Alienware M15x In-Game Freezing Issues

Hello,
I have the alienware m15x with the i7 820qm, gtx 260m, 6gb, and 500 gb. This week I have been getting alot of problems. When I game, the screen just completely freezes for about 5 seconds. This is very annoying, since it used to play all of my games with ease. The temperatures are :: GPU 85C, CPU 75C during hours of gaming. I am really frustrated, because the problem just started and it seems like it is becoming worse and worse. Please help me.

Note:
I don't know if this has to do with anything, but I remove the battery and just plug my laptop into the AC, cause it is a stationary laptop pretty much and I don't want to destroy the battery by having it plugged in all the time. But today I plugged in the battery while charging it and gaming and it made no difference, but do you think it might have affected my laptop



THANK YOU for reading this, help will be very appreciated since Alienware Tech Support is not willing to help without charging me since my warranty is over.

 

have you tried toggling your stealth mode, cuz it does fix this sort of issue at times.

 

Yes I have it didn't help the issue. Also when the random freezing happens I can't do anything.

 

Which drivers are you using?

 

i also have same issue. i upgraded my processor to i7 940xm but no performance!! gta 4 lags after every 5 secs. i am using latest drivers... any help??

 

What are your temps like? Did you repaste correctly? Download throttlestop to make sure all cores are being used and/or any throttling.

 

i think the problem is with cpu that i bought recently!!!!! the vents are too hot after installing 940xm and i think lag is because of that! is there any solution for this??

 

yogesh no offence, but you have your own thread running for your issue and you are basically high jacking this thread and taking it off course from the OP's problem. You are also receiving responses in your thread.

 

I have not used thermal paste yet, because the highest temperature the cpu and gpu have ever gotten was 85. And I have not used throttlestop either. I am not familiar with it and I don't want to mess anything up. If you could tell me how to use it if it is needed I would be more than welcome to use it . Thanks for the help again. I read online something memory loss..

 

85c for the gpu is creeping to the high side. My max temp with that gou and a good repaste was about 75-76c. Which drivers are you usin for gpu and what bios version are you on? Did you change any settings or install/uninstall anything right before the performance drop? Make sure when you game its in high performance.

 

I am on bios 9, and the driver for my gpu is 9.18.13.697 , I updated it about 2 days ago, but this problem occurred even before the new driver.

 

Did you change anything software/hardware/settings wise before you noticed the performance drop?

 

No I have not changed anything. The main problem that has been going on even after I formatted the laptop is that when I play crysis 2 or any other game, it runs fine the whole time, but then it drops extreme fps and becomes very laggy. It happens suddenly and is very annoying

 

Can somebody please help me? Is there any way we can talk through skype, facebook, or steam? So I chat and it would be much faster and easier

 

Can someone help me? I have restored my alienware m15x, and 1 month later the problems are back..

 

Mr ImmortalMario. Judging by your symtoms your gpu is throttling back under heavy load!

You must asap open your M15x up and take both cpu and gpu heatsink out give them a thorough clean (the fans too) with a can of compressed air. Then you must take the cpu out and wipe any old paste off with a little tissue paper then reinstall it. Apply a little quality thermal paste. I recommend ICD 24. Put heatsink back on and turn your attention to GPU. Leave GPU in the machine and carefully clean the gpu die of any remaining thermal paste. Then apply a little quality thermal paste as before on the die and put heatsink back on.

Before you shut her up double check the vents of the heatsink are properly dust free.

Try to game while monitoring temps in high performance mode with battery left in and power plugged in and see what happens. If you still have problems then maybe your power supply is on the way out and is unable to provide enough power for your laptop under heavy load. In this case replace with the standard slimline Dell 240W brick. It it the same size as the original 150W brick and will run alot cooler.

 

also check which state the gpu is in using gpu shark. i used to have bad lag, and that was because nvidia crashed at some point and didnt tell me. and my state was stuck on P10, which is like half the juice i can get

 

Hey thanks for the help. I am actually really afraid of taking apart my laptop.
I fear of braking something, cause I usually do . I feel like I would really mess up trying to apply new paste. Any help you could give me? And could you give me a link of where to buy the paste from?

 

There are many videos on youtube of how to apply paste but there is a very simple video in my signature of how to remove components and apply paste.
Obviously don't remove components but see how easy it is to apply paste.

Just google search ICD7 and look for vendors in your country. eBay is obviously an option.

 

Opening up your laptop is really not that hard, and many computer components are much more durable than you think.
Alienware M15X CPU & GPU removal - YouTube (EDIT: Just use the one in Fatboyslimmer's sig) is a pretty decent tutorial on how to open up and replace your cpu/gpu. Obviously instead of replacing them, you're just going to go through some housekeeping. As far as amount of thermal paste to use, put about a pea sized amount in the middle if your cpu/gpu die (or a little more, in case it doesn't look like enough), and set the heatsink on it evenly. Press the heatsink down onto the die with a light to medium force, and move the heatsink on the die in a small circular motion. This will ensure the thermal paste will get a thin, even layer of thermal paste between the die and heatsink. Obviously do this after cleaning the old thermal paste off. You can use a high-alcohol percentage isopropyl alcohol to clean it off.

Also, don't be afraid to revert to your old drivers. Sometimes when new drivers come out, they can actually cause more issues than they solve.

A laptop is a lot like a car, it will run well with clean, older parts in it, but will run poorly with new, dirty parts. Sometimes all you need to do is open up your laptop and make sure everything is sparkly clean.

 

How much of thermal paste do I need?
Is this enough for the CPU and GPU?
IC Diamond 7 Carat 1 5g Thermal Compound ICD7 New | eBay

It is 1.5 grams and I need it for the CPU and GPU. Thanks

 

Okay guys, before the thermal paste gets here. I wanted to try THROTTLESTOP.
I have the 820qm i-7 processor, and I wanted to try this out.
Warning, I have never tried this, and I would need step by step help to do this. Please help

 

So I downloaded throttlestop, and I didn't know what to do with it so i just Turned it ON. And while I was gaming, I saw that the temperature for my GPU was 94 C at one point. I don't know how to use throttlestop I guess? I don't know what to do