M17x: Random lock ups, memory checks

Hey everyone. Hopefully this already hasn't been discussed, I tried searching but couldn't find anything.

I bought an M17x a few months back, and I've had all sorts of problems with it, some of which have even persisted through multiple uses of the Alien Respawn feature. While annoying, I've mostly been able to ignore them.

But recently it's started acting really strange. Random lock ups (requiring a forced restart) have been far too frequent. They happen now and again during regular use, and it seems like 9 times out of 10 if I leave it on overnight, when I get on in the morning it has either locked up, or restarted itself.

When I restart after this, it will often perform a disc check (I think), where it says it's fixing indexed or corrupted files, or whatever. Seems like it's running these checks at least a few times each week. Also, when restarting it, it will reach a black screen with the blinking white underscore in the top left, and hang there until I manually power it down. If I start it up again, it starts as normal. So I effectively have to start up, shut down, start up again anytime I turn it on.

I've run virus and malware scans from multiple programs and tried system restores, and they seem to have had no real effect. Any ideas on what could be causing these problems? The issue with having to restart twice is the one that has persisted through a respawn or two, and I've wondered if I had some sort of hardware issue for a long time. Truthfully I probably should have sent it in months ago, but I'm a student and can't really afford to be without my computer for very long. So hopefully it's nothing to big...

 

Well this wont cause it all, but if you are on windows 7 and have the nvidia controller driver installed you may want to uninstall it and just use the windows 7 one. Since I have done that, I havent had any hard locks while using my computer.. This may not be possible if you have raid set up and need the driver.
I had the same issue with it not being able to complete the disc check until i removed the nvidia controller driver as well.
From what I have seen with the blinking cursor has been caused with a bad set up of raid .. So without knowing more of your setup I cant really help troubleshoot.

 

I'm not sure what all you need, so let me know if I miss anything. I have:
Windows 7 64-bit
2 500gb hard-drives in Raid 0
260M's in SLI
T9600 Dual Core 2.80 GHz
4GB RAM

So should I be fine removing that driver? If so, I assume it's the NVIDIA Stripe in device manager, right?

 

Is there some reason why you haven't called dell and either had the system replaced, repaired, or otherwise troubleshooted?

 

Like I said, I'm a student, and some of my classes are online only. Being without my computer for even a short time would be highly inconvenient. Basically, if I didn't have mine, it would be a half hour drive to the nearest one I could use. So I'd like to avoid sending it in if at all possible.

I suppose I should ask, how long does such a thing usually take?

 

Having read what you said, it doesn't seem like you're going to have any other choice. Software issues aside (assuming you don't have any viruses, malware, or other problems that aren't hardware related) there's obviously something physically wrong with your system.

Aside from trying to fix simple things like replacing the hard drive and seeing if that solves the problem, or replacing the memory, you're most certainly going to send this in for repairs to see this issue resolved.

Just to make sure it isn't a software issue: format the computer and install a fresh copy of windows. If you don't know how to do this, google it. (and obviously back up all your data beforehand).

If the problem persists, you're going to have to be without a computer for a while. Honestly, it depends on what type of warranty you have and whats actually broken with your system that will determine how long it will take. If a specific piece of hardware can be isolated as the issue, and you have an advanced warranty (complete care) they'll ship the part out next business day to your local dell repair guy and he'll be there within 1 or 2 days.

If you have a basic warranty, you'll have to send it in, which usually takes a week or two max for them to receive it, repair it, and ship it back to you.

If you've got enough money to buy an M17x, pick up a netbook to hold you over while the system is being repaired.

 

Hey, having an Alienware doesn't automatically mean I have money to burn. I bought it as a sort of graduation present to myself - I'm an unemployed college student now, I can't really just drop money like that.

But thanks for the suggestions anyways. I guess I'll contact Dell about sending it in tomorrow. Sorry to have wasted anybody's time - looking back, I'm not really sure what I hoped to find anyways.

 

Which Bios version do you have installed? Make sure you have A03. If you recently flashed it to A03, try reflashing it.

 

I used to get a lot of random lock ups on my desktop; turned out to be a bad stick of ram. You might want to pull a stick out and test them individually for errors using memtest etc. From what you describe it really does sound like a crappy set of ram. Just pull one stick out and run memtest overnight. If the stick is error free, repeat with the other stick.

 

I am sure its the controller driver if you have that installed in windows 7. It doesnt work that well with windows 7. I Havent used raid on m17x so I dont know if you need that installed or not to make that work properly. Once I removed the NVIDIA controller software and let the win7 take over. I have not seen one hang/lockup using my computer..

As for the blinking cursor, that could be that its not seeing the raid array/ hard drives.. If all the settings are correct in the bios for the raid, you may have a bad controller on your Mother board or bad hdd as well... Have you run any hard drive diagnostics programs to see if the hdd is working properly?

If removing the nvidia controller software would not mess up the raid (which it shouldnt), I would definitely remove that. Make sure to back up your files first incase you have to format and reinstall....

 

If your device manager looks like this below then you have the nvidia software installed.



You can uninstall by going to programs and features and running the nvidia uninstaller. then boot in safe mode and use driversweeper to remove completely.

It then should look like the below picture.. This is Mandrakes, didnt feel like uploading one of my own.
http://img704.imageshack.us/img704/4852/controllere.jpg

 

Ahh, I was looking for the wrong thing in device manager. Looking now though, I do not have the nvidia one installed.

I'll try the bios and RAM testing tonight, thanks for the suggestions.