Alienware m11x R1 freezing issue

There's a bug in the Broadcom 802.11 drivers for the M11xR1 that may cause system hangs.

The latest Dell Broadcom 802.11 drivers appear to be for the Latitude E6520.  You can grab them here although you'll have to manually install the sys/inf as the GUI installer will only work on a Latitude.

The driver revision from the E6520's drop fixes the 802.11-related system hang.  It's difficult to tell whether it's your issue or not without having some diagnostic equipment (kernel debugger and cable), but it might be worth a shot if you use wifi as your primary network connection.

That's something I never would have thought of, and it's worth a shot! I know this might sound like a simple question, but how would I do the manual install of the sys/inf?

Again, thanks for the suggestion!

Ok! Thank you! I'll try that and see if it makes a difference!

Once you run the self-extracting exe, there should be a folder created under C:\Dell\drivers\[package_name] with the INF and SYS.  Choose the vista64/win764 directory.

Then, go to Device Manager, find the device node for your 802.11 device, choose Update Driver Software, choose Browse my computer for driver software, and type in the path to the folder with the appropriate SYS/INF.  The dialog should indicate that the driver was updated if you picked the right directory.

the problems I experienced exactly the same as you went through, if you've found the solution, maybe you can give advice on this, I've upgraded all the drivers to the latest dispersion but until now still occur. please help and suggestions from the master

JEEZ finally! I thought I'd be the only living Being on this Planet having these Issues with my Alienware M11x R1!
I run the exact same Drivers [the 'latest' Drivers supplied by DELL], and experience the exact same Problems, as well.

It all started as my M11x was infected with a Worm and I had to format the whole Drive, including Restore Partitions. So there was no Way of restoring the original Setup, but I don't think that would have been too different from the fresh Installation I had to do.

Either Way - after re-installing Win7 and everything off the Download Site of DELL, Issues started. My System would hang every now and then. Sometimes once a Week, sometimes 4 Times in only 1 Hour. No Entries in the Event Log, but one Time, as it almost not crashed while crashing, there was an Entry, stating that the Graphics Driver had stopped working and was tried to be restarted. That's when the Freeze - just like explained in the first Post - occurred [looping the Nanosecond of Sound which had just being playing into shreddering Noise from the Speakers].

Support tried re-installing the Graphics Drivers from DELL, the Problem wasn't solved. Then, they even swapped the whole Mainboard. But the Issues continued. Today, my System's running on an SSD, and I still don't know how to fix this.

DELL, just update those damn Drivers! Nvidea published the original Drivers long ago yet... but the M11x R1 is old yet, and I'm afraid DELL won't ever get back to fixing Software Problems with it, so it's up to us... if soneone's got a Solution, please post it here...!

Been having this problem for years and it drives me crazy.  It almost always freezes when I am not actively using the computer.  I'll come back to the machine after it has been sitting for a while and it is totally unresponsive.  Nothing can recover it except a hard power down and restart.  There is nothing in the event logs indicating a problem except the event log has no entries after the freeze occurs.  I would really like to figure out how to fix this as the computer still meets my needs except for this problem.  If I don't find a fix fairly soon though, it will be e-waste time for this baby and I can guarantee my next computer won't be a Dell brand.

Hello  therealzeldar,

1. Run PSA test and the remaining memory test.

2. Download the HD tune software to check the status of the HDD.

3. Access system in safe mode and run this tool.

(Make sure you are not running any other program or application in the background while running the HD tune, if possible take a screenshot of the benchmark and post it back to check the status)

I ran the PSA test and passed-no error codes generated.  I downloaded HD Tune and ran the test.  Again, test passed.

wdbjr66

Please send me a PM with your service tag, phone number, and  the link to this thread, I'll get back to you.

I'm sure I'm speaking for everyone, when I say they would appreciate to know what to do about that Problem, as well.

I too have been having this issue since I bought my m11x, almost 2yrs ago. Towards the end of my 1 year warrenty, I finally got Dell to switch out the HDD, they did a remote diagnostics and told me it was a bad HDD. 2 months later, which was 1 month after my warrenty was over, it was still happening. I read about the broadband drivers being the issue from several different forum sites, but I can't find a link to the new drivers anymore. I agree with the above statements, these are supposed to by high end gaming systems, and to have something like this going on for as long as it has, is unacceptable. And the way dell/alienware has chose to handle it has made me look elsewhere for my next mobile gaming solution.

So, dell support, if you still monitor this post, we would all like a fix to this. Otherwise, why should we continue to keep an interest in these products. I was so proud of my m11x when I first got it, I would show it off to everyone. Now, when I'm gaming with people, and I continually crash, and everyone has to wait for me to reboot, they all say, "I thought Alienware was top of the line. How come you're sucks so much?".  And all i can do is shake my head and tell them to avoid this product.

Dell, please tell me you are reading these posts... this is unsat! What do you as a company plan on doing about this? The problem's not on the users end, we've done everything your tech support has instructed us to do, updated our drivers countless times, and done our own troubleshooting. Stand by your product, and solve this issue! I dont think thats too much to ask for from those of us who've spent a small fortune for these machines.

I have been having the exact same problem as everyone here around one year after I got the laptop. Sometimes the laptop just froze up in the middle of my gaming session or working hours or even when I left it idle for a period of time. Mine is the M11x R2 model though.

It's a little sad that I got this issue (aside from the broken hinge problem which I've already fixed myself) with my M11x because otherwise it would have been a perfect laptop that is powerful enough for my gaming and other needs for at least a few more years.

Now, I'm quite reluctant to buy another alienware laptop even though their specs and designs are more attractive than ever.

I would really appreciate a solution to this problem if there is one.