slower encode times. I can't say with certainty how long this has been going on for but I don't think it's more than a month. And as I stated above, it's only hitting 100C for fractions of a second from what I can tell.

2) While I still need to run a few checks, I suspect the CPU heatsink needs replacing but I want to repaste first to rule that out. If I reapply fresh thermal paste to the heatsink/CPU do I also need to take off the old thermal pads? Or do I only need to get new thermal pads if I buy a new heatsink.

Thanks very much folks!

 

Does the CPU fan speeds up and down as needed? Is the fan working properly?
When cleaning heatsinks, did you visually confirm that it's clear of obstruction?
I don't think the heatsink can be physically damaged on its own.

 

Thanks for the response.

The fan does speed up and down under different loads and generally appears to be working. The fan check in the diagnostics utility also passes, with the CPU fan maxing out at 3850 RPM.

As I speak the CPU is idling at about 59C, and in from past experience the fans would have kicked in to the next speed to bring that down under 50C which is only happening at above 60C now. On the other hand, idle temps should not be that high and used to be around the high 30s to low 40s, so even if the fans were not working as specified it wouldn't completely account for the problem

The CPU fan and GPUs were easy to confirm visually as being clear. Without taking the machine apart and removing the CPU heatsink (which would require repasting anyway) I couldn't say 100%, but it did appear to be unobstructed. There was minimal dust buildup visible from the bottom, and when the vents were cleaned there didn't appear to be any obstructions. At eye level from the outside looking through the vents I can see straight through the heatsink to the other side and it's all nice and shiney from all that copper.

Yeah, I wouldn't have thought a heatsink could fail but apparently it can; I've had Dell replace one on an old machine, and I'd read a few reports of people with the same problem as me needing a new heatsink to fix it.


At this point it's pretty much down to the paste or the heatsink. I did have the motherboard replaced about 7 months ago so the paste on the CPU isn't that old. I guess the engineer could have done a bad job or used bad paste, though if that were the case I'd have expected to see symptoms a while ago.

 

This is what I had to do when I repasted my CPU:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/530618-new-i7-940xm-es-installed-4.html#post6880976

I use AS5. During normal use when I have Word, Excel, IE, AIDA64 extreme, Zone Alarm extreme, and a few other small apps (task manager shows 129 processes), my CPU is hovering in the low 40s considering the last time I repasted was a few years ago. I do use compressed air clean in between though. When do that, I always stick a pin (or something similar) into the grill to keep the fan from being forced spin by the air. Just my precaution.

When I repasted my GPUs, instead of putting the thermal pads back where they were, I put a big blob of AS5 in place. Some may not like that idea but it worked for me as in transferring thermal energy and kept the temperatures lower than when I was using the thermal pads.

Is your system still under warranty? Either way, I would try to redo the paste first myself before letting someone else.

 

It's currently out of warranty. I've tried several times to get it renewed/extended but never got a response from Dell. Possibly due to a glitch in their system because their site has never picked up the warranty correctly. Obviously I need to fix this problem before I can ask them again however.

At this point there's nothing to lose from repasting so I'll give that a try before looking for a new heatsink to see if that fixes it (and I'll give your link a look, thanks). I'm looking at something like MX2 which isn't electrically conductive, seeing as I haven't done this before. At the moment I'm pretty happy with the GPU temps so I'll leave those alone for now. One thing at a time after all!

So I definitely don't need to worry about new thermal pads for the CPU voltage regulators, unless I get a new heatsink? Though it might well be worth doing that anyway given the source of the problem...

 

Looking to upgrade my hardrive seems to be getting slow and I am constantly having to delete stuff as I have the 250gb :/ What would be a good upgrade?

 

My advice would be to get an SSD... problem with that though is they are normally quite expensive and low capacity for the reasonably priced ones. The speed more than makes up for the lower capacity and it will make you feel as its a whole new PC you're using. If you do decide on getting an SSD you can put your 250gb drive in the secondary hard drive slot and use it as your data drive which will help with space.

Your other option would be to get a hybrid drive like Seagate's Momentus XT. They come in large capacities and have something like 4gb SSD for caching frequently used data from the normal mechanical drive.

That said, with regards to slowness of your system, never underestimate the power of a fresh install of Windows

 

Keep us all updated if you don't mind so we can learn.

 

Yeup, will do, though it might take a few weeks for me to get the gear together.

In the meantime I've gained a massive increase in performance by disabling turbo mode in the BIOS, something like 2-3x faster in heavy duty tasks like video encoding since it's no longer having to throttle back. Plus it's giving me a much more comfortable 14C of headroom so I don't have to worry about the processor getting damaged or failing calculations.

 

I just bought a fan so I can install a second 280m GTX. One of my games has been crashing a lot with my current card, so I want to offload the game on my second GPU. Is there a way to dedicate one card to a game and the other card for normal everyday tasks/use? SLI or not?

 

Well my question was probably asked already but i couldn't find the answer, so here it is.

I have the R1 with a single 260m and 9400, i want to update the driver to the latest version so that i can still use the integrated graphics option.

I tried to update to the 314.22 and 320.18 and none of them worked, i could use only the 9400 card even when it said that im in the full power mode.

I know that from the 3xx driver series NV doesn't support hybrid anymore, but there are 3rd party drivers that can support the hybrid option.
So what version of the driver can i use safely and where can i get it?

or any other stable driver that i can run my 260m on..

Tnx!

 

Hello, Hankaaron, i answered here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/gam...pecifics-tasks-separate-gpus.html#post9246224

 

Wow, just amazing to see there are still M17x R2 owners out there. I just powered mine back up for the first time in a long while. Found out that in April there were new Catalyst drivers released. Glad to see owners are still active here on the forums.

 

Anyone moding M17x R1 Driver Inf's I am stuck on 314.22 That is the last Inf I have gotten from this forum.

 

Heck yeah, its awesome to see that this machine was made in 2008-2009 and its still kicking butt and taking names. This place is amazing with updates and mods to keep the system up to date.

 

Hey all,
Just received my Alienware m17xr2 in the last day and have set up today installing win7 and all the drivers.
What a great machine. My specs are in my signature and I have a 7970m on it's way.

Hope I can help out other owners and provide feedback where possible.
In comparison to my clevo P170HM I have to say the audio is sensational quality on the alienware and so too is the screen and keyboard.

Happy gaming everyone and loooong live the alienware m17xr2

 

long live the king !!

 

Hey, fellow owners.

I've had my M17x for a year. I had planned on customising it but I never got around doing it. I've used the laptop extensively. I still haven't opened it up. It's high time I did. I got the laptop with most of the base options except the wireless card. It's a Killer card.

What upgrades could I do? I don't remember the last time I updated the drivers, but remembering updating once or twice. I kind of forgot the specs of the laptop.

Is the GUI still good? I got this laptop because the AMD 7970? GUI was considered the best at the time, IIRC.

E: Oh, I put in specs in my sig...I totally forgot, haven't visited here in a long time. Thanks.

 

Quick question:
I understand that the RGB LED display for this laptop can be either the Samsung LTN0CT08 or the LG LP171WU5.
However there are also newer version of the LG Display such as the LP171WU7 or the LP171WU8.

So the question is, how do these screen compare to the above, what are the differences? Which one is better?

Here is a list of all RGB LED Panels I could find:
LCD Panel Advanced Search - Panelook.com

Update: I don't think the LP171WU8 can be used, it has LVDS (2 ch, 10-bit) interface and 50 pins connector while the others have a 40 pin connector LVDS (2 ch, 8-bit) interface. But someone maybe can explain this better.

 

New member to the M17x club. Just purchased a M17x with a T9600 and 260 in SLI. Will be upgrading the processor to the QX9300 of course and probably a SSD and will see what the 260s can do. Has anyone been able to install 580s into the R1 as of yet? I have an extra set lying around from upgrading to 680s in the beast.

 

Does that mean it works with windows 8 now, i never bothered to try again after depressing fps with the initial W8 launch

My R2 still eats any game i throw at it although i'm getting frustrated with the weight/size/heat of the thing (i use it on my lap with a logitech lapdesk - heavyyyyyyy on the legs after a few hrs)

 

As it turns out my M17x didn't have 260 SLI, instead the seller thought it was SLI cause of the 260 and integrated graphics working together. While tearing it about I left the computer out in the open and my daughter decided to install the battery without my knowledge and when I went to install the video card back in I saw a spark and went crap. I was cursing up and down as I knew this wouldn't be good. Once I put everything back together she wouldn’t even boot up into BIOS. I fried the motherboard as I’ve tried booting up with card not installed, memory, no memory and so forth.

While looking for a new motherboard on EBay I also decided to look for another 260 to enable SLI, wouldn’t you know I found one with the correct heat sink and SLI cable for only $80 shipped? Found a fan for around $22 shipped. I’m very happy about those deals.

 

Psyloid thats the truth. I bought a m11x R2 just for lap work and travel. I knew I had to stop putting my m17x R2 on my lap when I saw the GFX vent grills indent on my legs.

homank76, welcome to the club, and happy tinkering.

 

Just got an m17x r2 today with 5870m crossfirex... it is saying that the connector isn't connected, checked that but it is connected. is it a bad cable? what should i try next?

 

Thank you very much.

 

Hello, Pollodelfuego, welcome to NBR.
Can you tell us more about your issue? Which connector are talking about here?

 

the crossfirex bridge between my two hd 5870's. and now i have no control over the screen brightness.

 

Can someone help me here?
I've an Alienware M17x with the service tag 3X2X4k1
I don't know if its an r1 or r2
Recently, few of my keys on the keyboard stopped responding
So I called up Dell India and asked them to get me a new keypad but that certainly didn't fix the issue, technician that came in for the install said, motherboard needs to be replaced, now that my system is out of warranty so I had to pay more for the one time repair service.
And I asked them if they can get me a new LCD assembly as I've many scratches on the screen, also they agreed to get my Blu-Ray, HDD, RAM, Fan Vent, Bottom base, & Speakers replaced as well, now I'm afraid that my current Blu-Ray, HDD, RAM, Fan Vent & Speakers are working fine, but just that I'm paying Rs. 11,000 ($210) I should get these changed as well.
What if these parts that are working fine are replaced with refurbished parts?
Will I be screwed?

Please someone enlighten me on this.

Also, can someone share the download links for the best & stable win7 drivers for my 3X2X4K1?
That'd be great thanks.
I'm from India, please pardon my English

Also, can someone please enlighten me on how can I add/replace my USB 2.0 with USB 3.0?

 

I'm expecting a reply could someone please bother and reply me at least ?

 

Look at your audio ports, if they are coloured you have an R1 if they are all black its an R2. Posting your specs would help.

There's nothing wrong with refurbished parts. Since your system is out of warranty you are buying the parts, you won't have to return your originals, so you can swap them out if they begin acting up after their warranty has expired.

I'm not sure about drivers for the R1 but I have an R2 and am still using the drivers on Dell's website without issue, apart from the VGA drivers which I got from AMD.

You cannot replace your USB 2.0 ports but you can get an expresscard adapter with USB 3.0 ports. These are slim versions which slot in without sticking out.

 

I too am still waiting for an answer

I asked if someone is running window 8 on their R2's with crossfire 5870, and if it's running well, becaucse six months after the launch of win 8, amd still had issues and performance was really low in games

thanks already

 

I don't think your low performance in game issue was related to Windows 8. I know StamatisX over at T|I is running Windows 8 with no issues. I suggest you give it another shot with AMD's latest driver.

 

Hello mates,

I've just experienced weird thing that never happened before while un/installing AMD video drivers.
So, recently I installed 13.8beta, before was on 12.11, installed them like I allways do, deleting them in device manager, then safe mode - driver sweeper, then safe mode - ccleaner, normal mode - install. All went good, but I couldn't say if they improved performance or not, in metro2033 I get stutter with them while on 12.11 there wasn't. So, I decided to try the latest WHQL, 13.6 did uninstall and after driver sweeper and ccleaner, I've noticed that there is no WiFi.

Tried to repair connection with windows help, but it suggested to use ethernet cable.. In device manager everything under the network adapters was with yellow signs. I have all Dell's OEM drivers from the website on my hard drive, so I installed the needed DW-1520 half-mini-card driver, but after reboot same situation..
Only the system restore made everything back.

Have anyone suggestion why did this happen after deleting AMD drivers and why reinstalling DW-1520 driver did nothing. To me it is strange

Thanks

 

It is strange. Although I wouldn't rule out Driver Sweeper or CCleaner damaging the registry entries for your WiFi card.

Rather use AMD Catalyst Un-install Utility. It's specific to your AMD driver install and I've not had any problems with it. I've actually double checked with CCleaner afterwards and it does not pick up any files or registry entries for AMD so it seems AMD's Un-install utility works quite well.

 

I always used AMD Catalyst Install Manager - Express Uninstall ALL AMD Software within Control Panel/Programs and Features without any problem for the last several years. Never did any of that safe mode nor CCleaner thing.

Have you tried restoring your system to an earlier check point yet and see if that fixes it?

Other than that, I don't have any solution for your case.

 

Yes it is strange, never happend before. Restore rolled everything back and wifi was alive. Thank you guys for your advises, will try both ways, run some benchmarks, try some games and compare performance.

 

Glad it's back for you.

 

Well strange things continue to happen. So I tried the AMD Catalyst Un-install Utility, run it, it deleted everything, reboot, wifi is there. Installed drivers with AMD tool from their website, it downloaded 13.4, reboot - BSOD, reboot again - BSOD. Just before logging into windows. Next reboot it offered to repair something, 20mins, result - unable to repair click OK to shut down the system. Again safe mode - restore. Good there was one point. Maybe it is time to reformat the system..