Fedup with my M15x suddenly.

OK.

So I got this laptop in September. It was blazing fast compared to my original machines - I was on the fast track of being an Alienware fanboy for life. Though, since receiving the machine I've reformatted about six times, for many reasons, security concerns/procedures being the biggest. But the last two recent formats this past month have been due to extremely quirky habits of the machine that seem to have "suddenly" occurred.

- First it was the keyboard and track pad disabling 20 seconds after booting up. No matter if it was a fresh install or an install I had fully equipped with all my software. Only remedy was restarting and plugging in an external mouse.

- Next the wireless adapter would for no reason at no notice "disappear" from the device manager and any other dialogs. Hence I had no internet access unless wired. Only remedy was restarting the system (this issue also caused a BSOD without a error line once - extremely weird).

- Just last night after the reinstall, my CD/DVD and other media drives (excluding the harddrive) disappeared from the device manager and any other dialogs as well. Again, a reboot remedy the issue.

Now an issue I've suffered since these past two formats is incredibly POOR performance. This is NOT a Stealth mode issue either. I could boot into a fresh copy of windows, click one thing and the entire system freeze. Any type of regular non-multitasking use or navigation would feel clunky, sluggish and sometimes down right dial-up like in performance (by that comment I don't mean internet surfing I mean general system use). Also to add insult to injury, recently while sitting on the desktop, doing nothing but surfing the web, my CPU would idle and sit at 74C temperature. So the fans were ramped up non-stop. Meanwhile I'm sitting at a desk with a clear surface under and around the machine and the ducts/heatsinks are not dusty as I clean them routinely.

I'm just so fed up with this system. Core i7, 5850 gfx, 4gb of ram (says only 3Gb usable now for some reason) and all the other higher-end goodies and it runs worse than my 6 year old machine.

Clearly a reinstall of Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit and updating drivers and whatnot is going to remedy this. Any advice?

/rant

 

Sorry to hear about these problems... but your premium system comes with premium support, use it!! Call Dell and let them fix your machine!

 

Cheers!

Though, calling technical support claiming my system runs "slow" and things selectively stop working will just result in them asking me to boot-up there slightly more than useless diagnostic software/tools and than them determining "nothing is wrong, it's just me" once it yields no failures (Ironically, there software/tools only determine if a device is either on or off more or less, on being it's not dead and off being it's dead more or less - it does not care if it's operating in any undesired manner as long as it "works").

I need to determine cause of the issue(s) here otherwise it'll just be as stated above or them asking me to send it to the depot (which is also against the warranty provided).

It all seems more software related than hardware, which gives Dell no reason to help. But my suspicions are the mobo and other peripherals are screwed more or less in some minor way.

 

@Up- you are correct. You intuition sounds correct to me. (This is more my area of specialty in IT). In the past I have been Dell certified for various server models (not a big deal, pass a simple test and keep it current).

When you have multiple issues and strange occurrences, Motherboard is usually my first thought. It's the infrastructure that ties everything together. You can try to reflash the bios or try a different bios but the MOBO would be my first thought to ask Dell to replace.

If you still have issues after a MOBO replacement then it's time to start looking at components that are connected to the MOBO and see if something is shorted or just faulty. A faulty ram stick can cause weird errors on your machine. Seriously, give the premium alienware guys a call (someone on here has the team number) explain your situation and see what they can do to remedy the issue.

Good luck,

StevenX

 

The touchpad and keyboard disabling reminds me of my MSI GX640. It would happen intermittently, yet the rest of the system would still work, including my external mouse. Problem has not occurred since the motherboard was replaced so like steven said, that's probably what's going on with yours unfortunately.

 

You can only see 3gb of RAM because you installed a 32bit version of Windows, not the 64bit it was supplied with.

Was it even supplied with a 32bit disk???!

Could it be possible you have downloaded a hokey pokey version of Win7?!?! I had some really dodgy versions of Win7 in the early days - they do exist.

 

man sorry to hear about all your problems. but i still recommend calling dell about your issues, just tell them your problems. and also state that you ran the diagnostic tools already and reformatted a few times, but it show nothing but you still have problems. let them do a remote connect if you have to, just let them do what they have to. just bear with them for awhile, if they can't fix it then you may end up getting a replacement.

 

Cheers guys,

Thanks for supporting my thoughts on the MOBO. I've assumed it's been the issue from the get go. I'll give the BIOS a re-flash, see what I can make of it. I've also done the no battery and PSU + power button for three minutes trick to power drain it, no changes.

Installed is a genuine retail copy of Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit. "4.00GB Installed (3.11GB usable)" exactly what it says which is as you said, inaccurate as 64bit can utilize far more ram than a 32bit OS (4GB limit). Not sure what to make of it by this point.

But I'll re-flash and take it from there.

I'm going to request a few parts swapped out, the keyboard space bar is seated improperly so I'll have that replaced, the touch pad physical buttons selectively work (not to mention the rubbers love falling out despite super gluing them), so that's going to be replaced as well. From there I guess it's the mobo on the chopping block.

I know this much, no fool-tech is touching the system, I'll request it so I handle it myself, as I did on my previous Dell systems.

 

I'm with you on doing the work yourself. I don't like the idea of someone else touching my system. The "tech" on the phone will probably not honor your request to replace the parts yourself, but you can just talk to the tech assigned to replace the parts and they may be able to accommodate you. I once convinced them to allow me to change the motherboard on an XPS m1210 myself, and just recently the touchpad panel on my M15X. I think most of the techs dispatched to do the actual work don't care either way. Good luck, hope everything gets sorted out.

 

I have had some of the same issues with mine, but reformatting every so often and re-installing Win7 w/ updated drivers seems to cure it every time. For some reason this is the only computer I have ever had these issues on but I have had Dell replace the motherboard on this since the last time and it DID fix the issues. Along with that, I had asked about a graphics card update, and they said it was out of the question and would void the warranty... Even though its a dell part... Load of bullocks from the tech rep they send every time.

 

How absolutely sure are you that you are installing an x64 OS?
The memory problem you mention is quite definately the result of a 32bit OS.

Other then that, insist Dell fixes your problem.
You shouldn't care if they replace the motherboard or just a screw, you want a decently working system.
Especially if you are in your warranty period, don't fiddle with it yourself, insist they fix it for you.

 

RE: the optical drive not working, go here and under "Windows 7" follow the second option. This is a common, sporadic issue with Windows Vista/7 based machines. I've seen it happen to four separate hardware configurations, and it only happens after fresh installs. A giveaway is the drive no longer appears in My Computer and the drive can be heard spinning. This may not be as audible on the M15x given how it's built.

Your CD drive or DVD drive is missing or is not recognized by Windows or other programs

 

Check the BIOS (F2 at the boot screen) and report the BIOS version and EC version reflected on the first/opening screen.

No offense, but the symptoms suggest so strongly that a 32bit version of Win7 is installed, would you just confirm the operating system by clicking on Start/Computer/System Properties (top bar). On the other hand, it could be a question of terminology. If it says you have 4GB installed with 3.11GB of available memory and you are substituting the term "usable", then that's normal.

​

 

Try this:

Go to msconfig, in boot tab click advance and you should see a drop down list of how many rams and how many processors. Uncheck/and/or untick the ram part.

Well if it's already unticked in the first place then i also have no other idea that i can think of. haha