m11x Odd issue. Keeps randomly freezing up for 1-2 seconds

Hey. I've owned the alienware m11x r2 for about 3 weeks now.
It's been working fine until 3 days ago. It keeps freezing randomly for about 1-2 seconds quite often. First it was only when i played games but now it happens when im surfing on the internet. I dont know why this happens so any help would be appreciated. It's very annoying for example when im PvP'ing in WoW and it freezes. Kinda gives the enemy an advantage.
As i said earlier Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Edit: I forgot to mention that I have reinstalled Win7 and it didnt help.

 

Have you used any monitoring tools to try and get an idea of what might be wrong? For example, is your system running really hot? Are you getting CPU spikes to 100%? Stuff like that. Just from that description, I can't really make much of a guess at what might be causing you problems.

 

Hey again!
Thanks for the reply.

I just downloaded Speedfan 4.42. When I run it I get these results:
Idle:
GPU: About 46C
Core 0: About 30C
Core 1: About 30C
Cpu usage: keeps spiking up to 65%

Running WoW:
GPU: About 52C
Core 0: About 34C
Core 1: About 33C
Cpu usage: Spikes up to 95% - 100%

Im kind of a noob in things like this so I dont know if its good or bad results.
But to be honest it doesnt look good if the Cpu usage spikes up to 95%-100% when I run games. For example WoW.

 

Ok. It looks like you have background process(es) that are using the CPU much more than they should be (temperatures are fine). My system runs under 5% cpu usage when idle. Open Task Manager and go to the 'Processes' tab and see if you can identify what program is being so CPU intensive (you can click on the top of the 'CPU' column to sort it). You may need to click on 'Show processes from all users' if nothing stands out.

 

You should also look to this Regedit hack to help with MMO play.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/513360-new-m11xr1-optimization-must-have.html

 

Okay thanks. I'll check into it soon then. =P

 

It's my opinion that the 1520 WLAN card that comes with the computer is filler trash. There's a few threads on this freezing problem. A large one on the front page blames the graphics card. It obviously isn't nvidia for you if your IE is freezing up too.

Check that thread, I have many attempts to fix the 1520 WLAN posted there, but I eventually just upgraded the card for $35. Took 10 minutes to install. IE runs so much faster now and I haven't had a freeze in weeks.

 

Two words: Crappy Antivirus.

Control panel -> Programs & Features -> Uninstall whatever you have. Download Microsoft Security Essentials.

Problem solved

 

Could you link that thread? I don't seem to be able to find it. :<

 

My antivirus is Mcafee. ( I got it when I bought the Laptop)
Is it Mcafee that is causing the random freezes?

 

I would put my money on that.
I'm not sure on what Mcafee or its extensions exe's are I'm afraid.

Any chance you can get us a print screen of your running processes?

 

Here is a print screen taken about 5 minutes after I've started the computer. Sorry for it being in swedish. =p

 

I don't use any Antivirus and I have the same problem. I don't see any unusual processes (it happens even when I'm on Word).

 

Yeah... For me it happens randomly. But its worst the first 2 hours after after ive started the laptop. After that its still there but doesnt happen as often.
Kinda like the computer gets used to it...

 

UPDATE: I've managed to lower the cpu spikes on my alienware m11x.
When im idle its on about 5-20%
And while running a game (or any similiar program) its about 50-60%
BUT... the problem with the freezes still persist...

 

Did you reinstall all updates after reinstalling Win 7?

I wonder if the freezing has anything to do with the latest round of Windows updates. Immediately after the updates installed on my Gateway P7805u (Win 7 HP 64bit) last night I noticed that the mouse kept getting hung up for a few seconds at a time.

 

I called Alienware to complain and they told me to reinstall the sound drivers. I haven't had the problem for a few days now, maybe it worked.

I think it's a DPC latency issue. Is the problem something like this? Because I used to have it.

YouTube - Stutter or strange sound on Alienware M17x

 

That's exactly the problem i have. Image freezing for about 1-2 secs and the sound getting stuck also. thanks for the tip. i'll reinstall the drivers also.

 

I had this issue as well.
Accept...
It only happens during start up, right as the Windows screen loads (and the four color balls are coming together to form the windows logo)
But other than that never.

 

Not sure if I did it right but it didnt help. Reinstalled Realtek drivers. I dont know if that was the drivers you meant?