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    Wierd m17 issue

    Discussion in 'Alienware' started by cyro_349, Jul 4, 2009.

  1. cyro_349

    cyro_349 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hey guys,

    So my m17 has randomly started to partially freeze. The screen freezes and the keyboard stops responding but anything running seems to keep running.

    I usually run a media server in the background to stream videos to my ps3, the server still runs and has no issues while the m17 is 'semi-frozen'. Also it just froze and I had a song playing in iTunes, the song continued to play but once it ended it stopped and the next song didn't start.

    Another problem I've been having is that sometimes when I turn my m17 on the fan will run at full speed for a few seconds and the m17 will restart (nothing appearing on the screen) - Probably isn't related to the above issue but I figured I'd mention it anyway.

    Any idea's what could be causing these problems?

    Thanks in advance,

    Cyro_349
     
  2. The_Moo™

    The_Moo™ Here we go again.....

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    i experience this as well but all you have to do is push the power button on again ...
     
  3. cyro_349

    cyro_349 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Yea I know, I just figured it shouldn't be doing it, mine actually keeps restarting itself until it turns on properly.
     
  4. dondadah88

    dondadah88 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    are you overclocked?

    what is your antivirus and firewall????
    i have found out that outpost firewall and nod32 doesn't agree(great prices also)
     
  5. cyro_349

    cyro_349 Notebook Enthusiast

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    No I'm not overclocked, I use Trend Micro, never had any problems with it.

    Another thing which I noticed is that two of the times it has happened I've had different 3D programs open (one being Maya and the other GtkRadiant) is it possible that it could be a video driver issue? - (have Catalyst version 9.4 driver 8.600.0.0)
     
  6. dondadah88

    dondadah88 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    your driver can be affecting this but not the way you are explaining it.

    I have a few more questions.

    what os are you running

    x86 or x64

    can you keep your task mangaer open and see if you are at 100 percent.

    what have you done recently to your os

    it seems you have a dual core so it automatically answers one question.

    did you change any hardware like ram or hdd or something like that.

    it can also be a memory leak

    do you keep your computer always on and never restart it.

    have you reinstalled your os

    so you have all your drivers installed.

    one thing I also notice when I had ati was it was a pain to get the drivers to work right with the OS. I had some many issues just trying to update a driver.

    so uninstall the video driver then download this program named driver magican and reboot.

    then boot it into safe made

    run driver magican and clean out your ati registry files.

    reboot into windows.

    if you aren't a benchmarker and just want everything to work right. then install e-wrecks 8.12 drivers. if you want alittle more performance then use his 9.e drivers.

    for me the best drivers were 9.5. and I didn't have a chance to test out 9.6 so I can't tell you how that driver is.

    let us know your results.
     
  7. cyro_349

    cyro_349 Notebook Enthusiast

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    x64 Vista

    It doesn't normally run at 100% and it only freezes randomly so I have no idea if I can have the task manager open (and on screen) at the same time.

    Haven't changed any hardware.

    Turn off my computer every night.

    Haven't reinstalled my OS (want to wait to get Win7)

    When I updated my drivers last time I followed e-wrecked's guide.

    I'll try update to 9.6 a little later when I have more time.

    Thanks for the reply.

    EDIT: Ok It just froze again when opening Maya, CPU Usage was at 64% and Physical Memory was at 59%
     
  8. dondadah88

    dondadah88 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    ok maybe there a bug in it with ati drivers???

    disable catalyst AI and do it again
     
  9. cyro_349

    cyro_349 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I disabled catalyst AI and Maya at least seems to run better, and hasn't crashed so far.

    Thanks for the help, I'll post again if it freezes again.
     
  10. dondadah88

    dondadah88 Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    don't forget disabling it only runs one card. so when gaming, turn it back on.