m11x heat issue recall

i have contacted dell about my m11x getting hot and there has been a recall on some of the parts wich are causing notebook to over heat so if your m11x is getting hot contact dell imediatley about the recall at

1-800-alienware

might save you trouble of looking for number

they said the ac adapter is one of the recalls they didnt say exactly what the other was but there is more then 1 part that will be replaced when i send mine in to get heat issues fixed they are going to fix it for free and shipping is free also just have to deal with not having computer for 3-4 days they will overnight a box for me to send it back to them overnight said should take 3-4 days for entire process hope this helps some of you

 

For which revision(s)? Just the R3? The R2 hasn't really ever had many problems reported here and the R1 is generally as cool as a cucumber.

 

the 1 more part is probably the hinge and i bet you have a r2 or r1 and you are under warranty for the over heating issue. i'm guessing there isn't an actual recall for the over heating m11x but for just the hinge which were aware about.

but i'll wait to find out more info.

 

So they're not going to publicize the re-call to M11X owners?
And what if your without a warranty?

 

Probably mis informed.

 

By a Dell phone rep?

No.

Way.

 

I would not gasp if it was a mistake on the Dell Representative's part but if he said that the A/C adapter had a recall than perhaps we could get a smaller one instead of the brick we have now.

 

I have M11x R1, and I agree that the power supply "brick" tend to get real hot when charging

ie I will let my battery run down to 40 - 50%, and then plugin the charger

While charging, the brick is warm to the touch. Not sizzling hot, but not cool either

 

That is typical because it happens with my M15X.

 

My power brick at idle is 88 degrees and after charging for about 1 hour is up to 94 degrees.
r1 with stock power brick

Temps taken with a digital laser in a room that is 73 degrees all the time (my office)

 

to be honest, with 2 post...he/she is probably a troll.

 

overheating the machine, maybe not, but my r2 almost have busted adapter because it was so hot when charging. Oddly enough, I realize that this only happened when I disable charging from bios, not with btmeter (fn+f2). Got around the same temp w/ ejohnson (just confirmed, took me long enough to borrow maintenance's temp reader.
Can anyone please confirm this adapter temp as well?

 

Heat issue seems not only to a part of m11x, I think it happens to every user. It depends on the quality of the hardware. Such as the the quality of Xtreme version of the Intel CPU. Re-call seems far away from most of us. But it still worth to be mentioned that the connection of my battery and power system is not good. Sometime, if I removed the AC adapt, it cannot start with full charged battery. I tried to press the button which located in the back of the laptop to check the capacity of the battery, all lights lighted and it means it is fully charge. I do not know why it cannot start, just assume that the connection may get some problems.

 

Nope I'm not troll alienware did not announce this recall and when I talked to them they had to look into it and found out the recall was done by ibm for they are the company who made the ac adapter used in alienware m11x currently I'm waiting for them to fix took a week to get it to them using there box they make you use look like the entire process will take about 2 weeks seems as if alienware was unaware of this issue until I talked to them but like I said don't. Take my word on it look into this yourself. And I'm a gamer I'm sure many of you have seen me around in many mmorpgs runescape wow last chaos endless online shaiya guildwars cronous just to name a few yup I'm the original aocleader runescape w50 ruler

 

Hmmm..

So the brick that came with my R3? I returned it with my R2 refurb that was giving me issues. Kept the flat version with the lighted end that came with the R2 refurb.

They have the same wattage and this R2 version (or is it? My r2 was a refab so maybe the adapter they grabbed was really for another model).

Anyhow I have never noticed heat problems with this flat version. Its also nice as it fits into my neophrene sleeve better. With the rubber attachment I can put it on a desktop leg post to keep it off the ground

This is the one I'm talking about. Did this version come with the r2 originally? Or was it a outlet screw up?

 

That's the 90W adapter that ships with an R2.

 

K, so they have the same voltage output and wattage. I see no reason not to use it. I think dell cheaped out with the brick for the new version and its coming back to bite them.

Edit: Though I really would like to know what the other recall is if there is another. Like maybe a new heatsink?

 

I'm not sure what the other recall was I couldn't get them to tell me when I talk to them all they saying is laptop is in repair and the problems will be fixed seems they don't want everyone knowing that alienware does indeed have problems I will look at laptop when I get back and let everyone know what they changed

 

Well the invoice said they replaced the hdd and restored os I have it plug in for 3 hours now and its cool not hot at all before it would get so hot I couldn't even touch it. They have also replaced the a/c adapter and I will inspect hardware more thoroughly later but now it is running cooler then any laptop I have owned before and the new os they put on is much faster then the old one it originally came with and is much prettiernand has better security also and I will post pic of the new ac adapter and post it also wish I thought of that with old one s people would know wich one exactly was recalled

 

update they didnt replace the right parts last time when i sent laptop in for repairs so it still getting hot and i have to send it in again they are going to replace the motherboard to a newer one with higher speed ports install thermal cooling and upgrade my hard drive all for free for me since they messed up last time i spent over an hour on the phone with them but they agreed to upgrade me for free as compensation since they made a mistake before and im still under warranty so hopefully they fix it right this time if they do i should be zooming i couldnt get them to agree to solid state drive but im still getting some nice upgrades

 

Wow I barely get 90´s while playing on max settings games like L4D2 or COD5

 

That makes no sense. The r3 has no option of upgraded "ports". They have one type of motherboard layout. Moreover, all systems have to have thermal cooling on them. There is no official "upgrade" for thermal cooling. (There is replacing the crap factory heatsink compound yourself with something good like Diamond IC, but thats you and taking chances with warranty).

 

Keep in mind this isnt my computer thats hitting those temps, but the charging brick thats hitting this temp.

 

Are those temps in C or F?

 

in farenheit

 

ok well they sent out a tech guy to my house to fix my m11x they replaced everything i listed above but the hardrive they sent me was blank and tech guy did not have external cd rom drive so i had no way to install windows back on it cause all i got with laptop was windows 7 cd so i called them while guy was here and they overnight usb with windows 7 install and i installed it updated drivers and now it is faster then it was brand new and it dosent even get warm i am now very happy with my alienware m11x after months of problems i can finally say that my alienware m11x is truelly an awesome computer so it seems all my issues are finally resolved im loving my laptop now was a struggle to get everything repaired but im very happy now that it is finally running the way alienware should be running

 

and apparently there is more then 1 motherboard layout because the one i got is alot different then the original one that was in it

 

We need details.

1. Did you order the original version? How long did you have this system? Was it an i5? That was speced like for 1-1.5 gigs for the memory when originally it came out. While now all r3 come with 2 gigs.

2. You haven't given ANY DETAILS of how they upgraded your ports. Which makes me question your knowledge level if nothing else.


What are your temperatures now on the system versus before?

 

I had to wait in the doctor's office today for about an hour, so I broke out my R3 and started playing BF2142 (50-70 FPS, much higher than my R2) and when I was finished, I started packing away my power brick. It was literally too hot to touch. I thought it was going to start a fire. I re-used my slimline power adapter from my R2, not the more squarish R3 power brick.

 

ok this is like the 3rd time im having to get my computer fixed because its over heating this time is same as other graphics card is over heating and they are replacing 2 parts yet again coiuld there be a defect in the graphics card that keeps making this happen? its nvidia geforce 335m

K1PWV 00001 ASSEMBLY...,PRINTED WIRING ASSY...,PLANAR (MOTHERBOARD)...,SU7300,R0,PHTM
5M8N2

00001 ASSEMBLY...,HEATSINK...,W/FAN,PHTM

 

Its because they are using refurb motherboards. so the thermal paste jobs are not great.

Mine is over heating and the fan sounds like a bunch of loose change. I just got a new mobo too.

 

ohh maybe i should contact them and see about making sure its new and not refurb this time thanks for the tip

 

Since you have a r1 they probably wont have any new boards. Your computer is almost 2 years old now (from time of launch) they may tell you that you are getting a new board, but its probably a refurb.

 

Doubt they will even have stock of new boards by now, probably just refurbs left. Probably a good idea to open it up and use decent thermal paste on the CPU and GPU to enhance heat transfer, which will help control the heating up of hte machine. Always use it with the fan openings unblocked - I have the r3 and there is a huge grill on the bottom for air to be sucked in and out the back past the radiator fins so I try not to use it on a soft surface, and definitely never if gaming as the fan doesn't kick in until the GPU is needed.

 

This whole thing is a pain, My m11xr2 gets 85C+ playing mass effect 2 while elevating the laptop using a book or wallet. Almost unplayable with temps capping off around ~87-89C (unless i lug around a laptop cooler). I'm not sure what to do, I've given up using it for gaming because of the throttling and calling dell wouldn't do me any good since I'm out of warranty. Any suggestions ?

 

If you are capable of disassembling a laptop - clean up all the dust around fan area, change thermal compound in GPU\CPU area. There are numerous guides on M11x disassembly, but if you are not really into that stuff - the whole process will be quite frustrating.

If not - I'd suggest blocking your fan with a pin\toothpick or similar sturdy thin object and using vacuum cleaner to blow all the dust. There is also an exhaust area at the back of the laptop, which needs to be cleaned as well. A can of compressed air would also do the trick. If dust causes overheating - it will surely help.

 

I'm getting CPU and GPU temps up to 80C when playing Minecraft on my R2 for just an hour. I'm scared to go any higher, so I usually just stop playing after that or switch over to the integrated graphics for a while and turn down the graphics settings. I am considering taking it apart to clean the dust out (it's about a year and a half old so it's probably a bit dusty). I'm still not sure if I want to mess with the thermal compound but I bet that would be more effective. How difficult is the process of applying new thermal compound and is there any risk of screwing it up?

 

Temps around 80 are pretty fine and are not dangerous in any way as long as it doesn't kick in thermal throttling, which in my case happened pretty frequently before I had changed thermal compound.
Messing with thermal compound requires some skills and patience, as you'll have to disassemble your laptop completely (CPU\GPU unit is located just above everything, so you'll have to take off all the parts to get there). Even more - there is no guarantee that it will be THE reason of high temps (although the quality of Dells compound tells me that any other compound will be better). There are almost no risks of doing something wrong as long as you stick to guides, but still its a quite time consuming process which can become frustrating at the moment of assembly.

I'd suggest you do a complete dust removal with or without unscrewing the bottom cover as it is much faster (you don't even need to take your laptop apart) and check your temps afterwards.

And is your laptop lifted or it stands flat? There can be pretty major difference in temps between those positions.

 

i suggest putting some artic silver 5 my tempatures dont reach over 65 while gaming and my lil brother has played over 4 hours

 

My m11 cooks my crotch.... XD Maybe 90c max playing mw3... Ill check into this

 

I bough my R3 in september2011, did they fix the heat recall at this time?. Fan always turn max when i play games... and its annoying. Its too noisy. I using a stand to lift it , but there is no fan. Its kinda hot everywhere too , near mouse pad and such. The supply pretty hot too. It's like having a hairdryer near me when i play. Thinking about doing the heatsink mod . There is no dust btw

 

Exact thing I am having...

 

I have no prob at idle. Supply P/N is OMK947. A ssd would lower the heat ><

Does the fan have to turn so fast? its like 15C in my room , GPU is 64C and fan i locked max speed :::::::::::::::::::::::::::
I'm just playing Final Fantasy 11 a 2003 crappy graphic.
At the second the game exit , fan stop

I had the last NVIDIA Driver , tryed the Dell driver and its do the same thing ;

Found a software that can read FAN speed , its HWINFO64

At GPU 67C the fan goes 6500RPM

 

I'd say I'm fairly experienced when it comes to the innards of computers, I built my first PC when I was around 12 years old (not that that's meant to impress anyone just giving an idea of my experience). I watched some videos on thermal compound application, and it's much simpler than I was expecting, the hardest part will probably be remembering where everything goes and putting it back together after I've taken it apart.

The question is will it be worth the time and money, and will I see noticeable results? I do use it on my lap mostly, always leaving the bottom vent uncovered so the fan still gets air. Any game I play I hit ~75C within maybe 10 minutes and it doesn't go much lower, I will usually hit 80C. I'm sure they are safe temps but I have a feeling it will have negative consequences after extended use at those temps, but mostly it's uncomfortable at those high temps and I'd like to reduce the heat.

 

Is it worth time and money? It sure is. After about half year usage of my M11R2 I was hitting 80C all the time, even without overclocking CPU\GPU and it caused severe performance drops due to throttling. After whole process of cleaning and reapplying thermal compound I got around 74-75C, and then after some time it took thermal compound to burn in properly (I'd say 200 hours or so) it all got to the point of 72C under load, and for me it was definitely a change. Now it stays around 75C, due to the fact I'm too lazy to actually disassemble it a bit again and to remove dust that cannot be reached by vacuum cleaner. So for a $5 thermal compound and few hours of your time (even less) - it's definitely worth doing.

And another thing - those heatsinks can be pretty poorly placed in assembly. And in my case polished plate which goes right above CPU unit had a little bump, and in combination with poorly applied average quality thermal compound didn't help thermal efficiency either. I had to carefully remove it, but surely it's not everyones case. Just FYI, as those things must be as flat as possible.

 

u guys should really open it up and reinstall new thermal paste i put some as5 on mine i could game all day and the fan never reaches max settings