Strange issue, need help.

Ok, so for the past while this issue has been popping up and i dont know what to do.

My computer freezes slowly. Whatever movie/game i'm playing will stop. I can still mouse around and highlight icons, but clicking freezes them. I force shutdown. Upon booting, the computer will try to boot from my network device. Force shutdown again. Then it boots from raid0 just fine. Play around for a little while, then boom, freezes again.

I'm thinking the computer is losing connection with my SSDs for some reason, not sure though. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I Don't think its temps because it'll happen at random times and i run my laptop on a cooling pad. Sapphire trixx states that its about 60 degrees celsius about a minute or two before it freezes.

M18x R1
16gb memory
2 Crucial M4s in RAID0
Dual 69xx cards.

 

If you think its an issue with your SSDs did you try checking the connection to the motherboard?

 

You need to narrow down the possible cause. If you suspect the SSD try running a low level diagnostic to check the hardware in general and the disk specifically. Do you still have the Alienware DVD? Boot with it and run an hardware check and go from there.

 

The unsuccessful boot is a major clue here in my opinion. The system should never try to boot from network and restart, then successfully boot on the second attempt.

If your system has been working fine for months on end with these SSD and now this is suddenly happening without a history of issues, then I would suspect something like one of them failing.

What do you see running a Crystal DiskMark bench? Run a really huge 4000MB random fill text with a minimum of 5 loops.

If that checks out fine, run an Alien Autopsy custom scan on the SSD drives and see if you get any errors.

 

Ok, ran the CrystalDiskMark and also pulled the crystaldiskinfo data.


Here is the info

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskInfo 5.4.2 Shizuku Edition (C) 2008-2013 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : Crystal Dew World
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

OS : Windows 7 Home Premium Edition SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)
Date : 2013/03/14 21:18:24

-- Controller Map ----------------------------------------------------------
+ Intel(R) Mobile Express Chipset SATA RAID Controller [SCSI]
- Volume0
- HL-DT-ST DVDRWBD CA30N

-- Disk List ---------------------------------------------------------------
(1) M4-CT128M4SSD2 : 128.0 GB [X/0/255, cs] - mi
(2) M4-CT128M4SSD2 : 128.0 GB [X/0/255, cs] - mi

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) M4-CT128M4SSD2
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Model : M4-CT128M4SSD2
Firmware : 040H
Serial Number : 00000000120809071F9F
Disk Size : 128.0 GB (8.4/128.0/128.0)
Buffer Size : Unknown
Queue Depth : 32
# of Sectors : 250069680
Rotation Rate : ---- (SSD)
Interface : Serial ATA
Major Version : ACS-2
Minor Version : ATA8-ACS version 6
Transfer Mode : SATA/600
Power On Hours : 3005 hours
Power On Count : 640 count
Wear Level Count : 62
Temparature : Unknown
Health Status : Good (98 %)
Features : S.M.A.R.T., APM, 48bit LBA, NCQ, TRIM
APM Level : 00FEh [ON]
AAM Level : ----

-- S.M.A.R.T. --------------------------------------------------------------
ID Cur Wor Thr RawValues(6) Attribute Name
01 100 100 _50 000000000001 Raw Read Error Rate
05 100 100 _10 000000000800 Reallocated Sectors Count
09 100 100 __1 000000000BBD Power-On Hours
0C 100 100 __1 000000000280 Power Cycle Count
AA 100 100 _10 000000000001 Grown Failing Block Count
AB 100 100 __1 0000000005D3 Program Fail Count
AC 100 100 __1 000000000026 Erase Fail Count
AD _98 _98 _10 00000000003E Wear Leveling Count
AE 100 100 __1 000000000018 Unexpected Power Loss Count
B5 100 100 __1 0133007600BD Non-4k Aligned Access
B7 100 100 __1 000000000000 SATA Interface Downshift
B8 100 100 _50 000000000000 Error Correction Count
BB 100 100 __1 000000000000 Reported Uncorrectable Errors
BC 100 100 __1 000000000000 Command Timeout
BD 100 100 __1 000000000050 Factory Bad Block Count
C2 100 100 __0 000000000000 Enclosure Temperature
C3 100 100 __1 000000000182 Cumulative Corrected ECC
C4 100 100 __1 000000000001 Reallocation Event Count
C5 100 100 __1 000000000000 Current Pending Sector Count
C6 100 100 __1 000000000000 Smart Off-line Scan Uncorrectable Error Count
C7 100 100 __1 000000000004 Ultra DMA CRC Error Rate
CA _98 _98 __1 000000000002 Percentage Of The Rated Lifetime Used
CE 100 100 __1 0000000005D3 Write Error Rate

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(2) M4-CT128M4SSD2
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Model : M4-CT128M4SSD2
Firmware : 040H
Serial Number : 00000000120809072012
Disk Size : 128.0 GB (8.4/128.0/128.0)
Buffer Size : Unknown
Queue Depth : 32
# of Sectors : 250069680
Rotation Rate : ---- (SSD)
Interface : Serial ATA
Major Version : ACS-2
Minor Version : ATA8-ACS version 6
Transfer Mode : SATA/600
Power On Hours : 2957 hours
Power On Count : 642 count
Wear Level Count : 60
Temparature : Unknown
Health Status : Good (98 %)
Features : S.M.A.R.T., APM, 48bit LBA, NCQ, TRIM
APM Level : 00FEh [ON]
AAM Level : ----

-- S.M.A.R.T. --------------------------------------------------------------
ID Cur Wor Thr RawValues(6) Attribute Name
01 100 100 _50 000000000000 Raw Read Error Rate
05 100 100 _10 000000000800 Reallocated Sectors Count
09 100 100 __1 000000000B8D Power-On Hours
0C 100 100 __1 000000000282 Power Cycle Count
AA 100 100 _10 000000000001 Grown Failing Block Count
AB 100 100 __1 000000000512 Program Fail Count
AC 100 100 __1 00000000003F Erase Fail Count
AD _98 _98 _10 00000000003C Wear Leveling Count
AE 100 100 __1 000000000018 Unexpected Power Loss Count
B5 100 100 __1 014C009200B9 Non-4k Aligned Access
B7 100 100 __1 000000000000 SATA Interface Downshift
B8 100 100 _50 000000000000 Error Correction Count
BB 100 100 __1 000000000000 Reported Uncorrectable Errors
BC 100 100 __1 000000000000 Command Timeout
BD 100 100 __1 000000000052 Factory Bad Block Count
C2 100 100 __0 000000000000 Enclosure Temperature
C3 100 100 __1 00000000038D Cumulative Corrected ECC
C4 100 100 __1 000000000001 Reallocation Event Count
C5 100 100 __1 000000000000 Current Pending Sector Count
C6 100 100 __1 000000000000 Smart Off-line Scan Uncorrectable Error Count
C7 100 100 __1 000000000000 Ultra DMA CRC Error Rate
CA _98 _98 __1 000000000002 Percentage Of The Rated Lifetime Used
CE 100 100 __1 000000000512 Write Error Rate

And the DiskMark

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.2 Shizuku Edition x64 (C) 2007-2013 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : Crystal Dew World
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 919.904 MB/s
Sequential Write : 294.502 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 508.475 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 73.193 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 21.056 MB/s [ 5140.7 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 35.930 MB/s [ 8771.9 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 267.011 MB/s [ 65188.3 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 45.932 MB/s [ 11213.8 IOPS]

Test : 4000 MB [C: 95.8% (228.3/238.4 GB)] (x5)
Date : 2013/03/14 21:22:13
OS : Windows 7 Home Premium Edition SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)


Will run the alienautopsy and post that in a bit.

 

AlienAutopsy passed with flying colors. One thing about the above info that bugs me is the number of hours the SSDs have been powered on. Shouldn't the hours mirror eachother since they've been in RAID0 since I bought them?

 

Everything seems OK with those tests. The power on cycles and count I am not sure of, but it only makes sense that they should be the same. Maybe the difference is a symptom of the problem you are having, and the one with the small values is the bugger. I see you have recent firmware and they match. Not sure... let me see if I can think of something else.

Did you already try the suggestion about using System Restore to roll back to a date that you are certain this problem was not occurring?

During post, before the BIOS Alienhead screen appears, watch the Intel Option ROM Configuration Utility and see if either drive in the membership displays an error message.

 

You could also try running the DELL Diagnostics on the boot menu (F12 at startup)

 

Once, when i forced a power-cycle, one of the disks showed an error. I went into the configuration menu and it popped back up normal. Also the Dell Diagnostics came up clean. I checked the SATA connections on both the drives, and replugged them for good measure. Haven't had an issue since I did that but sometimes it only happens once every few days so we'll see. So, either the connection, the drive, or maybe the RAID controller if we stretch things.

 

Sometimes something as simple as clearing the CMOS cures a multitude of problems. The InsydeH20 BIOS is fantastic, but it has a nasty habit of remembering things it should not and gets corrupted. Pull the laptop battery and AC adapter, then remove the bottom cover. Disconnect the wire from the motherboard for the coin cell CMOS battery. After grounding yourself to a screw on the motherboard, short across the terminals the CMOS battery connects to. Then reassemble everything. This is the same as moving a jumper to the "Clear CMOS" pins on a desktop motherboard.

This will erase the InsydeH20 settings and reset them to factory defaults. Go back into the BIOS setup, set the date, time and any other custom settings you had before clearing them out. Your system will function correctly with BIOS defaults unless you modified something after you received it from Alienware. As an example of a non-standard setting, if you reinstalled the OS with the SATA configuration set on AHCI, (instead of the default RAID as it should be,) this would prevent Windows from booting and you would need to set that manually.

 

Sounds like a problem that I had with my crucial ssd drives. Same problems couldn't find one problem with either drve. So iwent to crucials website downloaded the newest firmware and it fixed the problem.

 

Thanks for this tip Mr. Fox! One time support had me clear the BIOS on my M18X by following the same steps except instead of causing a short they had me hold the power button for what seemed to be a minute. Your method erases all doubt (no pun intended) that the BIOS is reset. :thumbsup:

 

Sorry it took so long to update. My computer completely died and wouldn't detect either of my SSDs. I got into it a little bit and I think I found the troublemaker. The little flex connector assembly that connects the SSDs to the motherboard. I found that if I connect it and press my finger on it while powering on, the laptop will see one of the SSDs. I can only assume that getting a new one will cure the issue. The only problem is finding one. Anyone know if there are any vendors you can buy it from? Part number is LF-6571P. I'm sure you all have seen it before.

 

OK so after some searching I found that the part that is SUPPOSED to be there is 9JP9M. Does that mean that dell put in the wrong part at some point?

 

No, it only means the number you saw was not the Dell service part number. You can buy this part from Alienware or get a replacement part sent to you for free if your warranty has not expired.

If your warranty has expired you can buy it here, but it is probably a whole lot less expensive (I am going to take a wild guess that it is 50% less) if you buy it directly from Alienware.

Replacement Dell Laptop 9jp9m In Stock