M11x Problem/Technical Question thread for New Owners

Does anyone know what's happening when there's 3 loud beeping noises during the very start of the boot up?

 

Try and google M11x bios error codes. Those beeps will tell you what the error is. They are specific to the brand of BIOS loaded on the laptop. I cannot recall what the brand is on the M11X, but it will say on the post screen (Award, Phoenix, IBM?). I think 3 beeps are a RAM issue for Award BIOS, but I cannot verify at work. Try a Google search first, but if you come up short, try removing your ram and switching the positions and re-seating the RAM (swap the RAM modules and try again).

Here is a chart of some DELL error beep codes, but I did not see the one you described there:
http://www.nullamatix.com/dell-diagnostic-beep-code-troublshooting-chart/

Stain

 

Just got my m11x R2, it's working great but I have a few questions...

1) I OC'ed in Bios to 166 on my i5, in CPU-Z it shows the multiplier alternate from x13 to x14 with the core speed changing slightly. I'm sure that's fine but I just want to make sure it's not supposed to stay a static number while monitoring...

2) Are there any other optimizations I should do? I've tried to sort through all the information on here and I think I've hit it all. I've updated all the drivers, OC'ed in Bios, downloaded gamebooster, cleaned up my startup processes a bit.

3) With Throttlestop am I supposed to have it OC'ed from Bios as well?

4) Are there any programs to make sure I have all the latest drivers for all my software and hardware? (Gamebooster shows some)

5) How can I monitor CPU fan speeds? Best program/s to monitor all fan, temps, etc?

6) Instructions on how to replace the wireless card?

7) Any other random optimization tips?

 

are there any new drivers that have been released for the r1?

 

No, nothing in the last 30 days, last 60 days there was a OSD update.

 

I have recently bought this laptop and can barely run league of legends on it. its very choppy at the lowest graphic and resolution settings. My in game fps jumps between 15 and 30 depending on whats going on. my graphic settings are all set for performance, whats up? can I actually not play this game with this computer?

i have the i5 U520 processor and the nvidia GeForce GT 335M, 4gb ram.

League of Legends required specs:

Operating System: Windows XP / Windows Vista / Windows 7
Processor: Intel CPU 2 GHz
Memory: 512 MB RAM or more
Hard Drive: 750 MB hard disk space
Video Card (graphics): Any DirectX 9.0 capable video card
Sound Card: DirectX 9 compatible audio hardware

 

Ok, probably going to sound like a real dunce but where do you check what drivers the NVidia and intel graphics cards are using???

 

LoL needs to be whitelisted. Go to your computer/C:/riotgames/game/leagueoflegends/game/leagueoflegends.exe

 

I'm having some weird start up problems with my m11x r1. Sometimes it gets to the welcome screen and then restarts. It tells me that the computer was unable to start and then I choose "regular start up" and it works again. It has happened a couple of times now but not all the time. (this happens at every start up) When I get to the welcome screen it goes to black for like 3 seconds and then comes back to the welcome screen again. Could it be due to me changing the welcome screen with tweakslogon or maybe I tampered with something sensitive with soluto? (doubt it). Anyways, I would love some help with this issue please and thank yous.

 

Hi,

i have recently purchased the r2 and am enjoying it. however i am having problems with back to the future: episode 1. i cant get it to run above 8-10 fps. i cant imagine how i can run sc2 and call of duty on max but not b2tf? i have uninstalled and reinstalled the driver, did a system restore, right clicked exe and made sure to run via nvidia chip, and a factory reset. and still no fix, any help guys?

 

What drivers are you using? OC'ed and using throttle stop. You can run sc2 and call of duty but not b2tf? have you looked around the web maybe its a known problem with optimus or m11x? have you checked if it was running using the nvidia graphic processor activity gadget?

 

k, so my qyestion is, will my DDR3 8GB PC8500 Dual So- Patriot memory work on my m11x?

 

Hi I want to ask how is it with hinges. I've seen several videos on youtube. (Even fix of this problem with epoxied, but I thing this mod will cost me warranty). Many people there complained of the spoils after a few months. Is there a problem with keyboard marks on display? Thanks.

I like to buy it as a secondary laptop to G73Jh.

 

Hi, I'm having a isue with my m11x r2 and is that can only OCed to 150, when i put any higer number the laptop woud became unstable.
How can i manage to get to 166 Mhz in the oc???
Shoud I call Dell and reporte the issue.

Thanks

 

balamacab how much you can OC and still maintain stability is dependent on your particular M11xR2. I don't think Dell guarantees having a stable happy time with OC for every M11xR2 it puts out.

 

Anyone else got a Desire HD interfering with their M11xR2 wifi?

I'm not sure a) whether what I've just stated is actually true and b) how specific this is to the DHD but my wifi (1520 minicard) has been crapping out lately and today I noticed a pattern: if I've got my DHD doing wifi stuff and it's sitting next to the M11x the M11x drops the wifi signal. Not every time, but often enough I'm wondering. M11xR2 has been a champ since I got it about 4 months ago and I've just got the DHD recently.

Coincidence?

 

can you install the latest drivers from nvidia onto the m11x? does it give an error saying that it cannot detect drivers?

i saw some youtube vid and i am not sure if the latest drivers give the same error.

 

A new set of issues recently popped up...

1. My computer would randomly shut down. I am not sure why. It happened a few times in a row last night. I checked the cpu/gpu temps and they seemed to be normal.

2. My computer shuts off when hibernating. I am assuming this has to be with the SSD. I think I remember reading somewhere that it will do that. It also may be when it sleeps... I was at work and stepped away from my desk for a few hours. Its unplugged. I came back and it was fully turned off. It asked if I wanted to start windows normally when I rebooted.

Any thoughts?

I am running the most current bios (FYI)

 

I have been running the computer pretty much all day today without any major hiccups (With exception of the above mentioned one).

I also tested sleeping and waking the pc... both worked well. I did notice that I had an error saying that I did not have the driver for the freefall agent. I installed that (even though SSD's are not damaged the same way). Maybe it was having an issue due to the driver missing... who knows. Either way, now when I go into the "add a device/printer" screen I don't have the error message. Hopefully problem solved, but I will still take any advice I can get.

 

Hello Everyone!

1)I will get my 11mx in 2011 - 02 - ??. And what drivers should i get from here ?
2)And where will i find future drivers that i need here?
3)how can i attach this:
Alienware 11mx / i7 640UM / 8GB 1333mhz / Intel SSD 120gb / :] , so it is posted under my posts when i write like everyone else

lol thanks in advance :d

 

I also would like to know. Is it better to get the intel GMA 4500MHD and nvidia drivers from their respective sites while the rest from the dell site?

 

So you can actually get new drivers from dells homepage or nvidias ?

 

i know you can get them from either but wouldn't it be better just to get the intel drivers from intel and the nvidia drivers from nvidia over dell's drivers (as they look so outdated)? the rest should just be gotten from dell like the bios etc.

but yeah that's my question: is it better to get the drivers from the official sites over those provided by dell?

 

beats me im a noob , maybe some of the more skilled people here can tell us

 

Alot of people is reporting hinges problems, i only took 1 year warranty should i be worried ?

 

you can extend it but will cost more

EDIT: How much does the power brick + cables weight? thinking of stuffing that into a back pack along with the m11x.

 

Ok so I got my refurb r1 today. Opened it up everything looked amazing and brand new. No mark or scratch or anything.

Problem come when I started the laptop up. I hear some buzzing sound from the speakers before the screen even light up. Then I keep hearing this buzz sound during starting up from time to time. So now after the start up is done I can still hear some buzz when I use the speakers.

So is this normal and will go away or do I need to call alienware?

 

I used to get that with a few random laptops that I've had, particularly when I would connect very sensitive headphones to the laptop. I would hear some buzzing / static from the laptop when data was being transferred over USB or when the internal hard drive was being accessed.

It happened on one Dell and one Sony laptop. I called them, and they sent out a tech to replace the motherboard, which fixed the problem. They never knew exactly what the problem was - but their best guess (and mine) was that it had to do with the sound card (or related circuitry) picking up cross-chatter and interference from the electrical lines that handled USB / SATA data traffic.

If it bothers you and does not go away on its own within a week, I'd call Alienware (not Dell) and have them take a look at it.

 

Thanks for your advice.

Now I tried turning off the speakers and its still having this issue. And the sound comes on whenever I open up something or click on it. Any similar experiences?

 

Yup. Sounds about right. You're probably getting some EMI in the electrical signal lines going to your speakers.

If it doesn't go away, call up Alienware and have them take a look at it.

 

omg alienware support is terrible. been calling for 2+ hours and im nowhere. Hp support was much better

 

I'm completely new to computer specs and stuff, and I was thinking about getting the M11X with a i5 520UM (3M Cache, 1.066 GHZ with 1.866 GHz Max Turbo Frequency) Processor, a 1024 (MB) NVIDIA® GT335M GeForce® Videocard, 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 RAM, and a 320GB SATAII 7,200RPM Hard drive. Could I play games such as S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl and Fallout 3 on it? I want to be able to play games on it, but nothing newer than 2008 for less than $1,000, and this seemed to be the best bet, but could I play them at a somewhat decent level? Thanks.

 

should be ok, depends if the game is very CPU heavy or GPU heavy.

 

Hello gentleman.

I will get my alienware 11mx next week ( by the way what does R1 R2 means ? ) sry for being a retard.

And what should i do when i get the computer where do i get the latest drivers?
Do i ONLY need the latest drivers or do i need to install every realease ?

ty

 

Well nbr just throws my jackassery right out the window here. No let me google that for you here

My suggestions: Google "m11x r1 vs r2" "m11x drivers on dell.com" and "when should I update my drivers?"

Enjoy!

 

But could I play most games older than 2008 with this build? Thanks.

 

I've had my M11X R2 for a couple of weeks now, and I have an issue, and some questions.
First the issue; My integrated bluetooth simply isn't anywhere to be found in Windows (Win7 x64). I'm sure there's supposed to be a bluetooth unit installed, since I can disable/enable it in the BIOS. When I try to install the bluetooth driver it asks me to turn it on, which I have no clue how I would go about.

My question is about the BIOS user password, in the manual it says it'll ask for it every time you boot, which was my intention. I've set it, and it says I've installed a user password in the BIOS, but it never pops up asking for it unless I enter setup.

Last, once in a while on startup, I get four beeps (1-1-1-1), I've tried looking it up, but didn't see any beep code like that. It's usually resolved by rebooting. But it does make me worry it might not continue to work that easily.

I guess I was lucky then, I had a harddisc failure during the first couple of days with my M11X. Called them, didn't encounter much waiting time, and they sent me a new harddrive the same day after making me run their diagnostics program.

 

HaraDaya

1) BT: try Fn+F3. By the way I too had difficulty finding my BT as well recently
2) BIOS password: fascinating. You're the only other person I've heard of reporting this. I've had this problem since day one and still haven't got it resolved despite now being on A04. I asked tech support who offered to replace my mobo. Given the rest of my machine is cool (including being able to OC to 166Mhz) I've just left it - better the devil you know.

 

I'm beginning to think I'm monumentally incompetent at reassembling a laptop. I took it apart without issue to put some Gelid GC-Extreme thermal paste on the GPU and CPU. However, after I put everything back together, I noticed I had two small screws leftover. No idea where they go. The same thing happened with my brother's old HP: Easy disassembly, but an extra screw when all was said and done.

Nothing seems to be loose, so I'm assuming it's okay. But still.

I'll probably tear it down again in the future.

 

You'll find small screws in lots of places. The keyboard, various boards, etc. Use one of the teardown videos on youtube to figure it out when you disassemble it again.

 

I'm sure. I was using the service manual, and by the time I was done I couldn't for the life of me figure out which screw I missed. Haha. Oh well. In any case I'm running benchmarks and stress tests to make sure I had the paste right. If I bungled that I'll have an excuse to take it apart again.

Furmark stressed me to 53C max. Granted, it's from a cold boot and it's 63F in my room at the moment. I'll turn up the heater when I get back home.

 

I found small screws just hanging loose in the case of mine when the tech guy did my screen.

 

1) Already tried Fn+F3. I can't install the BlueTooth driver because it wants me to enable a device that's not listed anywhere. Not in Network Adapters or Radios.
2) I asked the support guy about it too, I don't even remember what he said, but it was something about BIOS versions. I only just updated my BIOS to A04 last night, but to no avail.
I don't really want to send mine in either, who knows how long I'll have to go without a powerlappy.
It is an annoyance though, since there are people around it once in a while I'm not sure I can trust not to mess with it for a laugh.


Brings me to another question, what exactly does the anti-theft option in the BIOS do? It says it's the "ultimate anti-theft" solution. Which doesn't tell me much about what it actually does/requires me to do. Haven't touched it since it also says it can't be deactivated once activated.

 

Hmm. I'm assuming, if it's a BIOS-based anti-theft, it must be like lojack.

Basically, you activate it. If your laptop gets stolen, you call the right people--Dell or Lojack, I don't know--and they'll start pinging your laptop. Whenever it's in the presence of a network it'll send info to Lojack, and they'll start getting things together to recover the laptop.



Anyway, I did a clean install of Win7 on my Dellienware. Everything seems to be going smooth. However:

Fn+pause/flying saucer button and fn+prnt scrn/AlienFX don't do anything. I've installed the command center so I don't know if I'm missing keyboard drivers or something.

Also, I remember there was a tutorial on how to get a fresh-installed OS to have the Dellienware aesthetic/design/themes, but I can't seem to locate it. Someone, throw me a bone?

And lastly, I don't know what's up with my CPU. According to HWMonitor, it'll heat up to 49C, then the fans come on and drop it don to 39C. Fan shuts off, and the process repeats. I'm not overclocked, and CPU-Z confirms that Speedstep is working. This normal? I do notice if I just let it sit there and not do anything it'll idle at about 40-ish for both cores. Ambient is 67F, by the way.

 

You need to download and install the latest OSD application.

Bone...

 

Hmm. No dice on the function hotkeys. I installed the newest ones from the Dell M11x drivers page, and pushing them gives me nothing. I have to double-click the shortcut to access it.

 

Still stumped. Downloaded, installed, and reinstalled the newest Command Center and OSD. Still the hotkeys don't work.

 

does anyone think that the core processors are underclocked by default?

 

Hi, im a new alienware 11mx owner. Do i find updated drivers to my graphic card on this forums ?

ty

 

nvidia.com maybe?