M11xR1 Troubleshooting Thread

Regretfully when I do that, it tries to use a projector connected to the VGA (nothing is connected to it) and doesn't use the HDMI.

 

Hi, I have de same issue.

Tomorrow will call Dell, but I think that is a hardware problem.

 

@arrakiv
I did get mine connected to an lcd tv using HDMI and Fn+F1 (press few times to set to hdmi)
May be try another monitor or a TV?

 

Guys, can i use external monitor when i'm on intel graphics?

 

@vorob - It worked for me. But I was not cloning the LCD with the external monitor. I used Samsung 32" 720p HDTV as the external monitor.

 

What have you done? I just plug in via hdmi and pressing fn+f1 won't do a thing. In driver settings i also cant change anything. So only in geforce mode i can do this.

 

I had tried my monitor at work as well as the one at home... then remembered they're both the exact same model.

So, I hooked the HDMI up to my TV and Winkey+P worked just fine. So, it is either the monitor or the fact that I'm converting it to a DVI signal. Either way, I might have to have a new monitor in my future.

... I'm not so sure I'm all that broken up over that realization. ;-)

edit: Yeah, I tried another monitor, and this one worked just fine too. I had to change the source of the input on the monitor to digital, as it seemed to default to analog, but then it worked. I had a feeling that might help with the other one too... But regretfully I couldn't access any menu options without it first having a signal. Which is weird.

edit again!: Ha. Found a work around. If I remove the power from the monitor, plug in the cable, and then plug in the power again, it works fine. This is an acceptable solution.

 

Definitely sounds like HDCP handshake issue.

 

Sorry to be pedantic, but this is just plain wrong.

Firstly your colour theory, while correct for painting in entry art, is simply not even close to the case for light. For Light the primary colours are Red Green and Blue (RGB). Here's a little app to play around with them

http://www.lon-capa.org/~mmp/applist/RGBColor/c.htm

and secondly, just for interests sake... there are no White LED's in existance PERIOD, those bright white LED used in torches and such are produced by a GaN LED, which is blue, covered with a phosphor coating which emits a broad yellow spectra (when illuminated), when combined this looks like a white light source to our eyes.

 

Finally got my 3rd replacement today... but sad to say...

Was it me or did everyone who ordered in Australia expected to see Gbit Lan?!

Cause thats what i thought i saw... Dell australia ( www.alienware.com.au) must have changed it recently back to the 10/100 lan.... im a bit pissed.

My unit does not have Gigabit lan.

 

Did you find a solution to your problem? I am curious about both headphone jacks working too.

Edit: I tried both jacks and they work perfectly

 

Well, I have to change the whole screem; The screen is not and stock and I don't want a 1 day laptop repared.

They will request to the manager a new one; I have no problem; full refund and order a new one.

End of the story.

 

Reinstall the Audio driver. Both jacks are working for me. Give the driver reinstall a try.

http://support.dell.com/support/dow...typeid=-1&dateid=-1&formatid=-1&fileid=380530

Check the settings in AlienFX (Command Center). If necessary, create a close the existing theme and create a new one. See if that resolves the dead Alienware Logo.

 

Im still having problem with an unknown device in my Hardware, and i cant screen shot for some reason

Any ideas or suggestions on what it might be?

Hardware Id says this

ACPI\CPL002
*CPL002

All help and suggestion is welcome.

 

I just did a complete clean install of windows 7 to my new SSD... and everything now works and functions well. Sorry to say, but my experience almost seemed too easy .

First I extracted my license key using the ARBbeta program somebody on these forums linked to.

Then used my windows 7 DVD to fresh install win7. I had previously downloaded the WLAN drivers from dell, and chucked that on first. All worked and I was on the internet.

From there I just dl'ed and used each of the drivers from dell.com (except for 2!!!) I also put the command centre and OSD apps on last, in case they had dependancies of other devices.

The two I skipped:
Firstly the touch pad, which I got directly from synaptics to allow multitouch)
Secondly the Realtek audio driver. I noticed that after installing that my speaker volume pretty much dropped in half, compared to the realtek drivers windows 7 had automatically been using. So my advice is do not use the Dell realtek driver if you want loud speakers .

Once I had finished putting all these drivers on I uninstalled the alienfx facial recognition as I had read it was a resource hog, and I could never see myself using it.... EVER... (go into c:\program files\alienware\aliensense\ and run the uninst file)

I still had unknown devices, so I clicked on start -> devices and see a big yellow triangle on my computer indicating missing drivers. I then just let windows 7 find the drivers (right click, troubleshoot) it didn't work first time, because I said no to autoupdate or something it asked me turn on (as I usually do) So I tried again, and this time when prompted, I did turn on the option "auto download new drivers and realistic icons" or something to that effect.

It found 4 drivers, (seemed to be two for the card reader even though I had already gotten the drivers of dell, and two other ones, sorry cant remember what they are) anyway it downloaded and activated them, and then all was good.

Last step I took was to go into msconfig and remove alienfx from the startup menu.

Now everything is perfectly the way I like my PCs, fast, everything functional, and not an ounce of extra crap.

So Now I guess I can start adding my own extra crap lol....

 

The M11x unit never had Gbit lan. That was a typo original if you saw that. They all come with 10/100 lan.

 

I mentioned this already in the owner's lounge where you asked the same question, maybe you didn't see it. That hardware ID relates to the battery meter (and wireless switch), usually this is a seperate download on Dell's support site, but on the M11x it's included in the Alienware OSD application. Download it from here and install.

 

scratch whatever I said before, somehow my random tinkering got it back working.

 

Magical is the powahs of random tinkering!

 

Have anyone tried using Bluetooth Headphones with M11x? If yes, does the connection start dropping after 15-20 mins of continuous use?

 

I've had some interesting experiences with my power adapter lately. I'm not actually sure something is wrong with it, but I'm not really sure what's up in general.

So, I use it all day at work, and everything is just fine. I come home and use it, and everything is fine... Then at some point, it just stops working. I unplug it and plug it back into an outlet/power strip, and it works fine for a few seconds and then stops. The next day, it'll function fine. Oddly, I had it work in one outlet when it was doing this with every other one I could find in my apartment.

It also seems to just have trouble in certain outlets. The one next to my couch basically never works. Turns on for a few seconds, shuts down. One of the power strips at my desk wasn't working with it today,m although it has in the past... but another one is working fine with it.

 

Get another unit and see if its going on the fritz as well. Then you can point out the actual problem

 

hey everybody.. my m11x get bsod after enabling the overclock function..

It get bsod when loading into windows..

BTW my proc is su7300..

 

Just switched my m11x on and started getting 5 beeps over and over. Wouldn't boot. Finally just got it to boot and now chkdsk is running, hasn't found any problems. Anyone know what happened?

EDIT: Crap... it keeps dying on me. is going on?

EDIT 2: Still dying on me. Leaving it someplace cold for a while, maybe it's overheating. I noticed on one of the occasions when it would boot into windows that the discrete graphics were running, and I didn't remember turning them on... maybe I turned them on my accident and it got too hot? I dunno, I would have thought that the battery would have run out before then since I haven't had it plugged in much today.

 

@duff = If you get beeping, check the ram first. If its overheating, you wont get any sound, just an outright bsod or system crash.

@madmad = you might have a defective unit. Try to run without OC. If it works, then it means you have a bad processor. Call Dell.

 

I just spoke to Alienware support. They reckon I got a faulty motherboard that's killing the power. 5 beeps on m11x apparantly means a power problem. That would explain the sudden shutdowns - loss of power.

Dell tech guy should visit and replace motherboard on Tuesday hopefully - they can't authorise visits until monday when the senior tech guys are in. Until then I've got a £900 brick.

 

Guys, regarding about my overcloking bsod problem, do you guys think that is there is any other way that we can fix this problem by ourself? maybe by using some 3rd party application?

The question is, when Dell will release the bios update?

 

Don't let one of their out sourced tech guys TOUCH your laptop, ask for a replacement, there are a few horror stories about them here, just look for them

 

Well, I'll see. They can't all be bad. You always hear about the worst stories the most. My sister's laptop was fixed fine by one.

 

For the money you paid you should not have to rely on a third party fix to the problem. The BIOS OC is a built in feature and as a result is covered by Dell. I strongly advise you to call them and they should send out a new unit. Until then you can probably keep the unit you have till the new one is recieved. Regardless of how much you paid, it's covered under warranty and should be operating the way it's designed. You may have had a bad CPU chip as each one is differant, even if two are identical models. Some chips OC higher then others. Your problem is with the CPU most likely. If keeping your stuff is an issue, once you get the new unit, Just swap out the HDD's as they should be identical, or clone your HDD to the new HDD. Be sure to remove an proprietary info and wipe the drive prior to sending it back. You bought a system with certain expectations, it should operate as advertised.

 

Hi all. I am having a problem with the WWAN sim card reader and need your take on it. Here are the conditions.
1. I Have a Verizon blackberry with a Sim card.
2. I have a M11x in the US with a the Verizon antenna option installed.
3. When I insert my Sim card into the m11x the mobile wireless does nothing.

Now the advertising says I should be able to plug my sim card and use my mobile phone connection.

Alienware support says they dont really have any responsiblity to help config the broadband connection.

Has anyone in the US got the sim card to actually work and if so, how?

Thanks- Shadow

 

Anyone please?

 

My headphones wouldn't even connect.

 

Terribly amusing. My logon screen got defaulted somehow. :S

 

Verizon is not GSM. Its CDMA. Are you sure the SIM card is not just for international travel? I dont think that you are able to use this WWAN over verizon.

 

Just wanted to know - before my M11X died, I did note that whenever I switched to discrete graphics, the front left of the laptop (left of the touchpad, if looking at the laptop normally) became pretty warm. Is that normal? It didn't seem to warm up there if standard graphics were enabled, but I was under the impression that the performance increase only affected the GPU, and I thought the front left was where the CPU is situated.

 

This is where the ram is located, I have noticed while gaming it gets very warm, sometimes uncomfortably so.... so while it is normal for that area to get hot while making extensive use of your ram, it should not warm up simply due to enabling discrete gfx.

 

Curious. So in the first image here has the RAM been removed? Then in the second, the blue stuff is the RAM?

http://cimg2.163.com/catchimg/20100309/11439493_14.jpg

http://cimg2.163.com/catchimg/20100309/11439493_0.jpg

Is it normal for RAM to get hot when it's being used?

I do only tend to use discrete GFX when playing games, though.

Also, I was doing the Windows 7 system memory test 2 days ago when the power died again... that won't cause problems, right?

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/wind...y-using-windows-vista-memory-diagnostic-tool/

The computer seemed to be slowly dying anyway... so probably a coincidence that I've been struggling to even get to the BIOS since then.

 

Blue board on the left side is the mother board. My palm rest sometimes gets warm, but never uncomfortably hot. It's where the hard drive/ ram resides.

 

first image is looking down at the m11x, with the keyboard removed, the ram is mounted on the other side, so I cannot tell if it is removed or not...

second image is looking at the bottom of the m11x, and yes those two blue oblong chips stacked close to each other are the SODIMM ram modules. (they are therefore on the left if the laptop was up the right way)

Yes, it is normal for ram to get hot when in use, highly specced ram are even now starting to include temperature sensors, and active cooling measures to ensure the highest performance.

Could be an issue with your ram that is causing the issues... dodgey ram is out there, and would run very hot, and possibly cause issues. I'd call dell and ask them to replace/fix the problem.

 

I got the Bluetooth card changed because of the issue. Its still havent resolved the issue. My headphones work perfectly with my phone via BT connection so I know that there is no problem with the headphones. The technician said if they dont work then may be they will need to change the motherboard which I really dont want because everything else is working immaculate. Dont know what exactly is happening with the BT and Headphones connection. Please advise/help.

 

Well the whole thing packed in on Saturday and all I get is 7 quiet beeps over and over when I turn it on (and the lights come on). AW support says that it's probably either motherboard or CPU failure but I presume if either fails both need replacing?

They've submitted a booking for a technician as of 5.30am today, but that was 8 hours ago and all I have is an 11 digit DPS number, and I've no idea what to do with that.

 

I dont know....putting things that get hot under the palm rest....well that just seems.....stupid.

I am bothered by the heat of the RAM on the left palm rest. Wish there was some way to diminish the heat better.

 

Just had a phonecall from some tech company who were going to send an Engineer out for tomorrow, but they're out of stock on the part that needs replacing. Ho hum...

 

yeah, its annoying, I wonder as to what the designers were thinking when they put the ram, gpu and cpu on the left side of a gaming device, directly under the postition where most gamers will have their hands positioned most of the time (wasd)...??

meanwhile the righthand side of the laptop gets the battery and HDD, personally I would have preffered the laptop made with all components swapped to the oposite sides....

although both the battery and HDD still have the potential to run hot, at least then the user could replace the HDD with an SSD which should leave that side of the laptop relatively cool..... instead we have all the bits which run hot, and cannot be replaced with cooler alternatives right under our main control area, where the hand will spend most of its time.

 

I've been running my M11x OC'd/max power since I got it and have zero heat issues, either gaming or not.

 

Well I guess Dell made an extra $125 from me for verizon mobile wireless that you cant plug your Verizon sim card into. The M11X is a great laptop or I would return it.
-Shadow

 

Why not just mozy into a verizon store and have them activate the new gobi card in the m11x in place of your existing card?

While verizon uses SIM cards for worldband devices I thought they used good ole ESN registration style systems for their domestic products like aircards...

 

So now my M11X beeps 7 times a few times and powers on as normal before seemingly working. Going to leave it running for a while tonight and see what happens.

I did lose the time and date for some time which suggests a bad CMOS battery.

When the Service Engineer arrives apparantly he'll be packing a new CMOS battery, motherboard/CPU and power board...

 

I've used my m11x for bt tethering to my phone and havn't had any issues with it.

have you guys with the headphone issues been having troubles with any bt headphones or just a certain set?

Theres a guy at work that uses Rocketfish BT headphones on his m11x, I'll ask him if he has issues.