M17 - R1 (2009, PreDell) Problems. Please help!

take a screen of temps when throtteling happens again just i canse we can eliminate it for good

 

Hey,

Sorry for the massive delay, just finished up with midterms and a high period in work. I was finally able to sit down and put a good two hours down. So, here's some good news, I am no longer hearing that static sound that I was before, of course, I would need to play extensively to be for sure but usually I heard it within thirty or so minutes. The throttling that i'm referring to though may not be the result of overheating but a possible problem with our internet. I notice that I get really choppy game play during times of higher ping. While i'm not running FRAPS to monitor my FPS I note that when my ping is around 280, 344 I start getting the effect and it will later clear up and run normally, with a ping around 150, 170. However, because the game does not immediately update ping ratings I can't be too sure. Regardless, i'm positing my temps from HWMonitor after this two hour game. I believe my temps are significantly lower, and while there are random spikes I think this is more of a program error than an actual reading (if you note the GPU read out there is this random jump in temp.

Let me know any thoughts or suggestions, your help thus far has been invaluable!

Regards,
-N

 

your cpu is still going way to high but if you redid the paste then there is definitly an issue there

 

I'm not sure what else to do besides to the repasting. I'll run the tests again later this week to confirm that I get similar results. In the meantime do you have any other recommendations?

Thank you again!

May I ask where the northbridge is? A forum I have been reading in the side recommends using thermal pads (not thermal paste) on this particular piece and while I replace pads with pads and paste with paste it's possible that in the original factory setup the nb was pasted and therefore did not get the recommended treatment.

 

it's the piece that use the same cooler as the cpu

the cpu is on a clipping rack with a screw the north bridge it the part that is at the end of the heat pipe but looking at the temps i think you paded it fine

the issue is now that your overall temperature is way to high

hum looking at all your temps i would say you have something blocking your airflow every component you have hit 100c maybe your fans are obstructed to clean them you have to blow through the heat sink while holding the fans

if you adrealy did try running without the entire back pannel i often do it for my most intence gaming sessions

 

This Friday I will sit down and try to get into the air ducts, maybe there is something that I have missed. If I can't find anything I will sit down and play with the back panel off and see if that helps. I've also been told that removing the filter screens from the back panel, while exposing your computer to more dust, helps with temperatures. Not sure if I should do this, as removing the back plate trumps this. Will just need to be extremely cautious when working with it open.

 

ya you would just need to clean the fans more often but in exchange for the much cooler temperature i would say it's worth it

 

Hey,

Was going to run some more testing tonight to see if I could get cooler temps. Wanted something to compare it against. Upon loading Bad Company that static sound returned, i'm going to try and see if I can catch it on tape, because it's different then before. Lasting for several seconds... this all seems very random, makes me think a piece of hardware is dying though i'm not sure what... While my temperatures are cooler overall, I quickly ran to HWMonitor after hearing it to find I was at average temps of 80 or so, i'd been gaming for about 5 minutes.

 

the average mather very little it's the peak that cause the issue


dieng no but current starved yes

 

Alright, a small update in-case anyone ever checks back on this and has other ideas! (or stumbles across this in the future with similar problems)

I couldn't help but notice that my computer had been running very hard over the last couple months, and for unknown reasons. Even idling my PCs temps jolted into the 70s and 80s, once hitting the 90s. It seemed very odd for my PC to do this. Upon investigating my CPU (which has been determined as the problem, thermally, with my computer) I saw that it was running in the 50s and 60% percent range... at startup. Very awkward.

It turns out that there was a program called FontCache(someword).exe which was consistently occupying 50% of my CPU. Doing a little research led me to a forum of people having a similar problem where it was recommended that I shut down the program through the program manager, then delete a file located at C\Windows\Service Profiles\Local Service\AppData\Local\FontCache#.0.0.0. After restarting i've had no problems with it!

This prompted me to check my memory usage as well... seemed so odd when it told me I was almost out at 1.46 Gigs occupied. Wouldn't you know it... but looking at 'System' in control panel my computer only registers 2 Gigs of Ram. I'll be trying to resolve this issue tonight and seeing if these two fix, or aid in fixing, the main problem i've been having.

 

yes it's possible that a program would cause a such issue if it's running 100%of the time and use abnormal function of a cpu

as for the ram Boot Advanced Options - Number of Processors - Vista Forums take a look of there is not something set in there

 

My most recent (and awesome) error is a message reading that one of my drives has an error on it. While still bootable, I suspect it won't be long before it goes completely. CHKDSK didn't fix it, and Intel Matrix Manager just says that there is an error;

"Volume0: Failed

Details: Your volume appears inaccessible. Try fixing any problems reported on the array disks. If this fails, review the Troubleshooting section...."

Disk on port 0: Failed"

This is of course fascinating because the OS still runs, reads as bootable, and I still have access to all of my files (I've moved the major ones off of my main disk and onto an external for safe keeping.

In the event of failure I was planning on temporarily running to the working drive and waiting for a replacement, would something like this work for my setup?

Newegg.com - Seagate Momentus XT ST95005620AS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s with NCQ Solid State Hybrid Drive -Bare Drive

I've replaced the harddrive before, but the replacement was from alienware direct so I -knew- it would fit/work ~_~

 

your issue comes from the fact that you are running a raid array Raid add strain to your NB and cpu and could cause the issue you see you could try disabeling it and reinstalling windows on a single drive instead of a raid array


what the error message say is that the disk on port 0 has a bad sector if the bad sector does not contain any of the important windows files or the mbr you are safe but still you should replace it

yes that drive will fit

 

Is there any way to recover the bad sectors, or is the drive just completely dead? Or likely to get worse? (Just wondering if I should stock up on new parts)

 

basicaly what is on the bad sector is gone and from now on it can only get worst but the drive can still be used like a data storage drive where there is les write activity

how ever on a raid aray a drive with a bad sector is a time bomb i ran a raid 0 for 1 year befor backing to 1 ssd and 1 hdd

 

Yeah, pretty sure my computer is about to off itself. Getting an error code 43 in device manager pertaining to one my Graphics Cards:

"Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43)"

I'm hoping that this has to do with the dying hard drive, and that refining that will clear the issue up. Just wanted to thank everyone for all the help and support so far, but it appears the rig is about to take a turn for the worst >.<

I'll report in once the hard drive is replaced, ordering one tonight.

Last question, since the other hard drive fit, does anyone know if this one would as well? It's 2.5" in, but i'd rather be sure.

Newegg.com - Western Digital Scorpio Black WD5000BEKT 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Notebook Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Any input is appreciated!

 

yes it will fit

 

Granyte is right, running an array with everything else really strained my motherboard, running with SSD and a storage drive has made the computer run much much faster without any hiccups whatsoever, highly recommended!

 

Yeah, I don't intend to run in RAID0 anymore, so i've picked up two of the above and will have just one drive serving as the primary and the second as a mirrored backup.

Given my recent problems, looking back and considering a new test i've also come up with a new (hopeful) idea. I believe that the 'stuttering' that I was encountering may have to do with my hard drive, more than overheating. The other day I used a Seagate hard drive utility to look for bad sectors, I forget the name of the test I ran, but about 2 minutes in the music I was playing went to a standstill and there was nothing but the continues screeching/static sound showed in my previous video. This reminded me that all the way back in the day when this first started it occurred exclusively... during loading screens. What I think is happening is that one of my drives has been degrading, very very slowly. Don't ask me how, but it has. This would explain why the problem progressively worsened up to this point that it's displaying in my opening screen that there is a problem with the hard drive. Fortunately for me, the sectors that were damaged do not contain OS files and currently I am still running. If I had to guess... those static sounds were the result of the drive halting due to an inability to read a certain data file somewhere in it's processes. I do not know allot about computers, but after speaking with a friend of mine this seems like a plausible idea. Anyone have a contention, appendage or comment on this idea? Soon enough, with the replaced hard drives I will find out for sure, and of course, report back accordingly.

Hey,

Was looking around and came across zfactors BIOS update

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...ystems/443656-29-bios-alienware-machines.html

Anyone who has seen this work, or think it would help? Reading through the forum allot of people says it cleared up their static and stuttering issues, but it's hard to tell if everyone is incurring the same issue or not. To see what my 'specific' problem looks like, please refer to the first page where I recorded a 13 minute game of Bad Company; can't get more specific!

I'm going to try the hard drive fix first, if replacing that doesn't work i'd be up for trying this BIOS flash, but would rather have an idea if it even has the chance of working, first.

Thank you all for reading/any comments or suggestions!

 

if you wanna go into these bios get those there
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ace...nix-bios-bios-mod-request-46.html#post6593938

they are a continuation of the work zfator did on the m17 bios

 

Hey!

So I was looking at a trailer in Steam (for New Vegas) when that sound started to play. Ran HWMonitor and DPLatency checker immediately to see if I could catch something. Note the following; the latency and temp values are fine (On the temperature values - I was playing FONV for about 2.5 hours before this. No sounds, nothing, but that is why the cores are around 80~); which brings into question whether or not heating is a problem here. Why was it not triggered in New Vegas, but it was in watching this trailer?

Furthermore, I noted that while HWMonitor was running the sound was spaced approximately every 2.5~3 seconds (just counting in my head, the sound always occurred at '3' about 20 times consecutively, suggesting some kind of cyclic nature to it. To see if it was only the trailer I stopped it, noted my computer was a little laggy, then started playing music; like the trailer, it made the static sound approximately every 2.5~3 seconds. The latency and temp readings were taken while playing the aforementioned music. After about 5 minutes this stopped, I noted however that I could bring it back by running HWMonitor sensors. In-fact, as I speak, i'm running the sensors off and on. The sound -starts,- and continues with a cyclic nature, when I run the sensors, but stops immediately when I turn them off.

This brings to light some new issues/observations.
1. Temperature may not help, but it is not necessarily the trigger.
2. The situation is not restricted to times of graphical intensity, and can occur at the desktop.
3. The problem has been observed to, at times to cycle regularly when under sensor monitoring of HWMonitor... suggesting that something that HWMonitor does can set it off.
4. MP3s, Flash and games show similar effects.

I do not expect an 'answer' but if anyone has any ideas that can link these observations together it would be greatly appreciated. Could this be the sign of a dying processor, a faulty hard drive? I'm practically guessing at this point, but getting such an avid response to simple factors made me -need- to post this information. If nothing else, someone else who stumbles across this one day may be able to see what was done and try to replicate it.

Hopefully it will be solved, one day!

Any thoughts, suggestions or comments are appreciated. Thank you for your time,

-N

 

the problem you have is related to your specific mobo/cpu combo that react badly to certain situation you should look at the thread about the m17 stutering quadcore issue cause what you have is identical

and basicaly why hardware monitor cause it is the sensor that are added to hwmonitor cause it it's a desing flaw into the mobo it was worst during testing cause the programer of hwmonitor found several more sensor including the fan speed monitors but they caused the same issue much much worst