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    M15x Crash help

    Discussion in 'Alienware Area-51/Aurora and Legacy Systems' started by DR.Doom, Nov 7, 2010.

  1. DR.Doom

    DR.Doom Newbie

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    M15x Crash help
    Hello notebookreview forums,

    I own an Alienware M15x, purchased in 2008.

    The video card is an Nvidia 8800M GTX,
    The processor is an Intel T9300
    (Please tell me what specs I need to post)

    Recently the computer has been freezing to a black, illuminated screen with no cursor. From this, the computer will either restart or remain in its current state. After some research, and a Windows reinstall, I began to suspect this was an infamous nvlddmkm error. However, the system will work perfectly fine in stealth mode; I'm assuming because of the downclocking.

    If anyone could give me some help or ideas on how to fix this, it would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks in advance
     
    DR.Doom, Nov 7, 2010
    #1
  2. circuit

    circuit Notebook Evangelist

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    Try installing newer NVIDIA Drivers. The really old ones line 17x.xx to 18x.xx were famous for this.
     
    circuit, Nov 7, 2010
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  3. Nick

    Nick Professor Carnista

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    You are 100% wrong.

    Any drivers above 186.03(or 186.81, as cha posted) will make your laptop have the BSOD. It sounds like you video card is going bad. Try uninstalling the current driver and installing the 186.03 driver. If that doesn't work, you probably need a new video card.
     
    Nick, Nov 8, 2010
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  4. cha

    cha Notebook Deity

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    Try getting 186.81 with your area 51 m15x first.

    NVIDIA DRIVERS 186.81 WHQL

    Let us know how it goes after installing this driver. Also would help to know what temps you're getting on idle and on load
     
    cha, Nov 9, 2010
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  5. HAK Devil

    HAK Devil Notebook Consultant

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    so are the 186.81 drivers still the latest ones that will work well on the device?
     
    HAK Devil, Nov 9, 2010
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  6. DR.Doom

    DR.Doom Newbie

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    First of all,

    Thank you everyone for replying.

    I installed 181.61, haven't really experienced anything yet...

    What are signs of the video card going bad? The card works fine in Stealth mode, and the only significant change before the issue was the WoW 4.01 update, but I still get good fps in that even in stealth mode, error free.

    The temperatures are high, but with the research I have done regarding this card in an M15x gave me a wide range of temps, so I'm not really sure how to interpret. I got the temp read out from Speccy.
     
    DR.Doom, Nov 9, 2010
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  7. DR.Doom

    DR.Doom Newbie

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    Ok, so I just tried running World of Warcraft with the new driver installed, and the screen froze. It was unresponsive, but I CAD'd anyway, and eventually I was able to close the program. The taskbar icon said that the video driver nvlddmkm crashed and recovered.
     
    DR.Doom, Nov 9, 2010
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  8. cha

    cha Notebook Deity

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    cha, Nov 9, 2010
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  9. DR.Doom

    DR.Doom Newbie

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    Okay, so with CPUID open, I started WoW, and got the nvlddmkm error. The shading flickered, the screen went black, and then I regained control. The highest temp I got during this was 81C; right now it is running at 73C.

    Could this have something to do with DirectX or another, non-video card issue?
     
    DR.Doom, Nov 9, 2010
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  10. DR.Doom

    DR.Doom Newbie

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    New development:

    When in full power mode, I tried turning on Vista Aero, and instantly it crashed. I hope that adds some insight.

    Thanks
     
    DR.Doom, Nov 10, 2010
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  11. cha

    cha Notebook Deity

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    81C is actually pretty good for the 8800.

    nvlddkm is definitely a gpu problem. Have you tried it on other games? Does it only do so in WoW?
     
    cha, Nov 10, 2010
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  12. DR.Doom

    DR.Doom Newbie

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    Okay, so sporadically during any use, the computer crashes in full power mode, or when switching to full power from stealth mode.
     
    DR.Doom, Nov 12, 2010
    #12