Unsolved
4 Posts
2
7669
Area-51m, screen black
9900k - 2080 - 32gb - 2tb raid 0 - g sync
This is my second unit. My first one arrived and the first day I had issues with the screen randomly shutting off. Then that evening I heard it short, and flames came out of the vents under the Tobii thing. It was a brick after that.
Took two weeks to get my second unit. Got it yesterday. Updated the BIOs and other drivers via the Alienware Update software, and then installed a couple games off Steam and Uplay. Played a bit and it was running well for awhile, but now I'm getting the issue with the screen shutting off randomly again. Just goes dark and is totally unresponsive. Keyboard stays on and such. Have to do a hard restart to get it back on.
Is this a known issue or are these things just a ridiculously expensive joke? It's 1 day old (again!) and it's unstable. I didn't install my own hardware....I didn't overclock it. **bleep**, I didn't even adjust the lighting yet this time around. Also, Dell didn't reset my 30 return policy while I waiting TWO WEEKS for a replacement....so I have to decide really fast if it's worth continuing with Dell. Leaning towards not.....
BCambra
11 Posts
0
October 1st, 2019 09:00
Has anyone had any updates on this issue? My laptop is still in the repair process (they've had it over a week, no updates except to say they don't have the parts they need...) with no sign of it being returned anytime soon. This is with premium+ support as well.
I'm getting more and more anxious as time goes by, I'm hoping to talk to someone soon about getting a new unit as this is my laptops 3rd repair, all of which have required complete tear-downs to fulfill. I don't have any confidence in my unit anymore.
Sceptre2564
1 Message
0
December 12th, 2019 17:00
Hi, i am sorry to here you had problems, with your area 51m, im in sorta the same boat, ;(. i have my aga from my old alienware i was going to use and the area 51m does not work correctly with it :(. the drivers do not even support the area 51m, and this laptop has been out for how long now. What a joke dell. Get with the program.
ciph3r6272
4 Posts
0
February 7th, 2020 08:00
Hi All,
I experienced the same thing on my Area-51m that I just recently re-installed Windows 10 on for another issue (Area-51m, cannot change color backside, touchpad) with latest nVidia Drivers (442.19, 02/03/2020).
I then tried to hook-up my old Alienware Graphics Amplifier with the Asus DUAL-RTX2080-8G just to try it out. After booting up the laptop with AGA, it went fine at first and then the screen went black but nothing was displayed on my external monitor. I forced shutdown the laptop since I have no way to see anything on either screens. I unplugged AGA and turn the laptop back on. I can get to the part of the boot and login to Windows but it suddenly puts the screen black. I suspect it's because of the AWCC service that handles the activation of the AGA.
Now, I had to re-install Windows 10 again to bring my Area-51m back up to display on my laptop screen. So far it is working now and I can see in the device manager the 2070 GPU is active and being used. I will run further tests just to make sure nothing happened on my 2070 GPU.
I still want to try AGA with the 2080 but I am hesitant to proceed again. This reference indicates the AGA would be able to support RTX2080 but interestingly it doesn't support Area-51m. However, on the Area-51m user guide, it's briefly mentioned there Why is that?
Why would the AGA slot be on the Area-51m if it is not supported?
wsnor
27 Posts
0
February 7th, 2020 12:00
Yes I just tried this yesterday with an Area 51, have my external monitor powered thru a power bar with a switch. I turn the monitor off and the laptop is powered by another outlet, worked fine for me hope it works for you.
wsnor
27 Posts
0
February 7th, 2020 12:00
Next time try shutting down the AGA first and the laptop should report external video card has shut down. Then you can disconnect the AGA cable from the laptop safely.
ciph3r6272
4 Posts
0
February 7th, 2020 12:00
@wsnorThanks for your reply. I take it you are using area-51m and also have AGA and have done the same thing, correct?
To be clear, when you said shutdown the AGA first, did you mean pull the plug? As I mentioned, both monitors (laptop and the external monitor connected on AGA) are blacked out so I really could not actually 'cleanly shutdown' AGA via the laptop/user interface.
I could be doing things wrong so I will try again what you have suggested.
wsnor
27 Posts
0
February 7th, 2020 12:00
I should have said both the AGA and external monitor are powered thru the power bar with an on/off switch. The Area 51 is powered thru another power outlet due to having two power bricks,
ciph3r6272
4 Posts
0
February 7th, 2020 13:00
@wsnor Ok, thanks for clarifying.
Sorry if I am appearing to be repeating what you said but I just wanted to make sure.
Your AGA and external monitor is on a different power strip that has an on/off switch. You just flip the switch off on the power strip to completely power down the external monitor and AGA.
After doing that, the display on the area-51m should come back right up switching back to the internal GPU, right?
Are you also using RTX 2080 on your AGA? I was initially thinking there's not enough juice to power it given the 460W PSU that comes with AGA.
wsnor
27 Posts
0
February 7th, 2020 14:00
Yes that is what worked for me, no RTX2080 as of yet,
scook9
1 Message
0
October 17th, 2020 07:00
Just throwing in another case. This is 100% an issue with how Dell implemented the PCIe lanes for the internal GPU and Dock and the nvidia drivers are called on and loaded for the 2 different GPUs. My dad has an Area-51m on my recommendation and has had multiple instances of great difficulty due to this. My Alienware 15 R3 has worked fine for 4 years. The difference is how the GPU is used internally. In my 15R3, the nvidia GPU is disabled (optimus enabled - NOT GSYNC) and the laptop screen is fed through the intel IGP. The AGA has a direct PCIe x4 to the CPU and is loaded as the only nvidia card - no mobile vs desktop graphics conflict. This works great.
With the Area-51m the display IO is fed directly through the nvidia GPU so it is always powered up and used and then will conflict with the AGA GPU (if also nvidia) when that is connected.
Dell can fix this with better management of which cards are in use at a given time when the AGA is active.
Nvidia can fix this by doing away with the stupidity that is 2 sets of drivers for the same silicon which then wage way on each other in Windows.
Microsoft can help by making it easier to manage drivers (even for unattached hardware).