Alienware 18, Random Lockups

Hmmm...thats odd.  Paul was kind enough to give me contact information for Dell Tech support, but that post has been deleted.  I'm beginning to think this is going to be an uphill battle for a 5k laptop.

These problems have been occurring since day one with a stock system.  I have installed some software (like microsoft office and netbeans for college) and a printer (HP Envy 110).  But the freezes occurred prior to those installations so they can't be to blame.  I've been in safe mode before, and have not had the problem occur....but that isn't really beneficial because the lockups occur randomly.  Sometimes the system will go fine for days.  Other times, it lucks up after 20 minutes.  There is no rhyme or reason for it.

As for the crash tool....I will try to run it when i get home, but I don't think it will help.  There is no BSOD....so there is no 'crash' and no 'dump'.  It is literally a complete lockup.  I've been using computers for 20 years and have never seen a completely lockup like this.  One second everything is working....the next it's like the computer is frozen solid....like hitting pause on a DVD.  It's just completely stopped.  It crashes so quick windows doesn't even know it crashed.

Hi wwwdaze2000,

I understand it could be upsetting. Did you make any software changes to the computer? Did you add any hardware (printer, scanner etc) with the computer?

Try booting the computer into Safe Mode. Once you are in Safe Mode, try to work on the computer and check if you experience the same issue. For steps on how to boot into Safe Mode, please refer to the following link http://dell.to/1aGg1zx.

You may also download WhoCrashed tool from the following link http://dell.to/1cRl1mZ. Once you've downloaded it, Analyse your system and share the dump.

If you call Dell to trouble shoot they'll just advise you to do a factory reset. So, do that. If it still locks up then send it back. You shouldn't have to be doing this with a brand new laptop.

I've already done one factory reset.  Do you know how to request an RMA and start that process?

Hi wwwdaze2000,

If you do not experience this issue in Safe mode, then it might be some drivers that's causing the trouble. WhoCrashed is a crash dump analysis tool which will find the drivers that may have been crashing the computer. Please share the analysis/dump. Will take it further.

Ok...Let's try this a slightly different way.  I understand that a tech not witnessing things happen is only trying to get information.  I have been a tech before.  I also understand that sometimes the customer thinks they know what they are talking about, and they don't.  Fine.  Your scan results are below.  But please, listen to me when I say this.  This is not a normal problem.  The scan results will actually show this.  All the 'crashes' I am talking about, the freezes that even windows doesn't know about......they aren't creating dumps.....because it's a hard lock.  It's not a BSOD.  It's flat out the computer is FROZEN.  I've been a SysAdmin for 15 years now.  This is the first and only time I have ever seen a problem like this.

As for safe mode.....the reason it hasn't happened in safe mode can be a lot of different reasons.  It could be a bad driver.  It could be a bad piece of hardware (more likely in my case).  And it could also be that I've only run safe mode for at most an hour, and the RANDOM....INTERMITENT freezes can happen anywhere from an hour in to 3 days in.  

Now, the scan results.  These results show the last crash was on 8/2/2013 due to the HAL.DLL.  That is NOT the last freeze.  My new laptop froze two times yesterday, but there is nothing in the dump files...nothing in the event log....nothing it all....because it just FROZE, it did not crash.  PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE listen when I say that!

Results:

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Welcome to WhoCrashed (HOME EDITION) v 4.02

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This program checks for drivers which have been crashing your computer. If your computer has displayed a blue screen of death, suddenly rebooted or shut down then this program will help you find the root cause and possibly a solution.

Whenever a computer suddenly reboots without displaying any notice or blue screen of death, the first thing that is often thought about is a hardware failure. In reality, on Windows most crashes are caused by malfunctioning device drivers and kernel modules. In case of a kernel error, many computers do not show a blue screen unless they are configured for this. Instead these systems suddenly reboot without any notice.

This program will analyze your crash dumps with the single click of a button. It will tell you what drivers are likely to be responsible for crashing your computer. It will report a conclusion which offers suggestions on how to proceed in any situation while the analysis report will display internet links which will help you further troubleshoot any detected problems.

To obtain technical support visit www.resplendence.com/support

Click here to check if you have the latest version or if an update is available.

Just click the Analyze button for a comprehensible report ...

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Home Edition Notice

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This version of WhoCrashed is free for use at home only. If you would like to use this software at work or in a commercial environment you should get the professional edition of WhoCrashed which also allows analysis of crashdumps on remote drives and computers on the network and offers a range of additional features.

Click here for more information on the professional edition.

Click here to buy the the professional edition of WhoCrashed.

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System Information (local)

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computer name: RFW-AW18

windows version: Windows 8 , 6.2, build: 9200

windows dir: C:\Windows

CPU: GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4930MX CPU @ 3.00GHz Intel586, level: 6

8 logical processors, active mask: 255

RAM: 34140606464 total

VM: 2147352576, free: 1919229952

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Crash Dump Analysis

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Crash dump directory: C:\Windows\Minidump

Crash dumps are enabled on your computer.

On Fri 8/2/2013 8:43:50 AM GMT your computer crashed

crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\080213-40468-01.dmp

This was probably caused by the following module: hal.dll (hal+0x2D965)

Bugcheck code: 0x124 (0x0, 0xFFFFFA80247E1028, 0xFF800000, 0x124)

Error: WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR

file path: C:\Windows\system32\hal.dll

product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System

company: Microsoft Corporation

description: Hardware Abstraction Layer DLL

Bug check description: This bug check indicates that a fatal hardware error has occurred. This bug check uses the error data that is provided by the Windows Hardware Error Architecture (WHEA).

This is likely to be caused by a hardware problem problem. This problem might be caused by a thermal issue.

The crash took place in a standard Microsoft module. Your system configuration may be incorrect. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver on your system that cannot be identified at this time.

On Fri 8/2/2013 8:43:50 AM GMT your computer crashed

crash dump file: C:\Windows\memory.dmp

This was probably caused by the following module: hal.dll (hal!HalBugCheckSystem+0xF9)

Bugcheck code: 0x124 (0x0, 0xFFFFFA80247E1028, 0xFF800000, 0x124)

Error: WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR

file path: C:\Windows\system32\hal.dll

product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System

company: Microsoft Corporation

description: Hardware Abstraction Layer DLL

Bug check description: This bug check indicates that a fatal hardware error has occurred. This bug check uses the error data that is provided by the Windows Hardware Error Architecture (WHEA).

This is likely to be caused by a hardware problem problem. This problem might be caused by a thermal issue.

The crash took place in a standard Microsoft module. Your system configuration may be incorrect. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver on your system that cannot be identified at this time.

On Fri 8/2/2013 7:35:03 AM GMT your computer crashed

crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\080213-19609-01.dmp

This was probably caused by the following module: hal.dll (hal+0x2D965)

Bugcheck code: 0x124 (0x0, 0xFFFFFA80247D1028, 0xFF800000, 0x124)

Error: WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR

file path: C:\Windows\system32\hal.dll

product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System

company: Microsoft Corporation

description: Hardware Abstraction Layer DLL

Bug check description: This bug check indicates that a fatal hardware error has occurred. This bug check uses the error data that is provided by the Windows Hardware Error Architecture (WHEA).

This is likely to be caused by a hardware problem problem. This problem might be caused by a thermal issue.

The crash took place in a standard Microsoft module. Your system configuration may be incorrect. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver on your system that cannot be identified at this time.

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Conclusion

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3 crash dumps have been found and analyzed. No offending third party drivers have been found. Consider configuring your system to produce a full memory dump for better analysis.

Read the topic general suggestions for troubleshooting system crashes for more information.

Note that it's not always possible to state with certainty whether a reported driver is actually responsible for crashing your system or that the root cause is in another module. Nonetheless it's suggested you look for updates for the products that these drivers belong to and regularly visit Windows update or enable automatic updates for Windows. In case a piece of malfunctioning hardware is causing trouble, a search with Google on the bug check errors together with the model name and brand of your computer may help you investigate this further.

Any suggestions? Call support?

okay firs they are all 0X124 errors  which I believe  are related to   the lock  up (improper shutdown) not the cause of the lock ups ...

The 0x124 error may be caused by windows system files damage. The corrupted system files entries can be a real threat to the well being of your computer.

There can be many events which may have resulted in the system files errors. An incomplete installation, an incomplete uninstall, improper deletion of applications or hardware. It can also be caused if your computer is recovered from a virus or adware/spyware attack or by an improper shutdown of the computer. All the above actives may result in the deletion or corruption of the entries in the windows system files. This corrupted system file will lead to the missing and wrongly linked information and files needed for the proper working of the application

if your system runs fine in safemode then it leads me to   believe aswell its a driver..... have you tried  using MSCONFIG and editing startup by disabling all startup  like video drivers ect then enabling  one at a time or selecting diagnostic startup see if it still does it?

(running a M18X R2 (april 2013)  and have my fair share of software issues and conflicts I worked out on my own.. and still dealing with some )

I'm not certain those errors are related to anything at all.  They were a direct result of me switching from the Intel Turbo Boost option (cTDB?) to the Bios option for overclocking.  I did that thinking the build in performance boost I ordered might have been the problem.  Switch FROM cTDB to Bios and the computer gave those crashes immediately upon boot up.  But the freezes were happening from Day one.

I also do not think this is a corrupt file issue as it happened on a vanilla fresh out of the box laptop.  Thinking it might have been related to corrupt, after it happened 3 or 4 times, I reinstalled from factory.  Same problem.    Then I thought maybe drivers....so I updated to the newest NVIDIA (released after I received the laptop) and the newest BIOS (also released 2-3 weeks post lock up problem.

Since the problem happens on fresh installs, and randomly afterwards....it's gotta be something else.  I also have only installed the standard tools...Microsoft Office, AVG AV, and a few other incidental programs.  I'm very strict when it comes to putting stuff on my computer (Information Assurance for the government)....so I seriously doubt its a virus on both the factory and the reinstall.

As for safe mode....I don't know if it runs fine or not.  I'm not going spend a week playing in safe mode only....especially on a brand new laptop.  Even if safe mode doesn't have the problem, it doesn't say what does.  I have not tried manually removing the entries from msconfig.exe because the only ones there are from Microsoft and there's really no chance that it's corrupt files on two fresh installs.

I'm calling alienware....maybe they can do something.

While I'm sitting here waiting....it dawned on me.  Another problem from day one that may or may not be related.  If I have the empty desktop with the alien head image up for a long period of time....like without a screen saver....when something does come up, the image is ghosted.....like old CRTs.  I reboot, the ghost is still there.  But if I power off....then start it back, the ghost is gone.  I figured that might be a memory issue with the video cards?

30 minute wait time at 11:30pm.  Wow

Just adding to the running dialog here.  90 minutes of testing and benchmarking with Alienware support (nice guy by the way).  Could not get the system to lock up.  All hardware tests showed nothing was broken....but my 4.3ghz processor could never get over 3.2ghz.  And benchmarks I've run before (heaven) used to get 60-90fps....now only get 20-30fps.  he's going to call tomorrow for more tests.

We ran through a huge amount of tests and have basically determined it's got faulty hardware.  They are going to RMA it.