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Aurora R10, Windows 11 nightmare
On an Aurora R10 that I bought 2 years at the start of lockdown. (3900x, 2070 Super, 2TB SSD, 32GB RAM, AIO)
Worked great on Windows 10 for 12 months. About two weeks after my warranty expired, it blue screened and proceeded to do so about once a week. Thing is my working life got busier during Covid so never had much of a chance to dig deeper.
Upgraded to Windows when it released and it was fine for a few weeks. The it started to blue screen again and this time about two or three times a week.
So I performed some clean installs - sometimes with OEM drivers, sometimes with Dell drivers and sometimes with Windows and was always the same.
As mentioned, I'm a busy chap so never had much of a chance to dig deeper. But having some time on my hands this summer, I had another crack at a few different fresh installs with different drivers and this time it started to freeze or blue screen every 20 minutes or so. There's zero consistency to the stop code to allow proper debugging. I don't know why but I had it in my head it might be SSD related so I ordered a new one (980 pro) and am awaiting delivery.
For the past 18 months the PC is unusable as a gaming machine given the constant crashing.
As such, a few weeks back I thought I'd try a different tack. So I stuck Linux Mint on as a clean install.
And guess what? Utterly and perfectly stable. No issues, no crashing. No Dell Drivers either or stupid AWCC for that matter.
So there we have it. I'm leaving it with Mint for now as at least I have a stable computer I can use to browse on and what not. It's not a permanent solution mind you as I've a lot of other software tied to Windows, games notwithstanding. I'll see how a clean install goes on the the new SSD in a few weeks when it arrives. Otherwise, this Aurora R10 has very much turned out to be a very, very expensive way to browse the internet.
Anyone else have a similar experience?
Vanadiel
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September 3rd, 2022 09:00
Perform an ePSA test during boot and see if any components fail the test.
Pre boot diagnostic test
ProfessorW00d
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September 3rd, 2022 09:00
What PSU did you get with that rig?
VictorPapaRomeo
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September 3rd, 2022 11:00
This it was the 850w at the time. Can't recall...
NJDave
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September 3rd, 2022 11:00
You might try installing BlueScreenView next time you try Windows. Though the stop codes are inconsistent, you may have more luck examining what programs or drivers are executing when the failure occurs.
VictorPapaRomeo
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September 3rd, 2022 11:00
I did that too - nothing...
VictorPapaRomeo
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September 3rd, 2022 11:00
I did indeed use BSV - depending on the day, it was the GC, or the DDS, or the memory... or something NTFS related... or lord knows what... I'm sick of of it now... will live on Mint until the new SSD arrives and have another crack at it...
Tesla1856
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September 3rd, 2022 12:00
Well, I don't think it's Windows-11, as I have several desktop computers and even some newer XPS laptops ... all running it here fine (all Intel, and most with Nvidia cards).
Does it pass ePSA and do you have the latest BIOS ? This Aurora-R10 sounds like one of the AMD-based ones. Hmm, I thought someone else recently posted about a newer AMD-Aurora, but I can't find it now.:
I would try a clean-install like I posted here:
https://www.dell.com/community/Alienware-Desktops/Aurora-R13-BIOS-1-5-0-boot-failure/m-p/8261686/highlight/true#M62206
Tesla1856
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September 3rd, 2022 13:00
Well, if you want to run Linux Mint, sounds like you are good-to-go. However, I'm guessing there is no longer much Windows Gaming going-on with that OS. Lack of gaming might even explain the Mint reliability.
Under Windows-11, my guess is either Nvidia RTX-2070 Super (when pushed-hard for gaming) or it's drivers. I saw it once where some specific-version Nvidia drivers were very unstable, and were even hard-locking the machine when they crashed.
I'm now running a RTX-3080 in my new Windows-11 Pro Intel-i9 machine. I run it at "stock clocks" but with a 80% Power-Limit (with AfterBurner). It might not be 3 FPS faster, but it is super-stable (including for hours-at-a-time) while we have long gaming-sessions on it.
You could try that 80% thing or maybe even down-clocking it to plain RTX-2070 levels (which should still be plenty fast). @Vanadiel helped me and if you ask him nice, I bet he knows how to do the other thing also.
Just an idea.
Sparky1964
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September 3rd, 2022 13:00
I've got the R11 running Windows 11 Pro, but I don't install any Dell software including AWCC. No Dell update, etc. Plus when I installed Windows 11 Pro I changed it from RAID to AHCI. Wish you the best.
Vanadiel
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September 3rd, 2022 14:00
@Tesla1856 I think you are referring to the power limit of the video card, if I am not mistaken.
Sometimes excessive heat inside the case can cause stability issues and random reboots/crashes.
If you download a free utility called MSI Afterburner, which works on these cards no problem, there is a slider where you can lower the power limit of the video card.
For most gaming titles you can lower the limit from 100% to 80% without any noticeable drop in frame rate or performance, but a big decrease in GPU temperatures. You have to play a bit around with it to find the optimal power limit for the game you are playing.
On my RTX 3080 I have it set at 65% and have no issues gaming at 60 FPS or higher at 1440P. My GPU temperatures are in the mid 30 Celsius during heavy gaming sessions, and this is an air cooled Dell RTX 3080.
Tesla1856
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September 3rd, 2022 16:00
1. Yeah, Power-Limit. You did 65%, but I just did 80% ... seems fine.
But also, since he has a RTX-2070 Super (which I think is just an Over-Clocked card) ... I thought it might be wise to go-ahead and use After-Burner to actually Down-Clock it back to a plain/normal RTX-2070. I think you can do that.
2. From my Notes:
I installed AfterBurner v4.6.4 (without RivaTuner Statistics Server).
It starts with Windows (but minimized) and loads Profile #1 automatically.
Nvidia RTX-3080:
Voltage remains locked (so, should be safe stock level).
Core and Memory clock stay at +0 (no OC, just stock clocks)
Power Limit reduced to 80%. Temp Limit reduced to 80c. Auto Fan Speed.
In Windows-11, Game-Mode is ON. I set it to use the (Nvidia) "High Performance" dedicated video-card whenever possible.
In Windows-11's Hardware Accelerated GPU Scheduling (HAGS) is disabled.
In Nvidia Control Panel, I have "Fast Vertical Sync" Enabled (similar to having it off, but without the occasional tearing).
For the Intel-IGP, found the pre-installed Intel Graphics Command Center. Accepted license and Pinned to Start. It should work (but the IGP should normally just step-aside).
Nvidia RTX-3080 works great ( fast/cool/quiet ) at 1440p/60Hz in WoW and Fallout-76 (with generally High-to-Ultra graphics effects set).
speedstep
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September 3rd, 2022 23:00
@Vanadiel
@Tesla1856
@VictorPapaRomeo
I removed my 1080TI and installed a DELL OEM RTX 3060 TI. Updated cooling to OEM Dell liquid cooling, Added the VRM Heatsinks, updated the Ram to 64 gigs DUAL RANK 1.2v 2933 Ram and now everything is fast and stable etc.
3060 TI is Faster than my 1080TI and its cooler and quieter. To provide perspective as to how good it is the card fits and works fine in my XPS 8700 as well as my X51 R2 with 330W power supply. So getting the 1000W psu option for my R10 was overkill but its fine and stable and all I will need for 5 years or more well into 2030.
VictorPapaRomeo
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September 14th, 2022 09:00
Here's an update to my situation. As previously mentioned, I bought a new M.2 NVMe SSD - Sammy 980 Pro - and popped that in with a clean w11 install. After updating, lo and behold, blue screening every 10 minutes. So I revered back to W10 with clean build and guess what? Super stable and no issues with days long uptime and intensive gaming played.
This time around, I decided to dual boot and try something else. I did a clean W11 install on a Sammy 860 Evo SATA SSD and following all updates, same as the W10 - super stable for a few days and able to play games at full tilt.
My conclusion is that there's something fundamentally wrong / incompatible with the M.2 controller / chipset or whatever on W11 - certainly on my machine anyway. I do note a similar thread on this forum relating to the R12 with a bunch of folks reporting similar issues as mine but with no real resolution.
So I've decided to abandon the junker Alienware ship. I'll get myself a barebones kit, cannibalize what I can and get on with my life.
Thanks for the input folks.