Random shut downs

So now all of a sudden, my Alienware has been getting a lot of random shutdowns, and by shutdown, I mean that the computer instantly powers off without any sort of warning. Any possible culprits of this problem?

 

is it because it thinks it's on low battery? i have that too sometimes

 

I had this problem before, does it do this while you're plugged in or running on battery?

If it only happens when you're running on battery, I suggest you take out the battery and put it back in, it seem to fix my problem.

 

I'm currently still dealing with the aftermath of this. To test, I left it running on the bios screen and it would eventually shut off. I liked this test because it tells me that it's likely a hardware issue and not one with windows.

Additionally, when unplugged, I would received a message when first turned on about the battery being low even though it was fully charged.

A tech came and replaced the motherboard.

Now it is not shutting off but restarting randomly. I'm currently restoring to factory defaults to test whether it can stay on for more than 24 hours or if it restarts. If it restarts with factory defaults, then I'll have to call them back as something else is bad.

 

Alright, looks like i jinxed myself, it's been working fine the last couple of weeks. As soon as I saw this thread and replied to it, it happened again. Now i'm thinking my battery might be defective or something is seriously wrong with my system. Going to have to call Dell once I get home.

 

Have you been monitoring the temperature of the CPU and GPU? Are there any patterns to the shut downs (ie: Gaming, Web Browsing, Photoshop)

 

Well the problem went away, so I'm guessing it's something related to temperature. It would randomly shut off regardless of how much battery is left. Also another issue is that the computer won't wake up if I were to set it to sleep or hibernate. So it's either a system problem or an hardware problem...

And I haven't had an occurrence of the random shutdowns today. Could setting the machine on a table have something to do with it? (Fan not getting enough ventilation?)

 

Possibly. Make sure you have a good surface to ventilate, as I had that issue before. Need be, you could open up the back panel and use some compressed air to clean out the fans a bit. I myself plan on doing that in a week or two.

 

The R1 and R2 CPUs are rated to get to 105 C before they shut down to prevent damage--which is much higher than they normally get. Is your fan running loud/high before the shutdown? If not, it's probably not the temperature, unless the source of the problem is your fan isn't working as it should. Download and run HWmonitor or your preferred temperature monitor and keep an eye on it to make sure it isn't getting up that high.

Other potential problems leading to shutdowns that have been posted on this forum are the wireless driver--are you on wifi when it happens?--and the battery being read incorrectly--which involves running it out of juice then holding the power button down for 15-30 seconds, IIRC.

 

WiFi was on in all the instances, and the fan wasn't blazing loud. The battery seems to be reading correctly from what I'm seeing, though.

So with all that in mind, I'm beginning to suspect the WiFi driver.

 

I found a similar thread you might want to check out.

 

I'd expect you to see severe throttling and hear the fan really kicking up if you had a problem with heat, and I'd expect this to occur well before any shutdown.

Sounds like there are a couple people having this issue. A couple things I'd try....

Boot to the F12 boot menu and run a full system diagnostics.

Make sure you are using BIOS defaults and the latest BIOS. Turn off overclocking - if you have overclocking enabled and your system is not capable of it, this is a likely problem, along with random lock ups, etc.

Reseat memory. Remove any memory that did not ship with your system.

Remove any third party accessories (unlikely, but just to be safe)

Make sure your battery is charging and discharging and is properly recognized by Windows.

Make sure your AC adapter has an LED on it and is functional (e.g. charging the system) and is recognized by Windows.

Keep track of what you are doing when this occurs. Is there anything consistent and repeatable?

Did this always happen or only more recently? Have you tried loading Windows clear or restoring your original image to see if that resolves the problem?


If not, I'd call support for dispatch assistance. This could be related to the memory or the motherboard (video card there as well). This is a very uncommon problem, but it absolutely shouldn't be happening.

 

I have tried all of these, at the advice of tech support. Still after reloading battery, hard drive, and memory, full image reinstall, I am getting the random shutdowns.

I first noticed a random shutdown when I was plugged in, running only Word 2 weeks into using the laptop. Then again yesterday, plugged in, running only Firefox and Word. Then after the clean install and all of the above troubleshooting, it happened, this time on battery. No fan ramping, no BSOD, no warning, just shut down and restart in the middle of YouTube video this time.

I have requested a system replacement, as the system is no longer trustworthy, in my opinion, and replacing parts piecemeal seems like a waste of time. My M11x is less than one month old. This shouldn't be happening. Who do I contact at Dell for a replacement? Do I need to escalate to corporate? (I had to do that with another manufacturer, and that was the only way to get a replacement for faulty motherboard and nVidia GPU on my old HP tx1000).

Advice appreciated!

David

Update: Wow, after I emailed my EPP customer rep with the issue, they authorized the system replacement. Now that's good customer service! Thanks, Dell/AW!

 

Not sure if you will get this but here goes:

I went ahead and did a system diagnostics test. Everything checked out ( i.e. All components passed)

I am running the A05 BIOS (Nice work BTW) and my M11x has been able to overclock with no problems for months now. I've never had any overclock issues on this PC before. Ever.

My battery does charge/discharge fine and the AC adapter is recognized by windows, but it does discharge at a faster rate than before. A month ago I was consistently able to get at least 6 hours on integrated, with WiFi and browser open. Now, I'm lucky to be getting 5 hours. Does the battery wear down that fast?

And lastly the problem seems to occur only when I'm on battery power. I've never had this issue when I was on AC. I'd say that the shutdowns always occurred, but it got more frequent after I did the A05 BIOS install, and I can't imagine that it was a bad install. The BIOS install process is pretty much fool-proof. Also I've re-installed the OS, and these random shutdowns still occur, but rather infrequently. Another thing is that when the system does shut down, it will sometimes refuse to boot back up for a while, regardless of how the power button is pressed.

Other than that, I'm out of ideas of what could be causing this...

 

So just to confirm - you are able to reproduce this problem with the overclocking disabled?

 

Just throwing this in..
Have you tried loading the bios default settings? I always suspect bios changes never quite clean up... but I am an old cynic.

 

I just turned off overclocking 2 days ago, so I'm trying to see if there is any change in behavior. However the PC has never shut off running some intensive games while overclocked, so I'm not sure if that's the case. Give me a week to see if the problem comes back, since it isn't a very reoccurring problem.

 

Yep, the shutdowns occur regardless of whether the CPU is overclocked.
Day 3 so far and I',m still on normal clock speed...

 

i am 100% sure this is a battery problem.

i dont own a m11x but try to remove it
use it a couple of days plugged but without battery, it shouldn't shutdown

 

Any more information or cause of this?

Mine is doing the same thing, it's only about 2 months old.
I don't even have to be using it. I can leave it for a while, come back and it's off, I assume it went in hibernation mode, but when press the alien head it goes to the screen that windows was not properly shutdown.
This morning I just turned it on and it was still in hibernation from last night, came out just fine, but within 2 minuites just shut off, no warning nothing just blank. I press the alien head and it goes to the screen that windows was not properly shut down.
This has only been happening the last 4 days, I have not made any changes recently.

 

For me, it ended up being a bad battery or charger. (likely battery).

They replaced the motherboard but that didn't fix it. Replaced battery and charger and it stopped.

 

ok guys this happened to me and i found out a way to get rid of it completely (at least for me)
Turn off your computer,
Remove the battery do not have it plugged in,
Press the power button for a minute or so (realease static)
Then leave the laptop for a few hours do not put the battery in there yet
Come back and put the battery in there without a plug
Press the power button turn it on
after 30minutes then plug it in.
**** this worked for me so good luck
also if that doesnt work then
Backup all your files you know are safe,
Restore factory defaults,
And you win a prize

One of these should fix it

 

I was having an issue similar to what some of you are describing and not others. My m11x was doing the same thing while really stressing the video card for long long periods of time, heat wasn't as bad as it should have been to make the computer turn itself off.
I ended up disabling powermizer while the computer is on ac and I haven't had any crashes yet.
Obviously this will not be relevant to all of you who are having this issue while not using the dedicated gpu

 

What I did is pretty much remove, unplug and then reconnect every connection I possibly could. Haven't had problems since.

It could be a faulty battery if the problems don't go away...

 

Happend to me today...I was taking a shower came back. I got my mouse and I fell from a little height and then the computer reseted

 

Getting the same thing on my refurbished R1. 4 times now since I got it its just suddenly shut down. Once when playing a YouTube video, once when downloading a file, and two other times when idle. CPU has been OCd (just set it back to see if that changes anything). Bios and all drivers are up to date. All times when plugged in.

 

2 days now with CPU set back to normal in bios. Have yet to randomly crash and restart. Wondering now if I should call tech support to have them look at it.