M15x Problem/Technical Question thread

This is probably going to make me seem a bit stupid, but how do I get the battery to charge while I have the machine on?

When I got it I used function+F2 to set the battery to disabled so it wouldn't overcharge and degrade, at least I think that's right? However, there seem to be 3 different options, one which is disabled, one which is enabled and shows a picture of a battery with a couple of bars and one which shows a battery with a full set of bars, both are just listed as battery enabled. My system tray seems to show "plugged in, not charging" for all three options, however...

-Nooby noob

 

Thanks. It worked, I guess I must have turned it on without noticing.

 

You should download and install Wattos' Stealth Mode Indicator utility, which for the most part eliminates the Stealth Mode problem that affects everyone at one time or another. Download using the link provided here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/463382-stealth-mode-indicator-9.html#post6589020.

After installation, create a shortcut on the Desktop, run the program, select Disable by right clicking on the SMI icon on the taskbar (little alienhead) and then drag the shortcut into your Startup folder. At startup, SMI will load and disable stealth mode. If engaged by whatever means, it will chime and display a small notice that SM is enabled. No more sneaky stealth crap.

 

ahh ok updated it thanks and so far it looks like it got fixed one of topic question sorta realeted any idea why im gettin about 20fps on fraps to record? and when i try to watch my recording it seems like 5fps so basically i cant watch it without it stopping every second

 

Hi im using msi afterburn 2.0.0 to oc my 5850 to 5870 clock. because you cannt use power play during oc mode, is it best to just oc when i need to i.e during game and reset to stock clock for other uses?? thanks

 

That's probably second best. The best way for most people is to flash the vbios to set boot/3d clocks to 700/1000 (5870 stock clocks) or 750/1050 (used by some forum members). That way, PowerPlay takes care of all the switching automatically.

 

i've often wondered the same thing about the 2 enabled states.

however, in order for it to change state correctly i do the following

whenever changing states, disconnect the ac adapter, hit fn+f2 until you see the one you want, then plug the adapter back in. if i don't do that, sometimes it will do as you describe and not charge at all (or refuse to stop charging)
if this has happened, then a full shutdown + powerdrain is sometimes needed to fix it's stuck position.

 

Hey, just a question, does anybody else get a "grainy" effect on this hue of gray?
http://i1037.photobucket.com/albums/a458/miahsoul/Grainy.png

 

yup. Pretty sure everyone will.

 

Damn I wish it could've justified replacement. D:
I guess I'm gonna have to hope that 6xxx will fit in 5xxx slots....

 

what do you mean by 6xxx will fit in 5xxx slots?

 

I'm just hoping that they will. :S

 

-Bump-
So if I remove the file that isn't verified, then this appears...
Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. (Code 39)

 

I have that same Optiarc DVD drive in my M15x. It uses the default Windows driver; there is no device specific Win7 driver for it, at least on the Dell download site. Just try uninstalling it -- the drive, not the driver -- in Device Manager, let Windows find new hardware and install the default driver.

 

Yeah, I already tried uninstalling, and disabling/enabling it all. Nothing seems to work.

 

Hi, I have two little questions

It is recommended disable the Speed Step option in the BIOS?
If I do this, the Turbo Boost feature will not run?


Thanks!

 

Do NOT disable SpeedStep. If you do, Turboboost will be disabled, but even worse, your multipliers will be locked at the minimum level -- 9x for 820/920's and 7x for the 720's.

 

i was having a look at my graphics card today 5850 and noticed that there are no thermal pads on them, they do have thermal paste on them. are they supposed to have thermal pads on them??

 

I bought a new alienware M15X 5 days before ... i wanted to create more than 4 partition but it was not possible i got a error msg saying u cannot create ... so i called dell assistant they told me we cannot create more than 2 partition ... and the agent said if i want to create more partition then i have to reinstall windows 7... i said ok and did it all my cool alien theme everything went off... now is it possible to get back the factory settings ? plz help me ...

 

I bought a new alienware M15X 5 days before ... i wanted to create more than 4 partition but it was not possible i got a error msg saying u cannot create ... so i called dell assistant they told me we cannot create more than 2 partition ... and the agent said if i want to create more partition then i have to reinstall windows 7... i said ok and did it all my cool alien theme everything went off... now is it possible to get back the factory settings ? plz help me ...

 

you can download the wallpapers here on dells site: under system utilities

Drivers & Downloads


to get your log on screen back use this app:

How To Change Windows 7 Logon Screen Easily [Without Using Hacks & Tools]


note: only use the drivers from the download site, do not use your resource disk. it may cause you to fry your mobo if you install the cc from the resource disk.

 

any recommendations for improving the quality of sound? I've got a 5.1 speakers set, but using the default IDT audio control, the sound comes out with a lot of static and skips when playing on iTunes. I've resorted to uninstalling the IDT control, and using windows' default audio. (makes me lose the 5.1 set up, only got 1 out of the 3 jacks in).

Any recommendations on what I should do to fully utilize the 5.1 (besides buying a PCI-e sound card which im considering)? don't really know much about audio set up, especially from the lousy sound card (or so i've heard) of the m15x

Thanks!

 

ashvin, did you download the drivers from here?

i havn't had static or any sort of sound issue in 5.1

however i don't use itunes. been using WMP and kmplayer with 5.1 config for movies when i connect the m15x to the TV.

 

I recently wiped my laptop (M15x) and tried reinstalling the drivers on the resource cd but ran into some issues. so i just decided to get the ones from the support site. however, for some reason no matter how many times i install the Ethernet driver, it never seems to work. i have installed it numerous times and restarted and i am still only able to use wireless only. the Ethernet option isnt even available in the internet connections. What to do?

 

Plug it in (connect it), then install the driver.

 

I actually have two problems with my computer, which i will now list. A month or so ago I spilled a tablespoon or so of rubbing alcohal on my keyboard, I immediately shut off, dried it, and then turned on the next day to find that the keyboard lights did not go on as brightly, but I had the keyboard replaced which fixed this problem entirely, but the problem that still exists is that whenever I reboot from sleep or hibernate or shut down, the computer will turn fans on and stuff like normal for about 1 second and then go "beep" and turn off, only to repeat itself over and over for like 5 minutes until it boots up fine. Does anybody know if this problem can be fixed without letting dell know that I spilled liquid on it? . The other problem has just started recently: I was booting it up and it said it was configuring updates and then said updating failed and reverted them. Does anybody know if there is a solution to this problem either?
thanks.

 

Call up dell. Dont tell them you spilled stuff on your system. Tell them your problem. And get them to fix it. its that simple .

Dell techs/reps don't know sqwat.

 

I've just noticed that on the left hand side my screen or rather the glass covering it isn't like... flush? with the case. A bit of it is sort of protruding. It's hard to describe and I can't take a picture unfortunately. Should I call dell about this?

 

rule Number 1.

If For Any Reason You Are Not 110% Satisfied With Your System, Call Dell.

 

Hi i have the 5850 and recently i have been getting corrupt mouse cursor problems. i have updated driver and vbios. please advice. thanks

 

Please help me, I chose "BATTERY ENABLED", buy my battery does not charge.

 

Tried the battery drain trick? Also removing the cmos battery. If that doesn't work while it's plugged in pull the battery out leave it out for about 30-60 seconds and pop it back in. If none of those work get back to us.

 

Thank you so much, it is work. (+REP)

 

Which one worked for you? If it was the last one the m15x may have the same charging issue the m17x has/had.

 

Just take out the battery around 1 min and put it back.

 

If none of these things work... and it keeps happening... then this is a powerbrick issue and your psu will have to be replaced. (even if your blue light on the ac cord is on).

i faught this issue for over a week, untill i called dell and they replaced my power brick. Hasn't happened again since.

Most of the time it is just a bug and fixes itself after the above mentioned tricks..

 

the all powerful power drain, this should be sticky everywhere.

 

It is everywhere you post

 

because it works

wtv problem you have... you should try the POWER DRAIN FIRST, and if you still have the problem... ask around

 

thats what the new owners thread says. But it seems nobody reads it

 

Lol yea i know it says there!!

We need to develop a pop-up window system that users get as soon as they log onto the forums... forget the Dell advertisement... it should read

"Got a problem? Laptop not working as it should? DO A POWER DRAIN FIRST! JUST DO IT! ....DO IT! "


lol

btw that thread is friggin awesome Wattos... like FRIGGIN awesome...lol

Good work. Alot of useful info for newcomers! We just gotta get them to READ IT. lol

 

Have the throttling issues been fixed on the M15x yet? Dell's got a 20~25% off promo right now that my discount will get me, but it's only good on the M15x, not the (apparently fully functional) M17x.

I guess I'd want to get the 1.86GHz quad if I did this, with either the Geforce GTX 260 or Radeon 5850. Really prefer Nvidia, but if the system throttles with one card and not the other...

 

I have the 820QM/5850m setup in my M15x and have never experienced throttling, including during Furmark/wPrime stress tests. Following the most recent BIOS update (A08), throttling is said to be greatly reduced with the GTX260, but not entirely eliminated.

 

Your CD or DVD drive can't read or write media
In case anyone has my problem, this fixed it up for me!

 

Dang, well thanks for the info!

(And darn it Dell, where the heck is the GTX 460 or better? :-D )

 

Ok this is just weird.

My Windows Media Player just will not do anything or let me change any settings relating to 'rip music'. I can't rip any of my CDs and I can't even change any of the settings for it under the tools section. Has the music industry trojan'd my computer or what the crap is going on.

-Poobs

Nevermind.

Edit. Ok I put some of my skills to work and ran a load of searches. It's to do with the bloody stupid 'libraries' thing that windows7 does instead of just having a folder called my music it just has an amorphous entity 'the music library' that consists of whatever random folders I decide it does. Same with the documents folder too, also stupid. Anyway I removed all the folders from that because last time I had a computer with win7, windows decided that some of my games music folders should be in the library and added a load of game sounds to WMP. So I need to add a folder to the library to give WMP a place to store this music.

My Face. This Desk.

 

Boy do I have bad timing. My warranty expired last week, and of course that means something breaks this week.
My CPU fan/heatsink decided to stop working. Does anyone know of a way other then going through Dell to get a replacement for that part?

 

you can still call dell up and buy the part from them, maybe get lucky they may still hook you up for free.

 

Another tip moolb, Dell will typically sell you an extended warranty if your warranty just barely expired it may be a bit more expensive but I promise they won't say no to your money, just call and ask about the warranty which will probably be cheaper in the long run than the part, unless of course you have the legacy m15x.

 

haha i've been wondering the same thing. seems like a great option to add imo. especially for those who prefer nvidia or could really use CUDA.

runs cool too.

i can understand them waiting for SB by intel, but gee whiz, they could add support to existing models for the newer gfx card