Alienware M17 Freezes & other Issues

Hello, i have an Alienware M17 and i'm experiencing a lot of problems since i have installed Windows 7 64bits and even before that when i had Vista 64bits. Here's my configuration:

M17 17" WXGA+ W/ CAM BLK-PNT REV. 2
CPEN,INTEL QX9300 CPU,2530/1066,12M,FCPGA8
2x ELPIDA 1GB DDR3 PC2-8500 SO-DIMM 1067MHZ
M17 ATI RADEON M88 XT 512MB HD3870 MASTER REV. 1
M17 ATI RADEON M88 XT 512MB HD3870 SLAVE REV. 1
M17 (W840) CROSSFIRE CABLE
ILLUMINATED KEYBOARD WITH NUMERIC PAD - UK
SEAGATE 160GB 7200RPM FFS HDD REV4
8X DVD+/-RW NEC AD-7590S SATA
INTEL SHIRLEY PEAK 3X3 AGN FULL MINI-CARD
M17 INTERNAL HIGH-DEFINITION AUDIO W/SS

And as i said i'm running Windows 7 64 bits. While Playing game such as Fallen Earth, Aion or even Age of Conan i experience a lot of screen freezes and also a lot of "sound bugs" as i call them, that's when the sound freezes or is distorded. I thought i should get myself the latest drivers for my system but when i go to MyHive the only drivers are find are the default one that came with my system when it was shipped... I also thought it could be a RAM problem, what do you think? Another problem i was experiencing is that when i use mobile broadband for an extended period of time the M17 just forgets, or ejects the USB dongle and i have to wait like 3 minutes until it realises again that it is plugged in... My last problem is more of an esthetical issue, when i boot my PC, there's this black Alienhead which appears during startup, so the first bootscreen, right? Well mine's being displayed in a weird distorded resolution like instead of being stretched down properly its like very pixelised and with a erm... Box like resolution. However, after that the resolution is just fine... Please help me out on this guys! Thanks

PS: Forgot to say that i removed the Contol center since it was leaking all my memory, but that's not relevant i guess.

 

have you tried reading any posts on this forum?

 

Yeah, but i didn't see anything helful in my case. Most posts are about the M17x, i have an M17. I found a page that tells about M17 drivers with W7 but these didn't work out too well, had to remove them.

 

try upgrading your ram to 4gb. 2gb at 64bit OS is not very good.

 

That's what i thought. Anything you can recommend on Amazon uk? The guys at alienware want 600 bucks for a RAM upgrade... I can't afford to pay that much. Also, got any ideas for a temporary solution?

 

no, do not upgrade anything from alienware. They sell it more expensive. You can get it way cheaper online. I got mine from newegg.com for usd60+ only.

 

Any sites in the UK? And also should i go with ELPIDA RAM? And how about my USB issues, that's not the RAM is it?

 

hmm, Im not so sure about in UK, but I'm sure you can get cheaper ram from elsewhere rather than alienware. I would recommand you to buy kingston ram. I'm not so sure about the USB issue.

btw, if you're having so much issues I think it would be better to call up alienware and ask them to fix everything for you. I hope its still under warranty.

 

The freezes you get in games its probably the stuttering issue M17 has with quads which theres still not an official way to fix it if i recall correctly. The only thing that was released to try and fix the stuttering was the B14 bios.

As for ram you definitely need 4gb especially on a 64bit os.
As for the usb, does that happen when your computer is idle for a few minutes ?
The bios issue its not a good one, if the new bios dont manage to fix that i smell a hardware issue since drivers dont load at that point.

Never used control centrer myself so i can safely say its not needed for any of the basic functions

 

sorry my mistake, get so many Noob's asking questions that are covered on here!

I do apologise!

 

I tried to re-instal the BIOS and contacted Alienware but the resolution remains ugly, though some people in my family who have an AW also have that pixellised boot screen. But hold on, B14? MyHive gives me B13 and that's it.

As for the USB problems, no, it disconnects while i am playing an MMO and so kicks me out of the game, so i angrily go to desktop to check for a signal and realise that the USB device is no longer recognized until it re-appears 2 minutes later...

Anyone got ideas where i can order the RAM from in the UK?

Also @photoscubaman Don't worry, that's fine

 

Did you try the esata port to see if it happens there as well ? Also are you using high performance or balanced profile (doubt this will help this issue though, but no harm in trying).
Im using scan.co.uk and overclockers.co.uk, never bought ram from them though so not sure if they sell any (they probably do though ).

As for the B14 i can upload a copy if you want one.

 

No thanks, i found it on myHive. I'm on High Performance right now. I'm not sure what you mean by esata port, is that like the SD Card Slot on the left side?

 

it's the port in the back of the computer that uses the usb drive.

reinstall your chipset driver and see what happens......

install a new one from intel or something like that.

 

Okay, thanks Can anything be done about the BIOS? I installed version 14 but the resolution of the Alienhead is still, well ugly...

 

I used the ocz bios.

 

The OCZ BIOS?

 

Oh and by the way i really would love to find out where i can get the drivers that i need for W7 from... Does anyone know? The ones that are posted on this forum don't work properly with my system.

 

the ocz whitebook.

 

Marvie made a thread about m17 win7 drivers, you will probably find everything there.

 

I'll have a look, thank you CooLMinE

 

Need Help guys

I have AW m17 (64 bit)with Vista Ultimate
2x3870 card
Dual Raid 0 hard drives


I tryed to install the Windows 7 Ultimate
& had POP UP saying 1 hard drive failed
so had to get 1 new one

could it because of Windows 7 ?
or drivers update needed
or Bios Update needed ?
or other .....

Please Help

 

it die because it was tie for the hdd to go bad. i hope you backed up all your data.

 

Sorry I dont understand ?
I have got new hard drive & installed everything
back again now its in Raid 0 again

Can I try & install Windows 7 again
or do i need some drivers or Software before I do that ?

Yes i have all back up

 

NovaAurora iv been tracking a stutter issue on my M17 for the past few months now. recently i came across information on this forum. so far i have made huge headway.

Do you have a quadcore processor? it may be related to that. Check out this thread i started a week or 2 back i think where finally starting to make some headway on the issue (if your issue is the same as the rest of us)

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=440281

I have used Zfactor's modded .28 bios, and re-applied arctic silver 5 thermal grease and has reduced my stuttering quite a bit. the issue has not stopped. but it has gotten better, and props to zfactor and others for making headway on this issue hopefully well see something in the weeks to follow.

And maybe you are more patient then i am. but i have given up 100% on AW/Dell support after total morons told me to, even at the start do figure out how to do disk checks and memory checks myself because they didnt know how, and dealing other complete lunatics. (sorry my lil rant =/) maybe if your patient enough they can help you, although they ont seem to have much knowledge in their field - some do, not knocking them all. i did actually talk to 1 decent guy

Again, take a look, maybe your issue has nothing to do with some other M17 users

@ Braveheart, Dondahdah88 stated that the Hardrive died because it was time for it to go bad, i believe, which can happen, hard drives dont last forever.

 

Thank you & god Bless
you have been very Helpful
thxs again

 

I must disagree with you about the price that they are asking for the two ELPIDA 2GB DDR3 PC2-8500 SO-DIMM 1067MHZ...
Today I called them and purchased the two modules for roughly 64 Euro.
I have the same freezing problem...
I will update you when I will receive and install the memory!

... I was surprised too when they said the price...