AW17 r3 - 240w psu problems

Hi guys,

I have just started to have some issues with the standard 240w PSU when running games or power demanding tasks.
What will happen is I will be playing a game for a short while and suddenly my laptop will go into battery mode (screen dims, performance drops) and then it will switch back to AC mode after a few seconds.
This continues on off at random times until eventually the blue light on the AC plug goes out and leaves me in permanent battery mode until I replug the adapter at the wall.

I have measured the power consumption with a wattage meter when gaming and it barely breaks 190w under load.

I have tried 3 - 240w adapters now and they all have the same behaviour under load, however these adapters are all fine in the laptops I borrowed them from.

I have checked the socket where the plug connects and it is not loose at all and it will maintain AC connection regardless if I wiggle the plug about whilst it is plugged in.

Any ideas guys? Could this possibly be another mainboard issue?

 

It is the only possible explanation I think. Or the cable from the power jack inside to the motherboard itself is faulty.

 

make a video ... just play and wait for the error. ask for a new machine or refound ...

 

Update:

This is very odd.

I borrowed a 330w adapter from a friend yesterday and found it does not have any of the issues that the 240w did under load. I played witcher3 for a few hours and not one issue.

Why would 3 - 240w adapters start to fail at only 190w load but the 330w doesn't at the same wattage?

 

maybe overclock

 

I haven't overclocked it in any way. CPU Temperatures become a big issue if I do.

 

maybe is a heat problem ... when the temperatures grow, this cause a impedance to move electrons "energy" for example your pc need 200W cold and 250W at high temps ... this could be your problem
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_resistance_and_conductance#Temperature_dependence
i am a mechanical engineer

 

Interesting... But the power draw from the wall is always around the same wattage under load which seems strange.

I have just ordered some TG Kryonaut and will attempt a re-paste this week to see if this makes any difference.

My CPU temps can peak at about 95c before the fan has had a chance to fully spin up which then cools it to an average of about 75-80c. This is at stock clocks too so maybe your right on the heat.

 

the temps are too high ... the new thermal paste is going to help a lot

 

sure, the wattage is the same, but the power supply need to give more to ensure that your cpu is consuming the same power

 

I had the exact same problem on my 17r2 . couldnt solve the problem so asked for a replacement. which so far works ok

 

Interesting...

Dell have offered to replace my mainboard to solve the issue but I'm not sure if I should go ahead as everything else on my system is so stable and I don't want to take a chance on getting a worse board that has other random
Issues.

They won't send me a 330w adapter because it is supposed to work with the 240w and they seem to think a 330w may cause issues over time.

Also this will be the third mainboard replacement if I go ahead with it.

Decisions, decisions...

 

It wasnt present with the previous motherboards?

 

I didn't come across the issue in the short time before the boards randomly died no.

 

Unfortunately, I am not sure what the issue could be. Although I have read about this issue before and the 330w PSU was the only thing that seemed to solve it

On a different note, was the 330w PSU a modded AW18 PSU, or just a regular AW18 PSU?

 

Just a standard unmodified one as far as I know. My friend is not one for tinkering or modding.

 

make the repaste for the health of everything. is better

 

I have similar issues with my laptop's power supply. Helped only a replacement for 330 watt version.
PS also try to disable overclocking notebook processor and graphics card or setting the CPU core voltage offset at -125mV in XTU it helps for me
Sorry, my english is very bad(

 

I have found out what the issue is. On closer inspection inside the unit it looks as though the power dc-in cable has burnt slightly.

Time to call Dell again

 

Is Hybrid functionality still in use for latest AW models?

 

Don't think so. The 240w adapter barely uses 200w under load as measured by my wattage meter so I doubt it would need to use battery aswell.

 

What is your BIOS version?
I have the same problem ... really hot power cord.

 

BIOS 1.2.13.

My problem is the power cord inside the bottom plate cover. The DC-IN cable that connects to the mainboard reaches over 110c under load.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/17r3-dc-in-cable-temperature.792607/

My PSU adapter doesn't get that hot really.

 

In your picture the DC in cable appears to have a poor connection--it looks tilted. Is the connection loose? If so, this would cause the wires to overheat.

BTW, that overheating looks VERY serious. I know you need to test it but I would not leave the computer on unattended.

Also, if the connection is loose and the problems only started after the mobo was replaced, then I would assume that the Dell tech failed to seat the connection properly. Based on the damage to the wires I would demand a full replacement.

 

I thought the cable looked a bit odd and bent myself when I first saw it. This was a replacement cable from Dell when they also replaced the motherboard. It's not loose in any way though but I think your right in that there is something not quite right with it.

I have sent support a photo of the cable and the burning parts of it to analyse themselves. They have tech coming to replace the cable next week.

 

I have something similar happening, but my blue lights goes out when the laptop is turned off. I have to reconnect power cord to PSU from wall to get it come back on

 

Hi,
I have same issue like you, my power brick is loosing power every 2-3 hours, light on power cord is going off and to bring power back I need to unplug and plug it again to the wall, already contacted dell and they sent me new power brick so will see if that's gonna help.
Did u find solution for your issue?

 

Check your dc/in cable inside the bottom panel for signs of burning.

If you have a laser temperature probe then run a game with the bottom panel open and check the cable temperature after a short while. It could be overheating, that was the issue with mine.

Had to have the mainboard and dc cable replaced and now it is fine

 

I don't have laser temp meter but should be able to see some signs of burn, problem is as its only 4days old , did that took long to resolved your issue? I live in Ireland.I'm very disappointed on Alienware so far.
My problem is not only when laptop under load, I left it on for all night doing nothing just with Skype on and after few hours power cord was off together with blue light, only had to unplug and plug it again to the wall.
Is this normal when left side of keyboard become hot when playing games?

 

Hmmm. Mine only had issues when it was under load. You might have a different issue.

See what happens when the new psu comes. If it has the same issues it could be a motherboard fault.

 

Hi all,

As my power brick delivery didn't came yesterday I decided to do more following tests:

I unplugged battery and laptop was running well on Ac adaptor only ,

Than I plugged battery back in and left my laptop running over the night in bios and no issue, ac adaptor still was charging but once I logged in to Windows AC adaptor lost power completely again until I unplugged and plugged it back to socket.

Does it not look more like a software issue?


Update: Power brick came, will do more tests.

Last update: Power brick was faulty, now with new power supply all day and no issues, thanks to all for help.