m17x R2 BSODs

When ever I have the laptop on for a while, about 2 or 3 hours or more I get a BSOD. So far most of them have been Bug Check Code 0x00000050 (about 6 or 7 times) or 0x0000001A (about 4 or 5 times) .

So I called Alienware tech support. The lady I spoke to seemed to think it was a software conflict and had me disable a bunch of software at boot. This seemed to help but on the other hand work got insane and I wasnt gaming much so the laptop got little use for a few months.

Things settled back down at work so the laptop started seeing more use and I started seeing more BSODs with the above error codes.

I ran the boot diagnostics which didnt find anything wrong. I also tried reseating the memory sticks which didnt help. So I called Alienware tech support again. Who walked me thru doing everything I just did. And decided it was again a software issue. Said I needed to reinstall Windows.

So last week I finally picked up an external hard drive, backed everything up, and restored the laptop to the factory image. Pretty much the only things I've installed are Windows updates, MS Security Essentials, and World of Warcraft so far.

This week I've gotten 2 BSODs with 2 new error codes. 0x000000F4 and 0x00000019.

I tried calling Alienware tech support tonight, but I guess they are having technical issues and arent taking any calls until Monday. I ran Seagate's diagnostic tools on the hard drive and that checks out fine.

What else is left?

I'm getting frustrated here.

I have all the mini dump files if anyone is interested.

 

I would check your temps using HWMonitor or HWInfo32. Make sure you aren't overheating. You could also update your BIOS as A08 is older. I have A09 installed myself and it has never caused me problems. Update to the latest AMD video drivers 11.6. If none of that helps then it is probably a hardware issue.

 

95% of the time while they do happen while I'm in the middle of WoW, I dont think that game really stresses this machine. I play at moderate/high settings. The fans arent LOUD. When I used to play Dragon Age the fans would get REALLY LOUD. I kinda dont think its overheating. The keyboard/chassis dont feel hot when the BSOD happens either. Unless there's an issue with the fans..hrmn.. do either of those programs log to file on the temps so I have a record to see what the temps are when a BSOD happens?

I'm using the updated vbios from dell and the video driver they released with it. Will look into the updated BIOS. But I as I understood it there wasnt much difference between A08 to A09 which is why I didnt bother.

 

Temps an hour into a WoW session seem to hold steady at:

CPU Core0: 40C (max of 59C)
CPU Core1: 50C (max of 63C)
GPU: 80C (max of 105C)

Those seem pretty decent yes?

Letting it keep logging to file so I can look at temps right before a BSOD should one happen.

 

GPU: 80C (max of 105C)


105c is hot!
When was the last time you clean out the fans? (i meant open up your laptop,pull out the fans then give them a good clean)

 

I gave them a bit of a shot of compressed air when I reseated the memory. They didnt look too bad then. That was about 2 months ago.

 

maybe it needs a TIM repaste?
105c is hot imo.

 

But if that's considered hot, why arent the fans revving up to compensate? I wouldnt say they get more than moderately loud.

 

It is hot. Make sure your fan is working. At that temperature it should be going at full blast and you'll hear it. If you don't hear the fan going like a jet plane then maybe the fan is not working like it should be. In addition, repaste the CPU (might as well if you're going to check it).

 

What are our fans max RPMs? Playing with the fan control button on HWinfo32 the best I get is a bit over 4000 rpms tho the slider goes up to 7000. I'm pretty sure 4k rpms is the same noise I get playing WoW. I'm almost positive I've gotten louder noise (thus faster rpms?) playing more demanding games in the past.

 

Well for starters take the machine apart and clean out the dust. Repaste and download some GPU stress testing program.

 

At what point can you push for a replacement due to unfixed BSODs? I'm still having this issue...

Its been cleaned out and no longer over heating. I was questioning those temp readings back then since only HWinfo32 was reporting them that high. GPUZ never reported temps that high. In any case I still opened her up and cleaned out the bit of dust in the fans. Running the Heaven benchmark now a couple times back to back only gets the GPU up to about 88C in GPUZ.

Two reformats. The second was a complete wipe and totally clean install of Win7 from disk then let a Dell tech connect to it to reinstall all the drivers so they could be sure everything was installed properly.

Still it BSODs when 2-3 hours into a session of gaming.

HDTune shows the hard drive doesnt have issues. Memtest32 shows the memory is fine.

Latest call to Dell has me downloading and installing Windows debugging tools and they will call me back to use that to dig deeper into the BSODs. And maybe run the laptop on one stick of memory.