Alienware Aurora R4 crashing during multiple games and browsing

Question

Plus the Event Viewer in Microsoft shows these crashes when I open the program. They say the source of the critical event is "Kernel-Power". I've had 14 of these errors since I got my Aurora R4. When the system restrarts the Alienware Head (which lowers the CD/DVD tray) flashes Orange on and off till the desktop screen appears.

I was playing Splinter Cell 1 (an easy game to handle, VERY easy with GTX 580) last month, game froze and the system restarted itself. On Crysis 2 (twice) the screen just went blank and the system restarted. Lately i've just been browsing Firefox and the system becomes non-responsive and shuts down and restarts by itself, despite no commands from me.

Plus I was playing Skyrim today and when I left an area through a door the loading screen wouldn't come up, the fading game picture before the loading screen stays on my monitor and the game is unresponsive. Pressing ctrl+alt+del took it to the loading screen once and the game resumed. The same problem then occured twice afterwards, and pressing ctrl+alt+del (the previous solution) just left the game close down by itself, during the middle of me leaving an area. All this today.

What can I do? I've not installed any updates to my system from a CD, so this is the default Aurora R4. I ordered around the start of January, got it Febuary the 8th. This is no good, I want it to be fixed and work properly.

corkman111 · Answer

GTX 580 1.5GB is my GPU.

Virtua4 · Answer

Do you have a 580 or 680?  If 680, check the bsod thread where a bunch of us are.

DELL-Chris M · Answer

corkman111, Have you updated to the Nvidia video card driver?

corkman111 · Answer

No, I haven't. Should I?

corkman111 · Answer

Should I update the drivers? And will that fix everything?

DELL-Chris M · Answer

I do not know if it will fix it. That is just a step in the troubleshooting process.

corkman111 · Answer

Since I updated the drivers the system has crashed twice.

corkman111 · Answer

The system has crashed three times today alone.

DELL-Chris M · Answer

Bear with us. We are working this issue alongside the GTX680. Hang tight. Don't replace any hardware.

DELL-Chris M · Answer

corkman111, I sent you a private message but you have to accept it before I can send you some more data.

DELL-Chris M · Answer

* Disable any 3rd party overclock utilities you might have loaded. In the Alienware Command Center, set your Command Center profile to High Performance. Change the Windows 7 Control Panel -Power Options -PCI Express Link State Power Management to Maximum http://bit.ly/TX27kg
* Restart the system and press F2 to go into the Bios System Setup
* Record your current settings onto paper. Example - Legacy or UEFI, RAID or ACHI, current overclock, etc.
* Exit the Bios System Setup
* Make sure you are not going to lose power (e.g. Do not do this during a electrical storm)
* Disable any antivirus software
* Go here http://pages.suddenlink.net/downloaddell/AuroraR4-A05.exe
* Save the file to your windows desktop
* Run the file from your windows desktop and follow the prompts. Be calm and patient. It could act buggy (it did on several users)
* Do not force a system restart. The Bios update should restart the system when done. Allow the system to fully restart
* When it restarts, press F2 to enter the Bios System Setup
* Press F9 to restore the Bios System Setup defaults
* Change the Bios System Setup fields to what you recorded onto paper
* Press F10 to Save your changes and Exit the Bios System Setup
* Once into Windows, test the system
NOTE - If the system locks up during the Bios update, this might help: http://dell.to/Ni3laN

Notes from JefferySanders -
* PCI Express Link State Power Management can be set to (my A4) OFF, Moderate or Maximum with 305.67 drivers and I see no crashes or performance drops, this seems fixed for sure). Try Maximum first
* I've had perfect stability with 305.67 drivers, but I am sure they will want your to use their OEM drivers, that is your choice, but know I have not had BSOD on 305.67 (while benchmarking, playing 10 hours of BF3, 6 hours GW2 Stress Test

HollowIchi1931 · Answer

Today is my second day with my Alienware Aurora R4. Yesterday, I decided to give my computer my "trial by fire". In other words, I was going to play Crysis 2 with max settings. After about two minutes into the game, my computer goes into... I don't know what to call it. Hibernation I guess? But it was in sleep mode and I couldn't take it out. After trying the fix above, I was able to play about three minutes, followed by the system restarting. However, I couldn't see anything, because nothing would appear on my monitor.

SPECS (directly off of the packing slip):

Intel core i7-3820

16GB Quad Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz

Windows 7 Home Premium

500GB SSD + 1TB HDD 7200RPM Storage

1GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 555 - NVIDIA SLI enabled

Integrated 7.1 Channel audio

DELL-Chris M · Answer

HollowIchi1931 Are you saying you updated the Aurora-R4 Bios from A03 to A05?

HollowIchi1931 · Answer

Yes, I did.Disregard my post, I talked to Alienware support, and found out I had a faulty power supply.

StevenC56 · Answer

What did they say was wrong with your power supply and how did they come up with that?

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Alienware Aurora R4 crashing during multiple games and browsing

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