AW Graphics Amplifier Turns On/Off Repeatedly then Boots?

Hey Guys,

I have an AW 17 R3 and love it. My plan was to get the graphics amplifier and use that (somewhat) for future-proofing, and to run games decently on an external 4K/UHD TV.

Everything seems to work fine, however, there is one issue that concerns me... When I turn the laptop on, the laptop and graphics amplifier turns on and off repeatedly before booting to Windows 10. Sometimes this only happens a couple times, sometimes this can take minutes.

I found this odd, and I talked to Dell, and they suggested it could possibly be a PSU issue with the graphics amplifier. The only other post I could find with an identical issue of this was on YouTube, where someone suggested it could be the cable to the laptop.

Has anyone else experienced this? Does anyone know what the issue is?

I am using a EVGA GTX 980Ti SC, brand new, but the graphics amplifier was second-hand from eBay. I have installed all the drivers available for the graphics amplifier provided by Dell.

Thanks in advance!

 

Perhaps you acquired the one from the guy on Youtube

It does seem like it may be the cable or the PSU. I haven't seen this issue before.

 

I have the same exact problem, same exact model laptop. Sometimes I will hear it reset multiple times, sometimes it will freeze at the "Alienware" screen and I need to manually reset.

And even when it actually does get into Windows, things just do not appear to be running properly. I don't know what about it specifically is defective, but something is.

 

Same model same issue. First I thought its the GA's PSU issue and then I went to a AW dealer (I'm currently in China where they have actual Alienware stores) to try out. I tested my Video card in their GA and AW 17 and still got reboot issue.

 

Same model same issue. First I thought its the GA's PSU issue and then I went to a AW dealer (I'm currently in China where they have actual Alienware stores) to try out. I tested my Video card in their GA and AW 17 and still got reboot issue.

 

I also experience this issue, just happened now when powering on the laptop. It reboots a couple times and it feels like it's different every time. It's happened with the PSU it came with and with the aftermarket corsair cx500m i bought.

 

Mine does the same thing. Brand new from Dell. I've tried 3 different BIOS versions 1.2.2, 1.2.8 and 1.2.14. All have the same issue.

I then unplugged it from my power bar and plugged it directly into the wall socket. It's been fine since but I've only powered it off and on about 3 times since I moved it directly to the wall socket. Maybe try this. Some power bars interfere with power delivery, especially power bars that have a "master" outlet and the rest are slaves, so when the master outlet sees power draw it then turns on the rest of the slave outlets. It causes a problem with my PS4 in sleep mode too. Thinking about just getting a normal power bar.

 

Did you unplug your GA, laptop or both of them?

 

Only the GA is plugged directly into the wall socket.

I have a whole home surge protector for the apartment so I'm not too concerned about it. I'd be curious if others can try this as well to see if it helps. It might be an issue where the power draw is too much when you initially power on the GA and the Laptop at the same time.

 

Going to buy a power bar with surge protection, hope it will solve my problem.

 

I would test directly in the wall first. My power bar has surge protection as well but it still does it.

Again, I've only tested 3 times with it in the wall. It's not enough to say that it fixed the problem but i'll test it some more tonight.

 

Did you try uninstalling GPU drivers using DDU and reinstalling the said drivers. Maybe reporting to NVidia on this issue would be helpful.

 

I've tried that and it hasn't fixed it. I just now powered on my laptop and AGA and it didn't reboot, it's really random at times.

 

It's far from a driver issue.

The scenario is when the laptop and GA are completely off, then you power on the laptop, which in turn powers on the GA. It doesn't even make it into Windows. It either hangs then powers off and powers back on (both laptop and GA), or the power flickers on both units. If you leave it for a couple minutes, it sorts itself out and everything works fine.

I'm thinking this is power related issue where the drain it too much either in the GA itself or pulling too much over the ****ty power bar during the initial power on.


Can everyone report and indicate if they are using a power bar or have both the laptop and GA in the wall socket?

 

I'm using a power bar.

 

Tested 20+ times tonight and yeah it still does it when plugged into the wall. 8 of the 20 tests it randomly did it. So it's not a power bar related issue. Screw it *leaves it on indefinitely*.

 

This is so sad... I don't if you have external speakers, mine speakers makes ear-piercing noise when the laptop reboot. I'm very concern if its going to hurt my laptop or not.
Also, even after laptop is powered off, it would suddenly re-power up automatically for like 2 secs then off.

 

Heyyyyyy. I reported same issue on Dell's AW forum. Just got reply from them. Check this out:

http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/p/19985339/20924938#20924938

However, I dont know its a beta version or not and I don't have the GA with me. Can you guys try it?

 

Nice. I'll try this tonight. Wish I would have checked this thread before going to work lol

 

Yeah its a power issue, I had same sort of problem with desktop's PSU, it seems like glitch in power delivery switch that haywires transition to desktop GPU in AGA. It could be fixed via Microcode update to AGA if there's any.

 

Yeah, still does it with 1.2.15 BIOS.

 

My issue is about the same. I've tried with Asus and Gigabyte 1080s (NOT FE models)

When first booting the laptop screen (or anything plugged into the GA for that matter) never come on. They do this endless loop of fans and LEDs turning on (GA, 1080, laptop) but no screens come on and then they'll shut off quickly and the process repeats over and over and over and over. I've let it run for 15 minutes straight in this cycle after another poster mentioned his worked after 10 cycles. No joy. I replaced the PSU with a high end and working model with the same result.

I have *on rare occasion* been able to get the system to boot if I turn on the laptop with the AGA disconnected. There's a tiny window about a millisecond long where you can plug in the AGA after the laptop screen lights up and have the system read the AGA and boot on the 1080. I've managed to make this work twice out of easily 250 attempts at this point. If not many more. Unfortunately the system is pretty shakey using this method and putting it to sleep screws things up and so does launching games. I managed maybe two hours of gameplay. Doom 190+ FPS and BF4 100-120 FPS maxed out settings. My 980m gets 40-60 FPS maxed out so I was expecting a lot more from the 1080 with BF4..

I was really hoping the issue was with the Asus 1080 but the same crap happens with the Gigabyte. Another poster I saw mentioned doing a clean Windows install had helped him but I don't see how. I'm still on the factory Dell image so I'm trying a clean install finally if for no other reason than to switch the mode for my PCIe drive since Dell screwed that up.

I have been so incredibly disappointed in this laptop since I bought my 17 R3 i7-6820HK, 4k screen, 1TB PM951 in October. It's just incredible how much doesn't work on it - like overclocking. I'm a busy man so its hard to find time to deal with some support person that's clueless about these laptops.

I reverted to BIOS 1.2.2 after 1.2.12 was an epic failure. 1.2.2 did not restore my OC abilities but it did cut back on some of the other crap. Do they not test these? Seriously? How is it that so many people are having issues with the AGA but they didn't in any of their testing or marketing video productions.

 

Holy guacamole. I flashed BIOS to 1.2.8 and after a bunch of forced power cycles I just let the damn thing go. After reboot cycle 6 the screen actually came on and booted without issue on the Gigabyte G1 Gaming. I'm somewhat afraid to reboot, but when I do I'll see if I can get the Asus Strix to boot and compare firestrike scores. One of these suckers has to go back to the store this week lol.

 

Could it be the issue of 6/8 pin connector not being able to power the GPU or possibly the PSU itself?

 

Not in my case. I tried both connectors (and we know the OEM power supply works for others) and I have tried with a card with 1 8 pin connector and a card with 1x 8pin and 1x 6pin. Same issue with both. On top of that I tried a known working power supply in replacement of the OEM power supply.

 

I used to have this reboot loop issue with my 17R3 and GA. I've been ok for awhile now (GA boots up without issue), but I never really figured out the cause of the reboot loops.

I think a clean install of Win 10 in part helped. But also taking external USB and Bluetooth devices out of the equation one by one also seemed to work. Last time this happened to me about a month ago I disconnected my bluetooth speaker (of all things) and the dam thing booted right up.

I have a bad feeling there is something amiss with the USB or motherboard power delivery that is creating these issues. Another reason my next notebook will not be AW.




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