more m15x volume slider craziness

My second post here, forgive me if this has been mentioned before.

I have an m15x, with X36 bios running vista. I experience the random volume changes with the OSD notification that others have complained about.

I am 100% able to produce at least one volume change by taking the machine off of AC power.

I have updated to the latest chipset drivers as well as the latest OSD utility.
I still have

I decided to see what happens on linux...
So I burned a copy of Ubuntu 8.10 desktop and booted in live mode.
I havethe exact same problem.

I unplug the power cord and the ubuntu version of the OSD pops up on my screen and volume goes crazy at random intervals just like it does in vista.

So now this is the same behavior in windows and in linux.
windows driver versions/compatibility can't be the issue here.

I'm going to dig into this further and see if I can find out more specifics for what is going on.

 

Well if it's not OS related or software related, then it must be the Hardware.

 

Yep.

I've played around some more.

Sitting at the linux console i ran "keyscan -k" (no graphics, just a linux command line console - press control-alt-f1 to get out of graphic mode)

Periodically I will see keycode 114 and keycode 115 press and release events from the keyboard (these are volume up and down keys) - this happens after i unplug the machine from AC power every time, and very randomly afterward.

How does this relate to random sleep? They power key is keycode 116.

I've wiggled the power supply and kind of moved the laptop around to make sure that it's not a loose connection inside causing something to be triggered. And indeed, this happens when the laptop is perfectly still.

In conclusion. I say that something in the hardware is causing the keyboard to send these keystrokes. This is causing both random sleep issues and random volume change (volume control flicker) issues.

It would be interesting to me to see if some other m15x user try this - especially someone who has seen this issue in the past who have "solved" the issue by uninstalling OSD, or similar measures such as remapping the power key to do nothing when pressed.

The question is: where do we go from here?

If I had access to laptop parts, I would start swapping bits out - of course that's not possible for me.

The question is where do we go from here?
I suppose a call to roswell is in order.

 

Take a look at this post .... http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=332453&page=8
....it seems to have fixed that problem.

 

I do have some of those anti-static monitor wipes here at my office.
A different brand, but essentially the same thing.

Sadly, this did not help at all.

I'll try to get some of this turtle wax ice on the way home...
I'll make sure my machine can reproduce this 100% before I apply it.

 

One bottle of turtle wax ice.
One can of static guard.

Sprayed cloth with static guard, wiped down the proper areas.
Then applied the turtle wax ice.

The problem is improved, but not solved.

Oh, wait...

I'm getting popups and flickers like mad while the battery is charging.

Maybe I live in a higher static area than many of you other folks...
All these chemicals should be preventing it from happening.

I would guess there is a grounding issue of some sort.

(i have also done the uninstall OSD, CC, reinstall procedure...)

 

Thank you for taking the time to properly diagnose this issue. Would you mind sharing the purchase date (approximation fine) of your m15x. I purchased my notebook 2/15/09, and too suffer from this/these issues. I've been posting on a revived thread regarding this problem started back in May of '08.

Have you tried the original x32 BIOS yet? I plan to try this over the coming weekend, time permitting.

Regarding the static, I wonder if the humid air in FL would allow for this problem to manifest at all. Maybe this is more a winter/dry weather problem. Any Sauna owners out there wanna take a shvitz with their lappy?

And to everyone else out there, I'd love to hear your experiences too. Even if all you have to contribute is, "Hey it works great, sorry yours is buggered." This especially goes out to m17x users as the dash seems to be the same, but I don't think I've read any of you complaining of this.

 

One other note for comparison.

Have any of you noticed your explorer shell not responding when this happens?

I am often greeted with the spinning circle hourglass with Vista 64 when I attempt to use the taskbar to switch applications. Then I get a program not responding message, and I must restart the shell.

 

Indeed, I live in the cold north east. In the winter, static cling rules supreme.

I ordered it in november and it took a very long time to ship.
I received my m15x the week of Christmas, and it had these problems from day one.

I thought it had the x34 bios, but I am unsure.

I've called support about this, but as many have said here: calling standard support was a joke.

It has been sent back one time to have the video card replaced..
(i was playing fallout 3, and the machine just stopped, seems the video card fried itself.)

It came back with the x36 bios, and they wiped my hard drive with a clean install.
Thanks, guys, I'm glad I actually backup my system.

I had the keyboard delay issue (solved by removing the trackpad driver).

I have not tried backdating the bios.

(the machine has gone to sleep twice on me while typing this message, simply because I unplugged it and moved it across the room).

When I have seen this issue happening - I notice that frame rates in games such as, nwn2, fallout, even wow, go to garbage. I have had the explorer shell go unresponsive.

Since this is a desktop replacement class laptop, i run plugged in 90% of the time - but the machine is useless running on battery.

 

The reason I suggested the x32 BIOS was because I remember reading that AW attempted to "improve" the m15x's responsiveness with x34 or x36 (not sure which).

It seems many of the tech-savvy m15x owners are using the original BIOS for one reason or other if they don't have the X9000 that downclocks with x32. I assumed this was solely due to fan noise, but maybe it's more than that.

Also, I have plenty of volume flicker when plugged in along with the main battery, but removing the battery seems to reduce the flicker. Given time, I think I'll realize this is merely coincidence.

 

in my experiences, using x32-36, my volume slider has done this under certain circumstances, and some are more consistent than others.....

1. It almost never happens when plugged into AC power BEFORE starting the lappy. (see 4)

2. It happens about 50% of the time when I disconnect the AC power, to run on battery

3. It happens about 90% of the time when closing and re-opening the lid.

4. About 5% of startups with AC power, it will flash, but not do anything. And it usually stops after a bit.

5. Battery power, obviously is the most affected, under all possible scenarios.... BUT i have found a way....if you power the system, let it post, but turn it off for about 5 seconds, turn it back on, it will actually allow the volume, and the rest of the touch buttons to function...

6. And on AC or battery, hibernate and standby seem to cause this issue

ROFL...quite the list....i'm almost always plugged in tho, and rarely close the lid, unless i'm going somewhere...so it virtually never bothers me....

 

I had this problem when it was first shipped to me,
it occurs everytime I disconnect the AC power.

The problem is solved after I reinstall the whole OS and installing the newest OSD and command centre.

I got mine about 2 weeks ago, they didn't even give me the newest version of softwares = _ =

From your post it seems like you forgot to reinstall command centre
Try reinstall the latest Command Centre

 

In fact, I did it just now per oceanus's directions.

uninstall OSD
uninstall command center. (in that order)
reboot system
install OSD
install command center
power off system, remove battery, unplug AC adapter
hold down power key for quite some time
connect battery,
connect ac adapter
power back on

I've done a Filesystem scan with all options checked.

I unplugged the power cord, and instantly saw the flicker.
I started to type this message, and the machine went to sleep

The command center does have a firmware update.

I have the spare battery (i had not been using it in any of these tests, I had the CD drive in)

As an experiment I thought that i would see what happens if i use the 2nd battery to the mix, upon plugging it in (it needs charge) i get the flicker instantly - sleep followed soon thereafter.

Neither anti-static type treatments nor wax have helped.

None of the other traditional driver installation options have helped.
The problem happens in linux and windows when either battery is charging or discharing.

 

I am using the x32 bios and can reproduce the flicker in the volume slider as far as I can tell 100% of the time if my laptop is in the charging state. For me the problem happens almost exclusively in the charging state with maybe a handful of times just randomly seeming to spaz out for no reason.

As soon as my m15x is done charging, the flicker and volume seizure will stop about 50% of the time. If it doesn't stop, I quickly unplug the power and plug it back in and that will sometimes snap it back to normal. If THAT didn't work, I have to power it off and power it back on (when it's fully charged) and the problem is gone.

Thankfully I don't have the "laptop falling unconscious into sleep randomly" issue, however I think I do have the opposite. Mine will wake up from sleep randomly. (Which means I can't put it to sleep and put it in a bag, which is really annoying) Either my m15x is turning on in the middle of the night to communicate with the mothership while I'm sleeping, or it's related to all of this button nonsense. Who knows.

 

Sounds like your best bet to getting this fixed is to send it back to Alienware and get new hardware swapped in.

 

Guys,

Looks like I finally got Alienware to start looking at this issue...

Please post your experiences and or frustrations about this issue to this thread in the Alienware Support Forums:

Mobile Systems > Audio Issues > Volume Slider m15x

http://support.alienware.com/Forum_Pages/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=569125&PageIndex=2

The more of us that post providing them information, the greater the chances of them actually applying a permanent fix. Apparently they follow their own forum more closely than this one (which kindof makes sense).

My guess is that it isn't hardware exactly as they already replaced that board in mine, but more likely a MultiMedia Board BIOS issue. From everything I've read, this issue was unheard of before they released the V41 update for the multimedia bios and then integrated it into X34 and X36 system bios's.

- Denver

 

Done with the survey. Let's see a new BIOS fix.

 

I called roswell about this yesterday, and they told me that they have a machine there on which they can reproduce the issue.

Someone is assigned to it, and looking into it.

They had me flash my bios from X36 to X36 (seems the yhave had some success in this helping) - but it did not help me.

So that seems to be good news.

 

You mean from x32 to x36 right? Well that's good news if Roswell is able to reproduce it. This means that they are going to try to fix the problem instead of ignoring. We could be looking at a new BIOS update soon!

 

If we can just get everyone that's having this issue to post to the Alienware Forums thread on the support site with their info they are finally beginning to take this issue seriously.

I'm an IT manager for a large corporation and my staff and I have personally dealt with at least 10 m15x that all have the same issue - my personal laptop included.

We have a great group of troubleshooters here on this site and if we provide our individual experience and expertise to the Alienware engineers there's no reason they can't get enough info to go back to Quanta and get this annoyance fixed once and for all for ALL customers.

My guess is whoever decided to improve the sensitivity of the controls went a tad too far and for some individuals and in some circumstances it makes the boards freakout.

- Denver

 

Hay Kungfutrip if you use a external mouse or something. That will wake up your system. I found that out after My tokey gecko jump on the wireless mouse and now I use my external mouse to wake up my system.

 

Hi AtolSammeek!

You know, occasionally I looked at my mouse suspiciously but never tried unplugging it. I did go through and uncheck the box that says "allow this to wake up the system" (or something to that effect) on every piece of hardware and usb port in the device manager...

I'll try unplugging it tonight though and see if that lets my silly laptop sleep undisturbed. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

Oh I also had a thought about the volume slider... though it's a bit of a stretch! Has anyone ever tried testing with different colors, basic vs advanced themes running, or the FX off?

I mean yeah, you'd think blue vs white lights or having some component fade colors wouldn't make a difference, but you never know right?

I'll try to play around with it later and see if I discover anything interesting!

 

Yes. And it's not an issue.

I ran linux, and under linux you do not get any color flicker.
But the volume changes like crazy, and random sleeps can happen.

Basically, when you place your finger on the slider bar, it sends the keystroke to the OS.

The OS sees the keystroke, changes the volume, and sends the alienfx board the signal to update the color/flash. In the case of linux, there is no AlienFX software, so you only get the annoying popup for the volume control and a volume change.

 

I added my plea to the AW support forum thread that Denver was kind enough to share here. Actually, I added it Friday, but it wasn't posted till today. Love that censorship. Anyway, just reminding/encouraging others to do so.

 

No actually, It depends on who is overlooking the forum at the time. It's usually Alienware-Warner that takes care of the forum posts. And it also depends on when you make the post as well. I usually make a post around 12 pm central time. And it's usually up 15 to 20 minutes, depending on AW-Warner. He's a cool AW employee. You should check out my long thread by Spartan-117 about weird lagging problem when I had my m5550. He helped me out a lot. Oh and Alienware-Mauricio is pretty awesome too!

 

Hopefully they will just fix this idiotic issue!

Since they turned the sensitivity up with V41, surely they could just as easily turn it down a bit with another update.

To me at least that seems like it should be a relatively fast and straight forward fix. I'd be willing to be a guinea pig.

If anyone gets any updates we need to make sure to post them.

- Denver

 

Guys,

Just completed a long conversation with Rebeca at Roswell. Based on what I've been able to find out, it appears that Trysha and I have helped them tremendously in getting to the bottom of this issue.

Rebeca indicated that the engineers and the ODM are now involved.

In an effort to resolve the issue, she provided me with some firmware to try which I plan on doing tonight or tomorrow and reporting back to them.

She also indicated that they have a couple customers slated for motherboard replacement to completely eliminate that board or the connector as a cause.

Based on my feedback with the firmware and what they learn from the motherboard 'abductions' they're hopefully going to have a solution very soon.

If anyone learns anything else, please be sure to post... We need to keep the spotlight on this issue so we get a permanent long-term solution.

- Denver

 

Thanks for the update. I hope the firmware update fixes the problem. I hope that it's not the hardware that's the problem. It would be disappointing to have to send it in just to fix this.

 

Yes, Rebeca wants me to send my machine in for motherboard replacment.

This will be the 2nd time sending the machine in..... ._.

Hopfully this will fix the issue. I'll update my progress here.

 

Glad to hear someone's making some progress with the issue.

 

Guys,

Unfortunately the replacement firmware Rebeca provided didn't help. I'm going to get back with her tomorrow to see where we go from here...

My guess is I'm going to require a motherboard 'abduction' myself.

I'll post more after I speak with Roswell.

- Denver

 

That's not good news. I hope it's not a hardware issue. I'm about to send my m15x back for a hinge fix, so I'll have to ask for a motherboard swap too if this is the case.

 

Yes, please keep us up to date. I just received my M15X last week and this slider crazyness is driving me nuts.


-Jfinx

 

Jfinx,

I'd recommend you contact Rebeca at Roswell (1.866.Roswell x6057). She is working with their engineering department on this issue.

The more information we're able to provide the better the chances of getting the issue resolved.

- Denver

 

dhoang417,

Has your notebook always had the slider problem (out of the box) or did it just all of a sudden appear?

Also, are you in the US or abroad?

They're trying to find a commonality that may explain what exactly is causing the issue.

- Denver

 

Yeah, I've started noticing it within the first week of usage. I'm from the US.

 

I haven't finished my report on the slider issue, but you could always take a look at what I have so far on my blog. It details some commonalities.

I haven't gotten around to writing what steps I've tried to diagnose and resolve the issue on my blog, but I'll make a quick list here on what I know that does not resolve the issue entirely.

Things that do not resolve the issue entirely:
- Reinstalling the OS.
- Reinstalling the Command Center and the OSD Utility.
- Reinstalling the Chipset Drivers.
- Replacing the battery (or batteries.)
- Updating the BIOS and/or reflashing the BIOS.
- Using an anti-static wipe over the volume slider (and/or using an anti-static cleaner.)
- Reseating the battery.

There are a few things I've probably forgot to add, but those are the things I've tried that I could think of off the top of my head. Some of what's listed above may resolve the issue temporarily, but it will not permanently resolve the issue.

All I can say is that it's most likely not a software issue. It's most likely a hardware related issue.

 

Oceanus,

I think you're 100% correct... This problem is definitely a hardware issue or a flaw in the BIOS that's causing a hardware issue.

Rebeca and I spoke at length this morning and my system is shipping out today for motherboard replacement. Back in December they replaced the MMB Touch Control LED board, which help some, but not significantly.

There's not a whole lot left that they can replace.

Hopefully that fixes it.... Else, they better 'get creative'.

I should know more in about two weeks. Trysha's is already in-route so she should actually have an update sooner than I.

- Denver

 

I have a feeling that might fix it. If anything, I'm pretty sure it's a flaw in the internal circuitry that's causing the issue.

Anyway, tell me how it goes.

 

After months of no problem with my volume slider,,,,,,the problem came back. Today being the 1st of the month I changed my color scheme. I changed it back to all white like in Dec when I 1st had this problem. It started acting up right away. I changed the quick touch buttons to red (anything other than white) and the problem has gone away. For some reason the sensitivity or static is very high for a white volume slider. Any other color is OK and caused no problem.

 

rgauchey,

You may want to give Rebeca at Roswell a call. From what she's told me they are trying to gather as much information on this issue as possible. Maybe the firmware they provided me may help... Also, anything additional info that you can give them can only help our cause.

Both Trysha and my m15x's are in the process of having their motherboards replaced as is another user. Hopefully that will fix our issue....

But, in your case, I'd recommend calling now. Else, if the fix does turn out to be motherboard replacement there'll probably be a 'waiting' list. There are alot of users with this issue.

In my experience, sooner's always better than later when you're needing parts replaced.

- Denver

 

For anyone who needs to alleviate the issue temporarily, there are steps you could take to stop the issue from happening temporarily.

[Time Required: Requires a moderate amount of time]
OPTION #1. Recharge the battery entirely and keep it plugged in when you plan on using it. For some reason, the issue doesn’t happen when the battery (or batteries) are fully charged and when it’s also on AC power.

[Time Required: CRUNCH TIME—IE. ”I NEED IT WORKING NOW!”]
OPTION #2. Assuming you have a power outlet somewhere close to you and assuming you don’t mind having no backup power whatsoever (ie. having no batteries attached), take out your batteries and run the notebook entirely off of AC power.

In the event that you need your sound working properly (without any interruption from your possessed notebook), use either one of the options above to stop the issue from happening temporarily.

 

I just thought I'd add to the mix here.

I work for an organisation where we have just purchased our director an M15x and I am slowly beginning to regret recommending it. Since it was purchased it has ate up all my time trying to support it.

Firstly it took me about 4 days to get it built for her. Its using Vista x64 and has 8GB RAM (basically its the highest spec I could get).

Whilst building it I noticed that it would randomly go into sleep mode whilst I was using it and that the volume control would flicker constantly (this was whilst it was using AC power).

The director is now using this and its constantly going into sleep mode and last week it just powered itself off (once again using AC power). We initially thought it was over heating, so today I am checking the BIOS version to see if its up to date, however from todays research it appears that it has nothing to do with the BIOS or the temperature.

Alienware have recommended I check the support CD in case there are fixes on there for the sleep mode issue, but I don't think that will make much difference. I am basically crossing my fingers that someone here will find a solution. Its completely unworkable to expect a user to work on a laptop that could potentially shut itself down at any time. Especially when the laptop cost more than £2K.

I'll be keeping an eye here to see if anyone comes up with anything, and I will of course update here, if I have any success.

 

You are having the exact issue we are all having.
(and having our motherboards replaced for)

The reason for the random sleep is that the computer is getting a false keypress of the power button. The flicker you are seeing is a false keypress of the volume up and down slider button.
These are generated when the battery is charging and discharging.

I bet you'll notice that when the machine is plugged into AC power, it flickers when the battery is charging or discharging.

Pull the battery and the flicker and sleep should stop. (both batteries if you are like me and have two) - and yes, the machine is useless as a laptop.

If you are an IT professional supporting this for a director - i'd recommend returning it and getting something else. Makes me sad to say that.

 

Some more information guys:

Yesterday I had a conversation with my Roswell Call Agent when deciding to send it in for the hinge repair and volume slider problem.
What's interesting is that Yeenvi Campo, my Roswell Crew agent, told me that the problem might be something associated with the battery. Anyways, I told them to go ahead and change my motherboard too along with a new hinge. I'm hoping that it solves this problem. I miss my m15x already.

 

dhoang,

Yeenvi was my rep when my multimedia board was replaced in December. He is fantastic to deal with.

I too thought the battery was an issue. I actually have three (the original, the large capacity, and a spare in the original formfactor).

I tried switching between them and even swapped out my AC adapter trying to figure out if it or the AC adapter was a factor.

There didn't seem to be any difference between them. It does seem unlikely that three different batteries and two different designs would all be defective.

Hopefully the motherboard fix works... I've been corresponding regularly with Rebeca and we're making some progress while waiting for my machine to get back, but it does appear that they're a little stumped by what's going on as we are.

I'm still holding my money on bad multimedia board firmware. There are some posts of folks who immediately got that problem as soon as they installed that update. Unfortunately, it now ships preinstalled on all m15x's shipped.

- Denver

 

I notice that this problem still happens whatever BIOS version is installed on the m15x. I've flashed from X32 to X36 and the same thing still happens

 

Reseating the touch control cable doesn't seem to do anything to alleviate the issue also.

 

Hey guys. I just got an m15x and on my second day the volume craziness started to happen too. So I have a question, although it may be a bit obvious...

Is there anyway to to just turn the volume slider off? Right now I took the advice of removing the battery and just using the ac power and that seems to have solved the problem, but I'd rather have the battery in and just disable the quick touch controls, or atleast just the volume slider. I mean for the people that have the problem with their m15x going to sleep randomly, you could just change the settings of the off button to none so that if it does randomly activate, nothing would happen.

Anyway, thx for the help on these forums, hope they find a permament solution soon.