M11x R2, Overheating, Diablo 3 and other problems.

Ok so a few weeks ago I came home drunk and woke up to realise I had soaked my m11x with a pint of water... (I know..) After this it wasn't able to power on properly, the keyboard would light up but the monitor would not.

With little faith I took it to a shop to get looked at and their diagnosis was that the motherboard was fried, so this was replaced and I've got it back now but i'm experiencing some problems.

1. The time and date have been randomly changing, e.g it changed to April 2017, and then after I had fixed it it then changed to June 2009. When I try to re-sync it with the internet I get an error saying it failed.

2. I'm having real problems with overheating when running Diablo 3. At first when I tried to play the FPS was so bad that the game was actually unplayable. I updated the Nvida drivers and read up on overclocking the GPU on these forums. When attempting to overclock it there was no Shader slider option, So i changed the other two (core, memory). I'm using the MSI Program for this. I read that people are able to go as high as 550/875 However I wasnt able to go higher than 485/820 without getting BSOD. Also, after playing for 1-3 hours the m11x will instantly power off, I think this is due to overheating as at times the temperature was raising to between 90-100 C.

Any advice to solve any problem I'm having would be appreciated. Also try to avoid harrassing me for my drunken accident.. >.<

edit, forgot to mention that after I updated the drivers and slightly overclocking I am able to play solo diablo 3 pretty smoothly on the lowest video settings up untill the point of overheating and shutting down.

 

Needs to be disassembled & repasted to get the temps down.

As for the clock, check to make sure the time & date in the BIOS is correct.

 

I'm assuming I should take it back to the shop to get it repasted?

 

Well not really, almost everyone here just does it themselves, if it's out of warranty then there's no point forking out big bucks to have it fixed. A simple google search gives you a disassembly guide, and $10 at your local PC store buys you the new thermal paste. Get a clean table and a screw driver and it's done in 30-45 mins.

Out of interest, what did the repair set you back? A new i7 R2 system board will run you back $250, i'm curious what they charged ontop of that. I'm assuming this isn't from Dell either since you just said "a shop".

If they guarantee their work, take it back to them and tell them it's overheating, a re-paste should be exactly what they'll do to remedy it. But if they don't, i say take a crack at it yourself. It's not under warranty so there's nothing to void, but if you really don't have the experience/skills then maybe give Dell a ring and see what price they quote you.

 

They charged just over £230 I believe, I was able to put it through home insurance though so it didnt set me back much. I just had a BSOD after running Diablo 3 for about 1 hour 10 minutes with my Overclock set to 475/815 up from the default 450/790, Is this common?

 

Well if it's overheating you shouldn't be overclocking it at all, so yea it would be crashing often.

What are your temps like without overclocking?

and you're absolutely certain Diablo 3 is using the 335M and not the integrated GPU?

 

Positive im using the 335m, would it be able to run smooth up untill the point of crash with the integrated graphics?

When running it climbs up to 75-85 pretty quickly then slowly climbs up to 100 then crashes.

 

Its sitting at a temp of 70 C right now after an hour of web browsing. This cant be right

 

Yea with web browsing even using the GPU it shouldn't be over 55.

Well the integrated GPU is surprisingly efficient, the R3 is capable of running Skyrim on it.

How's your fan? Is it coming on while gaming? it should be reasonably loud.

75-85 is normal, that's the operating temp. But the climb from there to 100 is indicating that for some reason it's either not being cooled or it continues to generate heat after that point. Just gotta find out which it is.

 

The fan runs pretty loudly when playing so I doubt thats the problem, getting it looked at today in the shop so will post back with any progress/lack of progress.

 

Well normally the most obvious solution would be a repaste & cleaning of the vents, but as it's just had the motherboard replaced neither should be an issue. Unless they sourced the board as a refurb/second hand and it hasn't been repasted.

Let us know what they say. I'm sorry i couldn't be of more assistance, but as you weren't the one who swapped out the board there wasn't alot of info you could have provided to troubleshoot this any further :/

 

You can try this troubleshooting but if the computer is getting that hot you should seriously have it repasted and maybe think about getting a cooling pad for it.

 

So i got my m11x back from the shop and they replaced the BIOS battery apparantly among other repairs they made. The temperature problem has definilty been solved, i have to play Diablo 3 for awhile before the temp goes past 60 and the fan starts to be really loud. HOWEVER. After playing for a few hours instead of overheating and shutting down, the laptop simply freezes completley, everything stops moving and whatever was on the screen (diablo 3) stops moving and is simply a picture So I have to restart the laptop to get it running again. The time/date is also changing randomly and causing hassle when updating things off the internet. What do I do? I'm trying to do ACT II Inferno on hardcore mode and I can't have the constant threat of the laptop freezing when im in combat. It froze 20 mins ago, 3 seconds after I downed the butcher on inferno. 10 seconds earlier and I would have lost 100 hours of gametime!

 

The freezes may be caused by driver failure, I would try reinstalling Windows. The issue with the clock changing it's time is definitely the CMOS battery, try reseatting it.

 

I think it's clear what the problem is here. The motherboard they fitted you is no good - take it back and get it replaced and your issues should be gone.

 

How do I go about resetting the CMOS battery? A link to a guide would be really appreciated, or if its really simple then just tell me here. Either will do!

 

Reseating, not resetting (though usually i just plain replace it just for good measure). You literally just take it out and put it back in. It's a round flat battery on your systemboard, it requires a disassembly to get to but you can't miss it.

 

Hi, here's the service manual for the M11xR2. You will see Coin Cell battery listed. That should show you how.