Alienware X51, GTX660

Question

Received my x51 today,  the model that comes with the GTX660. Anyway setup seemed cool running some music through youtube whilst updating drivers and downloading origin games etc and i had a weird crash where the music jittered for like 3 mins and the computer was jittery on the mouse keyboard and generally. It restarted and everything seemed fine. Later, I ran battlefield 3 and after 2 minutes the same thing happened again, then after restart i get the old 'the computer failed to shutdown properly' choose : safe mode / start windows normally bla bla. Another game i tryed to run was lineage 2 (a game which is over 7 yrs old) which on my old machine (which is alot less spec than this beast) i could run about 7 clients with ease. Anyway when i started the game i didnt even login before the jittery crash happened. i am a little frustrated as i spent almost £1000 on this computer which is so far performing like an oversized paperweight.

morblore · Answer

Hello SHINOB161, &#xa0; Sounds like the system is crashing. Have you tried to reinstall the graphic drivers yet? That is the most likely cause. Download the GPU driver on to your desktop. Then uninstall the Nvidia driver from device manager. Make sure you check the box to uninstall the driver. Then reboot and reinstall the driver you downloaded to your desktop. Try that please and see if the crash goes away.

shinobi61 · Answer

I opened up the system and saw nothing that appeared to be blocking any fans although its very snug inside. However i am leaning towards a definate hardware problem now as it consistantly performs fine for 2 mins then fps gradually gets less and less after two mins until total crash and the back of the machine is hot. My issue is i shouldnt have to be messing around with a machine that i payed almost a thousand pounds for, whats the best thing for me to do what route do i take to get this fixed. I am at work all week so a technician visit wont help me much, i figured that i would be ordering an out of the box gaming machine not a thousand pounds worth of headache.

morblore · Answer

You need to download the Dell driver. If it's overheating then that will also cause it. Download MSI Afterburner and watch the temps. You should also open the case and make sure nothing is blocking the fan. Just make sure you unplug the system before you open it.

shinobi61 · Answer

i will try that but on the geforce site i only see driver for 660ti which is not the card i have in here (comes with OEM gtx 660) does that matter? however it seems to me as the graphics card is overheating as it is almost burning my finger when i feel the area at the back where the graphics card is.

Thanks for the reply

shinobi61 · Answer

Ok i ran BF3 this morning with msi afterburner and i was checking it as it started jittering but the max GPU temp was as 58 degrees which is not hot if i am correct. however the power % said 300%+ and GPU usage was crazy also. Any ideas would be appriciated i would be happier if i can solve this myself

Regards

bills889 · Answer

Hi,

Try this

-Uninstall dell drivers

-Download Ccleaner (free) run and clean up the windows registry

-Download the NEWEST nvidia driers, choose 660ti as your card its very similar to yours

-Install and see if that gets rid of the problem

If that fails i would assume somethings faulty to be honest... dont worry about not using dell drivers no harm can be done. using incorrect drivers cause software crashes or what not simply uninstall.

shinobi61 · Answer

Ok i reloaded BF3 campaign and paused after say 10 seconds and just watched afterburner for a while. This is what i got;

Power % = 58

GPU temp = 70 oC

GPU usage = 99%

........ now i will continue

Ok 5 more seconds in game and this what i got ;

Power % = 547

GPU temp = 71 oC

GPU usage 99%

Any idea's please i am running the Dell OEM GTX 660 driver 301.42

regards

shinobi61 · Answer

thanks mate i will try this when i get back home i was just a little concerned about the drivers and i have also heard that the optimus function can mess up your games by switching to onboard graphics at the wrong times.

Makes me disapointed that they claim the machine can play BF3 in xxx fps and then supply them with duff drivers?

Doesn't make sense, i have spoken to alienware tech support and they cant do nothing unless i am at my pc, seems they will do anything to avoid replacing a machine or part, even if its a driver issue then i am still unhappy as the machine makes an ugly noise when this problem is happening so something somewhere is not right imo.

I will report back :D

morblore · Answer

Sorry I didn't get right back to you. I was real busy at work all night.

The "ugly" noise you hear is that coming through the speakers when it's about to crash? If so then ignore it. That is very common with a system crash. Like Bill and I said before you have to try reinstalling the driver since that is the most likely cause. Dell tech support will have you do the same. They have to trouble shoot it to determine if it needs parts. If you don't want to and since it's brand new you can always return it for a refund.

shinobi61 · Answer

I get an ugly noise fromt he speakers when its about to crash but also from the machine its self (maybe gpu fan?)

What drivers should i re install the Dell OEM GTX 660 driver 301.42? or the latest closest one from geforce ie : 660ti version 306.xx ?

shinobi61 · Answer

i believe that it is a faulty card, anyway im about to leave work and get on the phone to alienware tech support and see what happens but i am not happy either way i dont wanna wait for a new card to be dispatched or something, and im figuring the whole thing will not be a speedy proccess which upsets me as i was excited to get this computer yesterday and now looks like ill be waiting a while before i can play on the

thing, anyway lets not jump the gun and i will report back after talk with the tech support and tell you all what they say.

Regards.

vududeman · Answer

Maybe a hardware/card issue?  I also have a new X51 with the 660 GTX card running 301.42.  I'm playing GW2 for hours with no problem and the video card is pretty awesome.

shinobi61 · Answer

Ok just got off the phone from tech support and they told me they can't find anything wrong with the system going from the temps and speeds of my gpu/cpu they wanna take an x51 into the 'lab' to try and 'replicate' my problem lol.

Obviously i doubt they will be able to, anyway thats not possible til monday so i guess i will have to see what they say then.

regards will update monday i guess,

shinobi61 · Answer

Ok here are the test results i ran on battlefield 3 (although the problem occurred once while watching youtube :O)

System = alienware x51 i5 w/ GTX 660 301.42 dell driver

Ingame = all settings medium (auto) with AA off

1 PC Idle

2 PC Loading BF3

3 bf3 menu

4 after 25sec playtime

5 after 45sec totally unplayable!!!

6 i entered back ingame and my monitor turned to power saving mode and the system was unresponsive for roughly 1 minute until ;

All this suggests to me that its a driver problem but i went and tryed drivers with the alienware technician. A second point is also the machine is making a very nasty noise when the system is under any stress. Along with the driver problem i still believe that there is some hardware issue and i would like a replacement system which the technician assures me i am entitled to if they cannot fix it as i have reported the problem on day 2...

shinobi61 · Answer

I tryed the latest drivers from geforce however they wont install because they do not recognize the OEM card so cannot pass the install phase..... so i am back in square one and am getting more frustrated as time goes on, i wish now i had built my own pc like i always have done lol

Locked Topics – Alienware General

Alienware X51, GTX660

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