To all kind souls... myriad of issues

Hello all. I've had my m11x r2 i5 4gbRAM since last summer.

I am not a hardcore gamer, not in the very least bit. Very casual. And my computer knowledge is quite slim- I'm a History major at FSU, extremely right-brained.


I was given 1k to buy a laptop, and I wanted something I could play games on, however. I bought the laptop because of the reviews and the battery life, as well as the very nice size. I'm very fond of it.


However, it cannot play games anymore. My m11x is a bit of an eeyore character, it seems. When I first got it, the first order of business was to install Oblivion. The screen was entirely black with HDR turned on, but once I updated the drivers, it was fine- it ran quite smoothly at max settings.

I stopped playing games for a while, then months later I went back to Oblivion. The framerate was quite a bit slower- I had to lower the settings. I attributed this to less space on my hard drive. No biggie. Graphics aren't a very big concern for me anyways.

I then purchased Mass Effect off steam. It will run quite well for about thirty minutes, then the fps slows down, and if I don't restart the computer every hour it will turn off in the middle of gameplay- I assume due to overheating (I don't overclock, I would have no idea how to do that anyways).

A week ago, I tried to play Oblivion once more. Imagine my surprise when a problem I once thought fixed, the black screen when using HDR, came back. As far as I know, I haven't changed any drivers. I try to install new drivers- it says I already have them.

However, the last straw came today when trying to play the new Shogun Total War Demo. I was getting less than 4 fps with default settings- not to mention the fact that the game takes about five minutes to load all the menus from startup.

I'm very excited about Elder Scrolls Skyrim- I was hoping that I would be able to run it come November. However, with this myriad of issues, I've grown less hopeful. This evening has been spent scouring the m11x optimization forum, looking for a lead- I did the things I'm technologically capable of doing, eliminating most programs from startup, defragging, etc. However, the problems persist, and here I stand (or sit), hoping that some kind soul will help me out.

I have one theory- Optimus not working- however I've already changed all programs to run with the nvidia card in the control panel.

So, if anyone wants to help out, keeping in mind that I'm rather illiterate when it comes to complicated fixes, I would be so very thankful. I hope this post doesnt break any forum rules- I'm simply growing desperate. Thank you.

 

I doubt it has anything to do with your hard drive,

one question- have you downloaded throttlestop?

It can be found http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/524257-how-supercharge-m11x-core-i5-i7-um-cpus.html

The problem might be caused by the computer thinks it is overheating so it disables its turbo boost, the reason is to keep it cool.
This computer can handle core temperatures up to 100C so don't worry about the heat. Also under power options make sure you have performance mode chosen.
See if this helps.
*to use throttlestop read that first post to get an idea of what it does, any questions PM uncle webb (creator of throttlestop)

 

Performance mode was chosen- I downloaded throttlestop and set it to the recommended settings, then ran shogun once more. The fps improved somewhat, yet I'm not sure whether to attribute this to throttlestop or the fact that i recently restarted my computer.

By-the-by, why is it that computers run much faster after a reboot?

 

is your computer slow in general?

like in everyday stuff too?

if so you may just need a good windows cleaning or reformat.

 

Thermal issues?

 

These games should run pretty well without the need to overclock. So I would say something else is at fault here. Could be faulty HDD, could be malware etc.
First thing is run dell diags and make sure that passes.
Next try a chkdsk from a command prompt. If that reports errors do a chkdsk /f.
Download malwarebytes free version, install and update and do a full scan.
Disable any unwanted processes at startup.
Completely flatten your drive and try a fresh install with latest drivers from Dell and nVidia.
Report back anything you find...

 

Have you "whitelisted" the games in question? Might want to check your fan vents too.

 

I did all those things except flattening the drive (not sure how to do that)

Still crashes when playing a game more than fifteen minutes.

Is this a hardware problem (fans?) Any way to fix with software or do I just have to send it to Dell?

 

I hate to bump and old thread, but overheating is definitely the problem here- Playing oblivion or mass effect, I get great frame rates for about the first ten minutes- after that, it slows considerably, eventually overheating to the point of immediate shut-down.


I ordered a cooling pad, yet I can't help but think this problem is hardware related. Any other ideas? The fan seems to be working fine...no strange sounds or anything. It just overheats extremely quickly.

 

From the info here, I'm guessing your heatsink has been put in incorrectly/without much care. There were a couple of other guys in the forum having the same issue. You can either be really brave an take your M11x apart and try to refit the heatsink. Or get on the blower to Dell support tomorrow and get them to send a tech over to you to fit a new one - it will be free of charge as it comes under your warranty. Best of luck

 

Yes, definitely take advantage of the warranty... you should not be seeing those kinds of issues with those games on that rig.

 

How I loathe calling Dell... I just called, the guy used some program to get onto my computer and play around. He kept installing drivers and I was yelling into the phone "I already have all the drivers!" but for some reason he couldnt hear. I eventually hung up the phone, tried to call back, but I never got a dial. Weird. So I call a friend in my contacts to see if somethings wrong with my phone. No dial. I have service.

I don't care how irrational this is, but I'm convinced Dell just broke my cell phone.

 

LMAO!!!!! Ahahahaha the bloody swine!

 

lol bloody swine indeed....I had to reboot my phone to get it to work. Called back, got a slightly more competent guy, checked my cpu and gpu- it was fine. Now I gotta install unigine and call back to check the system.

I don't see why they don't just believe me when I say the thing is crashing...I would have to be some sort of sadist to call these people voluntarily without a problem.

 

also, I just ran a unigine benchmark test and I scored in the low 300s...

I cant help but feel I'm not getting the alienware performance I'm entitled to.

 

@Luke - why not download all the drivers for the m11x to a USB thumb drive. Then make sure you have a copy of the windows 7 install DVD and external drive. Then format your machine completely and put a fresh install of Win7 plus any security/performance packs on and then put all the drivers on you need.

Sometimes a fresh load or squirt as we call it makes all the difference in the world.

Good Luck, StevenX

 

It would seem to me that overheating would be a hardware issue though, not software. Am I wrong? All I know is that it's overheating and has very bad performance.

 

Then take it apart, clean it, remove the TIM (thermal paste) off all heatsyncs, apply new high quality paste, format and install a new load.. It's like spring cleaning. Start Fresh.

Good Luck,

StevenX

 

did you ever actually temp your temps (i didn't see any readings posted)?... if not do so (throttlestop has a temp reader i think... but don't hold me to that because i haven't used it in a while (mostly use my desktop). i'm assuming that you cleaned your vents out, and that you are giving them good ventilation (at least a couple millimeters off of the surface that you are using - laptop cooling pads yay!)

idk if this will help (i only glanced over it, but seems to cover the basics)...
My computer is running slow what steps can I do to fix it?

haha i love the name of the website !

my best bet before you actually take your computer apart (or get a tech to do it) would be to re-install your operating system (OS) and then download/install the newest drivers and clean out the vents, make sure you have proper ventilation... if things don't work then it's probably hardware:\

 

It is clean and ventilated. I haven't checked the temps, but after twenty minutes of gaming (and after it shuts down) the bottom of the laptop feels like an oven burner. I figure that's not good.

I would have no idea what to do if I take it apart- I likely will have a tech do it. My problem is I hardly ever play games, so this could have been a problem for a long time without noticing.

 

definitely sounds like the thermal paste or heat sink is the issue just call tech support it cant hurt its under warranty

 

Make sure you use a hard, flat surface for your laptop. The rubber bumpers do not provide much room to circulate air. Whenever I used something else (e.g. a lap), the laptop would heat up fast.

EDIT: now would be a great time to make sure those rubber bumpers are still there. I'm missing 2.

 

In this situation, it REALLY helps to benchmark, and track with #s.

for example, get GPU z, or CPU z, and monitor the temps while gaming (log it), i found with my m11x that once i hit 74 degrees Celcius on the GPU, it'd throttle down. Once i determined this, i adjusted the pc so i got more airflow, got a laptop cooler, and no more probs. if the temps dont fluctuate, then you know it isnt a temp problem, and you can move on.

 

3 pages? Time for warranty claim already. Shouldn't be jumping through hoops.