If not the RAM, looks like a board problem. I would clean ram and sockets with plastic-safe contact cleaner. Reseat anything vital in machine with a socket or connector.
I just had to replace the motherboard in a 2.5 year-old $2000 Lenovo X1-Carbon (Gen2). Treated it like a baby the whole time and it barely left the office. Rock-solid for 2.5 years, then it started to hard-lock-up in Windows with crazy garbage screen. Sometimes UEFI Diags would run for 20 hours with no problems, others times not. Same with OCCT inside Windows. Always the same intermittent hard-lock ( a couple of times just looking at BIOS screens). CPU/GPU and RAM all soldered-in (so high-price MB) so BGA really means "Better Get Another" for sure. MB built like a phone and real garbage.
So yeah, I know the feeling. I couldn't believe it was a bad motherboard at first either. In your case, I hope its not.
:( thanks for the answer ... i treated this laptop as my son hahahah the temperatures are really good everything ... from nowhere the problem started ... i am trying a lot of things ... i hope i found a fix because i cant afford a motherboard, i love my laptop ... looks like new !! it have 1 year and 8 months
I haven't worked on a 15 R1, but I have an M17x R4. So what I can suggest if it were me (and based on some stuff I learned with the M17x R4):
1) Make a note of the way the settings are in the BIOS (all of them!), for later reference. I write them down, but pics from a good phone camera will also do if you've got a steady hand.
2) Access the BIOS and load default settings. When you save & exit, it'll boot up.
3) Don't bother logging in to Windows, just let it get to the login screen and shut it down from there.
4) Unplug, remove the battery, and hold the power button down for 30 seconds.
5) Battery back in, plug back in,, turn on and get into the BIOS
6) Put the settings back the way they were, save & exit, let Windows boot.
I know you've done some of this, I'm suggesting these steps in this order because I have seen it clear up hardware weirdness in laptops.
Okay, if that doesn't work:
1) Disable hibernation,
2) reboot,
3) delete hibernation file,
4) reboot,
5) re-enable hibernation if you like...or run without it for a while.
Let me know if you need tips on how to do this.
I don't know how far you've gone in taking the machine apart to clean the RAM. However, I'd carefully re-seat the RAM, and then....is there shielding or a case panel that the RAM touches when you close things back up? I doubt so, but if there is, just make sure you don't over-tighten screws putting it back together.
Is the RAM under the keyboard? If so, be sure you don't over-tighten the keyboard screws putting it back together.
Is the RAM on both sides of the machine, with sockets on the underside and overside? If you don't know your motherboard's RAM configuration, double-check that you really did get to all of them when you cleaned them.
If you have to do anything more complicated than just sliding open a laptop panel, you might want to look at total teardown videos, just to see how the pieces/parts fit together. You might spot something else that's wiggled loose (or is contacting and shouldn't be).
Nothing wrong with cleaning the RAM, by the way, but some food for thought: it *shouldn't* be necessary. The RAM's contacts stay deep in the socket, deep inside the guts of the machine, so unless the RAM was dirty on install, gunk rarely happens inside the machine.
Hope this helps, and good luck fixing your baby! :)
XTU on NVRAM? I've used the OC settings in the BIOS, and I've used XTU on the desktop, but never had this particular situation. If you have the XTU installed at the desktop level, can you use that to apply another profile? I *think* the XTU starts off with stock settings available by scanning your hardware and displaying factory settings. But if not, you could look up the RAM settings online and try adjusting all that manually in XTU and applying the profile that way.
is a common problem on alienware laptops with haswell processors, i found a lot of aw 18 laptop with haswell processor with the same issue or similar, caused by intel XTU ... and know i know why my system start when the laptop is warm, everything have sense, i was trying to overclock the ram and i did it, but when i boot the laptop being cold the laptop cant and it return to stock timings and multiplier. in this try seems like the XMP ( extreme memory profile - reduced timings ) are stuck on nvram because my system work and the ram perform better, i remember the score using AIDA64 xtreme edition . so the problem is that the OC of the ram dont want to come back to normal and is an unstable OC, that only work when the system is warm
and know i know why my system start when the laptop is warm,
Sounds like bad motherboard to me. Specifically, cold-solder joint or pad ... likely a layer-via-trace or pad under BGA chip. Un-leaded solder builds garbage boards that eventually fail... all it takes is one tiny connection out of the 100K on that board.
i know is the NVram info with a wrong xtu profile .... do you know if the BIOS chip contain the nvram or the nvram is another chip ? becase last i can do is change the bios chip
I'm not familiar with your particular model, but here's what I do know: the BIOS in my R4 has overclock settings that are based on the Intel chip, but are independent of the XTU utility, which I've only used when the computer is already booted up. If I were using the BIOS settings, my options would be really simple: "Profile 1, 2 or 3". At the desktop, the XTU gives you huge amounts of detail you can manually tweak or let Intel stress-test the hardware and make decisions for you. If you can install and run the XTU utility on the desktop, use it to dial down your clocking settings and when you apply that profile, it should write to the place where that info is currently stored. Then, go into your BIOS and also check to see if there are any overclocking/overvoltage profiles you have there and turn them off. Let the hardware be set to as close to stock settings as you can, and if the problem goes away, be thankful the machine continues to work and don't worry about the fact that it goes nuts if you overclock it, just keep it stock. If you do turn off overclocking in the BIOS and using the Intel XTU, and the problem still occurs, then maybe you are in that situation where something's physically wrong and you need it repaired. I know parts-people.com can do some repairs, they may be able to help you.
I will also try to look a little deeper too...I'm just kind of slammed right now but I'm going to look over the latest XTU and see if I can offer you some better suggestions.
judal7837
2 Intern
•
327 Posts
1
January 11th, 2017 16:00
i have my machine fixed now !!! i had to re-solder the PCH
thanks for all the help here friends, and
THANKS DELL for the design flaw ... the pch temperatures reach 100°C when you are gaming
judal7837
2 Intern
•
327 Posts
0
December 19th, 2016 22:00
someone that can help me ?
Tesla1856
8 Wizard
•
17.3K Posts
0
December 20th, 2016 00:00
If not the RAM, looks like a board problem. I would clean ram and sockets with plastic-safe contact cleaner. Reseat anything vital in machine with a socket or connector.
I just had to replace the motherboard in a 2.5 year-old $2000 Lenovo X1-Carbon (Gen2). Treated it like a baby the whole time and it barely left the office. Rock-solid for 2.5 years, then it started to hard-lock-up in Windows with crazy garbage screen. Sometimes UEFI Diags would run for 20 hours with no problems, others times not. Same with OCCT inside Windows. Always the same intermittent hard-lock ( a couple of times just looking at BIOS screens). CPU/GPU and RAM all soldered-in (so high-price MB) so BGA really means "Better Get Another" for sure. MB built like a phone and real garbage.
So yeah, I know the feeling. I couldn't believe it was a bad motherboard at first either. In your case, I hope its not.
judal7837
2 Intern
•
327 Posts
0
December 20th, 2016 00:00
:( thanks for the answer ... i treated this laptop as my son hahahah the temperatures are really good everything ... from nowhere the problem started ... i am trying a lot of things ... i hope i found a fix because i cant afford a motherboard, i love my laptop ... looks like new !! it have 1 year and 8 months
MXOWinterMute
1 Rookie
•
67 Posts
0
December 20th, 2016 19:00
I haven't worked on a 15 R1, but I have an M17x R4. So what I can suggest if it were me (and based on some stuff I learned with the M17x R4):
1) Make a note of the way the settings are in the BIOS (all of them!), for later reference. I write them down, but pics from a good phone camera will also do if you've got a steady hand.
2) Access the BIOS and load default settings. When you save & exit, it'll boot up.
3) Don't bother logging in to Windows, just let it get to the login screen and shut it down from there.
4) Unplug, remove the battery, and hold the power button down for 30 seconds.
5) Battery back in, plug back in,, turn on and get into the BIOS
6) Put the settings back the way they were, save & exit, let Windows boot.
I know you've done some of this, I'm suggesting these steps in this order because I have seen it clear up hardware weirdness in laptops.
Okay, if that doesn't work:
1) Disable hibernation,
2) reboot,
3) delete hibernation file,
4) reboot,
5) re-enable hibernation if you like...or run without it for a while.
Let me know if you need tips on how to do this.
I don't know how far you've gone in taking the machine apart to clean the RAM. However, I'd carefully re-seat the RAM, and then....is there shielding or a case panel that the RAM touches when you close things back up? I doubt so, but if there is, just make sure you don't over-tighten screws putting it back together.
Is the RAM under the keyboard? If so, be sure you don't over-tighten the keyboard screws putting it back together.
Is the RAM on both sides of the machine, with sockets on the underside and overside? If you don't know your motherboard's RAM configuration, double-check that you really did get to all of them when you cleaned them.
If you have to do anything more complicated than just sliding open a laptop panel, you might want to look at total teardown videos, just to see how the pieces/parts fit together. You might spot something else that's wiggled loose (or is contacting and shouldn't be).
Nothing wrong with cleaning the RAM, by the way, but some food for thought: it *shouldn't* be necessary. The RAM's contacts stay deep in the socket, deep inside the guts of the machine, so unless the RAM was dirty on install, gunk rarely happens inside the machine.
Hope this helps, and good luck fixing your baby! :)
judal7837
2 Intern
•
327 Posts
0
December 20th, 2016 20:00
new info .... i am 99% sure is a bad intel XTU profile that is stored on NVRAM , but is refusing to come back to stock. how can i force it ?
MXOWinterMute
1 Rookie
•
67 Posts
0
December 20th, 2016 21:00
XTU on NVRAM? I've used the OC settings in the BIOS, and I've used XTU on the desktop, but never had this particular situation. If you have the XTU installed at the desktop level, can you use that to apply another profile? I *think* the XTU starts off with stock settings available by scanning your hardware and displaying factory settings. But if not, you could look up the RAM settings online and try adjusting all that manually in XTU and applying the profile that way.
judal7837
2 Intern
•
327 Posts
0
December 20th, 2016 21:00
after some time waiting meanwhile the system get a little bit warm it start normally
[View:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2lfAPHWW_k:550:0]
judal7837
2 Intern
•
327 Posts
0
December 20th, 2016 21:00
is a common problem on alienware laptops with haswell processors, i found a lot of aw 18 laptop with haswell processor with the same issue or similar, caused by intel XTU ... and know i know why my system start when the laptop is warm, everything have sense, i was trying to overclock the ram and i did it, but when i boot the laptop being cold the laptop cant and it return to stock timings and multiplier. in this try seems like the XMP ( extreme memory profile - reduced timings ) are stuck on nvram because my system work and the ram perform better, i remember the score using AIDA64 xtreme edition . so the problem is that the OC of the ram dont want to come back to normal and is an unstable OC, that only work when the system is warm
Tesla1856
8 Wizard
•
17.3K Posts
0
December 20th, 2016 23:00
Sounds like bad motherboard to me. Specifically, cold-solder joint or pad ... likely a layer-via-trace or pad under BGA chip. Un-leaded solder builds garbage boards that eventually fail... all it takes is one tiny connection out of the 100K on that board.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertcringely/2014/12/23/killed-not-saved-by-a-whisker-why-our-electronic-gizmos-inevitably-die/#3fd483bf1e20
judal7837
2 Intern
•
327 Posts
0
December 21st, 2016 12:00
i know is the NVram info with a wrong xtu profile .... do you know if the BIOS chip contain the nvram or the nvram is another chip ? becase last i can do is change the bios chip
MXOWinterMute
1 Rookie
•
67 Posts
1
December 21st, 2016 13:00
I'm not familiar with your particular model, but here's what I do know: the BIOS in my R4 has overclock settings that are based on the Intel chip, but are independent of the XTU utility, which I've only used when the computer is already booted up. If I were using the BIOS settings, my options would be really simple: "Profile 1, 2 or 3". At the desktop, the XTU gives you huge amounts of detail you can manually tweak or let Intel stress-test the hardware and make decisions for you. If you can install and run the XTU utility on the desktop, use it to dial down your clocking settings and when you apply that profile, it should write to the place where that info is currently stored. Then, go into your BIOS and also check to see if there are any overclocking/overvoltage profiles you have there and turn them off. Let the hardware be set to as close to stock settings as you can, and if the problem goes away, be thankful the machine continues to work and don't worry about the fact that it goes nuts if you overclock it, just keep it stock. If you do turn off overclocking in the BIOS and using the Intel XTU, and the problem still occurs, then maybe you are in that situation where something's physically wrong and you need it repaired. I know parts-people.com can do some repairs, they may be able to help you.
judal7837
2 Intern
•
327 Posts
0
December 21st, 2016 20:00
thanks ... i am going to try as far as i can .... if is imposible i will try with some expert
MXOWinterMute
1 Rookie
•
67 Posts
1
December 22nd, 2016 13:00
I will also try to look a little deeper too...I'm just kind of slammed right now but I'm going to look over the latest XTU and see if I can offer you some better suggestions.
judal7837
2 Intern
•
327 Posts
0
December 22nd, 2016 14:00
i just cant figure out why the nvram is blocked and dont want to override during bios update