M11xR1 Troubleshooting Thread

The taskbar switch was only available with the dox drivers but fn f6 doesn't work.

 

Ah I see. I tried the dox drivers but it made my temps hotter by like 4C (don't ask me how but it did lol) and it kept locking up in Madden. I loved the drivers though cause I liked the manual taskbar switching. Thanks anyway!

 

Hey guys, I got a problem here with my touch pad. After I installed the latest synaptics driver (from synaptics site), my "Disable TouchPad when external USB mouse is attached" stopped working. When I plugged my usb mouse, touch pad was still activated. However, i went back to Command Center > AlienTouch, the option "Disable TouchPad when external USB mouse is attached" is actually ticked. Anyone tried that and got the same problem?

 

i actually noticed this also.

 

yah i'm having alot of issues with the latest drivers, they randomly crash, usually when I'm using multitouch. Probably going to go back to Dells original ones.

Neil.

 

I have a question guys. If I upgrade the Intel and/or Nvidia drivers do I lose the ability to swap between the two?

 

Does anyone else have the screen go black for a couple seconds on startup just as it reaches the login screen? It shows the login, blanks out, then comes back.

I suspected something to do with facial recognition, but I have it completely turned off, and disabled the startup and service items.

 

The Dox Drivers are sketchy at best. I just used up half my battery supposedly on intel graphics, with a battery time of 3 hours estimated at 95%.

Just uninstalled all drivers and use driver sweeper to remove everything, and went back to the Dell drivers. with 47% of my battery remaining i've got 3 hours and 21 mins of battery life left with the intel IGP.

Looks like we're tied to the Dell 188's if we plan on actually using the battery on this thing properly.

 

Maybe answered my own question. It only does this with the GT335m, not the integrated GPU. It must start up on the integrated GPU and switch over at about this point.

 

So, I have an issue......

When I OC, it seems to work fine, then when I load a game, I lose all control (keyboard & mouse). when I cntrl alt delete, open task manager, then choose switch too program, everything seems ok.

any ideas? I am fairly sure OC is working, although the only way I know how to check is by looking at system properties, and when not OC, it says 1.3, when I OC it says 1.73.

so far I dig this toy, best purchase I have made in a long time, well except for my new HK USP 40....

 

@live = Its just loading mate. Have a bit of patience. I lose control everytime TF2 goes halfway into loading into a server and when L4D hits the halfway past the loading bar. Unless you've been waiting ages.

@therock, spunky and neil = Everything's working fine on Dell's stock ones here. I plug in my Sidewinder and the trackpad shuts up. Only whinge is that the Sidewinder doesn't tell the PC when its switched off so I have to unplug the dongle to use the trackpad

 

I've had my machine for about a week now. Loaded Mass Effect 2 and it looks beautiful. However whenever I play for about an hour, the game freezes up and forces into a hard reboot. Tried it with OC'ed and non OC'ed and behavior is the same. Cores aren't getting any hotter than 54 C. Any ideas what the problem could be?

 

I would try just reinstalling the game, back up your saves and just redo it. It could be something as simple as a corrupted file causing a memory leak.

If problems persist, you'll want to disable the automatic restart on system failure so that we can try and get some error codes from it.

 

Anyway, back to the keyboard backlight problem, (ctrl to esc whole column) only ctrl and esc button shows orange colour when i set backlight as white. Anyone got some other colours? Should I call up Dell?

 

Also make sure you test your ram too, most of my lock ups were ram related errors. I now make it a habit of testing all my ram overnight.

 

Yea call Dell, I have been through all my colors 20 times and it is consistent across the whole keyboard.

 

Known issue with White. Its a limitation of the LEDs - remember, these LEDs are having to generate a whole array of colors. White has been issue since the M17xR1 was released. It will never be a solid white.

Check the actual Synaptics control panel (Mouse Control Panel ---> Device Settings Tab) - Make sure its also checked/unchecked for the behavior you want. If still no go, try a different version. This has been a known issue on other Synaptics drivers.

Possibly. Keep in mind, the NV driver released by Dell for the M11x is the first true Intel/NV Hybrid Driver. Until other driver versions are released or modded (by the community) to support Intel/NV Hybrid - functionality will be touch and go.

This is actually caused by the OS registering the display adapters. Its normal for this to happen at startup.

Dont be so sure - it will be updated. Will it add Volume OSD functionality? Only the shadow knows...

 

I tried both of these, but will look into testing the ram. Thanks for the tips and I'll let you all know if I make any progress.

EDIT: RAM tested fine. Disabling automatic reboot does not change the crash behavior- it freezes, stutters, then reboots. I will try other games/graphical tests to see if I get the same behavior.

 

Okay, can anyone run HDtune on their M11x, who is using the Gen2 160GB SSD?

Its so weird.. I'm getting only 57mb/bursts, average of 123mb/sec from the SSD. Using AS SSD benchmark i'm getting 240mb/sec sequential reads though.

HDtune doesnt go above 200mb/sec, and only briefly the rest of the time it stays below 140mb/sec during the test. Also, the burst should be around 160mb/sec. Any ideas why HDTUNE and AS SSD would be so different? Anyone think I have a faulty 160gb Intel SSD?

Please help! Appreciate it

 

After running 3DMark06 on loop for 2 hours, my system froze up similarly to when I play ME2 - stuttering between two frames, but did not force reboot. Cores again were only at 53 C. Maybe I should get Dell to help? It's annoying that there's no hint of a problem until 1-2 hours of play time.

 

Hey all.

I just received my M11x today and im pretty excited about it. I have the same issues with the fan as everybody else.
I have a question concerning battery life. I did a full charge, enabled the integrated graphics, selected Power Save profile and checked the battery duration. It said 4h20min. The brightness is only 2 bars.
How on earth are you people getting 7-8 hours battery life?

I do apologize if this has been covered before. Must I do a longer recharge since the battery is new or is there a problem with it?

Thanks in advance

 

Hello there,

I've just received my M11x today. Too bad, I got the gaps at E2E both corners. Another thing is: does the battery LED indicator ever light up? Cause when I charge the LED color the battery stays pitch black, even when pressed

 

The battery indicator is on the bottom side mate.

 

Ok guys, doing my first install to an SSD. I'm pretty unfamiliar with them, but I'm installing to a 256GB Samsung SSD. I'm at the point of installing the drivers. Is it neccessary to install the freefall drivers on an SSD? I wouldn't think so, but i just want to make sure. Also what do I need to do to enable the TRIM on this thing? What drivers should I use for the SSD? So basically I'm a newb when it comes to SSDs

 

I'm unsure what the freefall would do to SSDs, so I opted not to install it. TRIM works by default in Windows 7. You don't need any custom drivers to use an SSD.

 

Thanks soleblaze

 

Just make sure and enable AHCI in the bios. IDE will work but will limit the throughput. When I installed my first SSD I did not know this and was severely disappointed with the read and write speeds. Then I made the change and was dumbfounded. Yeah, SSDs are that fast. TRIM will be enabled automatically. Also if you have not done so, check your manufacturer's website to make sure there is no new firmware. Upgrading firmware on an SSD usually requires a full re-installation of Windows...

 

@Johnelbek
I am going off my actual runtime and not what Windows quess would be as it's always fluctuating depending on what you are doing.

 

Thanks for the heads up Sanmanatoo. I'll have to check on the firmware. It's the standard dell Samsung SSD and came with trim. Any idea where I can check that? Would it be on the dell site? I'll check there first. I just checked and ACHI was already set so I got lucky there. This think is a nice upgrade.

 

If you disable some of the processes listed in the optimization thread so that your CPU usage stays at 0-5% during idle you'll get that 7-8 hours estimate. That estimate is IDLE/not in use. If you have a lot of stuff going on in the background or you're using it, it is going to be less. I'm getting around 5-6 hours with IM/email/internet use, 2-4h in 3d games depending on the game

 

Thanks for the reply. I did indeed optimize my system by disabling unecessary processes and startup programs. I guess it is true what most of you state, that windows is unable to give a precise estimation.
On a completely different topic. My fan hasn't turned itself on for about 5 hours straight now. Granted, it is using the integrated card but overclocked.
Yours is running like a charm, Zlog?

 

After 3+ hours on the phone with Dell tech support, they tell me that Mass Effect 2 is not a supported game and that the m11x is not able to stably run it. I explained that I can play it for 1-2 hours at a nice framerate before my system suddenly fails. Am I going crazy? Is this machine not designed to play ME2?

 

Um, what are they talking about. I've played it for 5 hours once non-stop with my GPU overclocked and settings to all max plus forced AA and Vsync. That Dell tech must've of thought you were asking if a phone book could play ME2...ridiculous.

 

Not sure if this will help - I encountered a similar issue with L4D2. I could launch the game, start playing and then it would just close itself out (game). No error message, nothing.

A clean install of the display driver cured the problem and now all is well.

Might want to try it.

 

Mine connects to my Linksys WRV54G. It's fine for web surfing and stuff, but it has pretty poor throughput for moving large files around inside the network - usually runs at about 25%.

What's really irksome is that I get about 3-5% throughput when streaming recorded TV from my main HTPC to the M11x, making TV unwatchably choppy. This isn't a limitation of the network because my Asus G71 right next to the M11x, connecting to the same wireless network, streams the same recordings just fine. It does this even on a wired 100mbps connection. Can't figure it out.

-----

Figured it out. Changed the registry value for NetworkThrottlingIndex to 50 (hex 00000032). That fixed it, so far as my wired connection goes. 802.11g is just not quite fast enough to stream full HD unless conditions are just right.

 

Did a reinstall of the display driver with the tech... along with the sound driver, bluetooth driver, wireless card driver...

Problem still persists. The game is not closing itself out, the system wholly fails. In addition, I ran looped through 3DMark06 for a while and could simulate the same system failure.

I'm going to call customer support in the morning and see if I can't get a replacement. I am sorely disappointed with how little the AW tech support knows.

 

It sounds like a bad GPU then. Get a replacement and don't settle for less. Really push the replacement too, you don't want Dell tech working on such a new release. It does irritate me just a bit that they made up the old 'unsupported' excuse.

 

Ha, so a dell tech came to my house last week to replace the motherboard because of my OC and lighting issues. Well he takes my m11x apart, and low and behold he then finds out that he has the wrong motherboard, and does not have my parts...

So he says he will be back the next day at 4, well, 3:55 comes around and I get a call from Dell asking if the tech support guy is at my house, I say no, and she tells me she just talked to him, and he said he was at my house... lies haha, he is going to get it.

Anyways, she is sending me a brand new replacement unit, which, in the beginning is what I was trying to get when I had first called Dell.

 

I have two systems, one for me and another for my wife.

Neither of them suffer from any of the severe issues that people are having.

No light leaks
No screen gaps
No noisy fan(s)

We do have our fans get stuck after gaming, but if I toggle IGP, and *shut down* the computer then turn it back on, the fan literally never comes on until i heat the system up again with the 335.

I actually have a question for people with SSDs: Are you guys getting issuse with the fan getting stuck? I'm curious if the SSD running cooler doesn't help at all. I really think the system is over reacting to a warm component like the RAM or HDD or maybe the chipset, as the CPU/GPU almost never get over 50c on mine. My theory is that the combination of the CPU/GPU/RAM/HDD heat while gaming is getting the lower half of the laptop warm enough to trigger the higher stage fan, and that it isn't getting cooled as fast as the components further back (that we actually can monitor). So perhaps it's not "stuck" so much as it is just trying to cool off the other components (unsuccessfully it would seem)

 

Keep in mind, that is a bad tech.. I have a feeling that the tech called into Dell and dell sensed something fishy was going on and called you to check up.

On the other hand, when I had a tech out, he was fantastic, but Dell kept sending him the wrong parts (the techs aren't allowed to open the boxes with parts in them until they are at your house) so he had to make 4 trips to my place, the first 3 consisted of him opening the box and swearing and calling dell and sitting on the phone with them for like 45 minutes.

 

I think they send out wrong items just so your 21 days gets eaten up. How can they mess up that much? They must have monkeys literally working there. Supposed to get my screen replaced but the tech called and said he thinks that Dell sent him a hard drive, bahahaha. I'ma tell Dell that my SSD doesn't work and to send me a new one even though I have the 320hdd.

 

I have a weird issue with aliensense and the webcam; the other day I was tinkering a bit with the webcam settings. Now when I boot the system, the webcam login doesn't work anymore because no connection to the webcam could be made. In windows the webcam doesn't function anymore either. I then remove the default integrated webcam driver and reboot. After that the cam will work the next session but then I have to reinstall again. When I turn off aliensense at login the webcam keeps functioning ok. Anyone else seen this? What did I mess up?

 

Not sure, but my Corsair P128 had firmware released by Samsung. So I guess I would check out Samsung's SSD website...
http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/products/flash/Products_FlashSSD.html

 

I've settled for asking for a system replacement since my machine still operates, though not ideally. Took me just 20 minutes with a customer service rep to have it ordered. I couldn't stomach any more technical support.

 

I had a problem with the bluetooth card on Saturday. It worked for 5-10 mins and then dropped the connection. But after dropping the connection bluetooth is no where to be seen on the laptop. Its gone even from the Device manager. So I called up the tech support and the first tech rep was really good and remoted into my laptop. He managed to fix the issue. It broke again the next day. I called the tech support and he decided to change the bluetooth card.

Yesterday the Technician showed up at my place. First surprise was that, even after giving my service tag they put my laptop as M17x instead of M11x. So the technician has a wrong part. He calls up the Dell tech support phone line for technicians and the jacka$$ on the phone tells him to put the system back together (he had already opened laptop up) and let the user try it. To my misfortune the bluetooth doesnt drop the connection this time. So the tech support on the phone asks the technician to leave and now I have to wait till it breaks again. I know that it will happen pretty soon. When it breaks I will have to go all over the stupid process again I was very disappointed the way Dell handles things. Out of my 3 tech support phone calls 1 was really good and other 2 had no clue what to do(they were just reading their scripts).

Sorry about such a long post.

 

Hey guys,

This machine is starting to annoy me. I purchased an Intel 80GB SSD today and installed Windows 7 on it. Now, for some reason the fan has decided to kick in on max no matter what happens. I've followed the optimization thread very precisely. Even avoided installing Alienware CC just to keep the ressources down. The fan keeps running and rebooting doesn't help anything.

Has anyone experienced this with an SSD drive? Before with the normal HDD, I could reboot and the fan would stop spinning.

 

Did you install the stock video drivers for the M11x from Dell on your fresh install?

 

Well, at last, I also received this machine, and with it I've got one lazy pixel (can be seen on dark image), and some weired white "blob"

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5020311/IMG_8816.jpg
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5020311/IMG_8815.JPG

And because this was send to me from denmark to russia (through my friend) think i can't have any warranty coverage. So i'll have to wait until summer when i'll go to copenhagen...

In other aspects this maching is cool. Small, light and no BSOD in overclocked mode Though i only played bioshock 2 for 5 min and ran 3dmark06. Any other ways to check if i have "bad" processor?

Currently i'm installing english version of win 7, can you give links to drivers and software for this machine?

 

Russian:
http://support.euro.dell.com/suppor...emID=ALW_LP_M11X&os=W764&osl=ru&catid=&impid=

English:
http://support.dell.com/support/dow...764&osl=en&catid=&impid=&SystemID=ALW_LP_M11X

 

So i think this is just me but just to make sure can anyone press onto the plastic on the rightside of the mousepad near the 2 usbs? because im pressing the plastic ( not even hard) and it keeps making a clicking squeezing sound, the clicking is right on the little oval that goes into the screen. does anyone have the same effect on their m11x? whenever i type if i happen to go over that oval and start typing i here clicks and its as if the plastic is going into the computer sort of like a squeezing sound.