M14x Issues and Fixes

Well when I'm in which ever game or program which covers my full screen my volume up and down key does not function. fn+f6 and f7 does not have any functions in the games or programs which I am using.

 

This is not just you, Certain games such as MW3, Dragon Age II and the Witcher II also have this issue. Do not fret, just alt tab and adjsut as necessary.

 

Ok so I just got the r2 and the only game I have installed is SWTOR but in my nvidia control panel program settings World of Warcraft exe is in there and not SWTOR? So to get my graphics card to run I have to go into global settings and select the card? WoW has never been installed on this computer?

 

That´s weird! My Witcher 2 settings also show off as WoW in whitelist.

 

Just thought I would add to the mix of fixes.


I was having intermittent power on issues. That later escalated to the touch pad not working, and not being able to change the color of the lights on the front of the laptop.

Long story short I decided that I did not want to send it to dell and wait for them to return it to me. I pulled the laptop apart and found where everything connects to the main board. Several of the ribbon cables were not seated correctly. I flipped the tab up and pushed them in the way that they should be. After re-assembly of the laptop I have tested for about a week and have not had one power on issue or any issues with the touchpad and lights.

 

Audio stuttering, anyone else has it? Just uninstall Mcafee for a temporary solution

 

I have the same issue, but i think it's because of the second HDD in the caddy... not really sure why

 

There is a new Killer Wireless-N 1102 Driver available from Dell/Alienware

Dell Bigfoot Networks Killer Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO

I just installed it but havent had a chance to test it. Let me know if it helps.

There is a new Intel HD 3000 Graphics Driver available.

2nd Generation Intel® Core™ Processors with Intel® HD Graphics 3000/2000

Please let me know if this helps.

 

It's the motherboard..the Dell engineer came and replaced it 4 times but the problem still remains. Gave up on trying to fix it and uninstalled McAfee

 

Thanks for this post Blackweb! Appreciate you sharing! This forum and it's members continues to be the best site for troubleshooting info on most laptops!

 

I am not really sure if this would go in here, but I did not wanna make a new thread, but I was wondering why my usb 3.0 transfer speed/rate is slower than my usb 2.0.

When i use 3.0 the transfer rate is 18mb/s while my 2.0 is 27mb/s. I updated my usb 3.0 drivers from dell and I do not know if this is an issue or just how the ports work. Before I updated the drivers, my usb 3.0 transfer rate was roughly around 13mb/s

I barely know the difference from usb 3.0 and usb 2.0, other than 3.0 is faster.

 

you need a usb 3.0 compatible device(like usb key or usb hdd)
and you need a usb 3.0 cable as well.

 

I have a seagate hdd 2tb, It says on the box it has a usb3.0 capability with a 3.0 cord with that ss logo on it. So I am assuming I have all the right cords.

 

Hi i have one big issue; My M14xR2 fail to detect to Nvidia GPU. I tried to restart the windows; for sometime it works; for sometime it is not working. I have tried to find the update driver of the GPU but there is no driver, even the the new beta that just came out, support the GPU. Anyway, My GPU is GT650M 2GB.

 

I got bluescreens when plugging in my audiointerface recently. also all other USB Ports seem not to work anymore and are causing freezes and bsods. thats very annoying.

anyone got a fix for this or do i need a mainboard replacement?

the audiointerface works perfect with 2 other systems.

M14X R2 i7-3610 and so on...

 

Anyone else get the force shutdown screen for a few seconds before shutdown, log off, restart? Although not an issue, it does annoy me that i payed so much for something that in that instance is not perfect.

I have even restored to factory using alienrespawn thinking it was something i had installed and that still didn't fix the issue.

Not sure what to do to fix it although I will be upgrading to a SSD in the near future so a fresh install might fix it.

 

Sry for quoting myself but since no one could help me i was finding myself a solution and fix for this issue. The reason why my audio interface didnt work was that the USB 3.0 Host Controller Driver was wrong coded by whoever made these drivers.

The USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports both are controlled by these drivers which causes bsods and hangups when you try to connect external devices like USB Hubs, Midi-Keyboard, Audio Interfaces and so on. Mouse and Keyboards work however if you dont use them with a Hub.

I will contact Dell after the weekend and try to help the poor coders if they let me to program the drivers correctly.

Till then i suggest everyone to uninstall the USB 3.0 extensile drivers and wait for a fix or you get all kind of errors such as lockups, hangups, force shutdown errors, bsods and you cant use audio interfaces and some more stuff with your M14x R2. Now im limited to USB 2.0 speeds but all interfaces work at least with the one USB 2.0 port.

hope i could help someone else but me

edit: by investigating this driver in detail i found its by intel themself lol...kinda funny that they cant even code a proper usb 3.0 host controller driver. i tested the newest version and some older ones. they all have the same problems. i wonder what the people at intel get paid for?!

however since the mainboard needs this driver and cant use the older renesas nec driver which worked very good on sandy bridge boards we are doomed to wait till they will fix this problem. at the moment i can tell you only its not your hardware its definetly a driver problem so stay tuned till the intel guys are back from their holydays or whatever they are doing atm.^^

 

Not too sure about the drivers but about the hub thing, I think you'll find on most USB mouses and keyboards certainly the Alienware TactX keyboard and the Razer DeathAdder it says on the packaging it will not work with a hub it must be inserted directly into the computer.

 

Thats because some hubs dont have their own power supply. In my case it has its own power supply. It also worked with my M14x R1 which had Renesas NEC USB 3.0 Drivers. I isolated the problem exactly to the drivers "Intel(R)_USB_3.0_eXtensible_Host_Controller_Driver" which are bugged in all available versions and for different notebook brands as i read in other forums.

my personal solution for having USB 3.0 and external devices working is as following.

USB 3:0 speed solution:
I made a shortcut for the setup file of the USB 3.0 drivers on my desktop. Everytime i plan to use the USB 3.0 speed for a large amount of data i install them quickly. Then i plug off everything from the USB 2.0 port so no errors (bsods etc) occur. After restart i transfer all data with the USB 3.0 speed.

After the tranfer i uninstall the USB 3.0 host driver again and restart. Then i plug in everything back to my USB 2.0 port and it works instantly without errors.

This a bit complicated and not very good for such a premium system but the best workaround for having both - a functional USB port for external devices and USB 3.0 speeds when needed. If this solution helps you using your printer, mouse, keyboard, sound device or whatever please let me know

 

I purchased my Alienware M14x almost a year ago now, and up until a couple weeks ago have had no issue. Until, LotRO, an MMO I play, started getting hit by massive lag, so bad that I had to turn down my graphics from Ultra to very low, and still get lag. After a week, I realized it was much worse, I was playing warcraft 3 and Empire Earth with a friend, two old games that can be run by anything, and I was lagging very very bad, while my friend, on the laptop from 2006 beside me was fine! I am now seeing this in everything I play, including Civ 5 and Mount and Blade and Total War. This may sound strange, but the only game I can run online with zero issues is Diablo 3, I have no idea why... :/

I have done multiple virus scans and am positive that is not the issue (although thats almost what it feels like) as well as doing a disk optimizer. I have worked hard to treat my Alienware like a king, and have kept it in good shape since purchase.


Lastly, when on the desktop or internet, I have no issues at all, everything seems fine. Could it be a problem with my video card?

If anyone has any idea please let me know, as I am dreading to pick up the phone to call them.

Thanks


*Update* I just tried Diablo 3 again, and I could not even move! This is really frustrating, as now my internet is slowing too. I may just have to get a new laptop, as it seems that this one is dying

 

Fix at bottom.

Hello,
I am having an issue with my sound card. every time i reboot the system i get an X on my sound icon in the bar. it comes up and scans for detecting the problem. and it finds a fix every time and then my sound works till the next time i reboot. I have tried these steps so far.

1. uninstalled all audio drivers and re installed.
2. installed the latest realtek drivers from there site.(also the original dell drivers) still the same issue.
3. i have gone into safe mode uninstalled the drivers and the software and then forced the driver install on next reboot to the ones i wanted(IE: dell drivers). same problem.
4. i have gone into GP and make changes to the windows driver auto install steps. and then rebooted. also deleted the HDAudio.inf files from the windows inf folder. When i do this it shows "PCI device" in my DM and it will not let me install any drivers for the audio card at all. the install never finishes it errors out ever time.(Dell drivers, and realtek drivers.)
5. i have read 100s of posts and cant seem to find a fix.

Any help would be great. i am at a dead end here. Thanks for all the help.


FIXED>>>>>
Ok So i finally got this fixed. It was a two part solution. Well at least that's how it worked out. So first i found some issues in the Event viewer that where event ID 219."The driver \driver\AMBfilt64 failed to load for the device HDAudio\Func...." So i went looking for that file. come to find out its not in the drivers folder or in system32 folder. So i went to the dell audio driver folder(R295888) on my c: and found the AMBfilt64.sys file under WDM folder and then copy/pasted it into the windows\system32\drivers folder and in the root of the system32. Then i ran a program called RegistryNuke to clean out anything in the reg that was not right and then restarted. I am about 100% sure the reg clean software had nothing to do with this fix, but i thought i would post everything i did to fix this issue just in case. It looks like the realtek audio driver manager was not loading in the system try because it was not found in the drivers folder and this was the main issue with my sound getting messed up after every reboot. Well i hope that no one else has to deal with this problem but just in case here is the answer to how to fix this realtek Hd audio no loading at start up issue.

Thanks for all the help.

 

IT'S DEFINITELY AN ISSUE WITH YOUR GPU OR MOTHERBOARD. U HAVE NO ISSUES WHEN ON THE DESKTOP OR INTERNET BECAUSE THEY ARE USING THE INTEL CPU AND IT'S INTEGRATED GRAPHICS CHIP.

I WOULD RECOMMEND JUST CALLING DELL ALREADY AND HAVING THEM SEND A TECH TO REPLACE YOUR GPU OR MOTHERBOARD OR BOTH. TRUST ME I'VE BEEN THROUGH 2 M14X'S AND 2 GPU'S WITH THEIR MOTHERBOARDS.

GOOD NEWS IS, THE M14X-R2 RUNS A LOT COOLER (DUE TO MY GPU'S KEPLAR MATERIAL AND MY INTEL IVY BRIDGE) AND MY GPU WILL LIVE LONGER.

 

Hey there... I've been having this problem with my M14x after I installed a couple of drivers from the Dell site. The problem is that I can't see my Radio Control options anymore when I press my Fn+F3 keys. Also I can't any icons which used to appear when I pressed the Fn and F keys... can anyone please help me with this problem.

 

Wait so Dell Replaced your gt555m with a gt650m because of the problems you were having?

 

I just got a new, fully loaded M14x R2, so far so good. It runs much faster, cooler and quiter than the R1. The 3DMark 11 score is +900 higher than the R1 and +300 higher than my loaded M15x.

 

I can connect fine via Wifi, but when I connect a LAN cable nothing happens. It pretty much does not connect to the internet.

I have a M14X R2.

please assist

 

PLEASE HELLLLPPPP!!
I newly bought an alienware m14x but i encountered problems whenever i open my laptop it appears black and it seems that i wait 2-3 minutes just to start normally.. is it normal? please somebody help me..what i must going to do?

 

Nope. I had a brand new R1 with a GT555m and the motherboard/gpu didn't work right out of the box because they were overheating due to too much thermal paste. I called Dell/Alienware tech support and they had to send someone out to my house to replace the motherboard/gpu. I wasn't satisfied with Alienware's customer service so I returned my R1 for a full refund.

As soon as I got my money back, I went ahead and ordered an R2 with a GT650m and the motherboard/gpu worked for a week before it crapped out. Next thing you know, I'm calling Dell tech support again and they had to send someone out to my house again to replace the motherboard/gpu.

Dell/Alienware customer service, tech support, and manufacturing teams really suck. Trust me, I've learned from my own experience and hundreds if not thousands of others have complained and posted about their service. Sorry for the late reply, but I've been busy with work and family. Haven't checked out the forums in a bit.

 

PLEASE HELP!!! I can connect fine via Wifi, but when I connect a LAN cable nothing happens. It pretty much does not connect to the internet.

I have a M14X R2.

 

Hi, I've had my Alienware since November now and the only issue I had was a faulty motherboard which was fixed, but last night and this morning, some keys on the keyboard stopped working, and what made it even weirder was that these keys were all located next to each other. The keys that stopped working were Q,W,E,R,A,S,D,F.

Now after a little while the keys start working again but I don't know why its happening, any help would be appreciated.

 

Right-click on My Computer and select Properties. Examine the LAN device under Network Adapters in the device manager. Verify that it is working properly. Call Alienware if it is not working.

 

If you have already had the keyboard repaired or replaced, you should definitely call Alienware technical support on this issue.

 

When you connect to a new network, you need to set it up in the Control Panel>Network and internet>Network and Sharing Center. Make sure your lan is configured as the correct type of Network (Home, Public or Work). Use the home setting if you are connecting from home.

 

There is a new 306.23 GT 560 M Driver from Nvidia

Drivers | GeForce

I have downloaded, installed and tested it using 3DMark11. My 3D Mark11 results with the new driver

NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3820QM Processor,Alienware M14xR2 score: P2356 3DMarks

My 3DMark11 results with the 296.1 driver

NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3820QM Processor,Alienware M14xR2 score: P2332 3DMarks

My 3DMark11 score went up from 2332 to 2356.

 

Hey I need help! I have alienware m14x r2 and my FN+F1, FN+F2, FN+PAUSE. dont work! please help me

 

Hi guys i recently bought m14x r2 with everything in it... I wanted to ask you guys this: Is m14x r2 is a great gaming laptop and can it work end games like upcoming games?

Also am i able to upgrade the Graphic Card?

 

In the future, a question like this is better asked before purchasing the machine. Luckily for you the M14X R2 is a great 'all around' laptop when it comes to gaming performance.

You will have little to no issue with newer games as they are released but the likelihood of running them at maximum settings is dependent on the game itself. The 650m is not the top tier graphics card so do not expect top tier performance.

And no, you cannot upgrade the video in the M14x.

 

thank you very much Dark maybe i will try to sell m14x and try to buy m17x

by the way is their like jailbreak kind of stuff that like me taking of the 650m and putting a 680

 

This wouldn't be possible as the GPU is soldered to the motherboard.


R1 motherboard just for reference

 

There is a new Nvidia driver out, 306.79

Drivers | GeForce

NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M video card benchmark result - Intel Core i7-3820QM Processor,Alienware M14xR2 score: P2359 3DMarks

You may want to consider cleaning your existing driver before installing a new one. Driver fusion is a good way to do that

Driver Fusion - The Complete Driver Solution

I have tried it and it works well.

Please post your results with the new Nvidia driver in this thread.

 

I just have a quick question, maybe a bit stupid... Does anyone has the issue with the fan running all the time. Even if I do not use it I think the fan runs atleast at 2000rpm though the processor is cool (43-45 degrees celsius) and the GPU is of (optimus). M14XR2 here, and it came with the latest bios A09.

Thanks in advance

 

My God! It was driving me crazy. From morning I've installed windows on this machine and the fan is running non-stop. Finally I made now after about 12 hours of use, an balanced plan and the fan shut off. It only comes on when required... What a pain... I cannot believe it, such an easy fix!

 

I restarted and I am back to the same problem. I am sure there is a glitch because of the power plan. I had this issue with m14xr1. When you do a fresh installation there is a problem with keeping the fan control on / off. Maybe can someone help me...

 

well maybe the fan comes on because the CPU is 45 watt TDP(35 if i5) and it shares a heatsink with the GPU. You bought a gaming laptop, not a whisper quite ultrabook. You should expect that it gets hot as these are designed to be high performance laptops. Its like buying a sports car with a 500 HP V8 and expecting the engine not to get hot versus the hybrid sedan that stays cool with an 80 HP i4. Its just the nature of the beast. I would repaste if its really such a problem for you.

 

I think you are mistaken dear friend. The GPU shuts off automatically (NVidia) and it is not used unless I do any kind of gaming or 3D. As per the processor the temperature is somewhere between 45-50 and the fan runs like crazy. I have the m17xr3 and m18xr2 and never hear the fans come on unless I do some kind of 3d apps / games / etc. Rarely the fans come on, cool down a bit the system and then they go off and so on.

I also had the m14x and this problem was not there. ONLY when I use the high performance GPU. Everything runs smooth except this fan which I really believe is unusual at idle...

 

AlienAutopsy has just upgraded the BIOS on my M14x R2 to version A09. I am not having any issues with A09. I have also upgraded the Nvidia GT 650M drivers to the latest version, 306.97. I am getting good performance in all games including PlanetSide 2 and Guild Wars 2. I have not updated any of my other drivers such as the on-board video and chipset. I am using the factory drivers for all of the other hardware.

Anyone have any thoughts on the M14x R2 factory drivers?

 

Have you tried a clean driver re-installation? Which driver version are you currently running?

 

There is a new Nvidia Driver out, that was flagged by Nvidia update, 310.70. I downloaded and installed it on my M14x and got a significant 3DMark11 boost. However, the driver is not available on the Nvidia website. Here is the benchmark result

P2466 : http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/5137329

If anyone has any more info on this new driver please share it with us.

 

According to Nvidia's site that driver is for Quadro's not GeForce

 

Greetings,

I just received a brand new Alienware M14x R2 , the first issue I noticed was the word ALIENWARE on the lower edge of the screen wasn't illuminating , I tried to switch it on using the AlienFX software , but that didn't work either. Does that mean it is a manufacturer defect or some settings I have to check?

Regards,