I think my r1 is dying

So for the past 3 months I have had temperature related problems on the laptop. The bottom left hand corner of the laptop gets hot to the point where it sometimes will cause pain. Didn't think much of it since I use it on the desk 99.999% of the time.

Another problem that has been cropping up more frequently is the computer would randomly freeze, the image on the screen would get distorted, and the computer would emit a buzzing noise which i suspect to be the last milli-second of sound the laptop plays before the hang. This has happened a total of three times in 3 months, 2 of which were this month.

Then just now, when I powered on the machine the nVidia 335 did not load, I used HWinfo and it found the 335m but it could not determine the frequencies or anything like that under the performance section. Usually when I start HWinfo even when I am on the integrated it would tell me the geometry clock, shader clock, memory clock and so on. This time it was just stated as unknown. So I shut it down and rebooted again. Same thing happens (yes I tried to switch the gfx cards but fn+F6 did nothing). So I try rebooting again only this time I go into the bios to make sure it allowed switchable graphics, it did. It restarts and the same thing. So I reboot again and run the diagnostic which tells me that everything is fine (strange thing, after diag, it would not restart saying to remove all disks). After that I manually reboot and everything is as it should be (although my sd card slot still does not work).

Anyone with any input? Oh the temps on this thing go up to 90C +/-2 sometimes on load according to HWinfo. Although when that happens my power brick also becomes a cooking plate.

Edit: Currently at idle the CPU is at 55C and the nVidia is at 57C ambient is 27C

 

I just glanced through your post, but have you bothered cleaning out the fans on your M11x R1?

 

Yeah, that would be the most obvious solution. My R1 is actually cooler running games than yours is idle!

 

Yes I have cleaned it. I clean it roughly once every 2 months.

 

Mine started getting really warm on the left side like that too, I too it all apart, cleaned the old thermal paste off and put in fresh arctic silver. Now it runs cool and smooth again.

 

Well I guess I will call alienware, bought 4 yrs accidental warranty so I might as well use it.

 

I aggree 100% with checking the heatsink/fan for dust build up or a fan failure. If it were me id take apart my latop and give it a good internal cleaning & repaste. (not sure if you tech savy but you can find youtube vids on how to do this. all you need is a small phillips head screwdriver)

On a side note the problems you are seeing with the 335. i saw identical problems with i was testing PINmod overclocks with RAM that was bad. i went to the point of reinstalling the driver for the 335. which helped for about 5min after rebooting but then it would go back to being not reconized in device mgr. ect...

Dont know if that your issue but it may be worth swapping out the RAM with another set to see if that issue goes away.


Edit: seen you have waranty, just use that then.

 

its called reapply the thermal paste... dell does a crappy job with that. use some arctic 5 thermal paste, that will help your temps a lot.

 

Well I called Dell and they are basically sending me a new lower half of the laptop. "New" motherboard, fan, heatsink, battery. I will see when the tech gets here if he could apply the artic silver.

 

Tech isn't likely to do you TIM for you. They replace parts and if they have to will do some basic troubleshooting and that's it. Anything beyond that and you're on your own. Can't hurt to ask though. If he say no, then watch how he breaks down the notebook and take notes. TIM replacement isn't rocket science.

 

Agreed 100% on the TIM, did it on mine and got a good drop of 10c under load.