R1 constantly rebooting, need quick opinions...

My R1 has been great for 6 months but starting acting strange so I did a full factory restore and it still will reboot sometimes three or four times in a row before settling down. I usually can't use it for more than 15 minutes or so before it either blue screens, locks up tight or reboots. This sounds to me more like a hardware problem than software because I restored it to factory and it still does it. Does this diagnosis make sense to you guys?

 

Have you cleaned the fan?

 

I haven't, but I have checked the temp of the CPU which always runs amazingly cool, I've never seen it above about 120 even when playing 1080p video. The Nvidia runs warmer, like 130s and the HD is always around 100 to 105. So the overheating idea occurred to me but seemed not to apply.

 

Wait... 120-130 is extreamly high; unless you are talking Ferinheight, but almost all programs ive seen read in Celcius by default. My R3 runs 70-80c, most notebook reviews claim above 90c is uneceptable and could damage the system

 

I should have been more clear...definitely fahrenheit. I was always amazed at how effortlessly it runs. It is now just rebooting constantly, sometimes I can get a couple of minutes of desktop and then it will go blank screen and reboot. It has rebooted 10 times at least just now. Poor little thing, I feel sorry for it...can't get it's head above water. I can't even get to a windows update.

 

possible hdd issue?

Try swapping in a extra hdd.

 

Possibly RAM related? Try taking out one of the RAM sticks. If it's not better, try just the other one. If it works with one of them, you know the one you took out is faulty. It's less likely that both sticks would be faulty so if it still happens then it's probably the HDD.

 

Hey! Try running the PSA or diagnostics, just turn on the computer, press F12 several times and select the last options (PSA,PSA+ or diagnostics) run even the extended memory test. If you get any errors during this process please send us an e-mail to [email protected] including your service tag and phone number and we will call you as soon as possible.

 

I appreciate the replies. I ran all the diagnostics and the only thing that came up wrong was the alienware head was not displaying the right colors when charging etc...not really too significant. Called Dell and went through all the diagnostics again on the phone. They said simply that the problem was software related and so it would cost extra for them to help fix it. They said I needed to re-install Windows. I told them that I did a full factory restore from the restore partition on the hard drive. They said that was not good enough, that I had to restore from the original Windows 7 disc. I said that I could easily do that without paid help from them. So, went ahead and re-installed from the Alienware Windows 7 disc that came with the unit. Went fine but then it still locks up tight when trying to install the NVidia drivers from the Dell website. I have tried installing this driver (V 263.08) many times and it always locks up halfway through and then I have to do a hard shutdown with the power button. I know that this must be hardware related and not software but not sure what to do at this point. It seems to me that the restore partition should work correctly and if it doesn't, then that should be Dell's problem not mine.

Turns out not so quick opinions....

 

Try the drivers from the Nvidia website; it should be v296.10. And do a clean istall so it deletes the dell driver.

 

Try this.

I've found faulty RAM which only had errors after 6 passes on memtest, no diagnostic tests could find it but it took several hours on memtest before i found it and got it RMA'd and replaced and running flawlessly now. But i already knew it was faulty because i used the above method.

If still nothing, then it's probably the HDD. If it's not software related then it is most probably one of those 2. If it was anything else it would be showing more sinister symptoms.

 

I'm running Spinrite on the drive...have downloaded the new drivers from the NVidia site and will try them when SR is done...thanks...will post up what happens.

Only extra I have is an SSD...Intel 320...will try that..thanks

Interesting...will try this in line with the others..thanks much. I agree..it sounds to me like ram or HDD...I just wish it were worse so it would show up in diagnostics...LOL

Thank you for the reply Luis, will do this too and get back to you!

 

Hi your computer may require a hardware replacement, please send us an e-mail to [email protected] and we will take care of you, include the service tag and the phone number to reach you. After the decision please let everyone know what happened and how the issue was solved. #IWork4AW

 

Well, I'm not really sure what happened. I finished running Spinrite on level 4 and it went through just fine with no hard drive errors. I went ahead and put the original 4GB of RAM back in and took out the 8GB Crucial that I had added. Everything was still the same...5 minutes at most before lockup or reboot. Dozens of .dmp files generated. So then I tried to do another factory restore from the restore partition on the hard drive but Dell Datasafe would not run. Got out my restore discs that I had made on my first day of ownership. They worked fine and back to factory new. (Incidentally, the Dell guy on the phone had told me that my M11X does not have a restore partition on the hard drive...even though I told him I could see a 14GB partition labeled RECOVERY...funny). So after this factory restore, the problem continued, which made me sure that it was a hardware problem....but I installed both the 296.10 and 301.42 from the Nvidia website as a sort of last try. Problem continued with each of these and of course I lost the ability to switch graphics.
After going back to the A02 Dell driver and getting the switchabilty back, I found that the problem only was happening when the unit was using the GT335...when I switched to the Intel graphics, all was fine...tested this for hours at a time...just fine. So now I am thinking that the 335M is having a hardware problem and after thinking about it, I'm not sure that the diagnostics that can be run from the BIOS actually tests the 335m...I don't know about this. So I thought I would try going backward and install the A01 driver from Dell (197.72), which is the driver version BEFORE the one that came on my M11X. All of a sudden everything is fine. I leave it running video for hours on the HDMI and it just keeps on going. Infuriating. So in order to isolate the problem, I then go ahead and update the driver to the A02 version from Dell (263.08), which is what came on my computer from the factory. Everything is still working fine.
So I am basically right back where I started except that everything is working fine now. It's just a computer being a computer...I have no explanation of what happened or what fixed it. I was just sure that it was a hardware failure but it's not failing now. I have plenty of warranty left and now have Luis as a contact in the future, so for the moment, all is well. Thanks much for all the suggestions from everyone... and if anyone has an explanation that I missed, please please post up! I find myself wishing for an "ah-hah" moment, but ....I probably won't get it. I still just love this little monster...best "netbook" ever.

 

Well, the return to normal was fleeting and it started doing exactly what it did before. If it is on the Intel graphics, it runs fine...as soon as it is switched over to the NVIDIA, it locks up within a couple of minutes of booting, if it boots up at all. Many times it locks up at a black screen or the welcome screen. So I sent an email as Luis suggested. Within two hours, I got a call...very nice guy named Frank. After talking, he sent me to Charles. We went through a few things, I told him how I had re-installed from the hard drive partition, the recovery discs that I had made, and also from the Windows 7 disc...multiple times. Told him how I had switched out the RAM to check that. Ran Spinrite on the drive, no errors. Same problem after all of them. He said to hold for a minute and then said he is sending a box to send them the unit for motherboard replacement. Box will be here monday.
Luis was right, they contacted me promptly, were very good on the phone, spoke english very well so I could understand...it was all good and they deserve to have the story told on here. I'll post up when the little monster comes back. Carlos from Alienware thinks that it is bad memory in the Nvidia gpu and I am inclined to agree. Thanks to Luis, Frank and Carlos (Charles) ...good job.

 

Dell shipped the box on friday, I got it on monday and put the computer in and gave it back to the Fedex guy. They fixed it tuesday and it went back out to me today. I will get it tomorrow...this is great service.

 

Those are awesome comments! Thank you very much! Let us know how it goes when you get the computer back.

 

Well, I have had the little monster running since I got it back yesterday and it is doing great. Watched some video on the big screen through the HDMI port, and all is very good again. I have noticed that the switching from the NVIDIA to the Intel graphics and back happens much faster now and with less flashing of the screen, even more smoothly than when the computer was new...so it may be that something was a little wrong right from the start. Dell/Alienware's response was great and sending the computer in on a monday and having it back on thursday certainly demonstrates a commitment to getting these things done fast.
Luis, I would ask you a question...on the sheet that came back with it, they listed the work done as "other"...I was under the impression that they were going to replace the motherboard...can you tell me what they actually did?

PS, I PMed you the service tag