Fan / Video issues after A13 Upgrade?

Hi Ecnad1,

It is unfortunate that the computer keeps crashing. Request you to try following the below steps and check if it works:

(1) Clean the air vents with a can of compressed air. You may refer the below link for Alienware X51 manual:

http://dell.to/16Rrlbg

(2) You may then use the below link and update video drivers:

http://dell.to/14n4Nxn

Click drivers and downloads, input tag, select operating system and download the video drivers corresponding to the video card.

If none of the above steps work then you may use the below link and check the warranty status:

http://dell.to/16L8JrP

If the computer is out of warranty you may contact the out of warranty repairs team on 18002884410. They can can check and help you.

If the computer is in warranty do send me the system service tag via private message. I will check and see what can be done.

Good Morning and Thanks Kiran,

I am pretty faithful about my PC Cleaning, but to be safe I did do a full cleaning inside and out, and there was some buildup on the video card fan, which has now been cleaned.

Did not see a Dell download for the GTX555 but upgraded it manually using the GeForce Experience program.

CoreTemp is showing lower temperatures, but i'll watch for errors and crashes over the next few days to be sure.

In Warranty until December, so will message you if this issue repeats. thanks for the quick tips.

Just did it again when i wasn't even doing anything that should have been taxing (Using Firefox.)

Hi Ecnad1,

Can you clear the CMOS battery for at least 3 min? Checkout this video at 4:02 to disconnect the CMOS battery cable.

Let me know how it goes.

Done, will let you know if it helps. Problem is a bit sporadic, so can't confirm right away.

The bios reset made things considerably worse. Three freezes/crashes so far today. Broke down and did a full reinstall as if it was a new machine. So far so good.

what is your PCI-e Gen 3 setting set to in BIOS?

verify that it is set to disable.

If not then , change it to disable. and try again.

Video card and motherboard replaced. Worked fine for two days. Now two video crashes so far today.

Replaced the OEM card with a GTX 650 that is supported by the manufacturer and has quality drivers. No issues since. I think these OEM 555's are the problem, and do not work well with Windows8.

Ecnad1,

So you think the Dell OEM GTX 555 was the culprit all along? For our notes, did you have any issues with the GTX 555 BEFORE the A13 bios update?

Yes, I believe the Dell OEM GTX 555 cards do not have fully-functional drivers for Windows 8, and thus cause crashes. I had sporadic driver crashes that were recoverable (driver would reload automatically with just an alert box that the failure had occurred) before the A13 update, after that update they increased in frequency and were not recoverable without a hard reboot. I can not explain why the bios change made it worse. When the MB was replaced and the bios was reverted to A07 the problem still occurred with the 2nd 555 card.

Following the change to the new card I have had ZERO crashes, so it is not the bios alone, or the system itself leading me to conclude the the 555's are the problem. I am disappointed that I had to spend my own money to fix the problem, but I could no longer afford to run a business on an unreliable computer.

I understand. We could have shipped you a diffeent OEM video card to try in there before you bought the retail video card. But I guess that was never suggested to you. I would not run a business from a gaming system. I would use an Optiplex from the business line.