Alienware M17x-R4 BSOD Problems

Good morning,

I’m Eng. Silvio Amici, and i’m writing this mail to manifest my disappointment against the quality and the problem I encountered with my Alienware product.

I bought, in June 2012, an Alienware M17x-R4, because I had (and I still have) the need of a notebook but with high performances, occasionally used also for working tasks.

After just 8 months, LED monitor got broken (didn’t turn on anymore), but it was replaced in short time by the assistance. I was satisfied by the well-timed operation, but i asked myself about the quality of hardware components.

Since summer 2013, from time to time, computer got freezed for some seconds, and i though it was a problem related to Windows or other  application. Since December 2013, situation got worse: BSOD screen started to show up with code 116 and related to nvkflt.sys, while sometimes the screen went black (well, like it turned off), PC became unresponsive for some seconds and it restarted itself. After restart i haven’t received error beeps like when the monitor got broken.

The error appears randomly: some days doesn’t happen. Some days, at Windows login screen i get a BSOD and i don’t even start a program! I noticed crash in almost all common operations, like using web browser, watching a video on YouTube, rendering with Blender, playing videogames, during WinSAT evaluation, and even when waiting the system is ready to start.

I searched more information about this on the internet and into Alienware forum, and i saw a lot of other customer experiencing my problems.

Trying to solve the problem, i followed some tips your Customer Support wrote in the forum:

• update Windows;

• update nVidia driver;

• BIOS updated to A12

• uninstalled/reinstalled nVidia driver;

• switched video mode (integrate/discrete);

• tried older nVidia driver version;

• formatted pc and reinstalled with Driver I downloaded from Dell support page;

• edited value of TdrDelay and Timeout with regedit;

• cleaned fans and heatsinks (even if they weren’t covered with lot of dust);

• deactivated programs and services at startup.

I even tried to install a Linux distribution, but the problem still remain (of course i didn’t get a BSOD, but screen turn off and pc become unresponsive).

I checked with a program, temperatures of CPU and GPU before crash, but they are always into a normal range, between 55°C and 62°C.

I executed the built-in diagnostic tool, but it said GPU was ok without other informations.

As you may guessed, nothing of above solved the problem.

I’m tired of searching and trying solutions that don’t solve the situation. My previous computer was a Dell (XPS M1530) and it was great, no problem encountered and it lived for around 5 years. I though i would have find in Alienware a product with similar or better quality, but it wasn’t.

I hope to find a definitive solution in short time, because this situation is causing to me a lot of inconveniences. I though that a computer in this price range (computer plus some accessories cost me more than 2500€) would be made better. I’m sorry to say so, but this computer was far below my expectations, i’m really disappointed and, if this case won’t be solved in an acceptable way, i believe in future i won’t consider your product for a purchase anymore.

I look forward for Your answer.

Greetings

Eng. Silvio Amici

PS I attach a list of the main components of my computer:

Intel® Core™ i7-3610QM (6MB Cache, up to 3.3GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0)

GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 675M 2GB

RAM DDR3 dual channel 8192 MB (2x4 GB) 1600 MHz

Solid State Hard Disk 256 GB

44 cm(17.3")WideFHD (1920 x 1080) WLED LCD

Alienware M17x Stealth Black

Unit DVD+/- RW (read/write DVD - CD)

Killer Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO with Bluetooth 4.0

Primary 9 cell Li-Ion Default Base Battery

Integrated Skype HD Certified FullHD Camera with dual digital microphones

240W AC Adaptor