Area-51m R1, keeps crashing

Question

I need help. I have called dell many times for the premium support I have paid extra for and they have not helped me solve it. So I am hoping someone here might be able to solve this or explain what is going on and tell me my laptop is fine, it's just bandwidth issue that my graphic enhancer will fix if I can ever get a 3080. I think it's a bandwidth issue that the display port can't handle the resolution. That is my guess, but I am hoping someone with more knowledge can tell me otherwise or if I am correct.

So here is the issue. I have an Alienware Area 51M R1 laptop. Specs:

Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-9900K CPU @ 3.60GHz

NVIDIA(R) GeForce RTX(TM) 2070 8GB GDDR6 (OC Ready)

32GB Memory

1TB SSD / 1TB HDD / 1GB HDD / 1TB Storage

17.3" FHD (1920 x 1080) 144Hz, IPS, NVIDIA G-SYNC, Eyesafe(R) Display Tech + Tobii Eyetracking

Killer(TM) Wi-Fi 6 AX1650 (2x2) 802.11ax Wireless and Bluetooth 5.1

Lastly, I updated to Windows 10 Pro.

My current at home set up: I have the laptop hooked up to a Alienware 38in Curved Gaming Monitor AW3821DW. It is though the mini display port to display port connection the port is a miniDisplayPort 1.4.

What happens is when I lunch a game like Battlefield 1, it will run just fine in the menu. As soon as the game itself lunches into a match the laptop immediately shuts down. The keys go black and the so does the screen.

This happens with every single game I play when I am at a high resolution of 3440 x 1440. If I turn the game down to 1080p the game will run fine. I also have tried Shadows of the Tomb Raider at 3440 x 1440 and it will start the benchmark but shut down after a few seconds. I ran the Horizon Zero Dawn benchmark at 3440 x 1440 and it actually performs the benchmark and runs all the way though.

I thought this was an overheating issue, but I run 3Dmark and stress test the system and the laptop does not shut down. I ran port royal and fire strike extreme. I watch the thermals though the Alienware command center and nothing seems out of the ordinary.

Could this be a bandwidth issue? The port can't support the bandwidth necessary and the laptop simply shuts off?

When I play games at lower resolutions it seems fine and I can play my games without issue. I leave the thermals on balance settings. I have allowed Dell support to remote my laptop and install all the updates and updated drivers. I have updated my BIOS. I have done everything.

Note: This issue has happen while I am on the laptop screen itself, but it has been very rare. It has only done it to me maybe three times over the year I have had the laptop.

I have the graphic enhancer. My whole plan was to use this laptop as my to go (I work out of town a lot) gaming rig and when I am home hook it up to the monitor though the enhancer with a 3080. Unfortunately we all know how that has worked out with the Pandemic. Needless to say, I am frustrated. I don't know if Dell will let me turn this back in for a refund at this point and just get a desktop with a 3080 in it.

baron1282 · Answer

So I ran Fire Strike Extreme at 3400 x 1440 and it ran the first GPU test, but crashed during the second GPU test. Every crash is the same, the screen goes black. The keyboard goes black, the macro keys are still lite and the fans are still going. The laptop looks like it's still on, but nothing gets the screen to come back on. Ctrl-Alt Delete does not work nor just moving the mouse or pressing buttons on the key board. The only way to get the computer to turn back on is to hit the power button and hard restart it.

I ran Fire Strike Extreme at 2560 x 1440 and the whole test was able to run. All bench marks finish when I run them at that resolution including the stress test benchmarks.

RobUSA · Answer

Hey there,

Did you ever get an answer from this, I am experiencing the exact same problem. I'm wondering if it could be my RTX 2080 graphics card, my area 51m also crashes every time i play a game and in the same way that you have described...

I'm going to contact support as well. This is crazy and should not be happening on such a high end expensive machine

Rob

baron1282 · Answer

Yes, I got an answer. I finally got an actual knowledgeable Dell support guy. He ran their benchmark software while he was recording the data on his end. He used remote desktop on my PC and found that the card was overheating.

They brought out a tech and the guy replaced my card with a new card and it's been great ever since.

I suggest running Alienware update and make sure you have all the updates including BIOS and GPU BIOS. That will be the first thing they check. Make sure everything is up to date so they can't use that excuse on you.

Run Support Assist to help you get all the updates, and Alienware update. Make sure you scan all your hardware and just do everything first before you call support.

In Support Assist, go to the troubleshooting tab. It should have a category under it called "I want to troubleshoot my PC". Click that and go to Video Card Devices. You can then scan you card for any issues.

Again, my issue was with the GPU itself. It was overheating and the Tech was able to record the data he needed so they could send a tech out. The steps I am giving you is to make sure they have nothing to complain about (Update wise), before they send a tech out to replace your card. If it's the same problem, the card was overheating.

I thought the issue was with bandwidth, but that made no sense to me once I dug into it deeper. I am glad I did, because now I have no issues with the new card and my PC has been running great. Now I wish that Dell would get there heads out of the rear ends and make a GPU upgrade for this Laptop at least. I know they can't do a CPU upgrade thanks to Intel changing sockets, but they could still do a GPU update like was promised when I bought this thing. Of course two weeks after I bought this one the R2 came out. Such is the life of a tech guy. Get that GPU replaced, that's the issue!

Good luck

Miles

AdrianG001 · Answer

Dunno what to say, but I have similar problem since few months. I repasted my 51m i7-9700 rtx 2070 with thermal grizzly liquid metal, but that doesnt help. I only have high temps on my GPU, easly 86 degree cap and super low on CPU, around 60. Is that a drivers or bios problem? Can anyone confirm this?

A51-06 · Answer

@baron1282 @AdrianG001 @RobUSA

Hey guys so might I recommend a solution?

I would recommend you do a driver reinstall for the GPU via GeForce Experience and when installing choose the custom installation option and then select the check box that says clean install.

I also wanna point out that you're trying to Run a benchmark or Game at 3440x1440 with high or ultra settings, which can't be done on that GPU since it doesn't have enough VRAM to do it.

Also I think that its a power issue because are you using a 330w with 180w adapter? or just 1 adapter when running these benchmarks.

Thermal issues can be the thing too but you'd have to feel those areas of the laptop like where the alien power button is.

baron1282 · Answer

'I also wanna point out that you're trying to Run a benchmark or Game at 3440x1440 with high or ultra settings, which can't be done on that GPU since it doesn't have enough VRAM to do it.' 5 Rhenium  This can't be further from the truth.  Once my GPU has been replaced, I have had no issue playing my games on full ultra quality and at the resolution of 3440x1440.  A 2070 has enough VRAM. the 2070 and 2080 both have 8gigs of DDR6 VRAM.  As for the power supply issue, I don't think that would be an issue as Dell sales the laptops with the proper power supplies for each card that one customizes the laptop with.  I guess a mix up could have happened. I also did a clean install of my drivers plus a BIOS update from Dell.  This did not help whatsoever.  The card was overheating and that caused the shutdowns.  My card was replaced with a new 2070 and the problem has never happened again.  I have been happily gaming on Ultra settings for the vast majority of my games (Minus Ray Tracing on newer games) at full resolution.  I can play Battlefield 1 for a few hours without issue now.  Microsoft Flight Sim no longer has an issue with full quality graphics and I fly for many hours. They sale a lot of these laptops.  The chances of a few GPUs being faulty are high.  So long as Dell fixes the laptop, it shouldn't be an issue.  It's frustrating when you get the faulty part, but it happens.  Dell fixed my issue, and I give them credit for it.  It just stinks that it takes a few times calling to get to a tech that actually knows what they are doing.

AWX17 · Answer

Don't forget to tag this as 'Solved' for the rest of us.

A51-06 · Answer

Oh yeah sorry about that, its just for me my 1070 with 8Gb of GDDR5 struggles to play a 3440x1440p at High settings for games, and since Both have the same amount of memory I thought It would be the issue too.

Sorry but congrats on the GPU replacement.

Alienware

Area-51m R1, keeps crashing

Was this post helpful?