17 R3, PCI BUS-FAIL

Question

PCI BUS-FAIL, PCIe- Training error PCI tag-0200 Vendor ID-10DE Deviceid-1EB81

I first noticed the Issue when i was watching a YouTube video. the video would freeze along with the audio for about 2-3seconds and return to normal it happens every 5-10min randomly. not just that but noticed my mouse would freeze and the Fans will start to over work for the duration of the "freeze". i did a diagnostic both on the Dell website and through boot menu (F12). not sure what's happening it just started happening randomly I'd say i keep pretty good care of my laptop, all drivers and BIOS everything up to date. can't seem to find my error codes online anywhere for the past week now and just want to know what i need to get fixed. don't really want to send my computer in the mail since they want me to scrub my laptop before sending it and don't want to do that unless there is absolutely no other option. thank you
website diagnostic: PCI BUS-FAIL
Boot up menu Diagonostic: attached pictures to show

crimsom · Answer

Hi @Worden welcome to this free user to user Alienware laptop discussion forum. This is not Dell Support. Thank you for including images within opening post.

ePSA error code 2000-8170 can be found within Reference Table of ePSA, PSA Error Codes, and Troubleshooting Steps (2000-8NNN Series) | Dell US

Your Event Log image says PCIe link degraded. When the diagnostics still results in an error code, visit Dell ePSA online tool.

Your Results image says PCIe Slot 2 and its storage card is degraded, e.g. having data communication problems. Please download and run CrystalDiskInfo x64 to check Health Status of storage cards. Crystal Dew World [en] - (crystalmark.info)

If storage card Health Status = GOOD, please reseat storage card. Remove Solid-State Drive Avoid touching the card's electrical contacts. Clean the card's electrical contacts with lint free cloth (no solvents, no water). Using can of dry air, remove dust from PCIe socket. Replace Solid-State Drive.

If OS(C:) boot drive is in PCIe Slot 2, please create standby clone (copy) as part of your Disaster Plan. If OS(C:) boot drive becomes unrecoverable, swap in standby to get system up and running within minutes. Macrium Software | Reflect Free Edition

A51-06 · Answer

Hi @Worden,

There seems to be issues with your Solid State Drive that is in Slot 2. You can tell its related to the PCIe slot because it mentions X4 instead of X16 which relates to Graphics cards.

I'd recommend booting windows into the command line by restarting the computer and holding shift.

Then run these commands.

sfc /scannow

chkdsk /r

chkdsk /f

let me know if anything changes.

Worden · Answer

WOW!  you guys are awesome! thank you for the reply so i took a look at my SSD Drive and its Empty... Windows OS seems to be on my Local Disk (C:)... would this cause the PCI bus Issue previously mentioned? and now that i have discovered that my OS is not in my SSD Drive, how can i Migrate it to the correct Drive? i kind of feel like i should send the OS to the SSD before i try to trouble shoot the bus issue, what do you think?

crimsom · Answer

Hi @Worden thank you for sharing update. The Alienware 17 R3 has a slow SATA HDD and PCIe slots for M.2 NVMe SSD. See following image.

Alienware 17 R3 with Base Panel removed

Is your OS(C:) boot drive on the slow SATA HDD or on first M.2 PCIe SSD, and your second M.2 PCIe SSD is empty? Please share label description on the M.2 SSD cards. The M.2 PCIe SSD can be slow SATA or fast NVMe card. If possible take photograph and share in your next post. Thank you.

Advocate using Macrium Software | Reflect Free Edition to create clone (copy) of your OS(C:) boot drive.

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17 R3, PCI BUS-FAIL

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