Having a problem need help.

Alienware 18, i7 4940, 32GB ram, dual Nvidia 880's, windows 7
So, after being gone for awhile,(couple of months), I come home, played some BF4 with some friends. Then today I decieded to run some updates, standard microsoft stuff and what not. I should have known better I know, I shoule have waited and done some homework first, but I updated bios A10, and tried to up date video Nvidia 344.11. Bios no issues, Nvidia after about half way through install failed. No big problem Ill deal with it later. I thought. Video acting weird. So Uninstalled current driver 340.52, and reinstall with current 344.11 driver. I tried to play alittle BF4. Game kept droping me out as though I had alt tabed, and couldnt get it to stop. Closed down game and noticed that IE tool bar would some times look like it had a strobe effect going. So, back to uninstalling all nvidia drivers, and rolling back to 340.52. Still getting the same problems. It will work great for 20 or 30 min then it starts again. So to hell with it disable SLI just to see what happens. Same thing. Card 1 temp 71c, card 2 temp 50c according to GPUZ. Also noticed that once my fans kick on high, they dont slow down untill system reboot. After closing out game, browser, well everything card temp is 49c but fans still on high. I have no idea what the hell I have done, and other than rolling back bios and uninstalling all nvidia drivers and renstalling Im lost. Any adivce?

 

Is it possible your overheating gaming or not and your sensors are not reporting correctly? Those screaming fans my be a warning. My fans are usually quite when not gaming. Are you using a fan control app-HWINFO? My be it's time to simply repaste CPU AND GPU.

 

Scanner, thanks for the quick reply.. I am not currently using HWINFO, or any other control app for fans. I have to reorder some Liquid Ultra, as the other was reappropriated shall we say.lol. GPUZ is currently showing card 1 temp at 51c and card 2 temp at 46c, and fans are quite, they will kick up and down during normal (subjective I know) use, however, after starting up and gaming for a bit they kick on high, and stay there even after the cards cool down, and the game is closed out. I guess the best way to describe it is like they get stuck. To be honest The nosie doesnt bother me, its the fact that dont turn down after. That is only part of the concern, its also the alt tab like exit from the game. The game is still running and I can click back into it, but it immediately alt tabs me back out. The system was running fine untill I installed the updates. Also are running the 344.11 drivers as well, if not which driver version are you using? Thanks again.

 

Just placed order for Liquid Ultra. This time there shall be no reappropriation. :thumbsup:

 

Try and reinstall the latest bios, it can often help with unexplained problems.

 

Papusan; I will try this. Thanks.

 

Ok, so reflashed bios A10, no joy. Rolled back to bios A09 then to A10, and still no joy. After about 30 min. or so it all goes crappy again. Just rolled bios back to A09. Will see what happens now. Oh, Video card temp when this happen 71c.

 

Update. I am now running bios A09 and have gone back and forth with nvidia drivers 344.11 and 340.52, still have the same problem with video. After rolling back bios to A09 the fans no longer "get sutck", but video is still screwy. I have run 3DMark11, and bench mark using FurMark, and those to run fine. I get about 30 min in BF4 or CIV V from Steam and back to the video issue. I am now torn as to run a brun in with Furmark, or waite untill Liquid Ultra gets here thursday, and use Mr. Fox's video as refrence. Oh, almost forgot as soon as video acts up checked GPUZ which I kept running in the background card 1 was at 62c, and card 2 was at 51c. To he honest I am stumped on this one.

 

GTX 880M issues cannot be fixed with excellent thermal paste or other end-user workarounds. It sounds like you may be another victim of the 880M scam. If so, please move the discussion to the other threads mentioned in the quote below.

If you are having GTX 880M issues, please let me know and I will close this thread to keep the discussions centralized in the appropriate forum.

If it is a CPU problem, please carry on. (I can't tell for sure from the thread title or content, but it seems to be an 880M issue.)

 

Mr. Fox thanks. To be honest Im not sure which it is though leaning towards the vid card. I am checking out the thread you pointed out now. thanks again.

 

Contacted the Dell folks today, and let them remote desktop. The tech was able to replacate the video issue using Heaven Benchmark with Hwmonitor running as well. Tech said that the issue is my CPU. While running a stress test my cpu hit 87C according to Hwmonitor. The stress test was Prime95. So they are shipping out new heatsink and fan, and a tech to install. Will proabaly be next week when it gets done. I hope. On the pluse side Liquid Ultra will be here and waiting.

As an edit. Just ran prime95 with Hwmonitor
Core 0 = 88c
Core 1= 95c
Core 2=100c
Core 3=94c
I managed to get a pic with my phone of Hwmonitor before the system shut down, but can't seem to upload it. Test lasted less than 30 seconds.

 

Ok, so tech came out and installed new heatsink and fan for CPU, ran epsa and said all is good. Nifty, except my system just sitting here as temps in the mid 50's, and opening up web browser and this fourm has spiked up to 87c, according to HWmonitor. Simply typing I am watching my temps bounce in the 60's. Time to call them back again.

 

This is well known from technicians ( ran EPSA and said all is good). You must require the technician tests your pc with Cinebench 11.5 and Wprime 1024 (with 8 threads) to check temperatures of processor after having fixed a heating problem of your pc. This is the only test software that really puts your laptop on a real test. EPSA is just and see that your computer works, but do not set your machine to a hard test. :thumbsup:
Ps: Use hwinfo64 which is a much better software for and check your your hardware.

 

The tech saw the temps after running epsa, since he couldnt run them I did while he was standing there, but he said all he could do was close out this ticket and for me to call dell again. I did call this them this evening but got rushed off the phone it felt like, with the rep telling me to just send it in to them. I will call them again tomrrow, and see where this goes.

 

So the verdict is in. They have asked that I send in my system to them and the shipping box is on the table. They estimate it will take about 5 working days before it ships back to me. So time to seal the box and drop it by fedex. Will update this when it returns.

 

Good Luck :thumbsup:

 

OK so got my system back today. Would like to say that all is great.,,but, I cant. At least not yet. It seems I will have to fix what they forgot first then try it out. It seems that for some reasion none of my lights work. No back lighting on the keyboard, no alien head, just the screen. Probably just something left unpluged. First, well secound, thing I noticed is that the BIOS is set at A08, and SLI was not enabled. Updated bios to A10, and enabled SLI. When booting up I get a Check cable connection
PXE-MOF: exiting intel pxe rom. message. When my desktop comes up I get an error message for alienware alienfx controller. Also in bios I no longer have the options for overclock levels of any kind that I see. I will gather some more info and update tomrrow.

 

Sounds like your BIOS settings need to be established. You have to enable overclocking options. You need to move the boot from LAN option to the last place in order. The lighting may be off because of Alienware Command Center or .NET Framework not being installed correctly, which may explain that error message. They shouldn't have sent it to you like that.

 

Thanks Mr. Fox! I will check this in the morning first thing. Will also be running a couple of benches with stock setting to see what happens. Hopping all goes well, then repaste.

 

Ok, so now that I have some time I started poking around to see what they they may have done to fix this thing. So far new heatsink and fan, (again), as well as a new motherboard. The now mobo, which makes since of the bios A08 when it was delivered back. So updated and set up bios. Mr. Fox, as befits you were dead on about Lan being set to higher priority. Downloaded comandcenter and tryed a repair to fix lighting issues, no joy. Next I did a repair of .Net Framework, still no joy.
So far temps seem better than when system left, and not getting the same issues, now just got to figuer out this lighing issue.

 

Check to be sure all of the lighting connections are plugged in. It may be one of the cables is not attached. On the Alienware 18, the palm rest mounted components have a ribbon cable and the perimeter lighting, if memory serves me correctly, has connections near both rear corners of the chassis. They may have left those detached when they installed the new motherboard.

Did you completely uninstall Command Center and reboot, then clean install it? If not, may want to try that.

Before reinstalling Command Center, if you have not installed .NET 3.5, install that first, then Command Center.

 

Mr. Fox. I tryed a repair only, but will try the complete uninstall. as well as the Net 3.5. I pulled it completely apart, (repasted CPU with Liquid Ultra) and checked all cables, and made sure they were all hooked up before putting it back together, If after trying your suggestions it still doesnt work I will pull it apart and look again. Just messing around with stock settings after repaste I saw a big drop in temp running cinebench 11.5.

 

I went through and uninstalled command center, then .net framework, then tried to install .net 3.5 but could not seem to make the damn .exe work no matter what i did. So, I installed .net 4.5 it ran no problem. Then installed Command center. Something went worng and all that showed up was on screen display under installed programs. Uninstalled it again, reboot, regedit to remove all command center and alienware fx files, reboot, reinstall,
and on reboot same message as before. As I type this I am getting screen flicker, my CPU for some reasion is running at about 93% according to task manger and hit temps of 78C. Oh, and for some reasion one of my video cards just disappeared. I was running SLI, install command center, reboot, and it just f'ing disappeared. Hoping it's just maybe I have a lose SLI cable connection. Going to tear it down again and check it in the morning. Also does anyone else's dvd rom randomly spin up for no reasion? No disk in it, but it has been doing this randomly, like a test to see if it;s still there, I dont know. For now, tired and frustrated. Oh, and all setting are still stock.
New plan, after getting a few hours of sleep, I will do a tear down double checking all cables, do a full wipe and factory reinstall. If still no joy I will call the alienware/ dell folks again. Any sugestions or tips? I am open and welcome them. Now off to bed and to sleep off the frustration. lol.

 

I think you're on the right track. If those steps don't take care of things, then whatever they did wasn't enough to fix your problems. If that's the case they need to try again or send you a replacement machine that works correctly.

 

Tried all I could. pulled the system apart looking for any lose connections, but didn't find any. Tried setting the system back to factory settings and fresh install, still no joy. Called the Alienware/dell folks, Set the system back to factory again, still no joy. Now it also seems that when ever I install the commandcenter (which still does not work) I get some nasty buffer overrun. After almost 2 hours on the phone the tech asked if he could call me back Sunday, as he had to look into what options I had. So looks like it's time to waite again. lol.

 

Heard back from the Alienware/dell folks today,(wasnt holding my breath for a sunday call, lol), and spent about half an hour on the phone. The new plan is they are going to send out a tech with another new motherboard, maby ram as well, and install to see if that will fix my problems. The rep told me that if this does not fix the problem the next step would be a replacement. I should be hearing from the tech in the next day or so.

 

Lucky boy getting a replacement so easily. Usually people have to wrestle with them lol

 

lol. If only.

So an update, as it were. The tech came out yesterday and installed the new motherboard. Well the board was DOA. So, the tech called in to Alienware/dell to report the issue. We tried getting to the rep I have been dealing with, but, you guessed it, transfered everywhere but the rep I have been dealing with. The lady we spoke to, first suggested sending out another motherboard, to which I said no, as I am now on my third motherboard, then she suggested that I send it in to them to look at again, and was suprised to hear that it had just come from them, and with more problems than when it went to them. Finally she agreed that it needed to be replaced, and that I should hear something from the replacement team by Thursday. She, first stated that it would take 5 weeks, then stated that it should only take around three weeks for me to get the new system. She also told me that she was sending me an email, and that I should check my email now and send a reply message to her.. I laughed. alot. It was kinnda funny getting to explain that my wifes laptop (which I am using to type this) is used for her work, and is more often than not, not here as she tends to work 16 hour work days, and that she was indeed at work. The rep said to just use my phone. Im an odd ball I admit it, I have a cell phone and it makes calls wonderfuly, that is however all it does, and therefore I could not just use my cell phone. She suggested I just use another computer in the house. I had to laugh again as I asked her if she ment the one with the dead motherboad that wont even boot up, as it is the only other one in the house. So, today I am hoping to hear from the rep that I had been dealing with before, who said monday that he would call wensday to check up on how everything was going. Yea, Im little upset. Sorry for the rant. Current status, still waiting, but I think makeing progress.

 

Well today is Tuesday 11 November and I have been informed that I should receive a ship date for the new system within a few days, then three weeks or so till I recive the new system. In the meantime the old system is working great as a paper weight. Lol. The waite continues.

 

OK, so bit of an update. 17NOV I called the Alienware/dell folks, as I have not yet heard from them, no phone call or email. After 4 transfers I finally got someone that helped a little. I now have an order number, and it shows that the new system is in production. There is no estimated ship date, though the rep stated that it should ship in a week and a half from now. When I talked to a rep on the 11th I was told that the new system would be expidited. Yes I laughed. The new system is apperantly shipping with windows 7 pro instead of windows 7 ULT. No big deal as I have my disks from the with the windows 7 ult os, and to be honest theres no way in hell I am going to point this out to them as from what I can see, now that I have an order number everything else is right, I fear that pointing out would set it back another couple of weeks. Yep, full on frustration mode. lol.

 

Yeah, don't point that out or you'll have a major timeline upset. Anyhow, they cannot send out a new system with Windows 7 Ultimate because Der Führer in Redmond hath decreed that they cannot. Windows 7 Pro is the only option left for OEMs to provide with a new system. On the bright side, at least they didn't screw up and build it on Windows 8. If you mention it this will throw your order out of queue while they try to find an answer on the reason for the OS downgrade. (It is unlikely the person assisting you would know the answer is that Ultimate is no longer available on a new system right off the top of his/her head.)

Windows 7 Ultimate does not really offer anything of value for most of us compared to Windows 7 Pro. While I have only Windows 7 Ultimate on my Alienware systems, I have no use whatsoever for the BitLocker feature and have never had any real reason to use Windows Media Center for anything. Windows 7 Pro is essentially Ultimate minus those two gimmicky gizmo features that most people never use.

 

Sorry to hear about your frustration over your dead laptop but you have to realize you are getting the best outcome of a bad situation. New laptop incoming, no out of pocket to get you up and running again. Just have the wait time. I believe you lucked out! Hope to read about your "new" laptop experience soon!

 

And after going through all this myself, this is why I'm now trying to get rid of this and build a desktop instead...

I seriously think that Dell/Alienware need to sort out their entire pipeline for diagnostics and repairs (both technician visits and repairs at the depot). Just throwing motherboard after motherboard into a system to try and fix a problem must be costing them a fair bit of money. If the motherboards had proper diagnostic facilities, it would probably make these things a lot easier...someone correct me if I'm wrong here, the Asus ROG motherboards have a built in LED status indicator that can flash up whatever the problem is, so why don't Dell implement something like that? Perhaps in software form? More thorough software diagnostics i ngeneral couldn't hurt either.

It also just plain sucks that replacements take so long. When my system was replaced, I was told by my executive that my system would be 'expedited'...well, it shipped out the same day that the AW store page suggested that a system would ship out if I'd ordered one at the time at which the order for my replacement went in. And then took a further two weeks to get here.

These issues as a whole are why I'm more hesitant to buy from Dell again. Certainly, I won't be buying a primary computer from them again (or anyone else; as said above, building my own, I'd rather be my own tech support). It's also why I'm actually considering a MBP for a laptop, thanks to Apple's typically-fantastic support and their reliability. (One of the many techs that worked on my system actually said that he bought an iMac, took it home, found that the hard drive was making a lot of noise, took it back to the Apple store and they replaced the whole thing right there, on the spot. That's more like how it should be done...)

 

Really, I don't think there is a major OEM anywhere that has truly competent tech support. Some try much harder to succeed on service delivery than others do, and here is where Dell/Alienware stands head and shoulders above their competition. When you get down to brass tacks, it seems like almost all of them suck when it comes to technical and diagnostic skills. When you add sucky service to the mix, it's really bad.

One of my sons in an Apple fanboy and his experiences with Apple support have been poor. Having a "Genius Bar" to go to doesn't mean the people working there are actually good at what they do. The examples I have seen when I had to take him and his stuff down to the mall, all outward indications are that they really suck at their jobs, too. Every "genius" at the bar I have encountered seemed to be a tech ignoramus. Their answer (as you discovered) is to often replace the machine because they don't know how to fix anything. Also bear in mind that many products they sell now are sealed shut and are very difficult to work on, if not impossible to service, depending on what is wrong with the machine. I am not convinced that is a good way to run a business. It makes the products seem cheap and disposable (DOH! They are disposable when you can't replace many of the components.) And, other than being a shortcut, it's not much different than throwing multiple motherboards and GPUs at a system hoping doing the same thing will produce a different outcome next time. It is merely a different expression of the same underlying lack of technical skill. I would venture a guess that nobody working there had the skill to replace a bad HDD or reinstall the OS. But, if it was a brand new machine that had an immediate out-of-box hardware defect, swapping it for another one off the shelf was the right thing to do.

You can get that kind of customer service from the local Wal-Mart or Best Buy with a $300 HP/Compaq/Acer turd laptop for free, but it's still the same low-grade piece of trash you walked out of the store with just a few hours earlier. At least the RAM isn't soldered to the motherboard, LOL.

 

Generally whenever I enter a PC-related store, I assume all staff are brain-dead. So far I've been right every time. Last time was when my M18x was on the fritz with both GPUs not working, so I had to get Thermal Compound. Went in there, and not a single staff member knew what Thermal Compound even was.

Dell technicians idea of "replacement" seems to be based on Video RAM. I would recommend everyone buying the highest vRAM cards available for their Alienware systems, as they seen to add up vRAM to determine the replacement. In fact, I'd consider this some kind of hidden insurance with Alienware lol.

Only thing I have of Apple's is an iPhone 5, and one of the main deciders was that the array of cases I could choose from was impressive.

 

The problem is that some PC manufacturers use many contracted repairers who are not particularly skilled at the job they perform. They perform Home Maintenance from Dell and other PC manufacturers at a stipulated low price pc the manufacturers offer. This is so that the employer uses low-educated personnel also get a low salary from the employer. Skilled technicians do not choose and work for low pay and unserious employers.

 

Well I have recived the new laptop. Wish I could jump for joy, but, not yet. The system arrived from the fedex folks yesterday evening. Lifting the system out of the box there was a cluck sound. Intresting, so I poped open the base plate before even turning it on for the first time, the HDD caddy was no screwed into the chasis, only the base place holding it in, and one of the sata connectors was not seated all the way. Yep, brand new rig built just for me they said, will fix all my problems. Seated the sata connection, screwed HDD caddy into chasis, replaced base plate. Time to boot it up. So hit the power button, all the pretty lights, and then a screen full of Intel Option Rom Level raid0(stripe) 1.8TB Failed and not bootable. You have got to be freaking kidding me! So check Bios, I can boot from CD/DVD or network only. Plug in old HDD that I wiped clean to send back just to see what would hapen, It listed it as disabled. So back to the new HDD that came with the new system. Power drain the system, (remove battery, unplug cmos battery and hold down power button), my own amusement mostly. Plug all back up now the new HDD shows up but is disabled. Adjusted raid and low and behold I can now boot the new HDD. Though now I get a Bigfoot PCIE ethernet controller with version and check cable connection PXE-MOF: exiting intel PXE ROM. every boot. So that means I need to go into BIOS to reset boot priority. Only one problem under the boot options in BIOS there is no option to set for my HDD. Only CD/DVD and network. Oh, and the shipping lable to return the old system, yeah they didnt send that either. So, current count of things gone sideways...... 3 CPU heatsinks, thrown at it, 2 CPU fans, in total 3 motherboards, 4 repasteings, one round trip to the repair center (from which it had more and worse problems when it came back), 2 times replaceing all 4 ram sticks, and in totall the time that I have owned this system it has spent more time as a paper weight than a computer. For now the new system is up and running just got to fix this boot priority issue. Oh, but hey they did offer me a free back pack that should ship once I recieved this replacement system. While typing this I had to step away as I just got a call from an alienware rep. I gave him the run down on this and he schelded a service call for tomrrow for a rep to call and I guess walk me through boot priority. Also, they are going to email me a shipping lable to print out and take to fedex, as for the back pack, there is nothing on file about it. He asked if I had the name of the rep that made the offer and the email, yep I do. Though it looks like, at the moment at least, thats not gonna happen. Im not new to these folks as I own an M18X R1, M14xR1, as well as buying this 18. Iv had to deal with the warrenty process for the M18X R1, a couple of times, but this time around all I can say is wow, what a cluster F&^%. Sorry for the long rant. running on a lack of sleep, and frustration. lol. Now there is a glass of 12 year old scotch and a bed calling my name.

 

I almost forgot, I will post a couple of pics later, after some sleep. Results of some base line bench at stock settings.. 4940MX Dual Nvidia 880GTX in SLI
Cinebench 11
CPU score 8.18
Max CPU temp 90c
Open GL 72.57 FPS

3DMark11
P11653
Graphics 13842
PhysX 7829
Combined 8018

 

It's a shame, but no OEM is going to spend the money on competent tech support if they don't see themselves getting any significant return on investment. And that's why I'd rather be my own OEM. I'm done with using anything but a computer I build myself as my main system.

I'm no Apple 'fanboy', but the experiences I've had so far have been largely positive. That said, I haven't had to deal with any technical issues at all, nor have I ever owned a Mac (just a couple of iPhones and an iPad). And I'd just like to say to those who would accuse me of being an Apple fanboy (definitely not saying you are, Mr. Fox, but no doubt many will think this) - I buy their products because they're the best for what I need to use them for. I'm considering a MBPr because I'd like a portable and relatively powerful laptop that's also reliable. The MBPr ticks all of those boxes for me. As much as I would like to be able to upgrade the CPU, GPU and so on, the reality is that nothing I've seen that's upgradeable comes close to matching the MBPr's portability, build quality, and that fantastic display. (And please DO point me to an alternative if one does exist.) I don't mind the lack of upgradeability on a laptop that's not my primary machine, provided it starts off with enough for its purposes for the time I'd expect to use it for. I won't exactly be doing hardcore gaming on the MBPr - if it can manage the odd RPG or strategy game without looking like a slideshow, that's enough for me.

And I think it's going a little bit too far when you're comparing such a computer to the cheap crappy turds that cost $300. Not everyone needs the most performance possible in every single one of their computers. (And I'm saying that as someone who craves power; I'm hoping for near-5GHz speeds on my planned desktop build, and seriously hoping that nVidia come out with Big Maxwell before I build it.)

Why would those stores hire competent staff when most of the people that walk in there are even less competent than the typical staff member?

Also, the manager handling my case also tried to pull the vRAM argument. They originally wouldn't give me R9 M290X's as a replacement (my original system had 7970M's before they gave me a free upgrade to 680M's after many of its original issues) because they had 4GB of VRAM per card and the 7970M's only had 2GB...took a lot of discussion to talk myself up to 880M's.

I've had mixed experiences with the techs from Dell. None of them have been particularly bad but some were noticeably significantly more skilled than others. All of them were polite, but some of them...you could tell they hadn't worked on an M18x before.

...Wow, that's really, really crappy. You'd assume they'd make sure that replacements would actually work properly?

Frankly, with all of those problems, if that had been me, I'd be trying to use that to leverage myself a refund. That's absolutely disgusting, whether or not you're competent enough to set it right yourself.

 

I now have the new system up and running as it should. A little sleep worked wonders. Got raid issues, and BIOS issues sorted out. Will be intresting if the rep call they set up yesterday comes through today. That and the fact I have already fixed the issues. Will update afterwards.

 

Ok, So As it stands today the new rig is running well, after fixing raid and bios boot priority. The scheduled call from the Alienware rep that was supposed to happen, did not. They time that was set up for the phone call came and went, and at 6:55 P.M. still havent heard from them. Yep, award winning. Now, on to the good stuff. This system is an exact (spec wise) replacement. The differences are windows 7 PRO 64 bit, old system windows 7 ULT 64 bit. Hey I liked playing solitare. HDD brand went from westen digital to samsung, memory brand went from hynix to samsung, spec wise they are the same. CPU i7 4940mx, 32 gb memory, 880GTX SLI. Now that it up an running, with everything installed, I repasted the factory theraml with Liquid ultra for both GPU's and CPU. I ran a couple of before and after benchmarks and temps. so, Factory paste and settings for Cinebench11.5 used HWinfor64 for temps. First Stock
CPU = 8.18 Max Temp 90c
Open GL = 72.57 Max Temp 74c
3DMark11 free basic
score P11653
graphics 13842
PhysX 7829
Combined 8018
Now with stock Thermal paste and OC level 1
CPU= 8.33 Max Temp 94c
Open GL = 79.13 Max Temp 65c
3DMark11
score P12558
graphics 13841
physx 10334
combined 9151
AFTER REASTE WITH LIQUID ULTRA
stock settings
CPU = 8.20 Max Temp 81c
Open GL = 74.11 Max Temp 55c
3DMark 11
score P12825
graphics 14404
physx 9918
combined 9277
OC level 1
CPU = 8.46 Max Temp 84c
Open GL= 79.69 Max Temp 59c
3DMark 11
score P12952
graphics 14365
physx 10416
combined 9439

 

Should you test your processor, I recommend and use Wprime 1024 (with 8 threads) ver 1.55 The HWBOT version of wPrime, then this benchmark test runs much longer than Cinebench 11.5. This test is also nice to see that the processor is stable if you want and overclock higher .. :thumbsup:
Download wPrime 1.55 | PUTME

PassMark perfomance test is also ok to test With :thumbsup: http://www.passmark.com/products/pt.htm

 

Well folks, the alienware rep called today, at 3:45 P.M. and asked what was going on with the laptop, so I gave him the rundown. He offered to help fix it, but, I already did. He stated that he was sorry that I was having such a time with this, and said he had seen that I was offered a free back pack, and that I should expect it around tuesday, and an email to conferm this shortly. It is now 1:48 A.M. and still no email. To be completely honest I could really care less about some free back pack, I just want my computer to work. However, It has been running smooth, and then this evening happened. The WLAN card started acting up. By this I mean suddenly dropping internet connection. It could see the network but not connect. First couple of time I could simply discount and reconect, then it required a reboot. I tested my network afte the first time, and then the next few times as soon as it happened. Average 48.7 Mb down, and 11.5 Upload. So, not the network. My wife is off work today and was watching netflix on her computer, and it never even stuttered. Then after reboot of system again, nothing. So since I have not yet sent the old system back yet, I took the old wlan card out, and swaped it over to the new system. I really am trying not to bash this guys, but I swear they are making it really hard for me. Upon repasting my system yesterday I found that one of the bottom screws for the disply, M2.5L8 size was missing. The screws for the battery should be the M2.5 L5 ( I assume as they were in the old system) instead both were M2.5 L8 in the new system, The WLAN card in the old system had two screws to hold it in while the new system only had one. Oh, and the CMOS battery that came with the new system gave me the lovley 5 beeps on boot up, so CMOS battey from the old system is not installed in the new system, and hey no problems with that anymore. I have the back end of the system raised just over an 1.5 inches to help with air though the upper left side of key board still gets pretty damn hot around the power button area. A question for you guys, for those with an ODD, does it some times spin up for just a momenty randomly? Both the old 18 and this one do that for no ryme or reasion that I can find, so I am thinking this might just be a quirk of the meachine. I really want this system to work as it should. Any adivce here folks. On the awsome side, taking my time, and getting side tracked alittle it only takes about 20 mins or so to pull both systems apart and swap out the WLAN cards and CMOS battery. I mean I own 3 Alienware laptops. An M18X R1 (passed down my teenage son now) , M14x R1 ( my wifes work and home computer, and this 18. I often get asked by guys deploying afor recomedations for personal laptops for gameing, and video lan to talk to their folks while deployed, and in general away from home. I now started to wonder if I made a huge mistake in the 38 alienware rigs that have been purached on my recomendation. Though this isnt over yet, and my faith may yet be restored, but I am not a fan boy kind of guy, I prefer to go with what will work. Thinking at the rate this is going I may write up a dear john letter to the Alienware folks. lol . Sorry for the rant, but after paying this much, and the much touted quality contorl and testing, I am wondering where that is at this point. Any advice I would be greatfull for, and thanks guys. In the mean time I will continue to scavage what I need from the old system to get the new on working. Will follow up later. You know it occures to me that I would normally say no one could have screwed up of luck. I have now proven my self wrong. What even I am doing to screw this up I hope I can find and correct it soon. Thanks again guys for the help and support. Papusan I will run a test with the wPrime 1.55 later today after some rest and post results..

 

It sounds nice. Are you unhappy with your score, you have after all Xtu and trottlestop. The overclocking profile in the new bios are just the

 

Sorry for the delay in update, finally got caught up on some sleep, and the list of things to do from the wife. lol. As promised ran a couple of tests with Wprime. I did this test with the BIOS A10 OC level 1. I know there are much better ways, but thought it would be intresting to try it out. I'm a goof ball, and I admit it. I ran this as the 1024 and thread count at 8
I used HWinfo for temps, and used manual to set the fan on max. Now, if someone can direct me to a walk though on getting HWinfo v4.46 to control GPU fans with bios A10 I would be greatful! I have found and tryed a couple times, but it will only allow me to control the CPU fan, even when setting it to GPU.

After installing the WiLan card from the old systems I have not had any more internet connection issues.

 

I stand corrected about needing a how to with HWinfo64, I found Mr. Fox's. The issues I seem to be running into now is that when setting up the custom my max fan speed rpm drops. For example, CPU fan max 7000RPM, after setting up custom profile the max is 3700RPM. I am missing some simple here proably, but any advie would be great. Thanks guys.

 

I see that you use Wprime version 2.10. Test out version 1.55 that I sent a link on. They use it on on overclocking suite hwbot. Here is the link on the layout of how to get all the fans in the function: HWiNFO64 Setup Steps - Imgur
You can also set up hwinfo such as Mr Fox. Then it is easier and see the numbers. It gets a lot better then. :thumbsup:

 

Snag the Precision M3800 if you like the rMBP looks and style. bit better built FAR better support and warranty ( up to 5 year NBD with accidental ) and a more accurate screen, and you can still swap your RAM, mSATA SSD and your 2.5" drive ( if you use the smaller battery ) or your RAM and mSATA with the larger battery. my rMBP's are jokes comparatively for my work.

if you go a bit bigger the m4800 is a POWERHOUSE 15" that is one model I have replaced my rMBP's with in video editing and design. other better options are the HP Zbook 14 and Zbook 15 and the Precision M2800. Ive now spent 4 years on the Dell and HP workstations and I'll be honest .. Apple are childs toys comparatively for reliability, build, support, warranty and durability.


now if you want super portable and thin and light but on a high budget import an NEC Lavie Z, super premium, very expensive.

 

Thanks. I will run the Wprime V1.55 This afternoon when I get home, and post what results. Will also be playing with HWinfo64 and learning more about it as well. So far so good with this new system. Thanks folks!

 

So ran wPrime 155. Thread count set at 8, Hwinfo64 manual fan control set at max. windows 7 pro, OC level 1. I know I should really start using throttle stop and XTU, just not sure I know enough yet.


Dealing with HWinfo64, this has proably been covered somewhere before, but being a beginer, I have not yet found it. I follow the guide from Mr. Fox, set up fan speed for temp profile, but I notice that when I do this max CPU fan speed drops from 7000rpm to around 3700rpm. Max fan speed allowed for Gpu 1 is around 3500rpm and for GPU 2 3200rpm. I am assuming that this is due to power, or more to the point a lack there of. I have the system pluged in, and am not running on the battery. I tried using this custom setup for fan profile and ran 3DMark11 basic Free, but system shut down due to heat about 2 minutes in, so I obvilsy did something wrong. I have also noticed that my video cards stay around 47-48c at idle. This is per HWinfo64, both cards have been repasted with liquid ultra. This seems a little high to me, but may be normal for these cards. GPU 1 will often jump to about 55c just browser this forum. Just oping BF4 battlelog page GPU1 spikes to 64c, jumped into test range, and into a helo temp went to 71c (Setting on high). This seems a little high to me. I still have the old system and am thinking of swaping out the vid cards to see if that helps, but wanted to ask if these temps are normal for everyone else.