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Alienware 17 R2(early 2015) freezes when fans goes to max speed
Shortly after boot & randomly afterwards, my 17 R2 freezes when the left fan goes to max speed for a few seconds comes back then immediately freezes again when the right fan goes to max speed for a few seconds. Anyone know what the deal is?
4980HQ,16GB mem, 980M
rogerw99
15 Posts
0
August 19th, 2015 14:00
Thank you all for your help. All my questions have been answered. Info from telephone Tech Support, the "Cannot Run" video test is a known software issue with the test itself and will be resolved with the next update to it. The PC Freeze is intentional from Alienware BIOS programmers to ensure proper fan operation and only happens once per boot. My heat problem is partially due to inadequate power from a 180Watt power brick. The laptop was trying to draw more power from the 180W power supply than it could provide. Which caused it to current limit, shutting down the power supply when the laptop drew 197 watts during games play(by my measurement with amp meter from work). This required that I unplug the power supply from the wall outlet to reset the power supply. I have since received a replacement 240Watt power supply. The system still gets quite warm but not like it was before. The laptop power draw now tops out at 227 Watts during game play. The over-draw is a serious problem and will damage the power brick if it happens too often, which it would have in my case. It could also have negative effects on the laptop itself over time due power starving the system. The battery took over the full load for about 20 minutes before it reached 20% power and throttled back everything to give me time close everything and shut down. So if anyone out there is experiencing power problem, you need to contact tech support and replace your 180W power brick with a 240W power brick. My system is as follows.
Windows 8.1, CPU - 4980HQ, 16GB Memory, nVidia 980m, 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD, External USB 3.0 Blu-Ray, External USB 3.0 2TB HDD.
PS - The amp meter is calibrated every 6 months & is accurate to .01%
Alienware - Rodrigo
7 Technologist
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4.4K Posts
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August 11th, 2015 09:00
Hello,
Try running an ePSA/Diagnostics test on the system. Click here to view an article from Dell that explains how to run this test. Let us know if you receive any errors. Also, make sure your system is running the latest Bios firmware, click here for the download link.
ZacAttackk
2 Posts
0
August 11th, 2015 11:00
I have the exact same specs, mine is almost 2 weeks old and it does the same thing. I don't think it's a problem, but just the computer may be checking the fans (or some other piece of hardware) to see if it's working.
rogerw99
15 Posts
0
August 11th, 2015 14:00
I believe I have the latest BIOS as I just received this laptop last Wednesday, 5 Aug 2015. A05. I ran the ePSA Diags with no failures. All tests passed, however I am concerned that the "Thermals" readings are showing current PCH Thermal Sensor at 93 C. This is very high for any component.
Alienware - Rodrigo
7 Technologist
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August 12th, 2015 15:00
Yes, 93C is very high and your system may be overheating. What tool did you use to check the temperatures?
rogerw99
15 Posts
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August 14th, 2015 04:00
The ePSA/Diagnostics test gave that temp & several others anywhere from mid 40's to low 60's. Can't give exact numbers without rerunning the test and they varied through out the tests.
Alienware - Rodrigo
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August 14th, 2015 13:00
Hi,
Try running a CPU stress test using the Support Assist tool to check how high the CPU temperature goes. If you do not have Support Assist installed in your computer, click here for the download link. Follow the steps below to run the stress test.
Let us know how it goes.
rogerw99
15 Posts
0
August 15th, 2015 06:00
Thanks for staying with me on this Rodrigo,
I have since found this answer to the fan issue on the Alienware Arena Forum.
"Regarding fans speeding up for a few seconds after the computer starts up.
All this came after an update that we have done to the Alien Autopsy, it is now called SupportAssist.
We have the program actively checking your system making sure the hardware is working properly."
As to running the Stress Test, I did that and had two issues...
Intel(R) Iris(TM) Pro Graphics 5200
Vendor Name: Intel Corporation
Interface: PCI
Video Card Chip Type: Intel(R) Iris(TM) Graphics Family
Video Card Memory: 1.00 GB
Video Card BIOS: Intel Video BIOS
Driver Provider: Intel Corporation
Driver Version: 10.18.10.3977, 10-9-2014
Transformation and Lighting Stress Test
Test Started 8/15/2015 6:56:53 AM
Test Finished: Cannot Run 8/15/2015 6:56:55 AM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M
Vendor Name: NVIDIA Corporation
Video Card Memory: 4.00 GB
Video Card BIOS: 84.04.29.00.14
Driver Provider: NVIDIA
Driver Version: 9.18.13.4473, 11-10-2014
GPU : 0
Transformation and Lighting Stress Test
Test Started 8/15/2015 6:56:55 AM
Test Finished: Cannot Run 8/15/2015 6:56:57 AM
I searched Alienware Arena Forum for this as well but found nothing. Any ideas? I would think that all tests should run as no one else has reported the problem.
Thanks
cunnning
1 Message
0
August 17th, 2015 00:00
Im having similar issues i hear the fans run up after booting into windows and never hear them again. I did find this:
so thinking we have a dud bios and downgrading is the best option until they release a new fixed version
Alienware - Rodrigo
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August 17th, 2015 16:00
Hello rogerw99,
I understand you could not run the Intel or Nvidia stress tests but what about the CPU stress test? There were some problems reported a while back in regards to the Alien Autopsy software causing system freezes but after the update that changed the name of the software to Support Assist, it should have fixed itself. You could try uninstalling this software completely from Programs and Features and installing it again with the latest version. Click here for the download link.