m8xr3 with gtx770m fans not running.

Hey all

About 5 months ago I decided to buy an Alienware m18xr3 to really start getting serious about gaming with mates wand what not
but recently I have been having an issue with the gpu fans not working at all, they run for about 2-5 seconds on start up and then only the central fan continues to run, i went and downloaded hwinfo64 and tried altering fans 2 and 3 but they arn't even recognised in the program.
I have been searching for answers to this problem because I'm not very computer savvy.
the gpu is a gtx770m if that helps in any way.

Thanks anyone who is willing to help me out. =)

 

I'm guessing you mean the new alienware 18? Just a technicality, as there isn't a M18X R3.

All fans are controlled via the motherboard. It doesn't matter what GPU you have in the laptop.

That said, if temps are climbing into the 90+ Celsius range (viewed in Afterburner or PrecisionX), then I would call tech support and have them troubleshoot with you.

If the temps aren't that high while gaming, then it is just a matter of whatever fan profile alienware decided to load into the BIOS - and as I understand it (someone with an 18 correct me if I'm wrong) changing the GPU fan speed on the 18 causes them to shut off entirely using hwinfo.

A way to lower your temps is to re paste the GPUs using IC Diamond, or another high quality paste. Typically too much paste is applied from the factory, which adds a few degrees C.

 

What BIOS revision are you using? I believe some users report better fan tables with certain BIOS revisions.

As far as hwinfo64, fan control doesn't work with the Alienware 18. If I remember correctly, it shuts the GPU fans off which will cause them to rapidly overheat.

Using the laptop normally, do the fans spin up when you play games? What temps are you seeing?

 

If you have any BIOS version other than A05, flash A05. A03 and A06 have issues with the fans not functioning well and A05 improved it. None of the BIOS versions have fans that work extremely well, but A05 is the best. If you already have A05, call 1-800-ALIENWARE and get help from Alienware Tech Support because something is goofed up.

Note: If you attempt to set a custom fan profile with HWiNFO64 or use manual settings this will actually DISABLE your GPU fans completely. It works only for the CPU fan and creates serious GPU overheating problems if you attempt to use the system with anything other than the motherboard/EC controlling the fans. This is a known issue that Alienware still needs to fix.

Open up the fan control application, delete the manual settings and click on the "System Auto" button to turn control back over to the motherboard/EC. It should read "Inactive" under the "Custom Auto" button. Save & Quit to commit the changes, then re-launch HWiNFO64.

 

The temps reached upwards of 98 Celsius during a video card stress test and shut down at 102 celsius.

with the Hwinfo, I could make fan 1 run at a higher rpm but it didn't even detect fans 2 and 3.

I went and bought a coolermaster 23 laptop pad, and also run a 3 speed fan next to the laptop and the temp still reaches rediculous heights, I have even tried removing the bottom casing and tring all 3 fans in all 3 slots and only the middle on turns on every time so it's not an issue of a broken fan.

I'll call tech support today and report back with any info, thanks for the help guys.

 

Update.

Got onto Alienware Tech Support today and he updated all my drivers and bios, while the bios update was running all 3 fans come on at full speed for the duration of the update but are now back to not working, he hasn't en-countered a problem like this before so I'm at a blank on what to do next, any ideas?

 

Send it back to have it looked at really at this point.

 

I have the 770M`s. Fans running like they should here and I get top 65C maybe. I`m on one of the old BIOS versions.

Sounds like you need to ship it to them since BIOS update didnt work

 

Did you stop using HWiNFO64 for fan control already? If you have a custom fan profile active in HWiNFO64 the GPU fans are going to be disabled.

 

I have disabled hwinfo64, I took it back to where i bought it from and they told me they will be replacing the laptop as this had occurred in quite a few Australian shipments so we will see how it pans out, I appreciate all the help guys it means alot.

 

Glad they are taking care of you. And, it's not the "Australian shipments" because 100% of the new Alienware 18 machines have fans that are slow to react and run below their maximum RPM. The presumption here is that the design team placed more value on having a quiet machine than one that runs cool and performs at the peak of its potential. With lower CPU core clock speeds and 75W video cards it works out OK for most average users, but with overclocked CPU and 100W (780M/880M) video cards it's less than ideal. I believe they can fix this through firmware, but (unfortunately) it looks like they might actually want it to work the way it does and, perhaps, made a conscientious decision to leave it as is.

When you get the new machine, feel free to use HWiNFO64 as it is an extremely valuable, if not essential, software utility... just don't try to use manual fan control because that causes problems on the new Haswell machines.