Newb in need of help. 15x isn't doing so well.

So I have reformatted my computer twice since starting to experience performance as well as malfunctioning problems this past month.

First thing I noticed was that though I had no problem playing LFD 1 a couple months ago(took some time off of gaming) I can now not play LFD 2, Mass Effect 2, Half Life 2, or Team Fortress 2 at anything but the lowest resolution and graphic options. I bought all these games last month.

The next thing that started happening was my computer would freeze and/or go totally black. Sometimes it'd recover and I'd get a message(running Vista) saying that my graphics card driver failed and recovered. Sometimes the screen would just blank out and the computer will shut down.

My suspicions are that the computer has been running too hot and that the GPU and the CPU are damaged as I ran the performance test in Vista since reformatting and it appears that my processor is not as fast as it once was.

I'd like to run some more tests and then post the results here so people can check them out and confirm my suspicions. I am out of warranty and I am in China to make things even more complicated.

So if someone could recommend an acceptable performance test program that be a huge step in diagnosing the issue.

After reformatting for the second time my GPU seems to have failed once and it was when the computer was seriously hot. So i probably have a fan issue that caused this whole thing. Surprise Surprise.

 

Can you post some temps for us to see?

This program can get those for you: CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting

 

Can you post your system Specs along with the temps you're receiving?

In the event of it being your Graphics Card driver, why not try uninstalling the current drivers, run ccleaner, and download the lastest ones available from your manufacturers website. Reboot and test again.

Could also try the power drain trick - Shut down the system > remove battery > hold down the power button for 20secs (I believe this is the procedure but one of the guys should confirm as I don't yet own my m15x)

If you are having issues in-game check Steath mode is disabled - Should be a little speedometer on your touch panel. Brightly light means it's enabled and will severely downclock your machine.

 

power drain is a method for any computer and laptop actually, and yeah that's the correct procedure

Stealth mode is definitely somethin to considerf with low fps

Chances are your driver is not correctly installed or you have some aftermarket drivers like omega drivers or something. Try to use dell drivers

I have a 5870m and I run at like 65c max, it can handle much higher. I am inclined to think that it isn't your GPU overheating. The HL engine is limited to 100fps without developer so the GPU shouldn't be working as hard as say Crysis or something

 

Thanks for the info I wasn't aware this worked for all systems.

 

i had the issue of a screen going black and then getting a message about the video card driver crashing on my last desktop (8800GTX card). in the end it turned out that my video card was toast. this might be your problem, but its hard to say for sure. there is a program that you burn to a CD called "video memory stress test" or something along those lines that I used to test my card. you may want to give that a try.

 

I did a temp check real quick and got this basic info:

Hardware monitor ACPI
Temperature 0 80°C (176°F) [0xDCC] (THRM)

Hardware monitor Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo T9500
Temperature 0 45°C (113°F) [0x37] (Core #0)
Temperature 1 42°C (107°F) [0x3A] (Core #1)

Hardware monitor NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GT
Temperature 0 73°C (163°F) (GPU Core)

Hardware monitor ST932042 1ASG
Temperature 0 44°C (111°F) [0x2C] (Assembly)
Temperature 2 44°C (111°F) [0x2C] (Air Flow)

Hardware monitor Battery 1
Voltage 0 10.69 Volts [0x29C2] (Current Voltage)
Capacity 0 56160 mWh [0xDB60] (Designed Capacity)
Capacity 1 43384 mWh [0xA978] (Full Charge Capacity)
Capacity 2 17269 mWh [0x4375] (Current Capacity)
Level 0 23 pc [0x4D] (Wear Level)
Level 1 40 pc [0x27] (Charge Level)

I still need to try some other suggestions so I will reply soon with my recent attempts to uncover what is wrong. I do have the latest GPU driver installed and have installed and uninstalled it many times over and have tried different versions as well.

 

Temps look fine. In-game?

You say you have installed/uninstalled different drivers many times, make sure you clean up the registry using CCleaner. Could be conflicting driver issues if one hasn't been removed correctly.

 

When we update Nvidia & other Drivers
do we need to uninstall old drivers

or can we just install new drivers above the old ones ?

Thanks

 

1) Install CCleaner - Optimization and Cleaning - Free Download
2) Uninstall current drivers from control panel / add-remove programs
3) Reboot computer into safe mode
4) Run CCleaner and remove the drivers completely with it
5) Reboot back into normal operating mode
6) Install new drivers
7) Reboot - and done.

 

Really??? Uninstall the old driver then try putting in a new one.

Actually I thought I had the newest as recommended by windows update but then I went on NVIDIA's website and installed the newest one and then my computer wouldn't recognize my Graphic Card so I went back to the old one with out uninstalling and it is working the same. I ran CCleaner each time to fix the registry.

I been on my computer dealing with crashes all night and I recorded the top temperature of the GPU to be 95C and this is with no video games.

I installed Performance Test(64bit) and ran their benchmark test 3 times. Each time when the test got to the 3D part of the test the computer crashed. Might have blue screened on one of them but otherwise the screen just went blank and shut down.

I can try the whole uninstall driver option tomorrow but doesn't it seem like something else is wrong with the video card? I mean I completely reformatted my computer 3 times because I was experiencing these issues. In the past with other computers I never had such a problem with having to uninstall old drivers especially after a reformat.

Is it time to get a new GPU? Could the CPU be damaged as well? I'll try more things tomorrow. Thanks you to all who have helped me out. I appreciate it.

So here are the Specs on my computer once again:
Alienware 15x purchased May 2009 | Intel Core 2 Duo CPU @ 2.6GHz | 4GB RAM | Windows Vista Home Premium 64 Bit

 

It's definetly not impossible that your graphics card is damaged.
You can always just call Dell and have them come and replace it. Assuming you bought a decent service agreement with the system.

 

when it started happening on my desktop my first thought was my video card was the driver was borked. i updated the driver, didnt fix it (and did a lot of other troubleshooting). i called dell and they said it could be the video card or the mobo. which is a pretty vague way to troubleshoot anything. so i replaced the card and let the thing run for a week straight and never saw the issue again.

|MG| Video Memory Stress Test 1.7.116 Download

this was the test i was talking about. give that a try. if the temps you posted were at idle or not in game it could not be accurate. i am still thinking your card is fried.

 

I ran the windows version of the test and it had no errors. I tried to boot the test from a DVD and it just wouldn't work. I said something was disconnected.... I should try again but as I said I ran the other bench mark test and everytime it went to the 3d part it just crashed... Can I just replace the GPU myself. I don't have a service plan because I am in China.

 

i3/i5/i7 processors can confuse windows indexing... you gotta run it two to three times to get an accurate reading of it..

Why are you still using Vista?

 

Here I ran the test 3 times no errors:

Changing video mode to 640x480x16...OK
[9/7/2010 6:18:29 AM] Test started for "Primary Display Driver (NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GT)"...
Trying 16bpp RGB:565 mode...OK
Trying 16bpp RGB:555 mode...OK
Trying 16bpp BGR:565 mode...NOT SUPPORTED (Code: 80004001)
Trying 32bpp RGB:888 mode...OK
Trying 32bpp BGR:888 mode...NOT SUPPORTED (Code: 80004001)
[9/7/2010 6:50:44 AM] Pass completed (0 errors found).


[9/7/2010 8:23:14 AM] Test started for "Primary Display Driver (NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GT)"...
Trying 16bpp RGB:565 mode...OK
Trying 16bpp RGB:555 mode...OK
Trying 16bpp BGR:565 mode...NOT SUPPORTED (Code: 80004001)
Trying 32bpp RGB:888 mode...OK
Trying 32bpp BGR:888 mode...NOT SUPPORTED (Code: 80004001)
[9/7/2010 8:54:59 AM] Pass completed (0 errors found).


Changing video mode to 640x480x16...OK
[9/9/2010 5:52:23 AM] Test started for "NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GT"...
Trying 16bpp RGB:565 mode...OK
Trying 16bpp RGB:555 mode...OK
Trying 16bpp BGR:565 mode...NOT SUPPORTED (Code: 80004001)
Trying 32bpp RGB:888 mode...OK
Trying 32bpp BGR:888 mode...NOT SUPPORTED (Code: 80004001)
[9/9/2010 6:09:48 AM] Pass completed (0 errors found)

 

I ran the system test that came with Windows and got these scores. I remember running this test when I first got my computer and I felt my Processor scored much higher...
Processor(Intel Core 2 Duo T9500 @ 2.6GHZ) : 3.8
Memory (4GB): 4.1
Graphics (NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GT): 5.9
Gaming graphics: 5.4
Primary Hard Disk: 5.9

 

i3/i5/i7 processors can confuse windows indexing... you gotta run it two to three times to get an accurate reading of it..

Why are you still using Vista?
__________________

He got the previous version of the M15x which is the m15x. That model are known to have heating issue. If you had done a clean install of the video driver and the issue still continuing. I think your card is dieing. The last thing you can do is try the oven trick http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...r-your-dead-graphics-card-your-alienware.html.

 

[QUOTE
He got the previous version of the M15x which is the m15x. That model are known to have heating issue. If you had done a clean install of the video driver and the issue still continuing. I think your card is dieing. The last thing you can do is try the oven trick http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...r-your-dead-graphics-card-your-alienware.html.[/QUOTE]

OK....so I read about this enough to actually believe it isn't a cruel joke...So how do I exactly get this graphics card out?

 

Assuming the m15x is the same as the M15x internally:

Turn your lappy over, remove the battery. There are two screws holding the back panel on right were the battery clips in, remove those and then slide the panel. You will see two fans. With the battery side closest to you you will remove the fan to your right, and then the heatsink. That card is held in by two screws, vertical from where you are looking (assuming the battery slot is still closest to you). Remove the screws and then card will pop out. Carefully pull the card out and preheat the oven.

 

maybe this will help, area 51 m15x right?

Alienware m15x upgrade guide

 

Hail yes!! Where did you pull that out of, Inap? Championship response. +rep. (edit: when allowed)

 

Thanks for all your help everyone once again...I will be trying this out ASAP...I'll let you know how it goes.

 

So I tried to cook the video card....No luck...The problem isn't really any worse but it is no better. What I do notice now, which might have been going on the whole time but I missed was that any time the fan goes on the graphics card starts to fail.

 

What should I do now? Should I replace the GPU?? Is the computer just going to fry the new one like it did the old one? I guess I can get one of the external fans for the computer. If I get a new GPU can I get better one then I had before? Where online do they sell it?

 

Should look into this first before installing a new card to avoid killing the card very soon.