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    Is my 335m dying?

    Discussion in 'Alienware M11x' started by dskid807, Jul 24, 2011.

  1. dskid807

    dskid807 Notebook Guru

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    I have my m11x R1 driving my dual displays and it's perfectly happy to a degree. However, it will occasionally completely lock up.
    So, I narrowed it down to the GPU with AW tech support and the nice fellow got me to install the BETA drivers from 2010. Well, whilst installing, I got a BSOD 0x0000003B which is GPU related. However, after a reboot, and reinstall, everything seems fine.
    So I tried the latest drivers again and the symptoms came back, so I've had to roll back again.
    Is it just dodgy drivers or should I get the motherboard replaced under warranty?
    Cheers.
     
    dskid807, Jul 24, 2011
    #1
  2. GNandGS

    GNandGS Notebook Deity

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    I think this is primarily a driver issue + hw accel.

    For ME most of the vid fail was with acceleration in web browsers. Not sure mb replacement will "fix" it but you can try.

    Have you tried disabling the intel and using the latest and greatest drivers? If no issue with that then you know its likely driver.
     
    GNandGS, Jul 24, 2011
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  3. dskid807

    dskid807 Notebook Guru

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    Well, I've left it idling with nothing GPU based running and it has still locked up with the same error. So, it seems strange. And the only time it doesn't lock up is running much older drivers so I think it could be a flaky GPU.
    Any other thoughts?
     
    dskid807, Jul 24, 2011
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  4. GNandGS

    GNandGS Notebook Deity

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    I think driver still. Any issue without dual display ?
     
    GNandGS, Jul 24, 2011
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  5. dskid807

    dskid807 Notebook Guru

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    Still dislikes the Nvidia GPU without it. And it did it when I'd removed the driver and tried reinstalling the driver, it gave me the 0x0000003B BSOD.
     
    dskid807, Jul 24, 2011
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  6. slickie88

    slickie88 Master of Puppets

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    Have you uninstalled the driver, booted to safe mode, run Driver Sweeper, rebooted and then installed the drivers again?
     
    slickie88, Jul 24, 2011
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  7. dskid807

    dskid807 Notebook Guru

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    Yup I have, twice.
     
    dskid807, Jul 24, 2011
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  8. potentiality

    potentiality Notebook Consultant

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    What version of the GPU and MB do you have? You can see your MB build date near the memory near the heatsinks and a revision number (hard to read). We think it may be related to the GPU version(s). A particular one cant run newer drivers without underclocking (or someone said overclocking!) the GPU. Which is ridiculous if Dell expects a gaming machine to stay static with stock drivers while new games come out.

    Its alike a mini 8000 series fiasco all over where Nvidia wont admit fault and neither Dell.

    http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...board-revisions-related-crashing-issue-2.html
     
    potentiality, Jul 24, 2011
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  9. dskid807

    dskid807 Notebook Guru

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    I have the A2 revision of the GPU according to CPU-Z and crash with the latest R1 switching drivers. Can't check MB till tomorrow.
     
    dskid807, Jul 24, 2011
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  10. potentiality

    potentiality Notebook Consultant

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    Thus far it seems to be the A2. But I don't have a large enough base of comparisons in that thread (people POST please!) to make a more educated response. More than likely you will get a refurb motherboard unless somehow you can convince them you need a new one. And so its a luck of the draw what you get then for the gpu revision. The best bet I can give you is the closer to 2011 the build date, the more likely its not to have that particular GPU.

    Its not like Nvidia has data somewhere telling what the differences in the GPU revisions are. :(
     
    potentiality, Jul 24, 2011
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