AW M15x Throttling Issue Investigation - Stock clocks and overclocked.

I'll sign up on that forums and post ... count me in as well.. and hey Jwest just post some pics of ur throttling on there as well(use throttlestop log and gpu-z logs).. i'll be doing that as well soon enough.. And guys lets jump up that thread...

CALLING ALL AW M15X USERS>>>>

 

yo im on this but i found out my issue was a driver problem as others have been having with the 257.15 drivers not doing well with certain textures.

 

Hi guys, will do as well.
Tech came over this morning and replaced:

Motherboard
CPU Cooler
GPU (260M GTX)

Well the problem persists so only two hypotheses remain: CPU is mad and causing itself high temps and screwing around with GPU clocks (unlikely) or it is all due to a power problem.

See what support comes up with in the upcoming hours/days.
Hooroo!

 

Ya and now call them again and have them try to explain why this is happening... I did ... but in the mean time I told my uni professor about this, and he bought one just to test LOL... Told them that and they had nothing to say...

 

Tell your prof to take it down to the lab and measure DC power consumption between the power adapter and the laptop. I think he will find a direct relationship between power consumption and throttling. This would make for a nice university paper. You could play a few games too in the name of science.

 

If you guys can, try and bring more of the discussion over to the post I made on Dell's forum. I just want to make sure it stays bumped towards the top so it gets more attention.

Here's the link: Alienware M15x Throttling - Laptop General Hardware Forum - Laptop - Dell Community

 

I just ran Furmark + Prime95 + GPU-Z + RealTemp for 15 minutes. No throttling with i7-720 and 5850.

Although there was one weird thing that happened. Before I ran the Furmark I checked the box for Post FX. During the test, I pressed P on the keyboard to toggle it off just to see what would happen. As soon as I pressed P, the GPU clock dropped from 625 down to 300, and the memory clock dropped from 1000 to 400. As soon as I pressed P again, the clocks went back to normal. Also, the framerate dropped from 26 to 8 FPS. I don't know if this should be considered throttling; I'm not really sure what the Post FX does, and I don't know what was going on when I toggled it on and off.

Also, I'm not sure if I ran it long enough.

 

Whoa... My 5850 is benching with a static 300/400 clock speeds... I wonder if there could be an issue with this.

 

That is weird, you solved that by enabling powerplay, correct? I'm not sure if these are related issues. My problem seemed like it was caused by toggling Furmark's Post FX (I'm not even sure what that does).

 

Yeah it is probably completely different issues... I had figured my issue out after the last one.

 

Ok, so it turns out I'm an idiot. It wasn't the Post FX causing the slowdown, it was me accidentally pressing F1 and putting the computer to sleep during the test. I ran it again and did the same thing, toggling Post FX didn't cause any GPU or CPU clock modulation but it did cause a drop in framerate in Furmark. I guess because Post FX requires more processing power.

So it's good news, no throttling whatsoever with ATI 5850 and i7-720QM.

Both times I did the test, I ran it for 15 minutes. Do you guys think that's long enough?

 

well dell has not failed with the 5850 with throttling but there are now other issues that come with it never a dull moment in the alienware world lol.

 

It could be worse. Go over the Asus forum and see what happens when the G73 owners try to run Furmark. 110 degrees and their laptop shuts off.

I ran Furmark AND Prime95 simultaneously and never got higher than 90 degrees GPU and 70 degrees CPU.

 

that is why i love my alienware no temp issues unlike other laptops

 

But! ^^
I just got my 5870 and I was looking forward to installing it!
Guess what! The tech guy who changed the MB and GPU made the screws up so tight I can't extract the GPU and change it over...
Seriously :__(

 

srry if this question has been asked but does this happen with the 5850 cause that the gpu im getting for the M15x?

 

nvm i just read the last page

 

Be very careful not to strip the screw heads if they are over tight! Use or buy some decent screw drivers, do not use cheap/incorrect size drivers what ever you do

 

Yes, that's why I held back, I would much rather let the tech guys handle it. Thanks for the advice

 

How loud are the fans with the new GPU? Idle and full load?
One thing I hate is a loud fan,

 

Ok they're going to pick up the machine and test it.
See what they come up with.
I'll keep you updated

 

Well just noticed something.. hmm says 65Watt vid card... and CPUID Hardware monitor tells me that 75.25 Watts are being used by the CPU... SOOOO thats only 10 watts left out of 150 watt for everything else in the system... that certainly cant be rocket science.


Also something to mention my temps hit 99C while playing WOW and recently it started feeling much hotter then usual. It might be A06, however I think when I first flashed A06 it wasnt much hotter.. dunno.
just sux

 

Under full load the fans can get noisy but not horrible... I hate loud machines as well but this borders on tolerable ... Not as quiet as the Clevo nor the G73 but quite abit quieter then the M17x ... Seems like A06 bios made the fans more aggressive as they kick on sooner and louder...

 

Personally I would learn to deal with fan noise if you want new tech and high end. Take a lesson from many many GPU products and teh M$ XBOX.
Time and time again GPUS fail cuz of heating issues. Priority should be proper cooling! One example is the 360.. the fans in it are 12 Volt fans running at 5V to accommodate people that hate fan noise. I cant help but wonder if teh RROD thing would have been different if they just had some noisy fans. Personally I would rather hear the noise of air blasting across my nice expensive tech items, then hear my self complain about a RROD, heat throttling, or worse failure. Just my opinion.

This because its hotter LOL.. flash to A03 and look at your temps. At least this is the case for me. I play WoW and in A03 my temps are like 70-80 MAX for sure.
A06 its like 90-100.. last night maxed at 99. Sucks TBH

 

By the way to EVERYONE here is a link to the Federal Trade Commission's Complaint site. Dellienware has admitted in writing that this issue exists on systems they have pulled themselves.
SO WRITE A COMPLAINT. It can't hurt.
https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/FTC_Wizard.aspx?Lang=en#last

 

My temps were the same across A05 and 6 but the fans seemed to be just a little more aggressive.... Never tried A03 since i have the 5850 and there was no support for it in A03...

 

And your temps with A05 and A06 were?

 

Here are my temps and this is with a hefty overclock from stock.... Between stock and OC i am only a few degrees difference .... Temps are identical between both BIOS's as far as i can tell other then the more aggressive fan profiles...

http://forum.notebookreview.com/6369622-post749.html

 

Got a tube of MX-3 on the way will test to see what difference it makes in benchmarks and futureMark hopefully a 6 c drop in max temps.

also read that MX-4 is to be released soon

 

OH wow. Did u repaste ur gpu/cpu? I havent tried that yet I am going to do it for sure now.

However, I can for sure say that the temps do change from bios to bios. Going down to A03 lowers my temps with this paste a alot. With the a06 I hit 99C,
Now going back down to A03 Im only at high 60s - 70s. So something changed for sure in the BIOS is affecting the temps... Thing about the fans are, on the A03 the fans run less and its cooler.. Fans almost run too much on a06 for me. Strange... more testing!

 

could be your paste is not as good as when you first had it

also ive got MX-3 on the way and will test hopefully by next weekend.

 

True.. well since im getting an exchange soon, guess I will repaste it.. usually I do by now but with all these probs I rly havent cared so far.

 

Hmm wondering.. Is there a way to undervolt teh GPU .. or even the cpu for that matter? with a prog or bios flash? I know u can adjust the voltage on the GPU but wasnt sure if u could go down. Maybe lowering the power consumption could save some 920 users some power, reducing their throttling frequency, and also just giving the comp more blood. Just a thought.. I may be way off.

 

but then gaming you wont yield the same results.

 

Yes it will.. my idea came from when I have a M1530.. people would undervolt and test for stability .. the clocks would be the same.. Im not referring to underclocking.
When I did it on my m1530 the performance was the same it just ran a "slightly" cooler. Again just an idea.

 

Anyone else here feeling ignored? Sure Dell admitted to me the problem.. but yet has to reassure me that it will be fixed .. While other issues like the M15x/M17x Touchpad polling problem have gotten the attention and reassurance from Two Dell reps on this forum alone.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...ad-cursor-movement-polling-rate-problems.html

Am I the only one that thinks this is wrong?

 

Intel put an end to under volting when they introduced the Core i series. Under volting is no longer possible. If you could still under volt there probably wouldn't be nearly as many over heating laptops with throttling issues. Thanks Intel.

 

This is getting more entertaining every day.
After a tech came over to change three components of my system (MB, GPU & CPU), which didn't fix the repetitive occurrence of the throttling, Dell reps decided to pick up my system to fix it once and for all.
Well I got the system back today!
The problem hasn't changed a bit, they decided to change the GPU and CPU heat-sink for a second time!
Like a recipe, if it doesn't work the first time, odds are it isn't your cooking but the recipe that's wrong.
So they asked me to run FURMARK for 3 minutes and send them the results, which I have done.
Enough of this doodoo!

 

i feel for you dude just ask for an M17X with a lower cpu and just don't deal with your lemon system or demand to have the 5850 put in as it uses less power than the gtx 260m which could help you a lot.

 

Hi everybody, i'm writing from Argentina. Sorry if i bother someone with this question, but i was just about to order a m15x with a 740qm and a 5850 when i came across this thread. The throttling issue occurs only with the 260m or with the 5850 as well? (Normally i'd read the whole thread beefore asking something like this, but it's way too long). Thanks!

 

I meant the GPU


Aside from that... I suggest speaking to DELLChrisM .. he seems to be able to get things done .. however he just pulled the whole.. "it only happens in synthetic benchmarks" Which for me simply isnt true.. especially since A05 and higher.
It happens to me in most games and graphics progs like 3d studio.

Please if you experience this contact him so he knows.. he said it is ok and might even ask for more info ..

Thanks.

 

i'm curious, how do you go back to the a03 bios safely? i mean i've heard nightmare stories about people frying the fx lights chip with the old commander and new bios.

do i first remove the command center, then install a03 then install what? new command center or old version?

and yes i had the same thing, world of warcraft, my M15x overheated during a raid and autoshutdown. also, a06 was the first time i experienced the throttle issue in any real situation.

 

Hi, recently my M15 updated itself when i was sleeping. Next thing i know, rivatuner's clocks keep setting themselves back to stock clocks whenever i try the 550 1350 950. Yes i quad-checked that I'm not on stealth mode and using the 257.21 nv drivers. Any help ?

 

I got it from here.. You will see a "4shared" link.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/449444-a03-bios-bricked-my-m15x-47.html#post5784586

I started saving all the bios files. It has been confirmed to be safe. If you have problems PM me and I will get you the A03 file.

 

Sounds strange but pull the batt with the system powered off and hold down the powerbutton to rls all power.. I saw someone post this, and then it happened to me.. yes it worked.

If it doesnt then it must be some strange driver corruption..
If that is the case then you should uninstall riva... uninstall the drivers.
Then reinstall the drivers ... and redo the riva steps....Perhaps some settings got messed up, who knows.

Hope this helps.

Sorry for double post was too late before I noticed

 

Yeah, it works ! Thanks, now the clocks can be adjusted again.
I thought for a while there I cant play games at decent framerates again. Cuz everytime I play something, rivatuner must be started regardless of what background processes are running. Thanks DeeX

 

Well, Im glad that worked


To everyone else, I gota ask... Are there any Electrical engineers in the crowd?
I am sure if we had one on our team regarding this matter they could shed some light on to perhaps some reasons why this is happening.

With out it we are left to wait for AW/Dell Engineers to find the problem and report their findings.

 

Something else to add that I didnt notice.. well the 920xm and lower dont exist anymore.. they are all 840 940 etc etc..

Does anyone here have a new CPU? If so Does it throttle? I cant help but wonder if there is still a problem. There maybe, but if its fixed with these procs I want one for free!

 

tyvm for that, burned and ran.
i ran into a little hiccup updating (or should i say downgrading) the EC. pressing y made me exit to command prompt. so i executed the batch line again this time using capital Y! why only capital Y works i have no idea.

anyways it worked so ty ty ty

i guess i'll get to try it out again in raid this sunday. hopefully it won't throttle just like before i got the a06.

 

My test prove on my system that the A03 under the same situations throttles less frequently. It still does throttle but its alot less.

The tests usually are Furmark, World of Warcraft, UT Engine, and some Pro 3D Design progs.