M11x Problem/Technical Question thread for New Owners

I need help......

 

Hey brian,
I doubt the problem is with the video card in and of itself, I think, and correct me if I'm wrong, that you have been repeatedly installing and reinstalling drivers and doing so is a recipe for disaster.
Here's what you have to do...first, download a freeware program called "driver sweeper" and install it. After doing so, uninstall the driver for the Nvidia card from the device manager (if the card doesn't show up..don't worry, skip this), after having uninstalled the driver (or not), restart the computer and go into safe mode (F8 at the boot up screen), when in safe mode start driver sweeper and tell it to sweep for video drivers (what it will do is find out and then clean left over and problematic driver files) and delete all drivers pertaining to Nvidia.
Finally restart the pc normally, go download the video driver from the dell support site and install anew, and I hope, voila!, your problems will cease to be problems.
Hope I helped. Peace.

 

Howdy,

Im looking to upgrade the RAM of my M11x R2 from 4GB to 8GB. I was thinking of getting this RAM Newegg.com - CORSAIR 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 Laptop Memory Model CMSO8GX3M2A1333C9

Just wondering what people thought? Would it be a good buy? I know the RAM can only run at 800mhz but i cant seem to find just 800mhz RAM so i presume this will just clock down to 800mhz?

Even on the Dell website when using the Memory Selecter on their website for a 4GB stick even they are selecting 1333mhz RAM.

Anyway would like to know if people thing this is a good buy and it will work ok?

Thanks

 

Dont get that ram1!!!

I got it for my m11x, doesnt work, just beeps.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/570254-new-ram-not-happy.html

 

Hmmm thanks for pointing this out to me. Do you think its possible that you just got some bad RAM? The reviews on new egg say its good ram with no problems. Where you found similar problems where they just with M11x owners?

Thanks

 

Yes I found several m11x owners that this ram will only work in dimm 0 and not in 1... so the kit doesnt work for some reason unless you only want to use 1 of the chips. I am sending back my second set this week to see if my 3rd set works.

 

Ok thanks very much for the shoutout! Would have probably bought them

Will these work in our systems?

Newegg.com - G.SKILL 8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Laptop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBSQ

Not a huge range in DDR 10600 and because im not ordering from the USA i have to try source what is available.

 

Anyone that can help advise?

Also does anyone ever have any troubles loading up into the control panel after the first boot up? It causes Windows Explorer to crash every time.

 

So I somehow managed to install the vista version of windows defender.... It seems to work fine, but how would I go about getting the win 7 version installed.

There is no uninstall option, all I can do is turn it off. Running the win7 version installer just says "this program comes with windows vista" then it exites.

 

Yep, that should work fine.

 

What you need to install is Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) it comes with Defender i beleive.

 

Perferct. Updating the definitions on mse now.

 

Have any of you guys gotten your r2's replaced?

I have had the home tech come to my dorm room twice to replace my keyboard and lcd. Now I am having the same keyboard dip and malfunction issue and now my lcd is randomly getting washed out. How many home techs have to come until they issue a full replacement?

 

With your lcd washing out, what are your battery settings for your intel graphics, if it is on power saving, it will wash out the colors to save battery life.

I have a question also, my a/c adapter is getting hot as hell with it being plugged in for just a few minutes. Should I be worried my a/c adapter?

 

Yeah tried it on plug and battery and the lcd was randomly washing out, I didn't notice it all that much until I started getting headaches from concentrating on the screen with the slight flicker while trying to write code.

On the brightside Dell is sending out enough parts for a new notebook and said if any problems persist it will be exchanged.

@instantcold
I would definitely get it checked out, I have mine plugged in for hours while in class and it gets warm but never unbearable to touch

 

I'm running into a weird frustrating issue with my M11x (R1), which has made me realise how attached I became to this little guy

Started about a week ago. It froze up completely while playing videos, after about an hour.

When I rebooted, it wouldn't enable the 335M, exclamation in device manager, lots of trying to install drivers with no success, and I did a quick restore (restore point from a few days back) and it seemed fine again.

Few days later, froze again playing videos. Turned it off for a few minutes, and then it was fine. Then I figured maybe overheating?

Installed Speedfan, temps seem okay. Goes up to 50c after playing vids a long time. Up to 55-56c after playing games for an hour.
There's the thing. I can play game benches or play games with no issue at all, no freezing. But with the graphics switched NVIDIA, it will lock up after playing videos after a while.

So, I thought, maybe some corrupted codecs, something specifically related to video. Then it just froze randomly on the desktop (nvidia graphics option enabled). I rebooted and set the GPU option in the BIOS to discrete, try to boot off just the NV graphics, do some testing. Then it wouldn't post at all, 6 beeps Holding the End key allowed it to then boot just fine, running RE5 bench in a loop again for over 30 minutes and no issues at all.

The posting/booting problem has thrown me for a loop now, I'm thinking hardware problem, but it seems to play games absolutely fine and is doing so right now.
/boggle

 

Froze again while playing video to test it, did the 6 beeps again, rebooted again and went into diagnostics (F12) and it froze there as well. Something must be seriously broken So frustrating! It's "out of warranty" as well

 

So after about nine months my R2 is finally showing signs that the hinges are breaking. Most notably, I can shift them around by pulling them up and down and they occasionally make a loud cracking noise when I open the lid. There are no obvious signs of damage from just looking at them though, and for now I can still open and close the lid without too many problems. Still, I'd like to get the new hinges as soon as possible. Does Dell want you to wait until your hinges are exploding or will they just replace them no questions asked?

 

Dell agreed to collect my M11x and replace the mobo. Hopefully it wouldn't take that long, I use it for work too
Anyone had a collection + part replacement done before?

 

I hooked up my M11x to a projector with HDMI and I wasn't able to get sound through the speakers. My playback sound was set to where it needed to be, and I managed to get sound through other TV's.

So I had a look at the manual for the M11x and it said this for the HDMI slot:

"Note: For a monitor without built-in speakers, only the video signal will be read."

I'm guessing that this is the problem and was wondering if there's anyway to fix it?

 

I currently looking at the M11xR3 and wondering if there are any major faults with the system? Just that my current MSI laptop 3 months old had faulty RAM so trying to get a refund for it.

Also are M11xR3 easy to upgrade? The RAM cost too much £££ when I can easily get it off ebuyer for a lot cheaper. Also SSD could be something to upgrade in the future. Cannot find an option on the UK dell site: S

 

I ordered mine on release day; I haven't had a single issue personally - it's been a blast. Portable, long battery life, and I can play any game I've tried on it so far.

There are a few common issues reported, such as the keyboard being installed unevenly. It's something a few people on here have reported fixing themselves, or by Dell (with mixed results). Some also report high temps, though a good thermal re-paste will generally address that.

It's easy enough to replace the RAM and HD yourself, or upgrade the wireless card in the future if you want. Bluetooth is a little harder to get to, but it's only like $20 extra US to have it installed.

Maybe I've just been lucky, but I have no buyers remorse.

 

Thanks for the reply. Did you go for the i5 or i7 set up? got my eye on the i7 but when I made my desktop I found i5 to be better value for money.

Also with less voltage i7 and 2GB graphic card looks the better option.

 

2GB video ram for the 540m won't give you any noticeable performance gains over 1GB. Save your money on the video ram upgrade.

 

I went for the i7, but I combined coupons for 375.00 off at the time. Depending on the price options for you, I think the i5 would be sufficiently comparable. Not sure if you already saw it, but there's a recent thread about the i5 here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/577316-anyone-get-r3-i5.html

 

intresting that the extra video RAM dose not do much, might as well do what people said in the thread posted and get a SSD drive. I get a quote for both from a sale rep and see what is best value for money.

 

Can anyone tell me how to keep my performance the same when i unplug the machine and when I plug it in? I went through the alienware command center through each and every option and everything is exactly the same for on ac power and off it... But immediatly when I unplug the machine, it drops significantly in performance... Tried searching but nothing is coming up.

 

It's in the Alien FX power profiles somewhere; I had to change mine otherwise the FPS dropped drastically as soon as I unplugged. I don't have my system with me at work, I can check when I am @ home if you can't figure it out.

 

If you could do that for me whenever you get a chance, that would be awesome, spent over and hour looking through the menus and comparing everything... Not cool lol.

 

Click Alienware command center
Choose AlienFusion
Choose your current power plan - click advanced settings
Scroll down to Graphics Processor options to what you have set

You can edit an existing profile, or create a new one with 'Max Performance' selected for when your system is unplugged.

Edit: I just realized you looked in the command center already. Double check processor power management and GPU settings - hopefully this will work for you.

 

Yea, everything possible is set to max performance in my high performance profile... Still doesn't work.

 

Arg, sorry to hear that. It was what was giving me the issue; sorry I couldn't help more

 

Hello there!

I apologize in advance if this has been posted, but I've reached a point of eternal frustration with this laptop and I just looking to get some basic information.

Situation:
I purchased this Alienware MX11 from a friend who purchased it from someone else in June of 2010. The laptop seems to be in fine condition, although when I got it my friend had done some odd uninstalls and I did a factory reset through the Dell software.

I am now thoroughly confused as to exactly how the hell this graphics card works.

The first time around, I read into the Windows Assessment Test that ran and disabled it at the time. That eventually led me to seeing the double green arc in the taskbar and letting me use FN+F6 to enable the 355Nvid card or not.

I went to the dell support site and downloaded the video driver specifically for my machine. However, after a reboot, it failed to load and I was stuck with seemingly no GFX drivers.

I uninstalled everything from the display in Device Manager and Windows updated the drivers on its own.

This time around I let the WAT run and I see Intel Graphics Media Accelerator driver in the taskbar, and FN+F6 doesn't do anything.

Basically -- I just want to know what I need to do to get the best driver for my machine and that its running at peak performance. Is this Intel Graphics program/driver the best for my computer? Is it okay that FN+F6 no longer works? Why does dell have a driver install that I cannot use?

I've also noticed an issue where every time the computer starts up it starts to update these four or five audio bus devices. Anyone have experience with that as well?

Thanks for any help in the matter.

 

The newest driver has some problems for some people, It doesnt work on my laptop, even after a fresh install it did not work... but oddly enough it worked when I re-cloned my original harddrive. I would go back to the old drivers untill dell can figure out why it doesnt work for some people.

Otherwise there is a thread somewhere on this board about how the new drivers dont work.

 

Tobel, when you run the graphics driver installer from Dell's site, there is an option there (under advanced?) to try a clean install. Then it removes the drivers you have first, reboots and starts a new install. Did you try that?

I did have the new drivers running okay before my board finally broke. Should be getting it back tomorrow (fingers crossed).

 

Shoul I update my GPU drivers from nVidia's site or should I find Dell's drivers??

 

hey all,

i had my M11x R2 since 6/30/10, and i never had any issues until today

i have anyways taken care and babied my M11x, but when i turned on my laptop today...the right half of the screen is blacked out/vertical colored lines at times.

does anyone know what happened, and what can be done to fix it? my warranty expired about 10 days ago...what timing

here's a pic:


looks like i'll have to replace the screen
any advice?

 

This my question also.... I just bought an R3 with the specs below.
If I use the Nvidia graphics card interface to look for new drivers it tells me that it cannot identify the current version and recommends I download the most recent version. I am sure this is simply a Dell-OEM thing where the drivers are Nvidia, but made for Dell. When I go to the Dell site for any upgrades it tells me there are new drivers for the 335 when it clearly knows from my initial entry of my product code that I do NOT have a 335 in my R3.

Is it safe to upgrade drivers from Nvidia on an R3? I have done it on other machines... never had an issue. Has anyone with an R3 done this?

thanks,

 

Something weird happened last night with my R3. All of a sudden it just started responding really slow and sometimes not responding at all. I finally managed to get the task manager open but nothing was showing as using a lot of the processor. I shut it down and left it overnight. This morning it was still doing the same thing. Even in the BIOS it would lag from time to time. I am going to try a live CD I have on a thumb drive when I get home from work and see if I still see this behavior.

What could this possible be? CPU? Memory?

 

Looks like the MB may b toast. It's not booting at all now and the last time it did boot I got into the diagnostics and got "Error Code 2000-0221 Validation 12176 MSG: System Board - Interval timer not functional". Guess I get to call Dell/Alienware. Since it doesn't boot now maybe I won't have to go through as many hoops.

 

Now waiting for the box so I can send it in to the depot for diagnostics.

 

I've just got an R1 and like the morphing/pulsing sort of lighting effects but I was wondering if this would affect the lifetime of the LEDs at all, or should they be ok?
Cheers

 

Hey guys, I wanted to ask a quick couple questions about the hinge issues on an R1.

I bought this R1 used a couple months ago from a member on the forum and everything has been amazing with it so far, I love it. It was in like new condition other than like one tiny small scratch, so I've been in love with it.

Since I got it however it has had fairly loose hinges. When I pull the lid open, it will feel like it's tight and secure, but after I open and let go, I notice it will "fall" down or backwards depending what angle I opened it at. If i lightly touch it, it has about half an inch of give where it can loosely be moved back and forth before the hinges "kick in" and you start to feel some resistance and actually move it.

Now this hasn't bothered me much, but I am starting to worry if it might not be a good thing. I leave my laptop on my night stand and I will notice when I lay down on my bed or sit on it, the bed will slightly bump the night stand and the screen will sway back and forth a little bit. This also happens if I pick the laptop up and move it while it is open.

My question/s are basically is this something to worry about? Are they supposed to have a little bit of give to them or should it not be rocking back and forth if it is bumped into? If this is bad, can I get it fixed? I've seen people mention that if you call Dell with hinge problems they will send you new ones or what not to fix it, is this something that would fall under that umbrella to get new/fixed ones?

Any advice on this would be appreciated.

 

thinking of upgrading the WLAN card from the 1520 to something else, either of the following:

intel 6205 (that comes in the R3)
intel 6230
intel 6300

which is best? (also trying to avoid getting engineering samples).

 

This is on the far end of technical but does anyone use an M11 for a main computer?

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/562527-your-m11x-your-main-machine.html

I received my M11x at the beginning of last December and it has been my main machine since. This thread is a few months old now, but it shows that a lot of people do/did use it as their main.

 

hah I feel dumb now, I ought to have known there'd already be a thread about this.

 

looks like your hinge is failing, if not already broken in some parts inside

dell offers a one time out of warranty replacement of the old hinge to the new hinge

my m11x is out of warranty but i just got the go signal from the dell service provider that they will replace my hinge to the new design this one time

 

Hi guys, new member here. I was wondering if any of you could help me out here.

My M11XR2 is plugged in during the day so by the end of the night it´s charged 100%, every morning when I turn it on it shows that the battery level is 90%-96% is this drainage normal? dell just replaced my battery and charger so that is out of question, however the on site tecnitian mentioned something about the motherboard being the cause of this...

so if anyone could help me out that´d be awesome!

thanks in advance...

system specs:
i5 @1.7
8GB RAM DDR3
320 HDD

 

1. have m11xR2 for ~10 months. no problems til now
2. up until a few days ago, played League of Legends perfectly fine, no problems, no crashes, no glitches, no bugs etc. optimus was working fine and the discrete GPU would be used. everything high / very high settings, shadows off fps 50-80 easy.
3. few days ago League of Legends FPS dropped to 10-30. ???? so i turned all settings down to very low, changed resolutions etc etc. FPS still bounced around 10-30.
4. checked if GPU was being used while playing, nvidia tray said no
5. yes, the game is properly white listed, with "use GPU" option selected.
6. yes, i have tried changing global settings to always use the GPU.
7. yes, i have tried right clicking and choosing "run with GPU". still no dice.
8. SO i got new drivers for BOTH the intel + nvidia. for
for intel, tried using the newest version 15.22.1.64.2361 and 15.21.13.64.2342
for nvidia, tried using 258.96, 260.99, 267.76, 270.61 w/ no luck at all.

when changing drivers, i have always uninstalled from device manager, used Driver Sweeper to remove leftovers, reboot in safe mode, then installed new drivers. still no good.

tried many different combinations, nothing would work. keep in mind that LoL STILL RUNS, it just uses the intel graphics. so no problem with launcher, playing game, etc. i just want it to use the damned nvidia card.

the nvidia tray monitor says that the GPU is in use by 1 program when you look at the 3d rotating nvidia eye symbol under the "adjust image settings with preview" in the nvidia control panel.

what the hell!!!

someone please tell me what i'm doing wrong before i go on a murderous rampage over this damn thing.

edit - resorted to a re-installation of windows 7 + drivers. seemed to have worked