17 R4, AGA, RTX 2060, boot issue

Question

Hello,

I recently bought a graphics amplifier for my Alienware 17 r4 alongside an RTX 2060. When I plugin the graphics amplifier all works as expected however, once I shutdown the laptop, remove the graphic amplifier, and boot again, the computer freezes at the login screen. No blue screen, no error, just freezes. Once it does, it will never pass the login screen freeze.

The first time I had to re-install windows, and now I operate with a restoration point prior to connecting the graphics amplifier. Not always the issue happens after connecting, shutting down and booting back on, sometimes it lets me go by a few days, once it does, there is no other way than restoring to that custom restoration point.

Icelty · Accepted Answer

Yes I'm running 1.6.0 from Feb.

I got it stable now, and when undocking from amplifier, I'm able to login to windows and everything continues to work correctly (don't want to claim victory just yet, pressing the amplifier cable undock button does not shutdown my laptop, I'm afraid of installing GeForce Experience etc).

Here are the steps that I believe made it work for me, and if starting from a fresh OS install, could as well be, good idea to follow:

1. Uninstall all nvidia drivers, software (as in, nothing says NVidia anywhere in control panel -> programs and features).

2. Shutdown your laptop and unplug the amplifier if it was plug-in (in my case it was, without it my PC would freeze at the login screen), Turn on your laptop again.

3. Download the driver for your on board graphic card directly from NVidia.

4. Install your driver make sure you select clean installation (I did not installed GeForce Experience software).

5. Shutdown and plug your Alienware graphics amplifier

6. Turn on your laptop with your amplifier connected, the card would probably not be recognized (Not sure if this happen only for RTX, or if windows would automatically download / install drivers for GTX cards, as of now, windows just didn't for me).

7. Download / Install the driver for your RTX card (I did not installed GeForce Experience either), again select clean installation.

Eimy_B · Answer

Hi @Icelty,

If the issue gets fixed with a system restore, that means it is related to software. So this means it could be from a driver issue to a Windows update.

You can also try a clean boot to see if by any chance, a background process is causing it.

Icelty · Answer

It is definitely related to NVidia drivers, I have tried a few things from installing only the dell drivers to using latest from nvidia etc at some point I end up having the same problem.

Note that every try/combination of drivers to solve my issue is preceded by a clean OS install... It can start happening at any time not just immediately after a driver update/install, I can go days with all working correctly, The issue always starts happening after I shut down the laptop, unplug the amplifier and start the laptop again without the amplifier. Note that not always, again, I can go for days doing the same procedure until it happens. I can't think that I'm the only person having this problem.

Icelty · Answer

So yes, the issue continues, the RTX 2060 driver, once active, shutting down the laptop and undocking the amplifier freezes the laptop right upon the login screen. If I uninstall the driver before shutting down, all goes back to normal.

Alienware - Rodrigo · Answer

Hi,  Thank you for confirming that. Are you running the latest Bios version (1.6.0) ?

Frenchy19951 · Answer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdkLqlO8xGQ&t=131s

They are LIARS! This is my R4 with RTX2060&VEGA64 in BOTH the AGA & Razer Core X EGPU

https://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/04/sln300946/alienware-graphics-amplifier-supported-graphics-card-list?lang=en

Thanks for post the steps you made. It helped me succeed & got me to make this video.

Thanks

Alienware

17 R4, AGA, RTX 2060, boot issue

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