m18x and windows aero

Hmmmmm? Still can't rep you

And ditto on the warranty and quality....

 

Anway, back to Aero.......

Its flaking out on me upon booting randomly. Have had a few more instances of this since my last update but goes to show that its still a problem.

Did we ever hear back from Chris & Engineering with confirmation of which AMD driver he/they wanted us to "test" with - I dont recall seeing 11.7 official or 11.8 preview as the package that is supposedly having AMD & Intel working on.....

 

No, Chris never did confirm that. However, Dell released a new driver after he asked us to. He has not mentioned that either.

I am running on Dell's latest driver. It performs well except for the occasional Aero crash and BSOD. Both are random. I have the BSOD at Windows startup and when Aero crashes, that is most frequently during Windows startup. I am beginning to thing my GPUs are defective because it seems I am the only person experiencing the BSOD.

On Fri 8/12/2011 12:59:14 AM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\081111-13026-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: atikmpag.sys (atikmpag+0x744C)
Bugcheck code: 0x116 (0xFFFFFA800E07D4E0, 0xFFFFF8800318044C, 0x0, 0x2)
Error: VIDEO_TDR_ERROR
file path: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\ atikmpag.sys
product: AMD driver
company: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
description: AMD multi-vendor Miniport Driver
Bug check description: This indicates that an attempt to reset the display driver and recover from a timeout failed.
A third party driver was identified as the probable root cause of this system error. It is suggested you look for an update for the following driver: atikmpag.sys (AMD multi-vendor Miniport Driver, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.).
Google query: atikmpag.sys Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. VIDEO_TDR_ERROR

 

How's the brightness control on the new Dell 6970 drivers? - TBH, I completely missed them being released.....

 

It works. I had to reinstall OSD after installing the new Dell drivers, but brightness controls work OK. It took several reboots to get Aero to work after the Dell driver install and it does not recover from WEI. *To clarify for our Dell partners - it was a squeaky clean installation, not an overlay.*

The Aero bug is about the same as 11.8 preview, but the BSOD issue is driving me nuts. Seems to happen most when desktop is loading, but has happened to me at other times randomly. Also having an issue with black screen after exiting gameplay. This has happened to me with Crysis and Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood so far. I'm thinking I may have a video card problem and will be contacting Alienware Tech Support about it. This is starting to become frustrating. I've had this machine one month today and have spent more time trying to fix it than I have been enjoying using it.

 

so what driver version is the new dell 6970 drivers? 11.8, 11.7?

 

Thanks Fox....I also know only too well the frustration your experiencing.....I had my R2 for MONTHS before I got around to actually enjoying it a bit like I thoughts I was gonna do.....that was down to the sleep/brightness/resume saga.....that never got sorted and i can say with hand on heart that I never really "enjoyed" the R2 as I should have done - too much time spent trying to fix it!

I am finally getting around to loading some games to actually start enjoying this system.....

Maybe you got a corrupted Dell Driver Download whislt doing your clean install?? - could maybe account for your BSOD's (if its not software/driver related then its gotta be your gpu's)......have you thought of trying another clean install?

 

With 6990's on the Dell drivers I have been experiencing "Aero Flake Outs" constantly, especially after some serious Windows Updates that installed in the last 2 days.

 

I have 2 rigs i use regular for my engineering job. Both windows 7 hosts with VIrtual Box for linux

I have converted them both to Windows Basic theme in order to get use to it, and so i can palate turning off aero when the M18x arrives. Its in production now! I really am getting twitchy about the quality of this M18x....

Anyone experienced aw/dell support in the UK...i dont have the premium phone line support...just the 3 yr warrenty.

Fox: how u getting on resolving your BSOD... Worth doing a driver clean in safe mode?

 

I don't know how anyone could get use to basic. It's horrendous. Lately I have seen 2 Aero Flake Outs back to back. I can't believe this isn't fixed by now. Maybe I'll go post some reviews online to help get the word out so that they don't just move on to the M18x-R2 at Amazon.com: Alienware M18X 18.4" Laptop Computer: Computers & Accessories & Newegg.com - DELL Alienware M18x (AM18X-6731BAA) Notebook Intel Core i7 2630QM(2.00GHz) 18.4" 8GB Memory DDR3 1333 1TB HDD DVD±R/RW NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M SLI . I really don't feel like going through the hassle of a replacement again.
You should ask steviejones133 about UK support.

 

I havent "physically" had ANY UK support - all my business has been done via phone calls.....its like anything in the UK - get ready to be speaking to someone in India or Slovakia if you have customer care issues and AW Tech issue respectively.

All in all, pretty good really - just sometimes the language barriers can be a bit awkward even though they speak English, there is a difference in being from a natively English speaking country, if you get ma drift!

 

Slovakia? People go missing in Slovakia and end up decapitated. I would not want to pissof anyone from Slovakia. Make sure you mind your manners before calling Dell's Slovakian support.

 

Hehehe - I know I spoken to a few guys with very heavy accents....kind of like "Russian Mafia Style"...... who knows, maybe Dell are subcontracting to the KGB for NBD In house warranty......be worried if someone rocks up at your door with a conspicuos uniform and a bottle of voddie in his techhie bag of tools.....

RUUUuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnn.....................

 

Whats wrong with basic? I think its alright....but i dont really use any aero features anyway...


Well i hope they dont give up on it. They really have no right too. Its such a fundemental interface problem for the user.

I believe other laptops are suffering the same problem from other manufactuers. So there is hope a solution may come from somewhere...it may well be an OS issue.

 

Currently 1 of our M18x's has U.S. Support with Tagalog(dialect) Filipino people answering every call, sometimes I get Costa Rica. So much for U.S. Support.

Maybe other manufactures have this problem. I can assure you that the Asus G74 & Toshiba Qosmio both with switchable graphics do NOT have this problem.

 

I was very tempted by the qosmio x770... Shame it looked horrendous. I would not be seen with such a laptop styling. It just looked bad. Still excellent specs for the price.

They'll fix it...im sure.

 

I have a Qosmio X775-3DV78 that was bought for me by my employer. I can honestly say that it is the most solid built laptop I have ever seen. The finish on it is amazing. Those pictures don't do it justice. It also has a Blu-ray burner, 3D and red led backlit keyboard. Too bad it only has a single 560M

Oh yeah...and the Qosmio's 120hz screen puts the M18x's screen to shame.

 

True. I am judging it when i havent seen it in the flesh. Unfortunatly in the UK no store seems to sell a laptop more than a quid. Other than if they sell apple or sony! I couldnt see it and then i went to the m18x...

 

Even though the new Qosmio's have a lot of nice features....when it comes to warranty, aesthetics and raw power nothing beats an M18x. Nothing.

 

I believe it is the same driver as 11.7. The file version is 8.851.2.0 dated 6/9/2011.

That was my first impression. Good thinking on your part, Steve... I downloaded it a second time, did a totally clean install and same result. The BSOD thing started before Dell released a new driver. It's totally random and comes and goes in spurts. It may do it twice one day and not at all for several days. Sometimes while loading the Windows desktop from a cold boot, and other times under load like gaming. No rhyme or reason, that's why I think it is a hardware issue. Nobody else seems to be experiencing this problem.

I am probably going to go back to using drivers from the 11.6 Catalyst package without CCC installed. I very rarely had problems with Aero running that way.

The quality is excellent other than the Aero bug. I think my BSOD is a one-off issue with my machine. My secondary GPU tends to run about 5-10°C hotter than the primary GPU... I've ordered ICD24 in anticipation the GPU may have no paste, but I am not really seeing excessively high temps even under a load. Heat should not be an issue starting from a cold boot though, and the overall temps for both cards are almost always under 90°C under heavy load like Crysis.

The Tech Support rep I always try to work with is off until Sunday, but he did send me an email about connecting to get this resolved when he returns to work. As noted above, I have already done the clean install on the drivers. I'm also running a fresh OS install. As far as basic goes, I agree with the comments by skygunner (below). I think Basic is but_-ugly and if I had to live without Aero, I would be using the Windows Classic theme rather than Basic.

 

Thank You Lord, for your blessing us with SSD's. Amen.

 

This difference in temps is normal for the M18x.

 

I have not been in my m18 yet. Skygunner, do you think the temp difference is based on the heat-sink for number 2 not being as good as number 1?

 

280.26 Nvidia drivers and there have been zero issues with Aero. (580M, usually in non-sli mode for day to day)

 

Yes I do.

 

I see, so we need fortnax to maybe look into modified hs pipes for the GPU's too.

 

I'd have him repaste with ICD24 and leave the GPU's alone.
The CPU could definitely use some better paste.

 

bump, bump, bump!!! So has anyone heard any info from Dell/AW on a fix? Anytime I run PowerDVD 11, Aero Flakes out!

 

I was kinda wondering the same too Gunner....I see that the Dell Thread on the same has been moved to the Alienware forums.....I have nothing to update with at the moment either. Still no fix so still in the same position.

I dont even know if Chris has "captured" a PC from one of us yet.....

 

I am not having that issue with PowerDVD, but I have the standard 9.6 that shipped with my system, not version 11. Yes, they are actively working on trying to verify the cause and a fix. I had a lengthy diagnostic session last night. More details below...

Apparently, something similar is affecting desktop systems with AMD CFX graphics as well. Users are having to manually install drivers through Device Manager before running the Catalyst Install Manager because running the Catalyst package crashes multi-GPU desktops in some cases. Seems buggy AMD drivers are the cause of this and other unresolved issues on multiple brands and types of systems with CFX.

I was on the phone for more than an hour last night with my Tech Support Rep. My case is being escalated to a L3 support rep or engineer.

I am having an issue with clock speeds on one GPU not increasing to full speed under load. Disabling and re-enabling CFX sometimes causes the GPU running at lower clock speeds to catch up with the other GPU. It's not consistently happening on GPU0 or GPU1 (it can change from one to the other). I discovered this while searching for a reason why my benchmark scores vary so widely and why sometimes a resource heavy game runs as smooth as silk, while other times the same game is as choppy as a stormy sea.

This also explains why my temps on one card can be sometimes be significantly higher than the other... one card is doing all of the heavy lifting whenever they are not synchronized. This happens sporadically and I cannot identify a trigger... seems totally random, just like the random BSOD.

Take a peek at the screen shot attached in the spoiler. (This is with CFX enabled... can turn CFX off/on and it can be corrected, remain the same, or switch to the opposite card depending on the mood my system happens to be in at the time.)

Spoiler

I believe my GPUs are defective and need to be replaced. There are too many things misbehaving besides only Aero flaking out.

As a side note, the latest Dell drivers are based on Catalyst 11.4 according to GPU-Z. If you are running Dell's latest, launch GPU-Z and take a look at what is in the "Driver Version" field on the main tab... (see thumbnail below)

 

dells latest d rivers are a joke, still has the cursor bug.

 

Even more of a joke because they think that they can fix these problems by simply taking an old version of AMD 11.4 and releasing it as a Dell driver/potential fix...what a load of bull....get with the programme Dell 'cos this is getting VERY TEDIOUS....

Not only did DELL not fix the brightness / resume on the R2, they are doing a damn good job of NOT fixing this issue on the M18x

WHERE IS THE QUALITY CONTROL ON THESE THINGS BEFORE A SYSTEM GETS LAUNCHED!!!!! - DO YOU EXPECT US TO FORK OVER THOUSANDS FOR A FAULTY SYSTEM THAT YOU ARENT FIXING IN A REASONABLE TIMEFRAME????

Im gettin soooo fed up of this that I will NEVER EVER buy another Dell ANYTHING as long as I live.....

 

I've got power dvd 11 but no problems....in fact I can't get aero to flake out at all any more..

 

its gotten to the point where I just ordered a pair of 580s. =\

 

Agree with you , my first m18x comes with Dead Pixel , 2nd comes with defected speakers. I know dell willing to give me replacement but , all its about time , I hate waiting and getting defected laptop comes again and again.....it never ends....

 

Swweeettt. Welcome to the green side. (Probably won't help, but...) welcome welcome.

 

Lot of anger here. Come on Dell keep everyone updated, and don't let us down.

 

Well, I have finally got fed up with waiting for Dell to adress this problem in a reasonable timescale. I have fired off an email to the relevant people and I hope to hear some positive news within the next few days or so. I am sick of waiting around for a fix for this.....its reminiscent of the brightness/sleep problem with the R2 that went on for months and months and months without any fix. We all know that THAT particular issue is unresolved for many unfortunate owners.

I do not wish for this to turn out to be another "year long" battle on my behalf.....fed up with it all.....

We shall see....

 

Wow! It seems like you guys are a lot more upset than I am. The intent of my post was the exact opposite of the response it precipitated. Dell is trying to fix the AMD issue that I outlined in my post and I was actually very pleased by the interaction with my Tech Support rep last night. What I posted today was intended to be technical information for M18x 6970 CFX owners to check out on their end. It seems that at least a few 6970 CFX owners are having similar difficulties to what I am having and the info I posted can help them determine if they need to call Tech Support about the same issue. (My Rep had never seen that before, and that's why he escalated it to L3 Support.)

As far as Catalyst 11.4 goes, if that is the newest driver that AMD has that is stable and does not cause problems, then I am very happy that Dell is using that as the basis for their own "authorized" driver. If they used something newer that was less stable, that would be a worse situation IMHO. Then everyone would be even more upset. AMD is the vendor writing the buggy reference drivers, not Dell.

While it appears there are some issues with 580 SLi and 6990 CFX, it seems the majority of the those reporting severe issues with Aero and the dreadful BSOD problems are those having systems equipped with 6970 CFX. (Could it be that AMD quietly and inconspicuously fixed some of it's 6970 CFX problems with the 6990 architecture?)

Nigel, if switching to the green side will cure the issues, I'm all for that. I say whatever works best and runs fast is A-OK. I really don't give a rat's tail what brand the video cards are as long as it's fast and stable. If there were no such thing as AMD fanboys, Alienware might stop selling that graphics option altogether until AMD gets their act together, but that would certainly torque some customers off and send them to another vendor to purchase a defective AMD CFX system.

FWIW... It was not very long ago that the green side had even more serious problems than what we are dealing with here. In fact, I am an Alienware owner because Dell is an awesome company and took great care of me. My $4,000 XPS M1730 had defective NVIDIA SLi modules and there was no "red" (AMD) part available as a substitute. I've been using NVIDIA and AMD parts for years and they take turns producing problematic products. Right now it seems that CFX is troublesome... single GPU AMD systems seem a lot more solid. That will probably change in 6 months.

I compare that to how HP shafted us on the exact same defect (see links in my signature) and that's why I'm such a Dell fanboy.

 

lame.

I was glad to see that our thread was loacted in the Dell forums for all to see. Now that I hear that the thread has been moved to the Alienware threads pisses me off. That forum is like a ghost town of unresolved problems that nobody cares about. That's why we're all here and at TI. I know AW knew about this problem before manufacturing. It's so hard for me to sit here w/o any updates on the situation. Especially after the unresloved R2 problems fiasco.

Must be nice. You need to contact Dell. They need your help resolving this issue.

I sooooo agree.

Exactly

You know what pisses me off about your post? What pisses me off is that you are a customer just like me. Nothing more. Nothing less. You have spent countless hours troubleshooting this issue. I have spent close to 10 hours troubleshooting this issue and have seen this problem over 100 times. Honestly it IS NOT your place to do Dell's work for them. I think "WE" all deserve Dell's FULL attention on this matter. Most of us had to endure the Code 43 problem, Resume/Sleep Brightness Problem & Plugged in not charging problem that still remains UNRESOLVED. Dell's presence here is almost non-existant. Why haven't I heard more about system exchanges from other M18x owners? If they need only one , then they must already know something their not saying. It makes no since to only get one unit for all AMD M18x owners and Nvidia M18x owners.

I really do value you and the rest of the members here, doing their part in their own way. I just think Dell/AW is doing a P!$$ poor job of resolving this issue. If I was Dell I would contact Microsoft, AMD, Nvidia & Intel to resolve this issue. Not the customers(except for updates).

I found this to be a very interesting read. Through my dealings with Dell/AW I can relate to alot of what's been posted. I really hope Dell doesn't let me down like they did with the R2.
http://www.bbb.org/central-texas/bu...ealers/dell-in-round-rock-tx-41453#govtaction


Also, according to the company, the warranty does not cover software, including the operating system and software added to the Dell-branded hardware products through their factory-integration system, third-party software, or the reloading of software.

Why would Dell put that clause into the warranty? That's like saying Ford doesn't have to provide coverage for the tires, seatbelts, stereo, brakes and windows on a brand new Ford car.

 

WOW!!! The hate runs deep. But I can see why. 'Specially you stevie. I've read your other posts from waaaaay back with your M17's fiasco. I can not to pretend I feel your pain bc you have been through about 40 computers (a little stretch, but not much). Fox's efforts should be praised and Dell/AW needs to employ and/or pay him for the time he has done.

As for the system replacement I got-first boot Aero quit on me. Killing me. Gonna do a fresh install/Respawn. BUt we already see where this is going.

The Aero is an issue for me for sure. But not a deal breaker. MAybe it should be, but I can't discount a whole system and company bc one 'small' problem. Again-remember-cutting edge. THat could be some of the issue here. I know, I know. They shoulda made sure it was right. BUt they didn't. But like I said before-I bet in the end it'll be made right, one way or another.

Again, sorry for the ones that are really bugged by this. I don't mean to sound flippant or self righteous. But I'll betcha Dell/AW will get it right.

 

Haha - thanks....yeah I have had a "few" issues and a "few" replacements .......

I know that with this issue, there are probably alot of guys out there who think "Meh, what the heck are they whinging about? - its not a biggie" but it is actually when you think about it. Windows OS is obviously the "Window" to using your system....using Aero (I find anyway) makes computing more enjoyable and user friendly and to NOT have that CONSISTENTLY is annoying the crap outta me....I have owned little net books that have never had this issue - its only since I started buying AW that I noticed that various things seem to get messed up.

I also appreciate that the systems are cutting edge technology and that Dell **may** get the issue fixed given time but having experienced the R2 sleep problems, Dell's promise of a fix doesnt exactly inspire confidence...

Is the system you have now, the replacement from ChrisM's "Capture" Programme??? - Do Dell now have your old system??? - What Spec did you get as a replacement?? - Was it "Brand New"??

Sorry for the twenty questions but I havent heard anything regards to Dell actually capturing one of these systems and I recall you volunteered yours....(I volunteered mine too but Dell didnt want it.... )

 

1-Yes
2-Not yet. Haven't sent it off. Just got the new Monday.
3- Here's what I got.
4-Brand new is correct.

 

I am not banking that Dell will fix this issue. It is not in their DNA to address this type of bug. This issue will drag on with us for months and even until the next release of Windows!

 

I've also owned 4 M17x R2's. All with the same UNRESOLVED problems. It's good that it doesn't bother you much, because most likely it will never get fixed. Instead of fixing it they will most likely release the M18x R2 with the issue resolved. This method is standard Dell practice.

EXACTLY

Today I spent an hour having my aero related case RE-escalated. It took 3 calls. The first 2 I got hung up on. My last escalated case led nowhere.
Just like this one......lame.

 

Well I emailed AW Resolutions yesterday and was kinda hoping for a reply but 24 hours later and NOTHING.....big fat ZERO.....

 

I know that results are more important than effort, but I do know that Dell is trying to find a solution to this Aero bug on CFX systems. I don't know if there is enough collaboration with AMD, Intel, Microsoft and other computer OEMs going on behind the scenes, but I believe Dell/Alienware cares about it and wants to fix it. If they did not, then there would be no interaction with Chris Mixon, pmassey's system capture (and maybe other captures we do not know about) never would have happened, and the Dell-tweaked driver revisions would have never been released.

My rep could have just said, "yup, your 6970 cards are no good, let me send you out some new cards" and that would have swept the problem under the rug. It was escalated to L3 and I expect replacement cards, but they are first trying to understand and/or document the BSOD crashes and failure to upclock behavior my system is displaying so it can be addressed on other systems. I also see that as a positive thing.

That level of support is more than I could ever hope to get out of the OEMs for other brands I have owned in the past that had known issues. Dell's competitors tend to blame the hardware vendor and claim no responsibility, or they flat-out deny the knowledge or existence of known issues. One OEM in particular has a flippant "buyer beware" attitude toward their customers, and all of them that I know of (other than Dell) only offer a depot repair option.

If past experience holds true, they will either fix it or give me something else. While I would much prefer to have this fixed, getting an M18x.R2 as an exchange won't necessarily be a bad thing if that's what it comes down to as a last resort. That's also something no other OEM has even considered doing for me in the past. So, I say +10 rep points for Dell/Alienware.

Thanks for acknowledging my efforts on this. I seriously doubt that I will be compensated, but if any part of my efforts helps other Alienware customers and members of this forum, I'll be happy to have been a part of helping. That's just what we do for each other, and that's why I am honored to be associated with such technically savvy folks as all of you.

 

keep us posted Fox.
Yesterday I spent 2 hours with Micorsoft. 1 hour with AMD Canada (LD at my own expense) and over an hour with Dell/AW today. With Microsoft and Dell/AW I even went as far as remote assistance....what a waste of time and nothing to show for it.

 

Will keep everyone posted... Thank you for your efforts as well, my friend. I am very curious... What kind of reception did you receive from Microsoft and AMD? Are they showing genuine interest or lack of concern?

Guys, please pake a peek at the attached image? I have not seen a post with anyone else mentioning it yet... Have any of you seen this sort of artifacts on your desktop? This is an image sent to L3. Still waiting for initial contact from Alienware L3 at this time.

 

Fox, to me those areas/pixels on your screen look like alot of clustered stuck pixels....I know they cant possibly be so many in such a concentrated area and also "move location" but thats what they look like to me.....very strange......