Issues with 15' Alienware 4k with 980m.

Question

Hi guys,

I am wondering if anyone else out there has one of the new Alienware 15" laptops with the 4k screen.

I have been having pretty major issues with external displays along with available resolutions for the 4k built in display.

1.4k display will not do any other usable resolution. It is either 4k or 1080p.

-No 1440p

-No 1600p

2. Plugging in a 4k monitor over HDMI results in a full crash of the system. After a reboot it crashes on bootup. The only way to stop it is to remove the HDMI cable.

3. Plugging in a 1440p monitor works however the only workable resolution is 1080p. I cannot select 1440p no matter what I do.

I am of the belief this is due to the Intel graphic / optimus configuration going on.

I have tried to install new drivers from Intel but they will not install.
I am fully up to date with drivers from the Alienware site.

I have a support call logged as of 1 1/2 weeks ago but I have not had any progress on it at all.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to get HDMI working correctly and allow other resolutions on the 4k laptop screen?

Cheers

LanceAndre · Accepted Answer

the cr@ppy thing about all this, is that Intel has fixed the issue 3 months ago, but DELL has not!!! All they need to is put some effort forth. Think i'll reopen another support issue and let their Indian support people spend anther couple of weeks trying everything under the sun... maybe they'll send me another free item for all the delays and another free monitor cable: Yes they thought that i was using the wrong monitor cable, so they sent me a $30 cable for free. But that cable took so long to get to me they sent me a free Dell Gamer mouse too. I think we just all need to put them on speaker and call their contracted support lines... maybe then the'll get off their a$$ and get this fixed.

wgolden30 · Accepted Answer

i spoke with a customer service rep from alienware and they said they replicated the issue and they are waiting on intel to provide an update for their drivers.

frankly their customer service team is the worst setup i have ever been through. they dont know anything and they dont care about your struggle. i spoke with several people including managers and after 12-15 calls i finally made it clear to them what is going on and why its important.

fire everyone, bad new egg reviews.

LanceAndre · Answer

Yup, same exact issue!

Spent days on phone support with dell, only to have them tell me i needed a mini monitor cable (not HDMI) cable...

LOL, just received the Mini monitor cable from dell yesterday, and have the EXACT same issue with the mini monitor cable as with the HDMI cable.

The 4k Monitor is even a dell monitor!

dodger0000 · Answer

Same problem here with both the mini DP or HDMI. I found that if you disable the external display you won't get the crash, but as soon as you try to use it, you will get a

PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA (igdkmd64.sys)

I am certain that the issue is with the actual Intel HD 4600 Graphics driver. However there is a new driver on the Intel site which states 4k support. But that driver has not been signed for Dell/Alienware. What we need is for Dell to issue a beta or final release version of that driver to us.

LanceAndre · Answer

Yup same error message. will appear about 2-5 seconds after plugging in/enabling the external 4k monitor. i think all of us should call and reopen our cases that Dell closed prematurely and point them to the new driver. You cant run the Intel updater as it will tell you that there is a custom version of the driver by Dell and that we must contact them. From what i can tell this new driver has been available sense 4/10 (over a month).

LIANGSHAN108 · Answer

Same issue. I have a samsung 4k monitor and everytime when I tried to connect to it either with mini DP or HDMI the computer crashed. once you disconnected from monitor everything is fine. I bought Alienware 15 with 4k monitor last week.

wgolden30 · Answer

I am also having the same issue.

I called Alienware support last night and placed a ticket, hopefully they will resolve this because I will not keep a laptop that cannot connect to a simple 4k monitor.

I think the issue is somewhere in the BIOS. Interestingly enough I owned a Alienware 15 with 1080P display, same specs, 970M and intel 4600 GPU and never had an issue using my 4k monitor. Only the 4k Alienware model is having this issue.

Hopefully Alienware solves this soon or else ill take this back.

dodger0000 · Answer

Dear all,

I have managed to work around the issue by using the graphics expansion unit. I found that any time the Intel 4600 HD driver was active you would get the crash if using the Display Port. There are no settings in the BIOS to disable the Intel Graphics card as on previous versions of Alienware Laptop BIOSs.

I agree that this is a pour and very expensive work around. Cost me $200 for the unit and another $550 for an nVidia 980 card, but my system has been working for a couple of weeks now, no problems.

I am still convinced that the problem will be resolved when Intel fixes their driver and Dell approves and releases it for our machines. Until then, or another solution presents itself, I wish you all the best of luck and/or patience.

AVSCO10 · Answer

I know this is an old topic, but I've had the same problem recently with my 970m. I was using a mini displayport to displayport cable that worked fine on both my desktop and my MSI laptop with an 880m at 4k, 60hz.

Got the blue screen with the frowning face, reboot, same problem until I disconnected the monitor cable--no option to scale down the resolution prior to the blue screen btw.

I got ahold of Dell and they had me run diagnostics, including installing the latest Geforce drivers (I had already installed the most recent Intel drivers off of Intel's site and no that did not fix the problem).

Long story short, Dell is sending a technician to replace the motherboard--no idea if that will have any effect whatsoever but I'm out of ideas on this one.

The kicker is I can use a 2560x1440 monitor with the same mini displayport to displayport cable and it works flawlessly at full resolution.

LanceAndre · Answer

What a BS response from Dell support. Intel has fixed this issue back in April!!! Dell hasn't updated their OEM drivers with the new Intel driver code. So we are all stuck BSOD 4K land until then. I love hearing the stories of all the unknowing dell tech support people wasting dell $ replacing *** that wont make a difference. Unfortunately for us, we've wasted huge amounts of time dealing with tech support and like myself your 4k monitor is probably collecting dust :-(

Locked Topics – Alienware General

Issues with 15" Alienware 4k with 980m.

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