m15x - Flickering lights, unresponsive keyboard, and spontaneous volume, hibernation, and 'b's

My m15x arrived today, and I must admit I was more excited than fearful. Unfortunately now I'm just getting annoyed.

The problems that I've noticed so far (and sent support requests for):

• Unresponsive keyboard (ignoring consecutive keypresses)
• Random lower case 'b' characters appearing in text input
• Spontaneous hibernation
• Not recovering from hibernation
• The volume slider responds badly to touch (if at all)
• The volume slider light flickers all the time
• The volume randomly changes (making the OSD popup, also screwing with the typing by massively delaying input)

This is all on the X32 RC1 BIOS.

With all of this going on it's actually impossible for me to play games on this laptop which is a real shame because from what I've managed so far it runs them really well.

As far as I can see in the forums the flickering slider and random volume changes appear to be unique to me.

Is there a place where I can get older versions of the BIOS and wind my system back a bit?

 

You could also try reinstalling the OSD software, it has its hands in all of those areas

 

i would also try this
http://4help.alienware.com/cgi-bin/...nBfc2VhcmNoX3RleHQ9bTE1eA**&p_li=&p_topview=1

 

Hi Miggles
sorry to hear of all the problems on your first day. just like me i was on the phone for 2 hours on my first day.
at first my touch controls didnt work at all for the first day. now they are working the responsiveness is touch and go but usable. does the volume slide flicker all the time even though you are not touching it.

the one thing i can help you with is the hibernation. will you want to use hibernation in the future? if no then read on.
do a system cleanup from the start menu and in there will be a file of over 2gb tick the box next to it and get rid of it. thats what i done and had no problems since.
when i put my m15 into hibernation it turned the mouse and screen off and everything else was still on. tech support said to remove base plate and press a reset button on the motherboard which done nothing. i had to remove the battery to reset the computer. not the sort of thing i thought anyone should be doing.

my final question again is........................................

SO WHAT HAPPENED TO THE 200 POINT CHECK ALIENWARE?

 

Keep on-topic in here.

 

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

I continued trying to use the laptop last night and eventually just left the m15x running while I tinkered around on my Compaq. Came back to it after a couple of hours and it hadn't hibernated and the volume slider wasn't flickering or randomly changing the volume. The random keypresses were gone as well.

Fired it up today and it seems to be persisting in doing the right thing so I'm not sure what it was but that cable is a definite possibility. If it fires up again I'll be going through those suggestions before I do anything else.

I still have the unresponsive keyboard though, so it's not all sweetness and light.

 

I might try something else instead because I actually want to use Hibernation.

The easy way out, of course, is just to use Windows XP which actually works. It's increasingly becoming my option of choice. :/

 

The sleep and Hibernation works fine on all the other systems in my house. I woudl think this is an AW issue, not a VISTA Xp thing.

 

Is that re the 200 point check? just curious as if I got one of these I would add that to my signature as a joke..

 

i was thinking the same thing. if it was to do with that then really i think it is on topic because how can so many systems get through the net with so many problems if it wasnt for the 200 pointer.

 

No I think it ws regards to some comments myself and a few others made about burning the laptop to the ground. And Chaz is right it was a wee bit off topic. It was still funny though.

 

Looks like I'm not out of the woods at all - Flickering volume slider and random volume changes are happening right now. Guess I'll start trying some fixes tonight.

 

Uninstall OSD Utillity and try your keyboards you will see that the lag is fixed!!!!!!!!

Im not joking it worked for me O_O

 

I'm surprised it came with x32 BIOS. It should have come with the X34 BIOS (which includes the V41 Multimedia Board update). Ah well. In any case, I would suggest doing the following:

Uninstall both the Alienware Command Center as well as the OSD Drivers respectively, restart, and then re-install them in this order:

#1) OSD Drivers
#2) Alienware Command Center.

Doing this should resolve the following issues:

After you have done this, test your quick touch keys to see if they are functioning properly. As for the volume slider, I find using two fingers instead of one helps adjust the volume a lot more accurately than just one finger alone. Also check to see if any of the issues listed above are still present.

If you are still having issues with hibernation, I would run a Windows Update to see if there are any hot-fixes/updates out. Windows Vista (non-SP1) has shown to have had a lot of hibernation issues, so there would be no surprise if they released a hot-fix for this particular issue. I know there was a similar issue with the GM945 Intel Board (the m15x has the GM965 Intel Motherboard) and they were able to make a hotfix for that.

In any case, the OSD drivers and the Command Center download should be in your MyHive. I'll see if I can upload any of them to help you fix the issue sooner.

For your keyboard responsiveness issue, I would just simply uninstall the Synaptics touchpad drivers. The lag between typing repeated letters seemed to have gone away for most people and it has for me. Give it a go.

By the way, where did you purchase your Alienware notebook?

 

Double post, here you go. I've uploaded the OSD driver as well as the Alienware Command Center for you.

http://www.audicracy.com/m15x_OSD_Vista_00020.exe

http://www.audicracy.com/CommandCenterBundleSetup-Mob-1017.exe

I'm not too sure why Alienware has sent you a system with the X32 RC1 BIOS. The final X32 BIOS has been released awhile ago as well as the X34 BIOS (though the X34 BIOS does come with more latency issues). I'll upload those as well if you want them.

 

Also try updating the multimedia button driver to v41. That has helped. I also noticed that for my m15x, whenever I am connected to ac power, I expierence no problems, but when running on battery tons. I have also had trouble with the touchpad responsiveness too.