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    M17X Freezing during gaming

    Discussion in 'Alienware' started by alexsga, Jul 11, 2009.

  1. benthedogtrainer

    benthedogtrainer Notebook Evangelist

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    I hate to say it folks ...but it goes back to my other statement ...they have had alot of issues with the 260's
     
  2. ThaDutchy

    ThaDutchy Notebook Evangelist

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    Done the full test with F12 during BIOS and nothing was found.
    So I'm gonna do a new clean install of windows hopes this will help for not freezing during gaming.
    As per comment by Quad it could be a driver issue of course. I surely do hope so!
     
  3. Doomy

    Doomy Notebook Geek

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    Where are you getting that information from Ben?
    Or is it just in your experience?
     
  4. Care-Factor

    Care-Factor Newbie

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    I turned Vsync off in the graphics options and ran the game in opengl mode and didnt have a problem at all with it. Raided and instanced for 5 hours last night without a single freeze up.

    Interesting to note though that with Vsync off the Fps went from 60 to 200.
     
  5. sleey0

    sleey0 R.I.P. AW Side Topics

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    Of course vsync is going to increase your frame rates. LOL

    When vsync is on it locks your frame rate to your displays refresh rate (ie 60Hz)....
     
  6. Quadzilla

    Quadzilla The eye is watching you

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    Yeah and Vsync can just hurt performance in general since if your not getting 60fps it will drop to 30 but you can combat that with triple buffering.
     
  7. sleey0

    sleey0 R.I.P. AW Side Topics

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    I've never been a fan of vsync and always leave it disabled...
     
  8. Billdozed

    Billdozed Notebook Geek

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    Had the same exact issues a couple weeks back. Getting system replaced. Should be here in a couple days.
     
  9. Quadzilla

    Quadzilla The eye is watching you

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    Aye i as well . If there is a game though that has some horrible tearing going on i might enable it but thats usually more of a driver thing then the game .


    One advantage of running with Vsync on is it will help keep your temps lower if the game your playing allows you to go over 60fps . 130fps will generate alot more heat to the cards for example.
     
  10. benthedogtrainer

    benthedogtrainer Notebook Evangelist

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    both long story big issues
     
  11. Doomy

    Doomy Notebook Geek

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    Fair enough, just if your going to bag something you sort of need to back it up with examples.

    I certainly have have had no issues and heard of no more issues with 260's than 280's.
     
  12. ThaDutchy

    ThaDutchy Notebook Evangelist

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    Are you telling me that you had the same issue with the freezing? Or what are you refering to? :confused: Yesterday I had my complete fresh installation and installation of games. Didn't have time to test it Properly... So hopefully I find the time to do that this afternoon. :)
     
  13. benthedogtrainer

    benthedogtrainer Notebook Evangelist

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    if you take the time and SEARCH the forums with your issues u will see in matter of fact multiple threads on this issue...i have3 had lot if issues with the cards for example i am into this computer over grand and i have 2 sets of 260's and 2set's of 280's ....the 280's are a better card....take the time and call tech support or SEARCH forums...
     
  14. ThaDutchy

    ThaDutchy Notebook Evangelist

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    I don't get Ben? The 260 and 280 are phisically the same card, only some shaders where cut. So why would the 260 be bad compared to the 280?

    But if mine is bad, (keep you posted), you may add mine to your bad 260 list... ;)
     
  15. The_Moo™

    The_Moo™ Here we go again.....

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    lol i flashed my GTX 260m to a GTX 280m :confused:
     
  16. benthedogtrainer

    benthedogtrainer Notebook Evangelist

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    BECAUSE I HAVE GONE THROUGH 2 SETS OF THEM and not had any issues with the 280's.....at all.....

    and have you had both cards in your hand physically .....ever...i have they are different the 280 weigh's more also ...which to be honest i dont know what it means and it is a tad bit longer too...the heat sink is heaver...i know this because I HAVE DONE THIS
     
  17. The_Moo™

    The_Moo™ Here we go again.....

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    they are the SAME card im telling you ....
     
  18. sleey0

    sleey0 R.I.P. AW Side Topics

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    Same cards and heatsinks... Are you sure your not experiencing some kind of placebo effect, ben?

    lol
     
  19. kriswill

    kriswill Newbie

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    I'm having similar WoW Freezing issues (15-30 minutes, hard reset required). The problem only started occurring after a fresh install of Windows 7 Ultimate RTM.

    Tried various driver versions: 186.42, Dox 185.85 (no freezing yet, just graphics issues), Dell 186.12 beta (poor performance, low framerate).

    Another thing I've noticed is when the game first comes up I'm getting about 120 FPS, and it gradually deteriorates over the next few minutes down to 40-60 FPS in Ironforge, and as low as 20 FPS in a raid with lots of action.

    I also have the game installed on a Gateway P7811FX (9800M) with 186.03 and consistently getting 80-120 FPS with graphics settings on max. I'll have to raid on this machine until I can figure out the M17x.

    I hope Dell or Blizzard gets this sorted out soon, the M17x is starting to look like a waste of money.

    Specs: M17x 9400 + 2x GTX 280 M, 8 GB 1333 RAM, Core 2 Duo T9800 @ 2.93Ghz, 2x256GB Samsung SSD RAID 0, Windows 7 Ultimate RTM x64.
     
  20. ThaDutchy

    ThaDutchy Notebook Evangelist

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    Ben, what's up with the shouting? I was not trying to offend you or something. Take a chill pill...
    But no, I never had my GPU's out, so I do not know the weight differance. I was only trying to say that these cards are quite simulair. And I wanted to know why you are thinking the 260's are bad?
    Because, if I'm not mistaken Moo almost managed to flash his 260 card to make a 280. So I assumed they must physically be very much alike.

    Anyways, I still have the freezing problem... So add me to the bad 260 list! :(

    After a fresh install (all stock drivers) no CC and some gaming done. It still freezes, no way to get out of it but hard-reset. Man.. I hate to do that!
    So I have to call Dell AW tomorrow, If there aren't any suggestions out here anymore what the freezing cause could be?
     
  21. sleey0

    sleey0 R.I.P. AW Side Topics

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    If you have the option of replacing gpu's or system replacement - get the system replacement.

    I wouldn't let a tech touch my laptop :) Now, if you can get Dell to send the cards for you to swap then I'd try that as well....
     
  22. ThaDutchy

    ThaDutchy Notebook Evangelist

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    Thanks for the advice!
    Well gonna sleep a night about it, and phone them tomorrow.
     
  23. ThaDutchy

    ThaDutchy Notebook Evangelist

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    I just spoke to a Dell Rep.
    First:
    He asked me to update my GPU driver, (he figured this was the problem). So I'm going to update to 190.62. (I am slightly suspicious this isn't going to work. Since I have tested several drivers without succes. But for testing sake I will do this...)

    Second:
    If the driver update doesn't fix the problem. He told me to Flash my BIOS to A01. (They told me this was BIOS was also designed for solving some of the GPU problems. So I have to do this, before getting further assistance.
     
  24. ThaDutchy

    ThaDutchy Notebook Evangelist

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    The video driver update part had to be skipped, just didn't make sence. I Already had many drivers installed with no succes.
    So I only did an update of the Bios from A00 to A01. And I just played CoD world@war (1920x1200 4xAA) for 3 hours wihout freezing. :) A new personal record.
     
  25. Bubbamel

    Bubbamel Notebook Evangelist

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    Congrats!!! I was under the impression that A01 did not help much. I wonder what ended up being the problem that the BIOS fixed?
     
  26. ThaDutchy

    ThaDutchy Notebook Evangelist

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    Well, I'm getting the impression that the A01 BIOS update has something to do with the 260M cards (in SLI) not functioning quite right with the A00 BIOS. This also could explain why some 280M users are seeing no improvement, some reports (if I'm right it was Gabez) were that they had very a bad experience with it. Drivers had to be installed again, performance issues, etc. Non what-so-ever on my side though! It was straight forward, just install and everything worked perfect.

    Hopefully somebody will back-up my findings?
    Anyway I'm not totally convinced yet that the freezing is gone but this requires some more testing. But so far so good.
     
  27. Doomy

    Doomy Notebook Geek

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    Sorry if you had 260 issues but I haven't so why would I search the forum.

    It would be a concern with how um vocal you are if you scare people away from a card that works perfectly fine for the majority of people.

    BTW Pot/Kettle/Black on the search thing, I don't have enough fingers on both hands to count the questions you come up with which a quick search would answer.
     
  28. DrGerm

    DrGerm Notebook Enthusiast

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    Ya, Good Luck....

    I just returned my second M17x; the first one was for a similar problem. Maybe 3rd try is a charm?
     
  29. ZenithNoesis

    ZenithNoesis Notebook Evangelist

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    A02 is the newest bios out there, have you tried that yet, original poster?
     
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