My m15x has died on me...

Hi all,

I was sitting by my window last Sunday and my laptop suddenly switched off. When it restarted, vertical black stripping appeared all over the place. When it got to loading windows, I got the blue screen of death with all sorts of error messages after which it switched off and retarted again.

I broke this cycle by starting it in safe mode and then switching it off. I thought it might be a virus/windows problem, so I reinstalled windows (from the CD) but the stripping remains (although windows loaded normally, though very slowly); sometimes it's vertical and sometimes kinda horizontal stripping. The stripping is always present, from when I turn the laptop on..

Some history: My m15x has had a history of switching off on its own (about once a month, sometimes more, especially when i'm playing games but even when im not). From what I could tell it seemed to be a problem with the RAM but nothing I tried sovled the problem. (Looking back tho, I probably should have bought some new RAM, didn't want to given all the money I had spent)

So my question to you all is: from the description i've given you, do you know what the problem is? Could it be a RAM problem?
Is it worth me buying some new RAM to see if that solves the problem? (Where can I find some cheap alienware compatible ram?)

I'm no longer under warrenty. When my m15x broke, i didn't even care that much. So many problems with it over the years (2 years!) has worn me down; screen lid poping open (twice now), graphics card failing, keyboard keys falling out, laptop randomly switching off etc.

I don't really want to spend too much money repairing it, I already feel pretty guilty having wasted so much of my parents money already.

Anyway, any ideas....

Cheers,
Overtime

 

i'm guess you have the area 51 m15x, my best guess would be the the gpu is falling on you, that why you get the stripping. the bsod and shut could be ram, but could also be the gpu is getting to hot and it shut itself off. did you monitor your temps, or monitor the ram useage. listing your specs may help others help you fasters also.

 

You buy it with a credit card? Most cards will provide an extra year of warranty, just file a claim to them or something like that.


Got the info on the credit card extended warranty from this.
Notebook Warranty Guide

 

Thanks for the response.

I regularly check my temps and clean the fans out. I never saw my temps go above 90-95 degrees during gaming. When my computer died, I wasn't gaming on it.

I'm pretty sure it's not the GPU as i've experiened a GPU failure before...

My specs are:

Alienware m15x:
Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme X9000
NVidia® GeForce™ Go 8800M-GTX - 512 MB
4 GB DDR2 SO-DIMM
400 GB Hard drive
15.4" WideXGA+ 1440 x 900 (720p)

That would involve telling my dad! I've just started earning and have alredy saved enough to buy myself a new laptop. I would rather just do that then involve my parents.

I think the best chance of salvaging the situation is to buy new RAM...Any cheap suggestions?

Thanks again.