R1 overlock BSOD

If I set the bios of my R1 into overclock, it boots and runs fine for awhile. I can game on it just fine. But just using windows or letting it sit, it will randomly BSOD and reboot.

Is the overlock feature something that the warranty covers? This is a refurb unit, warranty is up in Oct.

Thanks!

 

Successful overclock is not guaranteed or covered under warranty. That's especially tough on the R1 since it's an success/fail situation with no in-between.

 

Oh well. When done gaming I just reboot and turn off the OC, not a huge deal. Guess its good it has yet to crash while gaming (knock on wood).

 

One thing you can try is analyzing the dmp file generated when your system BSOD'd.

BatBoy turned me onto this great little tool:

WhoCrashed

Much, much, much! simpler than installing the MS dev kit and its tools. Dump file analysis can sometimes give you a vital clue to what processes led to a BSOD. On the other hand if it's just a matter of your OC not being stable then you're more or less outta luck.

 

I used to get BSOD, until I asked Dell to replace my System, now I can OC without ANY BSOD. Last time I had it was 6 months ago. OC is covered by the warranty, I'm pretty sure. So give Dell a call, or if you're warranty has run out/expired like mine, get a new warranty, or OC using some other way. Just search up "Overclocking programs", you just need a PLL of the M11X, which none programs support sadly, but you never know...

 

Mine gets BSOD within 5 minutes (sometimes during startup) of enabling overclocking. Dell wouldn't do a thing about it. I think they used to because this isn't the first I've heard of people having them replaced. It's really disappointing that I can only run at 1.3 ghz especially when I have a $300 warranty. They advertise as overclockable, false advertising I think.

 

I think when Alienware did QA on the M11x-R1, they probably used 3 machines or something. Maybe all of them overclocked without problem. And then they released the R1, and advertised it as overclockable. And to 1.73GHz as well, if I remember correctly. Which is false as well. Hope they learned their lesson.

Would be interesting to know what reasoning they have to think that all R1's overclock without a BSOD.

 

Its more difficult now to get this covered as a warranty claim. I was able to but this was many months ago already. Since then there have been some statements about it not being a covered issue.

 

"Overclockable (able-to-be-overclocked)" and "Guaranteed to reach a stable overclock of XYZ speeds" are two totally different things.

I can buy a desktop motherboard, heavily advertised as an overclocking motherboard. I can buy a new Sandy Bridge i5-2600K CPU, advertised as a clock-multiplier-unlocked CPU aimed at overclockers. I can choose to overclock those parts. I can choose not to.

Should I be able to sue Intel or demand a replacement, if my particular CPU cannot reach the same stable 5.0Ghz overclock that other people have reported getting? What makes an Alienware M11x R1 different than that situation?

 

Yes, I understand.

Yes, indeed you can.

The M11x-R1 only has an on/off setting for the overclock. Either it works, or not. There is no gradual overclock setting here, like on the M11x-R2. So it is rather unfair to advertise it as overclockable in this perspective, although nothing illegal.

I think we all know that all CPUs are not the same. Some overclock higher than others.

I've seen most of the story around the R1's BSODs. And the Alienware rep that was active on the board back then said he talked to engineers who said the BSODs weren't supposed to happen. I even did PM with him about it. They were investigating why some of the M11x-R1 did BSOD.

As time passes by, the policy changed to what you wrote. They repeated the mantra "Overclockade doesn't guarantee a successful overclock." But it was pretty apparent they did expect all M11x to overclock in the beginning, from the statements made. They also indeed did switch the motherboards for users who complained.

And no, you shouldn't sue Intel.

 

Thats an easy answer, they programed it to run at a lower voltage when it's overclocked. What sense that makes, I havn't a clue. Probably to try and maintain battery life. But since each chip is differant, even those cut from the same wafer, it screwed some of those chips and led to instability. Not sure why it would even take time for "engineers" to come up with an answer to that question. The fix would be easy, edit the BIOS to increase the voltage a little. Well, thats my opinion at least.

 

I get that it's not legally "false advertising". That doesn't mean it's not shady to advertise it as overclockable when it might not work right.

That would be awesome!