m17 R3, various issues

Question

Hello people,

Recently i bought Alienware m17 r3, bought it in December to be exact, and frankly its been nothing but trouble for me.

I have Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-10750H CPU @ 2.60GHz[Cores 6] [Logical processors 12]
Nvidia RTX 2070 super 8 GB
16 GB ram
and 2x1 SSD 1TB

First off, I constantly had blue screens of death, until i fixed it by uninstalling some devices in Device manager which are listed under Other Devices (for some reason they keep coming back, so i periodically have to uninstall them again.

Then when I open Alienware command center, I get visual noise and and pixelated appearance of animations they put in command center (those waveforms, smoke or galaxy effects, they added for cosmetic reasons).
Also when it happens not that loud, but distinct screeching noise can be heard in the laptop ( it is not coming from speakers but from inside the case). This is also the case in very specific moments in game, sometimes on loading screens sometimes in menus ( never during actual gameplay), for example in Dead Space 3, it appears whenever I open BENCH for upgrading weapons. It doesnt seem to impact performance, but still the screeching sound comes every time without mistake. I don't mind it that much, but I fear that it is indicator that something might go wrong in the future.

However the biggest problem, I think, is the CPU Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-10750H CPU @ 2.60GHz[Cores 6] [Logical processors 12]. All the way since first time I turned on my laptop, it registers really high temperatures.
Like idling at 50 - 80, and usually when gaming ( even with older games, like COD WWII) it is maxed out at 100. Even when I put fans at maximum and they sound like fighter jet.
I contacted support and they gave me the usual, that it is within manufacturer limit of 100c. Thing is my 3 years old Alienware 17 R4, never crossed 70 when gaming. I understand that it is technically within limits, but operating constantly at 100c will decrease CPU life span, and I don't feel like paying 2000 dollars for a laptop, every year.
Further, I think CPU is bottlenecking as when I play Warzone i get 90-100 at high details (with nvida dlss turned ON to quality, raytracing and similar demanding features turned off) which , again, is similar to my 3 years old R4 (Nvidia 1070).
I think CPU is bottlenecking because, I turned on CPU and GPU time monitors, and GPU time is around 10ms, while CPU times is 20ms. I forgot to say overclocking is always off.
And finally what drives me crazy is the fact, that when i turn on COOL fans mode in AW command center, the temperature drops to 80c, and when I turn on Performance or Full Speed ( which are obviously supposed to be more agressive at cooling the laptop) it goes right back up to 100c.

If anyone has any input it would be much obliged, as at this point I am pretty much at my wits and patience end.

Coinhead · Answer

Some of these are similar to things that happened to me...

1. You might want to consider deleting support assist, and only downloading it if you have problems. (It can cause high usages because it is constantly monitoring you computer)

2. Check for the newest Nvidia drivers on their website, and do not use support assist for the drivers (if you are). I had a much similar squealing noise for a couple of games, and this fixed it.

If you really want to be sure that the drivers are working, install ddu and boot into safe mode (to wipe them), then get the latest driver.

3. Keep Alienware Update, because some people have trouble reinstalling it. But don't use it for graphics drivers.

4. For the cpu, I would recommend opening up task manager (with "more details" selected), and seeing what is using the most computing power. Keep in mind a lot of the software included for storage drives is bloatware

5. I would turn off the background effects in Alienware Command Center, it can cause some odd glitches. In my opinion, the software is a bit cheap and as long as it working correctly you should be fine (if it flickers in other programs too, check your drivers)

6. Keep an eye in windows update

crimsom · Answer

Only install the DDU fix if there are problems, Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) will clean re-install graphics drivers. Here are the DDU install instructions for NVIIDA Cards, these steps are also similar for AMD or Intel Graphics Cards. Guess that DDU is a Windows 10 x64 fix.

Dell Alienware Command Center (AWCC) is not a stand alone application. Windows Updates frequently stop it working until Dell provides AWCC + OC Controls update. Dell fails to provide any troubleshoot for the new AWCC AlienFX 2.0 version.

ARJUN0512001 · Answer

I have a similar problem with my device, I have the i9-10980hk variant and have been facing the similar problem. Mine reaches 100C at idle condition without any load for no reason and then comes back to 50 or so degrees. I had to face a lot of BsoD's before this started and all of it started with the NVIDIA graphic driver update (471.96) that came out on 31 Aug 21. I haven't been able to fix this problem even after a service centre visit, cleaning, reinstallation of windows and other stuff.

Symho1 · Answer

Hi, I have a similar problem with my 17 R5, after updated to new drivers video and last Windows update. When I use my laptop in battery mode and I open a video by a browser instantly I have black screen and pc restar. This not appear when I plug dc adapter. What can I do? Thx.

ARJUN0512001 · Answer

intel speed shift is the problem! but i don't know how to switch it off. hwinfo shows sst in green at summary screen. turning it off will turn off cpu always running at turbo frequency. speed shift and speed step are two diff things moreover do not turn off speed step but only speed shift.

GG

RyleyI · Answer

I was having problems with crashes also, M17 R4, often high CPU temps. Dell suggested turning of Speed Shift and, or Speed Step. Still had problem with Speed Shift running. Only using Speed Step now, things are good so far. (Only been 3 days)

You can disable them in the BIOS.

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m17 R3, various issues

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