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August 9th, 2013 12:00
Alienware 18, Random Lockups
I've got an odd problem here I've never seen before. I took the plunge and bought a top of the line Alienware 18 with all the bells and whistles (My wallet hates me right now). The only problem is, it randomly locks up. Not like a Blue Screen Of Death....I mean it just locks up completely. The screen freezes, and nothing responds. No mouse, no keyboard activity...nothing works. It also locks up so quick, nothing is reported to the event logs. It's literally like it just stops....completely. I've run through all the standard trouble shooting options I can think. I disabled the SLI Video link...no change. Turned off the SDD Cache. No change. Run through the Dell hardware diagnostics, everything is AOK. Even disabled the IntelBoost.....still just locks up. And there is no rhyme or reason as to when it locks up. I can be surfing the internet, burning a DVD, even looking at a text file in notepad. It just suddenly stops, and the only thing to do at that point is a hard reboot. Anyone else have these problems with the new Alienwares? I'm beginning to think I've got a defective unit and am trying to figure out what the next step should be. Thanks.
DELL-Appu S
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August 12th, 2013 13:00
Hi wwwdaze2000,
Apologies for the late response as I was away. Since you are in touch with technical support, would request you to continue troubleshooting with them. Let me know if you need any assistance from my end.
Alienware-Alexa1
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August 12th, 2013 16:00
Hi wwwdaze2000,
Send me a private message if you need further assistance.
Shipton89
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August 15th, 2013 16:00
I have an identical problem. To add insult to injury, this computer is less than a month old and I have taken it out of the country for medical school. I cannot call Alienware tech support as I cannot afford international calls as a broke medical student. All exams are taken on personal laptops and I absolutely cannot afford a random lock up in the middle of an exam. I need this issue corrected immediately.
wwwdaze2000
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August 15th, 2013 16:00
They are replacing mine. And had to change from nvidia 780m to 770m. I'm wondering if there's a conflict with thst hardware.
Shipton89
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August 15th, 2013 16:00
This is in Windows 7 rather than 8 however
Shipton89
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August 16th, 2013 12:00
I assume you received a refund for the price difference? I am running dual 780s in SLI and thats a substantial (as well as annoying) downgrade being a gaming fanatic -_- Nothing but frustration dealing with dell thus far
wwwdaze2000
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August 16th, 2013 12:00
They are upgrading one of the hard drives to 512GB SSD. Leaving the other at 750GB With the 64GB SSD Cache. I'm not a huge gamer, just use the GPU for calculating power (I'm a programmer and information assurance guy)....so I'm not losing out to much. It's still a heck of a lot better than the 800 dollar laptop I'm replacing.
wwwdaze2000
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August 16th, 2013 14:00
They are replacing mine...If you have that problem, I'd get in touch with support. They may replace yours too.
wwwdaze2000
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August 16th, 2013 14:00
No. It's weird. It literally just freezes. So, for instance, last night I had the mystify screen saver going. Woke up this morning and the screensaver was just STUCK. No buzzing, no nothing. It was just complete system halt. But the really weird thing....my color leds (like behind the keyboard and the alien logo on back).....they continue to rotate. (i have them shift from color to color). So that 'section' of the mobo is good....but the CPU stack is toast.
msavoy1
8 Posts
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August 16th, 2013 14:00
mine randomly does that too - this is my last alienware - when it locks up, do you either get 1) a loud buzzing (if listening to something) or 2) the lights go into the set for sleep mode.
Shipton89
8 Posts
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August 16th, 2013 16:00
I have had both buzzing lockups and complete lockups with no buzzing. My backlighting on my keyboard stays on and continues to morph from color to color. The tech I spoke to and allowed to access my computer through aliencontact says its a hard drive problem and is sending a new one. I hope this <ADMIN NOTE: Substitute character removed as per TOU> fixes it. I'm so sick of this.
wwwdaze2000
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August 16th, 2013 16:00
I heard if you install the hard drive you void your warranty.
Shipton89
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August 16th, 2013 17:00
Not the case. They even offer videos to show you how to do it.
wwwdaze2000
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August 16th, 2013 18:00
The user manual actually says how. But someone posted something in one of the threads saying it voided the warrantee.
wwwdaze2000
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August 16th, 2013 18:00
It seams a lot of the threads in this post have been deleted. Way to go moderators.