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    "overheating" mystery.

    Discussion in 'Alienware M15x' started by Zenobia K'eal, Sep 30, 2016.

  1. Zenobia K'eal

    Zenobia K'eal Notebook Consultant

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    Ok so I've got an interesting issue. My m15x is shutting down randomly and is displaying signs that look like it's over heating.... but it's not. For awhile my cpu fans would ramp way up (before windows reinstall) and the system looked like it was throttling but I was to lazy to figure it out until after i reinstalled windows.

    I also did a reflow on an hd 6970m recently. And it appears to be working fine (yay!) And running in this system.

    My current problem is. That the fans ramp way up. Sit there and shut down. After much struggling. I managed to get hwinfo on it and sure enough non of my temps are going over 70c. Cpu and gpu are sitting around mid 60s if not lower, and this is with as5 on it. A "meh" thermal paste. And the system just ****s down. I hear a small "pop" sound from the speakers and then it's off. If I turn it on right away. It turns back off more quickly then if I leave it alone.

    I have NO idea what's running so darn hot. The heatsinks don't even feel that warm.

    Any ideas?

    Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using Tapatalk
     
    Zenobia K'eal, Sep 30, 2016
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  2. Zenobia K'eal

    Zenobia K'eal Notebook Consultant

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    Also if I put my gt240m in there it STILL shuts down.

    M system has a 920xm in it. Non over clocked.

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    Zenobia K'eal, Sep 30, 2016
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  3. kosti

    kosti Notebook Virtuoso

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    Can you get your hands on another power adapter and try that? Make sure it's at least 150W and a genuine Dell adapter.

    My guess would be a bad power adapter or a bad motherboard. I would lean towards a bad motherboard because in all my years I have never experienced a bad Dell power adapter.
     
    kosti, Oct 1, 2016
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  4. Zenobia K'eal

    Zenobia K'eal Notebook Consultant

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    Well coincidentally I got a 330w Psu in today.

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    Zenobia K'eal, Oct 1, 2016
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  5. Zenobia K'eal

    Zenobia K'eal Notebook Consultant

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    I can also use my old 90w Psu with the 240m in it. That worked perfectly before. I don't think it's a psu issue either though.

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    Zenobia K'eal, Oct 1, 2016
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  6. Jdpurvis

    Jdpurvis Notebook Evangelist

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    I have to agree with Kosti - though it could be a bad connection or intermittent short in the power supply part of the motherboard. You might try opening it up as much as possible and blowing dust out of everywhere with compressed air - and check all of the surface and visible components on the motherboard for any evidence of damage. Good luck - replacing a motherboard is not a lot of fun.

    J
     
    Jdpurvis, Oct 1, 2016
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  7. Zenobia K'eal

    Zenobia K'eal Notebook Consultant

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    I've done a full teardown. It's not to bad in this thing. :)

    It isn't a mystery heat issue. It IS a heat issue. I got gpu z on it and it is showing gpu temps short of 90c. (87c) under load

    But "temp 2 and 3) are north of 90c before shut down.

    Does anyone know what part that is on the hd 6970m?

    Other than that the system is stable now.

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    Zenobia K'eal, Oct 1, 2016
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  8. Mobius 1

    Mobius 1 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    I guess the VRM
     
    Mobius 1, Oct 1, 2016
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  9. smoking2k

    smoking2k Notebook Consultant

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    you could try lapping the gpu heatsink if it got warped somehow and or increasing the contact pressure with some washers applying fresh thermal pads for the memory chips. Good thing with the m15x you can drop any new gpu in it without issue.
     
    smoking2k, Oct 2, 2016
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  10. Zenobia K'eal

    Zenobia K'eal Notebook Consultant

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    heatsink is fne, whatever is running hot is something other than the gpu die itself, im guessing mobious is right, VRMs. but to my knowledge i have all of them covered with thermal pad.
     
    Zenobia K'eal, Oct 2, 2016
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  11. kosti

    kosti Notebook Virtuoso

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    If this shutdown is happening even when replacing the 6970M with the 240M, I think it's safe to assume that the GPU is not the issue here. You may want to try a different CPU to troubleshoot this but I have a feeling your motherboard is to blame.
     
    kosti, Oct 2, 2016
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