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Calster804
2 Posts
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March 18th, 2018 10:00
Alpha R2, randomly turning off
So I have an Alienware alpha r2 and it’s a round 1.3 year so old. Whenever I try to play games for a while it sometimes randomly just shuts off. It’s like the cord from the wall has been pulled. It’s always after some big gaming session and it’s really annoying. The warranty is expired I I don’t know what to do. I even bought a laptop cooling pad for it to sit on and a small desk fan to blow air away from the fan ports. PLEASE HELP!
Calster804
2 Posts
4165
0
Posted March 18th, 2018 14:00
I think it might be over heating but it’s never going into crazy fan spinning mode whenever it blinks out. Now warning at all so I lose files and it’s anoying. Do you know any software which I could run and it tousled tell me if all the hardwares ok?
@Calster804wrote:
I think it might be over heating but it’s never going into crazy fan spinning mode whenever it blinks out. Now warning at all so I lose files and it’s anoying. Do you know any software which I could run and it tousled tell me if all the hardwares ok?
First hurdle is ePSA (outside of Windows). Problem is, it doesn't push CPU/GPU very hard.
I like to stress-test with OCCT's "Power-Supply-Test" feature.
Dell Rockstar
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@jppr7114 wrote:
I had the same problem. What worked for me was placing the brick (in the cord) on its side. For me that's what was overheating. Now works flawlessly.
So, "the brick" is actually a (single voltage but fairly-high-amp) Switch Mode Power Supply (SMPS). It works with the DC-DC Converter that's inside the baby-desktop or laptop.
Pretty bizarre they build them with passive-cooling (no fans). Some don't even appear to have vents .
Dell Rockstar
Microsoft Windows and Apple iOS Developer (Retired)
- Like many of you, I can appreciate a good game-engine.
- I answer questions here, but I'm not a Dell employee.
- Consider giving posts you like a "thumbs-up"
- Posting models-numbers and software versions speeds trouble-shooting.
- Click "Mark as Accepted Answer" on any post that answers your question best.
Tesla1856
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Posted March 18th, 2018 12:00
Just a guess, but I would say problem is something like this:
- Overheating
- Running out of power to run CPU and GPU during max-gaming
- Software problem (Windows or drivers)
- Minor hardware problem (have a qualified technician or friend take a look at it). Maybe RAM or disk is bad.
- Major hardware problem (motherboard problem)
Just FYI, just "turning-off" like that ... with no error-event written to log, or BSOD, etc ... is 90% of the time a hardware problem. But that includes Power-Supply not being beefy-enough to handle the max-loads.
Dell Rockstar
Microsoft Windows and Apple iOS Developer (Retired)
- Like many of you, I can appreciate a good game-engine.
- I answer questions here, but I'm not a Dell employee.
- Consider giving posts you like a "thumbs-up"
- Posting models-numbers and software versions speeds trouble-shooting.
- Click "Mark as Accepted Answer" on any post that answers your question best.