What causes shutdowns?

Hi, I am having trouble (hate to admit to again....) with my laptop and it shutting itself down even in light use....
what causes this?
EDIT: my 9400M after a while in sleep/idling just hit 255 degrees C. I have a screen of it....

 

255 degrees C..? thats too hot for the graphic card 0_o

 

Are you using Hardware Monitor ? and it could be heat causing a problem, are your fans coming on ?

 

Hi Munkeynz,

A buddy of mine that has an M17x, just called me with the same problem. What fixed it for him, was blowing out the exhaust fans on the underside of the laptop. Make sure that you do not set the laptop on your lap while playing, and only sit it on a firm, flat surface. That makes sure that the fans are working there best. Instant shutdowns are normally indicative of a thermal event, and the laptop shuts itself down to prevent heat damage. Plus, it seems that the latest nVidia drivers (196.xx) might have an issue with cooling, so if you are running those, it might be a good idea to restore the drivers from Alienware/Dell. Good luck!

Rich S.

 

I have the same screenshot. But I suppose it could be a wrong reading in HW monitor?

 

exactly what I thought :S

yes i was, they seem to come on, but not until the 'last second'

True!! hmm, ill give that a try then!
that almost sounds to good to be true... but ill post back with whether it fixed it or not

i could be.. i have multiple temp monitoring programs, but not all running at the same time... i guess unless i can replicate, it was a read error.

 

I think your laptop would be on fire if it was 255C. I think you meant 255F?

 

nah man, actually was 255 C. maybe it was a read error. i took a screenshot of it if you want to see.

 

driver issues maybe hardware going out if you smoke or are around smokers that will definitely kill any computer. I've seen computers killed by cigarettes.

 

nah I don't smoke. vile habit.
driver issues? even after I reverted to 186.64?
if its hardware, and my warranty has expired... should I do repairs through Dell or another company?
Alienware isn't readily contacted in NZ, there is no online chat.....
I could buy a new 9400m...
Is the 9400m the problem?? and not the fan?

EDIT: I've just noticed a barely audible beeping(or no particular pattern, e.g something like the noises the you get when you connect via dialup) from the computer when i put my ear to it, does this mean anything?

 

You CAN'T buy a new 9400M. It's the integrated graphics chip and northbridge in one. Basically it's soldered onto your motherboard, just like every other IGP and northbridge in existence.

It quite possibly could be a problem with the thermal pad connecting it to the heatsink. However I doubt it.

Considering many graphics cards would burn out completely upon hitting around 150C, I really doubt that the 9400M could hit that sort of temp and still be working. Probably a read error. Does it read that ALL the time or only in that particular case?

Try going into your BIOS, disable Hybrid SLI and disable integrated graphics (or enable dedicated graphics, I'm not sure what the options are in the M17x BIOS) That should take some load off of your 9400M. Do note that this means you won't be able to switch to the 9400M for power saving on battery, though.

It could well be a driver issue. My slave 3870 card stopped working at one point, reading out "0C" in the temps as well as giving wrong clock readings. However, after a clean installation of drivers, it was fixed.

Try this:
1. Uninstall your current graphics drivers
2. Reboot into safe mode
3. Run Driver Sweeper (download it for free and install it before you reboot into safe mode) and clean out all traces of the nVidia drivers.
4. Reboot (into normal)
5. Install whatever drivers Dell/Alienware is providing at the moment on their site.
6. Reboot

That might fix it.

 

SillyHoney had the same thing. It was in this thread

It's an issue with HWmonitor. Don't think his was shutting down though. Take Evils advice and play with GPU drivers.

 

By Azura, I think that fixed it!!
temps are hot are around 90 C (9400M) but its not crashing a couple seconds after the fan starts... but in its defence it has been doing quite a lot of crap (aero, and drivers just being updated)
Im going to play COD in a second, and see if it crashes. just for future refrence, what are normal, as in idle and gaming temps for it?
also, if I were to disable it, would that not mean I cannot monitor its temperature (which i presume still rises and falls, because there is still a current running through it?)



EDIT: no dice. crashed after 2 mins of COD..... *sigh