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    XPS L502X freezing problem - Help please

    Discussion in 'Dell XPS and Studio XPS' started by Outphaze, Nov 15, 2012.

  1. Outphaze

    Outphaze Notebook Guru

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    I have a Dell XPS L502X running Windows 7.

    8gigs of ram / i7-2720QM CPU @ 2.20GHz / NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M

    388/679gigs of HD memory used...
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    Recently, when playing games (I have tried BF3, Skyrim, and even Starcraft 2) after a few minutes of playing my computer crashes/freezes. These crashes either completely freeze the screen and force me to do a hard-reboot or sometimes the screen changes color (patches of green / red squares etc...).

    I used to be able to play BF3 non-stop for hours without any crashing on the lowest settings...

    I have changed all the settings in-game to lowest quality. The only program I'm running when I play these games is the game itself (i.e. I don't have other apps open or tons of internet tabs).

    I have updated the graphics driver multiple times and it hasn't helped... ATM it's on the most recent one.

    I don't usually play games, and I usually have my laptop closed and plugged into a 30-something inch LCD - I don't know if this has anything to do with my computer crashing or not... but I DO know that when I try to play games on the big screen it crashes much sooner.

    I have defrag set for every week... so my disk isn't extremely cluttered.

    *edit* I'm pretty sure I don't have any viruses... I have spybot S&D / Avast / McAfee (kill me) / peerblock.
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    I'm wondering if my fan / gpu is getting overheated and I need to clean it out? I have tried taking the bottom of my computer apart and trying to reach the fans to clean them, but it is very difficult to do and I feel like I am going to break something. If you guys think that is the source of the problem I will try to find a way to get to the fans.

    So yeah.. That's pretty much it. It's extremely frustrating and if anyone could help I would greatly appreciate it.

    Thanks for your time
     
    Outphaze, Nov 15, 2012
    #1
  2. NeoMesal

    NeoMesal Notebook Consultant

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    Try flashing a modded BIOS as per the thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...modded-bioses-download-gpu-voltages-more.html

    Specifically, flash this modded BIOS: L502X_A12_540m_83_85_Unlocked_Menus_v5.rar

    It will reduce your 3D voltage from 0.98V to 0.85V - That will reduce the GPU load temps and fix crashing in some (if not, most) cases.

    This mod will also unlock a lot of menus in the BIOS - it is best to ignore these if you aren't concerned about using them OR you don't know what they do :)

    Hope it works out!
     
    NeoMesal, Nov 15, 2012
    #2