Unresolved, Difficult to classify R1 Issue.

My R1 in the below signature...has weird..almost crashing like problem. I'll be doing various tasks such as chatting via googlechat...playing music, and surfing the internet..and all of a sudden, the programs all start to crash or become unstable! This happens after about 1.5-2hrs use! The music will become distorted, if it's a music video, then the video goes all green/matrix like. My google chrome browser will become unresponsive and start to "flicker"... I've tried to check temps to see if it's an overheating issue...and speedfan constantly crashes while trying to open it. FYI, the laptop does NOT feel hot to touch, just warm.

I'll check the windows task manager..and see the various mentioned programs are eating up a hell of a lot of resources, pegging my CPU useage to 100%. Ram usage tends to be within the normal 30-40%. I can be plugged in, or on batter, doesn't matter. I currently use a program called Soluto that monitors program crashes along with simplifying program startups.

I've tried to check and see if it's my GPU, and GPU-Z will show sometimes that the shader or memory clocks are 0! Nvidia 335m is active though! And I'm currently running stock clocks. I've run ram checks through windows, hard drive checks through windows, and apparently they're fine...only hardware I haven't run is the processors via Prime95.

So what the hell is the issue? I'm currently in AFghanistan on deployment, so internet use is limited...dust is a major issue, and I'm well aware I need a good cleaning, but can't really do it safely here in this enviroment. Is this a hardware issue? Or a software issue with windows?

Oh btw...restarting apparently fixes all this..but then I lose data on what I was doing IE online classes.

 

Have you tried a fresh install of windows? It sounds like a software issue, especially since you have programs running at 100%...sounds like a virus or something.

I'm not sure what kind of hardware problem would cause this except a harddrive issue, and thats probably not the issue.

 

that seems to be the only other option. As for viruses, I'm using comodo firewall, microsoft essentials scans, and malwarebytes scans...and both say my system is clean. I'd like to see if any other responses come up before i do a full windows install.

 

Is it an overheating issue? Reinstall windows and hope that fixes it and pray its not a hardware issue or ur gpu is dying.

 

Ok lets get some stuff straight.

When you say crashes...does it turn off completely without warning, or are you getting a BSOD..or does it just flicker and become really slow?

If your still under warranty i'd back everything up, fresh install windows, and if it persists call dell for a replacement.

 

Windows doesn't crash, no BSOD and doesn't turn off completely. My programs will crash! My VLC player, Gom player, steam, google chrome, speedfan, cpu-z, etc will crash. Warranty is out....just a month ago too. Guess a Fresh install is in way.

 

There are apps you can use at startup that will show your temps full time so you can monitor for change rather than trying to load after the fact.

Do you still have issues after a few hours in safe mode? Try the BIOS diag?

 

Can you elaborate on these apps, and what bios diagnostics? If you're talking about the hardware diagnostics...yes I've run those with apparently no problems noted. Haven't had a chance to do a fresh install or windows repair yet cause I still have to back everything up.

 

Pretty much anything that will read the temp you want to monitor. I have a widget based thing I was using for a while "Orbmu2k" as its transparent and small.

OrbLog Blog Archive NVIDIA GPU Temp – Sidebar Gadget

NOT saying that is what you need just that there are many things like that available. Use what you have but launch it after boot up. If it provides logging you can enable that also.

I'm also NOT saying its going to help you solve the problem.

 

use alien respawn, and back to factory settings. should be relatively easy. If the problem stays... I'd say it's a hardware issue.

 

does movement provoke this? i would have similar issues when ram wasn't seated properly, and sort of similar on my old gaming desktop as it had issues with SATA ports and sometimes it wouldn't contact properly i guess so the software which was on that HDD Would go all slow and unresponsive... though in latter you should get a BSOD instead of lag... though if you could take out hdd and blow if any dust out of there i guess it should solve it?

 

You know, I'm suspecting a registry issue with my problem. This started happening after I used CCcleaner and Driversweeper to install the new nvidia driver. I even made a restore point PRIOR to doing all of those. I started having problems...tried to restore...and of course, system restore didn't do it make the backup properly somehow... lol. I mean, , if I can't even restore to my last point of system stability, what the hell is the use of the feature. Either way, I'm in Afghanistan...and dont have my windows installation disc...I can't use the created windows 7 repair disc to reinstall can I?

Oh and of course I uninstalled that Alienware stuff long ago thinking it to be bloatware since windows has those functions..../sigh

No, movement doesn't do it, since it's sitting on a table while it happens. Now, I've suspected a ram problem, but I've run the hardware diagnostics and found no problems. I'm gonna open her up and clean out the dust and see if that helps...but working in a surgical team overseas makes that process risky. I can imagine myself opening her up, and then get an urgent patient into the ICU...crap, now I gotta push everything aside, lose pieces, drop things etc...

 

If you pulll a panel or kb is it dusty inside?

 

Do you have a external DVD drive with you? You could try to run it off a Linux live cd or do the in windows install that lets you dual boot "Ubuntu 10" to see if it gives you the same problems doing basic tasks. If you don't like it you can uninstall it like a regular program.

 

Ok so I'm suspecting that I need to do a windows reinstall. I just backed up all my files..and lo and behold...a windows video execution file "couldn't be found" to back up. Unfortunately I didn't write down or save the exact message I got from windows...dumb part on me. But I'll be going back to the states for R/R leave in Apr. I'll do my tear down/clean up/windows reinstall and see what happens.

Ironically, I just played like 2hrs of DOW2 on steam with no problems....so I can't watch/listen to movies/mp3s, mp4s on my Gom or VLC player...but I can play demanding games..../sigh so freakin stupid.

As for the Linux live cd part...how would I go about making that cd? If it involves downloading linux...ugh....that's a long as download out here. And yes I do have an external dvd drive.

Thank you for everyones input so far. I've considered everything everyone has said, and it's been helpful.

 

I own an R1 as well, but thankfully have never had this happen myself. (Knock on wood!) Where I work, we use an Aurora-R2 for one of our project workstations that had a similar problem. I used Ubuntu's latest stable version on a USB drive. It was about ~700MB download or so. I ended up restoring directly from Dell's "Factory.wim" image via the command line just this morning. Now I'm waiting for my co-worker's Alienware to redownload allll the Windows updates. Such a pain. Let me know if you need any input at all!