M11xR1 Troubleshooting Thread

I'd throw this question to the crowd in the M!!x Gaming discussion thread. They may have a better idea. Might be a CPU dependent game

 

New M11x owner here - got it about 2 weeks ago and it was fine out of the box, worked great. Then it started to lock up completely and freeze every now and then for no apparent reason. Then I started to get blue-screens, not when I turned on O/C but only during logon attempts. I opened it up and reseated the ram (in the opposite slots from where they were originally) and the blue-screening went away. It was still freezing though, requiring a hard shutdown everytime. I noticed a pattern though in that it only happened when I started a web browser, plugged in the network cord, or was establishing network connections during login..

Bunch of investigation later and I found the cause - I had Zone Alarm and Microsoft Security Essentials installed and these two programs do NOT play well together in Vista or Windows 7. I wanted MSE because it's not a resource hog and it integrates very well - and the Windows firewall is great for inbound protection but it lets every single outbound connection through by default unless you manually start blocking things, so I installed ZA. I ended up removing MSE and replaced it with another A/V and haven't had a single problem since!

Great because I was just about ready to phone Dell tech support and I hate talking to them..

 

has anyone had any direct word from dell that a bios update is in the works... (for those of us with OC stability issues?)

 

Quoted from my Alienware Support email:

 

unknown_host please note that the cpu and the gpu are marketted as OC'able so sending the laptop back is justifiable... regardless to whether this is harmful to the cpu or gpu. the manufacturer is saying it can be done.
Also note that the fact that there's inconsistency between various chips that are supposed to be the same is another reason.
I just got my m11x and without overclocking i cannot run BC2 at a reasonable fps - and playing BC2 on the road was the only reason i bought this for, so I am extremely disappointed...
hopefully dell will release an update of the bios and resolve this issue with the voltage and bsod on oc'ing will not be a problem...

 

hey im gonna transfer my recent troubleshooting question here, i hope someone can help

1st is this



yeah, i just noticed last night when i was about to shut my M11X down, i know that DSUPD is supposed to be normal, supposed to be running on 1 process only

but this one as we can see, are running 7 process simultaneously alongside with Conhost

i dont know why, but seeing that the conhost are from delldata safe, i assume that this occurs after my attemp on factory reset through DellData Safe fails

question : is there a fix?

2nd troubleshooting is

i cannot get my M11X to Factory Restore

be it from pressing F8 @ Bios (does nothing) and press and holding F8 will only make the Laptop making a loud continious beeping sound

nor through Dell Data Local Safe

when try to attempt from Dell Data Safe, it works like normal that ask you to reboot to begin process of Factory Reset

upon rebooting, it say something like "disk fail read bla2"

the 1st troubleshooting, i assume is from this incident, however

i called the Dell Local and they told me that to get to the factory reset, you need to run the CD that came with it while doing the Dell Local Safe

question: is it true? because i read some forums, they say the CD is only a win7 installer and does not contain a restore software

thanks!

please help me guys!

 

I have just bought a M11x and the first thing I did was format the machine with Windows7 Pro and then installed the drivers from the Resource DVD. Everything seems ok except for 2 issues:

1. The Swithching between the Intel Graphics card and the Nividia card does not seem to work.

2. (Biggest issue) the machine will freeze and then reboot itself. I can not find what is causing and have only installed Steam, MS Essintial Security, MS Office 2008, Visio, MS Projects and iTunes. All drivers seem to be upt ot dat and I have also done all windows updates. The freezers have happened when I have been in the Alienware Control panel, IE8, MS Security Essentials or when I have awoken the laptop form hibernation. I have run the full systems diagnostics (F12 on boot up option) and it has all passed with out any issues. I feel this issue to be prehaps a driver issue but not sure.

Has anyone else had these issues?

 

The freezing is probably from MSE conflicting with something - if you have a firewall installed as well, try removing it and use the built in windows firewall for a bit and see if it still freezes. Also try to keep a record of what you were doing when it froze so you can look for a pattern.

The driver for switching the video cards might be on the Dell site and not on the resource CD - typically a resource cd has just the bare bones drivers to get the pc up and running and maybe they considered this driver to be non-essential?

For the person trying to do the factory restore, I had a similar issue in that I couldn't do the Windows system point restore until I completely removed MSE. Maybe try removing anything that might be protecting the file system (e.g. MSE, Spybot, other antivirus, etc) and then try the restore again?

 

hm u did it through the Dell Data Safe? without anything else?
my suspect is not with the Anti virus Software

this is what i get when using Dell Data Safe:



i hope this gives a clearer idea of what im getting at

ok the problem is, i know it's asking for DVD, and i have it, but many people say you dont need the DVD to factory restore and could just Press F8 to go into the Advanced Boot

this is why im still holding out and opt not to insert the DVD and still figuring on how to F8 into the Advanced Boot

but after that, whenever i press F8, it hang and stuck in the Alienware Logo ( before the Win7 Loading )

 

@jastormont = Did you install 64bit windows or 32 bit. Cause all the drivers for the m11x were 64bit. And the graphics switching would work if you installed the drivers from Dell and not the one from nvidia.

 

As of this morning my m11x has started to flat out shut down on itself for no apparent reason. As if the Battery isn't seated properly. Has anyone else experienced this? I'm getting very paranoid that i'll have to send this unit back...

 

ok getting quite annoyed now. steam wouldent play my games. so i reinstalled my graphics drivers. now iv turned my m11x back on and the screen resolution has turned all big. so i decreased it.. but everything on my screen isnt as 'high definition' as it was before the reboot. and now my fn+F6 wont work so i cant choose which graphics card to choose.

i let nvidia scan my system for my current drivers and it appeared to be ther correct one.

anyone got any advice?? this is really annoying me now..

 

The Windows system restore failed for me about 3 times til I uninstalled that extra stuff then it worked - I wound up doing the Dell Data Safe factory reset after that and it completed without any problems. I used the Dell Data Safe to create a USB recovery stick just in case though since I don't have an external dvd drive. I think it definitely has to see something there though since it's probably creating a RAM drive for the recovery process but needs a source to pull that file system data from..

 

Did you update your graphic drivers with the one at Dell for the M11x or the ones on Nvidia site? Only use the ones on Dell or the hacked drivers someone posted how to make in the M11x graphic driver thread as Nvidia themselves said their drivers do not support the laptops with hybrid Intel and Nvidia graphics that are currently out.

 

ahh thanks for the advice RAQemUP, u seem to be following my on going frustrations so thank you!
yeah i did download it from the Nvidia website.. do you have a link for the current graphic drivers? i couldent find my graphics card by using their scroll menu's on their website:

Alienware : The Ultimate Gaming Machine?

 

hey i spoke to soon i think i found the thread you were refering to.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/471057-m11x-graphics-drivers.html

after downloading and installing the first driver, should i also download the newer driver posted there as well? not sure what the benefits ?

thanks again

 

Yes, that is the thread. Just download the first file listed (beta 197.12).

Since you installed the drivers off the Nvidia site and were having immense problems with them, I would uninstall them and use a driver cleaning utility like CCleaner or Driver Sweeper (google either).

Here are the steps after you install one of the above:

1) Switch to the Nvidia 335m gfx and go to the Control Panel from the Windows button and uninstall the currently installed Nvidia gfx drivers.
2) Reboot into Safe Mode (hit F8 before Win 7 bootup)
2) Run CCleaner or Driver Sweeper (only select the Nvidia gfx drivers)
3) Reboot back into Win 7 and install the beta 197.12 from Dell.

 

so besides my random shutting down issues which seem to have stopped now. Does anyone else have issues with sleep/hibernate?

My machine will enter hibernate, and probably 1 of 3 times will just simply not come back out of it. It loads the windows is resuming screen, goes blank with a a blinking "|" and will simply not resume.

With sleep... it will go to sleep fine if my machine is not moving (being carried around). GODS forbid I decide to you know... move my laptop around for an extended period of time (15 min car ride home from the office) I will find the laptop to be in a "powered off" state and when I boot it back up it claims win was shutdown incorrectly.

Am I the only person being plagued with this? I love this notebook but these issues are making me crazy

 

I have not been having any issues with sleep or hibernate. Wish I could help . Maybe fresh Win 7 install?

 

Never mind, fixed.

 

Sure sounds like you might actually have a power issue... from what you describe, I agree, it sounds like the battery or power supply is being disconnected and shutting down...

I've had two m11x's, and neither does what you describe yours does.

 

Hi Possible Noob Question here.

I did a search in this thread but can't seem to find a resolution. I've connected my m11x to my 32" Sony Bravia to test it but for some odd reason I can't see the edges of my desktop on the TV. I've tried multiple resolutions but it's still not working.

Also I just wanted to know is it only possible to use the HDMI in discrete graphics and not the Intel Integrated Graphics?

 

HDMI only works with the discrete gfx.

As far as not seeing the edges of your desktop, you should go into the Nvidia control panel and resize the desktop there. I don't have my laptop on atm so I can't give a detailed answer sorry.

 

You are probably getting some overscan which I see on my Samsung plasma at 1080p. for some reason when I set it to the native of the m11x (1368x768 or whatever) it sees it as 1440x900 (dunno why it looks fine) and its not overscanned.

 

did you get the exact same thing? if so i might try to uninstall my kaspersky and try again

now here's 1 thing i came across with

https://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dellcare/en/backupcd_form

is the DVD that came with the M11X is the same and have the original factory image in it?

-----------------------------

anyone else here have a solution on how to make my M11X can do the F8 in the BIOS again?

cause now whenever i press F8 to enter the Advance Boot, it just hangs ( in the Alienware Logo part. the bar just stopped )

 

Hi.

I have some problems with my m11x.
1) I have two OS on it, the original Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows Ultimate 32 bits, I cannot switch the Binary GFX in windows 7 32 bits, Where I can download this driver?? and, also where I can get the Command Center for Windows 7 32 bits??
2) When I turn off the machine using windows 7 32 bits, It always show me a blue screen.
3) I cannot play AGE OF EMPIRES 2 - THE CONQUERORS, it always show me an error message, in both OS. But is complety playable AGE OF EMPIRES 2 (not the expansion), I am sure that it is an incompatibility with hardware...
4) Sometimes when I move the laptop when it is ON, it gets freeze. Is it because the Fall Sensor??? How Can I turn off the Fall Sensor??

Regards.

 

@HUER = Try looking at the m15x or m17x driversets. The m11x is 64bit exclusive. As far as moving it is concerned, I move it around quite a lot from a lecture hall to another and it doesn't freeze.

 

Sorry - n00b here...and I know a lot of others have this problem... but advice needed please!

I have just received my SU7300 model. Within the first hour I tried the OC option in the BIOS. It gets as far as the 'loading windows' screen... and then BSOD.

I've heard about a potential BIOS fix in the near future....

However I'm torn between:

1. waiting for it (and being potentially disappointed)
2. Exchanging it and waiting another 2 weeks (and being potentially disappointed)
3. Cancelling it whilst I still can.

From what I've read. The OC makes a big difference and was a primary reason for getting the thing. Can anyone shed some light on their own experiences with any of the above scenarios.

Cheers.

 

Is there any safe way of me testing this or am I forced into calling support? If it's a simple loose connection I'm sure it can't be that difficult to identify and fix.

 

It may have already been discussed in this thread but is there any reason that I would only be getting 4.5-5 hours of battery life with light browsing and the screen on 65%?

 

If you are getting a BSOD on overclock I would just exchange it out. Yes, supposedly one day there will be an updated bios but that is no gauranteed that it will fix your BSOD issue since it never worked to begin with.

With my CPU overclocked, LCD on 2 bars brightness, AlienFX disabled, power saving profile, and wifi browsing I am getting just over 6 hours. With CPU off and same settings, I am getting just over 7 hours.

Edit: This is with the integrated Intel gpu.

 

Same exact settings I am barely squeezing out 5 and it seems like the fan comes on an awful lot considering the temperature is like 40-42C

 

Of course this is all running on the intergrated Intel gpu.

 

I am running on the Intel GPU as well, obviously. The fan comes on every 2-3 minutes for no reason no matter what I do. The computer will be idling with no CPU usage and the temperature increases to ~40C according the HWMonitor and Speedfan and ~43C according to CoreTemp and then the fan kicks on for about a minute to cool it down to 35C, process starts over. Until the computer reaches around 40C the fan does not spin at all and I would much rather have a quiet, constantly spinning fan than a load one that comes one and off often. Dell has to release some type of BIOS fix.

 

is someone kind enough here to share and upload their Back Up disc?

i found out that you actually can request Back Up disc from Dell containing original Factory Settings for M11X and all other Dell products here Dell - Support

but it is USA only and i have no idea how i can get it

and it's funny that Dell have to do it this way and not include the disc in the 1st place on the M11X box.. why all the trouble.. sheesh

 

You can make your own System Recovery disc with the M11x. I did with mine and it still gives me the option to in Dell Datasafe under Backup.

 

I just want to say that overclock the m11x really makes it more powerfull, I mean it is really necessary for use it as it is advertised ("With the AlienwareTM M11x gaming laptop, you can play anything, anywhere").

 

The overclock ability is why many people buy this machine, since it like you said makes a big difference in performance. But Alienware screwed up here. They try to shield themselves from failed overclocks, stating that they don't guarantee a stable overclock. Which doesn't make sense of course, when it is being advertised as overclockable.

They could get away from this trouble by having a more fine grained overclock supported in BIOS. There is no such thing as a guaranteed stable overclock for a preset frequency and voltage like they have now.

There's no confirmed BIOS fix in the works. The chance that you get 2 failed systems in a row is not too high though, I guess. You could try your luck with a replacement.

 

but my F8 isnt working anymore, is it not a problem?

i used Dell Local Safe before i back it up and it kinda disabled the F8 now

so if i recover in the current state and roll it back with the current recovery, will i get my F8 working again?

 

I have called AW tech support this morning. The guy was fairly helpful. He confirmed that:

A bios fix is in the works - however no news on when it will be available.
They recognise it as an issue - it is 'their fault'. i.e. it should work but it doesn't.

As a side issue he confirmed that I can get a full refund by cancelling during my cooling off period (which runs out in 4 days).

I love the machine, I will sit on this till Thuirsday I think. They simply can't tell hundreds (thousands?) of people that a fix is coming, and then not deliver.

Also I checked my RAM last night to ensure it is specced for 1066. Confusingly my invoice lists it as 800mhz ddr3. It had the magic number of (pc3)8500 written on it. So that's a relief.

 

I think there is an Alienware recovery partition on your hard drive with the backuped Dell factory settings. Which is accessible only through Dell Backup thingy. I never used it, since it's not that big of a deal to install it yourself. Rather I made a recovery USB key and Acronis TrueImage of the install once I installed everything basic.

 

Hi, I just realized that when I was running the StreetFighter4 benchmark, the graphics card got registered as intel mobile 4, instead of nvidia 335m gt, which has cause me to have 4frames dropped in the benchmark, does any1 know what is going on? and how can i fix that?

 

Hi guys...i am facing this frequent problem on my m11x. When the m11x is left to idle...it will completely freeze...my mouse cant move, cant type anything and cant press anything..I have to do a hard reset to solve this problem. My set is OC'ed, and even b4 i update to beta driver..i already had this problem..

 

hi guys i notice when i use vlc player to play high definition movie it will jerk in my m11x... the video will not run smoothly...NVIDIA GPU with 1080p suffered from a lot of stuttering ...

however if i use media player classic the issue is gone..

a lil google mention that the media player classic use the GPU to decode instead of relying on the CPU and VLc only utilize the CPU...

does it mean that by default the processor c2d 1.3 overclock to 1.6 is not good enough to run HD movie?

 

I believe you can change some settings to use the GPU for VLC.

And yes, for non-streaming HD stuff (especially 1080p videos) you will probably need to run off the 355m hardware decoding.

 

I've been trying for ages to hook up my wacom cintiq drawing tablet to my m11x with no success.

It works fine when the integrated intel chip is active, but once I switch over to the dedicated GT 335M the cintiq reports "no sync" and goes to a sleep state.

The cintiq is hooked up through VGA and when the m11x runs on the nvidia chip the cintiq displays properly when I reboot until windows loads and I run into the same issue.

Any tips?

 

er does this apply when my F8 Bios is already disabled?

i mean i can just "Create Recovery Media" like right now and try to hit the factory restore again using the USB flash

but if i do that, will it fix my F8 problem?

because im not willing to take another risk of doing this again if it will not work

i actually contacted dell, and they said they stop the request back up disc already for Alienware..

so this is my last resort to get the recovery


---------edit------------

woot, i was looking around, i found this... does this mean my partition are still there??? *pumped up

 

Twe Foju,

It looks like your recovery partition is intact.

See this link to review repairing your F8 MBR.

Let us know how it works out.

Drivers and Downloads

 

Anyone have any problems with WiFi disappearing randomly? Not very often, and randomly, when I turn on my M11x the WiFi card doesn't find ANY wireless networks, as if it's turned off. But the networks are there and WiFi is turned on verified by the blue light on the console above the keyboard. My iPhone connects perfectly so I know the network is fine. If I toggle the wireless off and back on it still doesn't find any networks. A reboot is the only way to get it working again. I've got a clean install of Windows 7 Professional installed. Any idea before I start uninstalling and reinstalling drivers? Thanks!

 

Are you turning this on and off via a keyboard short-cut or are you doing it manually via your connection settings?

Sometimes you may have the network adapter enabled, but since you have turned it off via the keyboard short-cut it may not be able to connect, but not show any problem on it's end.

That said, I doubt a reboot would revert the keyboard short-cut setting...