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M17x R2 - Overheating leftside videocard.
My computer started running hot(I can feel the heat through the keyboard and when put my hand on or near the left videocard vent it feels almost hot enough to burn you.) the other day. The fan seems to be running normally. When it gets too hot, it blue screens, and i saw an ATI driver file in the blue screen. So I'm almost certain it's the videocard. It is at it's worst when I play videogames obviously, but i don't even play new games. I've only been playing FFXI and that game is 10 years old. I spent over 3k on this system earlier last year....WHAT GIVES!? I have two 5870's in Crossfire. All settings are default in CCC. I reinstalled the driver, I flashed the VBIOS. I even reinstalled Windows 7 64 Home. Dunno what to do. I has no more warranty i think. Also when it gets super hot right before it crashes, these little pigments i guess? graphical errors? it's like a little dot on the screen and they start multiplying. You know like a damaged television set that has this permanent pigment thing on the screen? They go away after i shutdown though. I keep my computer clean and i take good care of it. Never dropped it or anything like that. I don't over clean it when it comes to internal parts. All i really do is make sure the dust does not get out of control and i try to stay away from moving parts like fans.
cyberjonx
4 Posts
0
November 21st, 2011 06:00
I am having the same issue with my computer. It only started though after I reformatted my hard drive and re-installed windows. There is now two system drivers that are not being recognized and are not on the recovery CD dell provides. I am not sure if that is the reason for the overheating but all I do know is before I re-formated my computer I never had overheating issues. The fans sound as if they are running at full power when I am gaming but after maybe 40 minutes of playing the computer will just shut down.
89fordprobee
1.2K Posts
0
March 13th, 2012 14:00
well i remeber my R2 had to get dust cleaned out monthly since laptops push limits of heat and the cooling is bare minimum required @ perfect operation so any dust causes issues, anyway i also had added a good cooler under it for gaming purposes, alot of this can be checked ALSO you can if your up to it dissasemble and remove the left(primary) if looking at screen video card , remove ehatsink CLEAN it perfect, removethe thermal pad and use some atrctic silver as thermal paste its alot better
1_maniac
3 Posts
0
March 13th, 2012 14:00
According to the Aleinware tech I paid to diag my M17x (09/09), the main (?) video card is over heating when I am
gaming. You would think since this machine was set up as a gaming machine with all the top line parts in 2009
it would work flawlessly, but it's going to cost over $700 to get it repaired including the service call.
SHEESH
1_maniac
3 Posts
0
March 16th, 2012 10:00
What cooler did you buy?
Thanks
jmrowley
5 Posts
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March 21st, 2012 04:00
I am having the same issues and was wondering how you even get to the video card...I was thinking of replacing the card itself and wondered if it is replaceable or is it a onboard??? I have Alien M17 R2 with the ATI Radon Mobility...and I think it is beginning to fail...It is doing such things and taking my video out of aero mode and dimming itself after a while like I am running on battery power however I have it plugged in.
89fordprobee
1.2K Posts
0
March 21st, 2012 15:00
sorry for the delay the cooler i had was from antec sorry i dont remeber the model its been over a year since ive owned my R2 ...
jmrowley .. its located under the keyboard on upper left side it requires removing the touch strip panel if i remember right 2 screws located under the laptop,under the battery ,and it is hard to pry off after, becarefull not to break tyhe tabs and it does have a small cable that is a pain to reattach after, then keyboard has a few screws and a ribbon cable and video card is plain open sight held down by a few screws
the dimming of the display is in power properties thats normal if left idle(was set to 1 minute) i remeber mine doing that and calling dell about it and was told how to adjust that in power options
yes it is a Descrete removable card its a MXM III mini pci-e basically and 2 places if needs to be replaced.. EBAY or dell directly as its OEM parts
jmrowley
5 Posts
0
March 23rd, 2012 07:00
Thanks for the answers....As with the dimming....I have already shut that off in the battery property...and it still does it...It is almost like it is stuck in battery mode even though it is plugged in???? if so could this be a battery issue rather than a video issue...I formatted the hard drive and did a complete reinstall thinking I had a driver problem but still the same issues...and if I unplug the laptop to run on battery then plug back in I lock up...I read on dell that you need to use the driver dell supplies and don't upgrade to the manufactures driver...which I am using the dell driver...I am so upset with this as this laptop cost close to $3,000 and is only a year and half old.