Alieware M7700 Issues

This is my first time posting on a forum about the problems I've experienced recently with my Alienware Area-51 M7700 Laptop. So bear with me.

I've experienced all the same problems as other M7700 owners, overheating, hot to the touch video card fan, etc. I've removed the thermal tape (or lack thereof) and replaced it with thermal paste (on both the video card fan and the CPU), and I have a nifty little 3M stand to elevate the laptop so air is constantly getting into the video card fan.

My problem is this:

I play World of Warcarft and within the last 2 to 3 weeks my computer completely shuts down within 2 seconds of the log in screen loading, we're talking I can't even get the first digit of my password typed. I won't proclaim myself as a computer guru, because I'm not, but I do know my fair share.

Through trouble shooting of my own devices (especially since Alienware Tech Support isn't worth the f&*n paper its written on), what I've found is the laptop shuts down (when the log in WoW screen appears)when the power supply is plugged in, BUT if I unplug the A/C adaptor from the power supply leaving the power supply plugged into the laptop I can run WoW on my battery (with minimal performance loss) for about 45 minutes. BUT if I plug the A/C adaptor into the power supply while running off battery power the laptop then shuts off.

HELP ME PLEASE!!!! I have no idea what to do or what the problem could be. My boyfriend says its the video card, but I'm not totally convinced thats the problem since I can run WoW off of the battery. I think I need to replace either the Power supply or the video card fan. What do you think?

My next question is this:

The number on my video card fan is 31-D90TN-204. I found a website called www.laptoprepairco.com and they have the same exact fan but the part number is 31-D90TN-206 and the alternate part number they list is 31-D90TN-205. I can't seem to find anything that would lead me to beleive I couldn't use this fan on my laptop. Looking at the picture that shows both sides of the fan it looks EXACTLY like the one I have currently installed on my machine.

The link to the fan I'm looking at is:

http://www.laptoprepairco.com/partpi...7&category=fan

One last question...what is GPU and more importantly what is PCI E-bus???? Okay, maybe that's two questions. I ask because I tried running the stability test (found in my Nvidia Control Panel), the CPU and memory passed, but when it got to the PCI E-bus (started running graphics) the laptop shutdown. At the same time I was running a program called ThrottleWatch and was recording the results. I'm not sure when exactly this happened or what it means but this is just a little bit of what the report showed.

Time Load Throt. Clock
496785 51 0 3000
497782 50 0 3000
498782 13 0 3001
499778 39 0 5049927
500778 51 0 3001
501778 51 0 3001
502778 50 0 3001

Any and all help you could provide me would be great. It really sucks I sunk $3,249 into a laptop that 2 1/2 years later won't do what I bought it for. I also don't have the cash on hand to go out and buy a desktop or send the laptop out for servicing.

Thanks,
Traci

P.S. Here are my spec's in case you need them.

-- AREA-51M 7700 5.3 GREY 17" SXGA+ W/CAM
-- P4 3.0GHZ 531 1MB 800FSB LGA775
-- PDP 512MB DDR2 PC4200 SO-DIMM CL4
--AREA-51M 7700 D900T NVIDIA ULTRA 6800FXGO WITH 256MB MODULE
-- HITACHI NOTEBOOK 60GB 7200RPM HD
-- AREA-51M 7700 24X DVD CD-RW COMBO QSI R2
-- W-NWEB 802.11ABG INTERNAL MINI PCI WIRELESS ADAPTER
-- INTEL MOBILE INTEGRATED HIGH-DEFINITION AUDIO
-- MICROSOFT WINDOWS XP HOME SP2 OEM RECOVERY CD
-- MICROSOFT WINDOWS XP HOME COA
-- CYBERLINK POWERDVD 8 CHANNEL 7.1 XP

 

Open up your notebook and clean all the dust out. You can look up much info on this and how to do on this site. It does sound like overheating, and the GPU (graphics processing unit) chalk one up to your boyfriend (kind of). The battery runs on lower demands so generates less heat, therefor not having problems. I doubt power related in so far as delivery. You did not say but I assume works other than WoW like w/office?

Edit: If your Fan is not working that would explain also. But I still think you need to clean.

 

Thanks for your response. All of the fans have been cleaned within the last week or so. I can run Office, Photoshop, Quicken, and Firefox (just to name a few) without any problems.

I've browsed through the forums on ways to fix the problem, but a lot of them I just don't understand. When reading the posts I'm not too sure what test's I should run and what they actually look for.

 

When you say the fans have been cleaned. That is not what I mean, I mean take off the back plates on it and clean. If trying to determine is it hardware and heat a couple of applications might help by stressing the system. To stress the CPU and create heat prime95 would work and free. 2nd to try and stress GPU 3DMark (free) might push the GPU and if it recreates the problem then at least you have a starting point. Have you tried to uninstall then reinstall WoW just for kicks, I don't think it should matter but I would try.

 

GPU is the video card for the laptop. The PCI-E bus is the slot where you would put the GPU card. Your GPU card might be having issues and could also use a bit of an upgrade. But when looking for a new GPU be careful. It HAS to be a dedicated laptop card as desktop video cards will not work or fit inside a laptop (you probably already know this but I'm just covering bases here).

Actually also check to make sure that your laptop supports a video card upgrade. You can only upgrade with any ease if it's an MXM supporting laptop. MXM simply means that it can take a new video card provided the MXM types match. I don't know of the m7700 supports MXM GPU's but if it did I believe it would be MXM type III which is good. MXM type III means it should be able to use even the fastest and most heat producing cards with ease. You should be able to upgrade to a 7950gtx card is the laptop supports MXM. I recommend looking on ebay for a used one. However, if you can't upgrade you can still look for a card from another m7700. That is actually the safest thing to do but I'm just trying to help you get a little more oomph out of your laptop

 

Yes, I have taken the plates off and cleaned the fans with compressed air and q-tips.

Will either of those programs do anything with the PCI E-bus? I did uninstall and reinstall WoW after the problem started. I even went as far as to do a full reformat and just install Wow. I didn't even install any addons, and it did the same thing.

 

Everything you have described so far points to the video graphics card. I use nVidia's nTune to monitor and log my GPU(Graphics Processing Unit) during game play. It's a free download from the nVidia web site. If the GPU is running too hot, that would explain the shutdown. But before replacing your video card do what powerpack suggests and get inside and clean out the dust from the fans and vents. This may help.

 

What is your GPU and did it ever run fine in the past?

 

I think I saw something on the forums about being able to upgrade the video card. I'll have to look again and see if I can find it.

Do you know if I can take out the GPU and make sure its inserted correctly. I've removed the fan a couple of times to clean and reapply the thermal paste. Could I have "bumped" something while putting the fan back into place?

 

Looks like something is shorting the power supply and making it shut down.
Try to trace out and clean the main power rails on the board and look for any solder joints that are grainy.

 

I guess my GPU is a Nvidia Ultra 6800FXGO, and it ran perfect up until 3 or so weeks go.

 

I strongly disagree unless prior to the unification of A/C Battery, because it works on Batt.

 

You dont have to do anything. Just press FN+F2, and all of the fans will come on.
There is no point in buying a new fan, because you will have to take the entire system apart.
I know every corner of the D900K chassis, my Voodoo is the same as your alienware, check my avatar.


You can check out my review here:
http://www.iboughtavoodoolaptop.com/Reviews_KTRON.html

There are some pretty good tips on how to maintain and keep the temps down. Just use the find function to find "temp", fan and such because the review is over 9000 words.

K-TRON

 

It runs on battery, but if I connect the A/C power cord into the power supply it shuts down.

I tried using the Nvidia Control Panel to run the Stability Test but I couldn't stay logged in long enough for it to actually track anything. I only get to the log in screen. Everything else seems to run just fine.

 

Clean out the vents... fans do not show much dust usually.
- Open the vents
- Use a flashlight and look through the vents... they are usually clogged up pretty bad if you do not focus on them with compressed air.

Lastly, you should use the Fan Toggle (Fn+F2) when gaming with that notebook to switch all fans to max speed... helps prevent overheating.

If you cannot use the Fan Toggle, you will need to update your firmware/BIOS to enable that feature... which is really recommended.