X51 keeps crashing while gaming

Question

Hello,

This problem has been bother me for 2 weeks. I bought this alienware X51 on 10 Jan 2013. And it works fine until 2 weeks ago, when I was playing Battlefield 3, the screen suddenly freezed, and the sounds also started to delay. And after no responding for about 3 seconds, it auto restart. After it restarted, it shows up a small window and show a message that windows had an unexpected shut down, and the information about the problem is given below:

Problem signature:

Problem Event Name: BlueScreen

OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.768.3

Locale ID: 18441

Additional information about the problem:

BCCode: 116

BCP1: FFFFFA800AD7F4E0

BCP2: FFFFF88005165700

BCP3: FFFFFFFFC000009A

BCP4: 0000000000000004

OS Version: 6_1_7601

Service Pack: 1_0

Product: 768_1.

Then after that I guess is the Graphic Card problem, I am using the GTX555, so I tried to open the NVidia control center, it gave me a message:

" An NVidia graphic card is not detected on you computer" ,

and inside the device manager of control panel, it also didn't show up my GTX 555 under the "Display Adapter". So I guess the GTX555 might be disconnected or something like that. So first thing I did is to reboot my PC. And after it restart, the GTX555 came back and now I can open the NVIDIA control center. I thought the problem is fixed, then I started to watch movie. Unfortunately, the screen freeze and it auto to restart after about 5 min movie. Anyway, this problem happened again and again, I have done couple things in a week to try to fix it, but all didn't work:

1. Upgrade my graphic driver from the NVIDIA official website.

2. Upgrade my graphic driver from the Windows Updater.

3. Uninstall my graphic driver and reinstall a latest driver.

4. Test my graphic card working temperature, it was about 75 C when I am playing Battlefield 3.

5. Ultimate try, restore my PC to the factory setting. It deleted all my files on my X51 and become a clean system same as when I just bought it ( I guess) . The computer speed improve a lot , and the crash problem was seems fixed. It worked fine for few hours. Then the problem comes again when I was playing League of Legends, it became a new problem, I posted the photo that I took below:

The screen also freezed but it didn't auto restart. I have to press the power button to force shut down. And after I restarted the PC, it didn't shows up any error information and the system can detect my GTX555. It looks like a different problem this time.

After that , everything works fine until today, that old problem came back again!!! Freezed, crashed, auto restarted, even one time when it was restarting, the screen didn't show up anything instead just 5 sounds of " Beep". I checked it is the real time clock failure. It just happened one time then it was fixed after I restart again. I am really tired of it, keep crashing, even while watching movie.

So I wondering what is the key problem of my PC, is the graphic card spoilt? I have only had it for 6 months, so fast then the graphic card spoilt? My warranty is still active, so can Dell help me fix this problem?

Thanks for taking time to read my post!

Regard.

My PC info:

speedstep · Answer

Install Directx June 2010

Download DirectX End-User Runtimes (June 2010)

www.microsoft.com/.../details.aspx‎

and

Boot to Safe mode, uninstall the display driver and then reinstall the driver from Dell for the graphics card .

The artifacts on your screen look like overheating GPU.

STOP 0x116 Video TDR error is your video card locking up.

The VIDEO_TDR_ ERROR bug check has a value of 0x00000116.

This indicates that an attempt to reset the display driver and recover from a timeout failed.

Dragon-Long · Answer

Thanks for answering, I am downloading the driver. By the way do you know why will my video card lock up? Is the software problem or hardware problem??

Dragon-Long · Answer

Oh, you have said the reason, sorry I missed it.

Dragon-Long · Answer

Thanks for answering, I am downloading the driver. By the way do you know why will my video card lock up? Is the software problem or hardware problem?

Dragon-Long · Answer

I have done each steps that you suggested above, but it seems doesn't work for me. The problem still remain the same. This time when it crashed, the screen went and freezed for 5 sec. Then I auto restart. Do you have any other method to solve this problem?

(edited)

eternalozzie · Answer

have you tried reseating the graphic card ... taking it out then plugging it back in?  or even better taking it out to see if you still have problems running off the motherboard/cpu graphics ... it really sounds like a bad graphics card.

eternalozzie · Answer

yes .. it is time to get hold of Dell :)  ... make a list of all the troubleshooting you have done so you can communicate it well.

Dragon-Long · Answer

Yes I don't know how to take out the video card but I got disable the GTX555 from the control panel and only use my intel graphic card, every thing works fine. So after so many tries, my conclusion is the hardware problem, not the software problem. Because I did restore the systerm to the factory setting and the problem still exist. The factory setting worked fine when I just bought the x51 but not now. So I think is the hardware problem. Possibly is my video card. But I am not sure about that, I am not a profession in computer hardware field. So should I call the dell support to help me repair my PC? My warranty still active

Dragon-Long · Answer

Ya that's a good idea to write down a list. Or I can just read my post above to him lol

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X51 keeps crashing while gaming

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