M15x Problem/Technical Question thread

should i go for the gtx m260 or the gtx m280

so that the alienware m15x with i5 processor/4gb ram can run almots all the games .. (crysis,gta4..etc)

or any other which would run all the games ..

 

The GTX 280 isn't an option on the M15x. The 260 can certainly run any modern game-though no notebook GPU can completely max out every game at every setting.

I'm hoping that the GTX 460 is available shortly though-it's shown up in the Japanese store, but doesn't show up over here yet

If the GTX 460 or better shows up in the M15x or 17x before I crack open my G73jw, I think I'm going will Dell...just wish they'd do it like TODAY.

 

The GTX 280m isn't available in the m15x, if you need nVidia for things that require or benefit from CUDA or Physx like media encoding, rendering, etc then go with the GTX 260m(or even better wait for the 460m), if you're using it for gaming and daily tasks then go with the ATi 5850(or wait for the 460m). Right now top dog for overall performance is the 5850, it's speculated that the 460m will be a little slower in everything other than CUDA or Physx heavy apps/games.

 

^^^^^^^^^^Listen to the man. He knows what he's talking about!!!

Couldn't have said it better myself

 

sory im newbie..

I have a question..

I have a problems with my webcam, when i turn on the cyberlink youcam, the picture is to pale, and i set them to the way i want, after applying i close the cyberlink youcam, but when use my cam it turn back to the way before, pale pics, anyone could help me plzz..

Thanks

 

I use HDMI to watch movies, but I don't know why I don't hear any sound from my TV. Could you please help me fix it?

Thank you

---------------

I fixed it, just choose Audio Out is DP

 

You may have to go in to the sound menu and manually switch it over to HDMI.

 

Ok so I just tried to load up a movie and I'm getting an error that says:

"Windows Media Player cannot play DVD video. You might need to adjust your Windows display settings. Open display settings in Control Panel, and then try lowering your screen resolution and color quality settings."

What is this about? It's not a burnt dvd either it's a retail dvd. I did try to update the dvd firmware via the dell support site and when using the disc utility it says the drive is not compatible??? Any ideas?

 

Honestly, it's easier to just download and use VLC ( VideoLAN - VLC media player for Windows) than to try to determine what codecs need to be installed or setup changes made to enable WMP to work consistently. VLC will play almost any format without further ado, codecs or configuration.

 

I determined that my video drivers were corrupt. After failed attempts to uninstall them I did a complete format and reinstall of the OS and all drivers.

 

How do you overclock the ATI 5850 GPU?

 

Follow the link in my sig

 

What components in the m15x operate on the PCI bus? I have one device in device manger with the ! and it's PCI. I have no idea what it is as I thought everything was installed and running correctly.

 

Apparently the unknown device was the free fall sensor. I'm good to go now.

 

I've been having issues with my system falling asleep and not STAYING asleep.

I run most of my late night activities in balanced power mode. Plugged in I set the screen to dim after five minutes, turn off after 15 minutes, and go to sleep after 30 minutes.

But I've watched the process and after it dims and the screen shuts off, it immediately kicks out to the welcome screen and stays on till the screen dims and shuts off again, but it WON'T fall asleep, so my fans are running quietly ALL night.

I thought the easiest solution would be to manually put the computer to sleep by closing the lid or hittin g the power button. But in either case it shuts off and starts to sleep for about 5 seconds before it clicks back on and starts up at the welcome screen. (even when the lid is shut!!)

I never used to have this problem, and I'm not sure if there was an auto-update that started this whole issue. Does anyone have any advise? Because I feel like my system is getting a workout each night that's completely unnecessary and wearing my parts down.

 

See if any of the info in this thread helps you.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m15x/529559-sleep-issues.html#post6850217

 

Hey! Thanks. It looks like it has for the most part. I had another anomaly last night when it was sitting lid closed, unplugged and asleep. I was watching transformers on the tv and about 20 minutes into it, the speakers lit up and the HDD clicked on. I want to say it was a battery issue because i had been using it unplugged for a while and forgot to check the battery status.

Does anyone know if that's common for the computer to turn back on when it reaches low power even if it's asleep? Id like to think so so i can say my sleep issues are fixed, but i could be wrong.

 

time to order : 5850 or gtx460 ?

 

Hi, recently my M15x has been reporting HIGH PC TEMPS of 81 DEGREES AVERAGE!
Is this normal? This are ThrottleStop readings though.

Thanks.

 

If that's C and while it's at idle, that seems really high. If it's while it's being pushed hard it's okay (?)

It's not at the point where it's going to shut down or whatever, but at idle it should be cooler if I'm remembering right.

 

Whats ur reading? I never seen 50+ degrees before, lowest only 60+.

 

These are fairly typical temps for the M15x (820QM/5850M), recorded during and after multiple consecutive 3dMark06 benchmark runs. You would probably benefit from new paste and pads.

​

 

Was just wondering, is there any equalizer that we can adjust in our M15x?
The IDT doesn't seems to have any equalizer at all D:

At least M11x has a SRS lab setting that we can play with..And quite frankly I love m11x's audio more than m15x lol.

 

sottu just a quick question :

does m15x have usb 3.0 ?

 

no usb 3.0 yet

 

Are there USB 3 PC Cards?

I would like USB 3.0, but then again it's an add in chip anyway, and USB 2.0 (plus eSATA!) is fine for me for now. Blu Ray and everything else works fine with USB 2. Hard drives are limited to something like 25-30MB/s, but that's not completely horrible, and works fine for backups I guess.

 

Yup, I'm currently using Transcend's PCI-E USB 3.0 for my GoFlex.

 

Oh sorry, I mean like a PC Card for like what notebooks have (at least I'm guessing the M15x has one). I'm not really sure what if anything's available...plus I suppose the ports would have to stick out weirdly!

Wait, PC Card was the old standard...I guess I meant Express Card...or else I have that backwards...

 

Lol yeah it looks like this. It's okay tho cause my M15x basically acts like a "desktop" to me anyway.

Spoiler

 

So weird issue that's happened to me today, and it has happened atleast once before.

Sometimes when I turn on my computer, it gets to the Win 7 login screen and i input my pswd. But then the computer takes a long time to load the desktop. When it actually does load, my desktop is usually blank, the Win7 theme has been restored to one of those old ancient Win 98 theme.

In order to fix this, I usually have to restart my computer. Do you guys know if this is a Win 7 issue or if it could possibly be a Hard Drive issue?

 

Me too! And glad once again to see it's a pretty nice looking system. I never liked how the actual Alienware systems looked, but liked Dell's stuff fine.

 

hey i've been having problems with my mx15 since day one, it has been restarting spontaneously, usually when im online sometime with blue screen and sometimes w/o. I have uninstall and reinstall all drives and flashed bios. just this last monday i reinstalled windows and the rest of the drivers all of this with the help of alienware thru phone and screen share, but it is still a restarting on me, sometimes ill walk away from my computer for an extended amout of time and come back to it and its fine other times it will have restarted. other times ill be online surfing and it'll restart.... from what i can see most blue screens are different, ill attach some, i recieved my laptop oct 19, which i purchased for my birthday, and i like it but its been a serious pain in the , dell has seen the blue screens but fail to give an exact cause....

 

with something like this i recommend getting a replacement if possible, it should work straight out of the box.

but have you tried running the diagnostic tool????

 

no not yet but im with tech support right now letting them do more of the same testing....

 

if this is a new system and you had problems since day 1, i would push them for a replacement. ask for a supervisor and explain your case.

 

oh yeah brand new.... i did talk to a supervisor yesterday he said he call me back in two hours, but 24hrs later and no call......

running diagnostic test now, short test shows no problems running full test now.......

 

I'd have run Memtest right away to rule that out, but yeah, something's very wrong with it. It should just be crackling, not rebooting :-D

 

oh yeah and only 9 of the 19 colors for the display touch bar actually work.....

god im turning into a er... lol

 

lol yeah ive ran benchmarks,processor, and mem tests and hasnt given me any errors, i used the tests from liberkey.....

 

Don't ever wait for them to call you back, you'll be waiting for forever lol. Always get contact info and call them back after the time frame they give you. Like inap said demand a NEW replacement, sounds like a bad mobo or chipset to me.

 

Hey does anyone know how to disable the free fall sensor or whatever its called....

 

^^ You can find it at Device Manager|System Devices|ST Micro Accelerometer. It can be uninstalled from there, but why?

 

i won't be carrying it around its just sitting on my home desk for now just wanted to disable it for a while to troubleshoot some issues.....

 

Hey anybody ever had Critical Error Kernel-Power Event ID 41, Category 63.

I find them thru event viewer, cuz now everytime my computer restarts on its own it no longer gives me a blue screen for viewing, so this is the only information i have. Last night it restarted again so i disabled the automatic restart option on control panel, and looked thru the event viewer to find that there were a hand full of errors regarding ATI.

But knowbits not always caused by the ATI, cuz ive had blue screens from usb hub, among other things . Ive heard that its mostly cuzed by windows 7. Any info

 

I'm thinking of buying a slightly used M15x off of my local Craigslist. Here's the text of the ad: (he's asking for $1000)

"Only minor scratches on lid but hardly noticeable, everything works perfectly. Owned since October, but I no longer have need of this beast laptop because my desktop is all I use. Bought for 1700$ new still includes warranty I will ship but you pay shipping, preferred method is paypal or in person. Thank you
-Windows 7 Ultimate
-Intel® CoreTM i7 920XM 2.0GHz
-Single NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 460M
-2x 250GB harddrives
-8 GB DDR3 ram "

After reading this entire thread I'm kind of leery about getting an M15x. But this might be a good deal. Owners' input appreciated.

 

Seems a bit too good to be true imho. Reasons:

1. The i7 920XM will set you back at least $300 for ES and $600 for OEM

2. The M15x does not have 2 hard drive bays

3. The 460m didn't start shipping until the second half of November.

The whole combination including 8gb ram is quite expensive...$1000 is way too optimistic. Still if it is legit, I would recommend face to face and test it out before any money is exchanged!

 

I posted this in another section, but I'll ask again here.

I've been having slow start up since yesterday. I did CCleaner and defrag but it still start up slowly. It takes me over 15 seconds after punching in my password to desktop.

I have

740 quad core
4GB Ram
Radeon 5850

 

Yeah, I agree that the specs/price ratio doesn't make much sense. He hasn't answered my email yet (been about 6 hrs). I'm assuming he has the 2nd HDD in the optical drive bay and maybe set up in RAID 0 if the controller supports that. And isn't there some issue about the 920XM not playing nice with the GPU? Some kind of timing/clocking issue?

I'm pretty skeptical about it and definitely will check it out in person before buying. I'd need to log in to my Steam account and run a couple games first. He may be having problems with it that are easily fixed with a settings change or driver update. I'm hoping that's all it is. I'd check temps too.

 

my video driver has crashed about 5 times already today. running the latest driver from the dell site. any ideas why or what i should do? i have already tried reinstalling the driver (uninstall, cleanup, reinstall) and that doesnt work. should i revert back to the driver on the CD?

 

That's funny, mine crashed too, about 3 times yesterday... but usually everything's working fine, so I think it must have been a specific conflict with a program. Mine crashed a couple of times while I was watching a movie with the VLC player... When did your driver crash?


I wouldn't go back to the one on the CD, just get the earlier version of the one you have, you find all the drivers on Dell's page.