Shutting down problem

Hi!

Im new here, and has been searching in this forum for about 2 days now, and also on google after a solution to my problem. Since I can't find another thred about this, I will start a new one, "hoping" someone might have the same problem as me.

My problem is that my m17xR3 does not shutdown completly.
Same results when I click shutdown in windows as when I short press the hardware shutdown button.
Everything shuts down except the LEDs, and I can also hear a low pitch humming inside (doesn't seem to be the fans, its to low), at this state I have to force shutdown by longpressing the powerbutton in order to shutdown completly.

Since i couldn't find anything wrong in bios nor in windows, I went on an update spree.
Firstly I wiped the hard drive, installed Windows 7 Ultimate instead of Home Premium, and fully updated.
Installed latest 280 Nvidia drivers, and all the latest drivers from Dell's homepage.
I installed a08 bios (system was delivered with a05) since this seem to be more bios related than Windows related, but still same problem (It got a bit snappier though).

I did find many ppl having this very same problem, however they were using the 6970 card instead of 460m, and all they had to do was update the vBios. Could it possible be the same solution on a Nvidia system? Is it possible to update the vBios on Nvidia cards to resolve this issue? Can't seem to find any information regarding vbios on nvidia 460m.

Thanks in advance for any help!

/0verseer

 

If you have the 460m, try this. I did it and am using the 275.33 drivers.

No problems since then.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/7678603-post107.html

Just because a bios is newer doesn't always mean its the best.

I'm presuming you have the non3D system with optimus enabled.

 

Yes I have the 460m card.

I just tested using sleepmode, and the same problem occured, it sorta gets stuck (cannot wake it up), and I have to force shutdown.

I've tried the 275.33 drivers before, three times actually (with the modded inf), and everytime it resulted in BSODs, complaining some file "nvlddmkm.sys" was missing or unable to start.
I gave up and used the 266-267 drivers (same problem there) from Dell, and now 280.26.

 

Did you flash the bios first?

 

At the time i tested 275 drivers I was on A05. Do I have to use the modded bios in order for them to not BSOD on startup ?

 

Yes. Just follow the instructions on the post and you should not receive any more bsods. I would recommend you write down the directions after you make the bootdisk and have the driver ready. I have used this bios for the last few weeks and I've had 0 bsods or nvlddmkm.sys errors, or the ntoskrnl.exe errors.

 

Ok, just got another BSOD right now about "Driver Power State Failure", dunno if this was because of the 280 driver or maybe some other driver.

Anyway, I want to try the instructions that you mentioned, I guess its more of a workaround than a solution? Since it seems I need to disable the internal intel video card (or in other words Hybrid SLI functionality, is this the thing called Optimus?), which means I can not use the intel card for power saving options?

 

It will bsod at least once, I probably should have mentioned that.
Did you go to the advanced tab and disable IGP and set main display to PEG?
That and you should you Driver Sweeper to remove all traces of the former nvidia drivers before installing the 275.33 drivers.

Try using the 275.33 drivers instead of the 280's.

Newer does not always mean better.

 

oh, no I havn't started the procedure yet. This BSOD just occured right about now when I was typing away here.

By the previous post I was just trying to understand what the results would be by disabling the intel video card. I guess the whole "power saving mode" will go down the drain.

 

Unfortunately, the power saving mode from Optimus will go down the drain. But would you prefer to have bsods randomly? Or have random games or programs unusable via nvidia gpu?

 

Yes you are right. I will try and install the modded bios and report back when im done. Do you think I really need to downgrade drivers to 275, shouldn't simply disabling intel graphics with modded bios be enough ?

 

There really isn't any differences from the 275 and the 280's as far as I can tell. it just adds more 3D profiles for games, which is useless for us non 3D users. Try the 275.33, and if the performance is below your expectations, try the 280's.

 

Ok, so now i've tried with modded bios and im currently using 275.33 drivers.
Ive disabled intel graphics via bios, and put PEG as primary, however no progress at all.
I don't get any BSODs, but im still not able to use Sleep, Hybernate or shutdown properly. Gets stuck as before, forcing me to shutdown via hardware button.

 

I had an issue like yours, where the computer stayed on "Shutting Down" forever. I left it overnight once and it actually shut down. But right after I did a clean install on my R3, the damn problem came back and now leaving it won't sleep properly.

My problem/fix? The clean install on the HDD involved this Intel accelerometer and Matrix Storage software, which WAS NOT installed properly (crashed halfway and I assumed it was done). Once I did a proper reinstall, it slept like a baby, shut down like a dying baby.

It most definitely has to do with your HDD softwares, hope you fix it soon. Cheers.

 

Hi Maxtek, thanks for joining in.

I removed everything labeled Intel (acceleratorP11, chipset stuff, rapid storage and so on), but no progress.

Tried once again but this time I installed newer versions of everything that I found at the m18x page @ dell.
Did not work either.

I later thought it might have something to do with the firmware of the LEDs, since it seems to fail at closing down something there (service maybe?), so I even tried installing Command Center for m18x. It updated the firmware from 10.00.03 to .04. However, it didn't work either.

Funny thing is, restart works fine, but not shutdown or sleep/hybernate. GGRRRRRR
I don't think I have anything left to try except the OSD thingy driver.... If i recall right, this problem was even there when windows was fresh and without any specific drivers installed, so thats what made me start thinking it might be Bios related, but since i've tried THEM ALL, i don't know anymore... *sigh*

 

Hey, sorry for being gone all day and part of the night. I had work T_T

Glad the bsods stopped though due to driver power state failure.

Try these two things.

First re-install the latest drivers for the R3 from the dell site that you removed.. Or the M18x site since its the same.

I also noticed with my comp a few of those issues are random. Sleep/Hibernate sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. So far they've been working 100% of the time. Here's a method another member Simplified told me.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/592223-r3-bsods-please-help.html#post7672185

Hope this helps.

WARNING. When I first did this and tried to restart, the computer would beep alot without turning on completely. I think this is normal. Let it beep for like 30 seconds(it's very annoying) and then turn it off again via hard shutdown by holding the alien head down. Then restart. If this doesn't help....eh. Good luck.

 

I replied to you in another thread about this.
You will have to get your motherboard changed as that is the problem.
I had the same problem on a new R3 and got my motherboard changed after a phone call to dell. Everything is working as it should with both shutdown and sleep
So spare yourself alot of time and call them.
It has nothing to do with software or bios, so stop trying that.

 

Probably. Try the power drain, update the drivers, and see if it still has the problem.

If you do have to get a new motherboard, you'll very likely have to reflash the bios.

 

There is no point in trying to do what you say. The motherboard have to be changed. No new drivers or power drain or whatever is going to work. I don't really get why you are suggesting these things, when I have had the exact same problem and told him the solution...

 

Saarg, yes im getting the feeling it has nothing to do with software, as everything that I have tried hasn't even changed the behavior at all. I have tried everything, and usually, these things are fixed by bios upgrade. I've tried to contact dell however I did it in the wrong language, will try again tomorrow.

Apprectiated your help though Zoo. Thanks!

 

I have now sent a new support request to Dell, but I will probably have to wait until next week for my answer.

Saarg, did you get support at your house, or did you have to send your system by UPS ?

 

You should have in home service even with basic warranty.

 

They came to my home to fix it
Here in Norway they do that. Don't know what they offer in your country.

 

Damn, well if you tried everything software related you can, I'd say it's the hardware problem now. Just wait for Dell to fix the problem then, good luck.

 

Overseer, I posted a question to you in the "A08 BIOS Released!" thread (now stickied), but I don't know if you'll see that. The question was: are you using 1866 HyperX memory by chance?

 

I can say that I'm not using 1866 HyperX memory. But if I remember correctly your problem wasn't exactly the same as ours?

 

Ok, so now almost everything is fine and dandy. Techy just left my appartment and the issues has been solved by changing the motherboard.

Now im having a different problem, Controlcenter doesn't recognize the keyboard. LEDs are lit but I cannot make any changes to it.
Im going to reinstall windows now because im getting various .net framwork issues after messing around with control center för both m18x and m17x r3.. Will update when im back on track.

 

Interesting... I ran into a problem just like you describe, with the lights on the keyboard. This issue cropped up for me when the computer crashed and the lights did not come back on right. I would then try to fix it, and when clicking a color, the lights would not change... What worked for me was to DOUBLE-CLICK the color to make it stick! Strange, but it worked. Maybe you can try that?

 

When you get a motherboard, you should do a power drain to reset the cmos disk to properly recognize everything.