Replacement M15x arrived ...

I had to send my M15x back after only a week becuase of build quality issues - some of the lights didn't work (the Alienware name), there were gaps and a couple of small cracks on the chassis and the name plate was tarnished black after the first day of use ...

Anyway the replacement arrived today - the build quality issues seem to have been fixed. The lights word, no cracks or gaps. This one actually, feels sturdier. However, I'm pretty sure this one runs far hotter and is noisier. At idle my GPU temps are about 73 degrees - I've not tried any gaming yet but will do later and see what happens. I've got the V30 BIOS - not the latest Beta. Anyone else got idle temps this high? Don't tell me I've go to send it back again? FFS

Cheers

 

great news btgman,i bet your glad to get a new one at last.
hope it works better for you this time.

 

Those temps seem high indeed. Mine is at 53 degrees - install the v32 bios as it contains an update for the fans and downclocking therefore it might help.

 

Hey same here I got my replacement set a week ago. All I can say is they have corrected alot of problems.

After running testing intensively this week, All I can say is there is not a single problem found. Here is a summary of what I have test:

1) keyboard lag - typing for 1 week = ZERO lag
2) Touch control works even after waking. Volume slider actually works and u dun need 3 fingers to slide. One finger slide will bring vol up and down.
3) Creaking sound still exist. I check with CS and he tried several set and all have creaking sound. But he chose the one with the minimal sound.
4) Downclock is a thing of the past. I have been gaming and gaming and gaming. NO downclock for 1 week with x32 bios
5) No scratches, No CD-rom popping, No uneven mouse button, All perfect.

Tips: when sending back always have a direct ext to one of the technical guy. He actually run test the way I wanted it to be run including overnight burn in test and inspecting the cover for uneven lighting, crack, scratches and keyboard lag. If it fail he will built one more for you b4 its send back. This is to make sure I dun have to wait for 1 month only to get another rotten apple.

 

Touch control fix occured with X32 bios

 

Yeah, they seem to be sorting out a lot of the issues.

Shame about my high idle temps - funny thing is I did some gaming last night and the temps went upto 86 and straight back to 76 pretty qucikly (my m15x now idles about 76 - when surfing the net etc.). So, maybe you're right Crystak - the fans aren't working properly at idle with x30 BIOS. Thing that bothers me is that with my last m15x the idle temps were at about 58 and it had the same X30 BIOS ... I hope the technician who built it put the cooling together properly ...

so, are most people idling at around 55? Is 75 way too high?

MrDJ - Cheers for the congrats. if you're not happy with yours send it back and make sure you get a fully working one that you're completely happy with. Hope you get it all sorted soon.

 

I callled Tech Support and they confirmed that 76 degrees was way too high for idle GPU temps. I'll install the X32 BIOS tonight and see if it fixes the problem.

 

Btgman keep us posted on teh outcome of your BIOS update.

 

guess what.
computer starts up fast.
but then everything slows down.
was on to support last night and he told me to disable all the windows start up programs. it went from 77 processes down to 33. starts up fast but then lags now and again opening programs and even opening the start folder.
one small problem though. ok, a few problems. it disabled my anti virus, alien fx, side bar and all the touch controls. i then notice once i loaded half life 2 episode 1 (which i had almost finished) it wiped all my saved games and i had to start back at the begining
tonight tech support said this shouldnt have happened.
turned all the window processes back on again. i will be ringing them tomorrow and downloading the 32 bios update. once i load this ill give it 2 days and then try a respawn. if theres no change it goes back for them to have a thorough look over it.
i know, i should send it back now as i shouldnt have to put up with all this but i just dont want to let it go

 

I've noticed that when it starts up, maybe 30 seconds to a minute after the desktop appears, the hard drive will really get into use and will slow down the computer for another 30 seconds. I'm not entirely sure what's doing this (my suspicion is Vista is creating restore points or file backups) but it doesn't last long.

 

MrDJ, I know how you feel - you waiting long enough for it in the first place. In the long run though, you'll be happier if you send it back and get a properly functioning one.

@DS - I didn't have time to install the X32 BIOS last night but will hopefully have time tonight. Will keep you posted. Can you run Thermo Fan and tell me what your idle GPU Fan speed is? Mine idles at about 2500RPM - is this too slow?

 

im at work now but off the top of my head i think mine idles at
roughly 4500rpm
will double check it tonight and post then.

 

Cool. Thanks DJ, that would be great. There are two fans - CPU and GPU. Can you let me know what both idle at?

 

My CPU idles at 45 and GPU at 25

 

heres my readings. first reading is idle and second is after playing half life 2 for 30 minutes.

idle **** after gaming
cpu = 48 **** cpu = 51
system = 43 **** system = 45
vga skin = 56 **** vga skin = 57
vga inter. = 52 **** vga inter. = 52
fan 1 = 2816 **** fan 1 = 2816
fan 2 = 2816 **** fan 2 = 3265

hope this helps.

 

Thanks guys. Both very helpful. My CPU fan idles at around 4500 and my GPU at around 2500 - same as you two. So fans are funcitoning normally - it looks like the X32 BIOS update might not help. Maybe thermal paste wasn;t applied to the GPU properly. I'm gonna be annoyed if I have to send it back a second time.

 

HEY GUYS!

TURN OFF SUPERFETCH!

Superfetch is a feature of Vista, what it does is load the programs you start most frequently (Firefox, BitTorrent, Oblivion, Pr0n, etc...) right after the machine boots.

Turn it off, and this problem will go away. I leave Superfetch on on my (uber) desktop, and it basically boots into Oblivion (a good thing). My tablet; I turn it off. HD thrashing is bad.

Turn it of under MSConfig - right next to UAC.

Peace and Rep to all.

 

hmm, that sounds like that's the culprit. Thanks for that tip exiled

 

posted just in time. thanks ExiledDuke.
i was going to try respawn tonight with a total re install and then send it back.

i didnt get much chance to go on last night but when i did it boots up really fast and connects to the internet fast as well. it then takes the sidebar at least another 90 seconds to appear. while it is loading all this both cores are running at 100% and the cpu is at 100% as well. on my previous computer both cores used to run high when it loaded msn messenger but i havnt got that loaded on the m15x.

thanks once again for the advice. ill have a play around tonight.
jim

 

Installed the x32 BIOS and it has lowered the temps slightly - but am still idling at 65. This is still too high ...