Slew of problems with my M17x-R1 :(

Hey guys, got a few problems with my R1. I'd really appreciate it if anyone can help.

I posted this message in the M17x Problem/Technical Question thread a few months back:

Since then, I haven't had as many issues with the screen locking up/freezing on me after upgrading the video drivers here and there and disabling PCIE-2 in the BIOS as I've read on some threads here.

However, I'm still having the "OS not found" issue happen occasionally.

Another major problem for me--I'm trying to do some projects with the Unreal Development Kit--which I assume would work well enough on this machine. However, when I get into the editor itself, my CPU usage goes through the roof, and when I start trying to actually do anything, it gets to around 98% and eventually 100%, not letting me do anything at all.

And here's the worst thing--after I have the system on for about an hour or two max, and it doesn't seem to matter what program I'm using--the whole machine locks up, with the current program I'm running not working, the Windows taskbar at the bottom of the screen freezes/changes colors, and I can't do much of anything. At that point, I can click around on icons and stuff on my other monitor, but that's about it.

^When this happens, I try to just shut the laptop down, but more often than not, it'll get stuck on the "Shutting down..." screen, and it'll stay there for hours without shutting down or anything.


So yeah, lots of issues here. If anyone can help in any capacity or point me in the right direction, I'd really, really appreciate it.

 

The OS not found problem has got something to do with the BIOS forgetting to run RAID0. Does your BIOS ever forget the time or date? I would call Dell and request a new CMOS battery, or consider buying a single 640GB drive/SSD. I'm not a big fan of the RAID0 on these machines.

Try running Chkdsk to see if there are any inconsistencies with your hard drives. Type 'CMD' in your search window, then at the command prompt, type 'chkdsk /f C:'. No quotes on any of that. If it tells you that the disk is in use, make sure to tell it 'yes' on running chkdsk the next time it reboots.

Are you monitoring temperatures on any of your hardware? I use HWInfo32. HWInfo32. Some problems and random lock ups can be caused by heat. That being said, if you haven't cleaned your heatsinks out in the last 30-60 days, you should. Many M17x tear down videos on Youtube.

Try running Memtest86 to see if you've got a bad stick of RAM. Memtest86.

Run Dell's built-in diagnostic. I think you hit F8 at boot up. See if it reveals anything.

Are you running any type of overclock on your CPU? If so, might want to undo that and see if it fixes anything.

How long has it been since you did a clean install of Windows? An old installation can start to have issues, just from installing/uninstalling programs, unexpected shutdowns, registry garbage, etc. How many processes are running in the Task Manager under normal operation for you?

 

Thanks for the reply. I tried to go down the list to see if I could pinpoint any problems:

I don’t think my BIOS has ever forgotten the time or date. It really only happens when the system shuts down after a Windows Update and tries to auto-reboot. Still worries me though.

No problems there, ran just fine. Although I did have to download a Windows hotfix to get it to even run properly.

Yeah, I've been using CPUID's HWMonitor, but I'll try HWInfo32 as well. I clean out the fans/graphics cards from dust every so often. When you say "clean out the heatsinks" do you mean cleaning the heatsink itself or just getting rid of dust? Or removing the thermal paste and all that? If so, I haven't done any of that since I've owned the machine.

RAM is good. Passed all the tests.

Ran the whole thing through. Didn’t find any problems.

I had tried some overclocking in the past, but I’ve recently turned it off—doesn’t seem to make a difference either way.

I haven’t done a clean install since I’ve owned the system. I was kind of afraid of this, hoping to do it only as a last-ditch effort. My task manager has about 90 or so processes going. Is that average?


Do you think the freezes with windows explorer could be a GPU/driver problem? Any good way to tell if either GPU/CPU is going bad?

Oh, and I also forgot to mention--in my device manager under "other devices," it's listing a "Coprocessor" with an error, telling me its' device drivers aren't installed. Is that anything to worry about?

 

If your computer passed all of these tests with no errors, I would lean toward a clean installation of Windows. It's really not too bad. Just make sure you have pertinent drivers downloaded to a USB stick for an even quicker installation. Make sure you install the chipset driver first, followed by the graphics driver. After that, IMO, the order doesn't matter. Also, in my opinion, 90 regularly running processes is too many. Someone may chime in and say its not, but I believe it is. If your system has been plagued by random restarts and such, they may start to take a toll on system performance. I would hate to have you reformat and have the same issues, but you've literally tried everything else I can think of. Since you have an R1, that coprocessor might be your integrated graphics? I only had an R1 briefly. To stress your CPU, run OCCT or Prime95. Your supposed to let them run overnight, but I think a good 10 minute run will tell you what's going on. To stress your GPUs, run FurMark 1.9.0. That will cook them real good. You've got to run in full screen mode for it to stress both GPUs. Run HWInfo32 in the background so you can record temperatures. It is normal with stress testing programs such as these to see temperatures into the low 90s, as they are meant to stress everything out. All of these programs are free. Just Google them. System benchmarks can be done with 3DMark Vantage. Post your scores, and anything else you see as pertinent. I honestly think a good reformat could solve most of this. Your call, brother.

 

I'm with TurboT 90 processes is a lot. It does depend a bit on what software you are running but that's a lot...I have 68. A clean windows install will fix most of that. Note # of processes as you install your software...be especially alert anytime setup requires...or even requests...you to restart...usually means at least one background process is coming at you! Many are unnecessary. Some may be malware. As part of setup you can repartition and reformat your drive to obliterate most malware and even many viruses...should you have any.

Lastly repasting the gpu's and cpu's should not be necessary but removing and then blowing out the dust from all three heatsinks is a must about every 90 days if you are gaming and running the fans hard!

 

I just thought of something else you could try. Download Malwarebytes and install it. Let it update, and run it. Do a full scan and see what it finds. Quarantine whatever it does find and get rid of it.

Secondly, run msconfig.exe. Go under the Services and Start Up tabs and stop anything from running that you don't need running, or didn't authorize to run. This tool can also get you into trouble though. Research each process you stop from running before you do it, unless you're sure of what it is. It's a good idea to hide Microsoft Services with the little check-box. Also go into your Control Panel and uninstall the stuff you don't use anymore. Once you're done with all of this perform a Disk Cleanup, then a Defragmentation. And if none of this works, you might just need to reformat. It's not that bad, and it fixes so many things.

I agree with Orionz. However, if you're a hard-core gamer, 90 days is too long.

 

Thanks for all the great advice, guys. I will certainly do as much of that as possible and post the results.

And yeah--I probably get the dust out of the fans/heatsinks twice a month. I do a lot of real-time 3D content creation with effects and stuff in addition to gaming.

One thing I should probably do more often is get the dust out of my NZXT cooler. It props the system up pretty nicely and provides a boost of extra cooling when I need it, but oh my gosh does it pull in extra dust. In fact I think that's one reason I have to clean out the fans in the M17x itself more often.