m18 R1, constant issues

Question

I have had 4 Alienware m18 R1 AMD's and all 4 have had basically the same issue.

My 1st Alienware m18: I got an Alienware m18 R1 AMD in September 2023. From the beginning I was having intermittent issues. The sound would crackle and become staticky and when that would happen during gaming whatever game I was playing it would stutter during the sound event. The same sound issue would happen intermittently no matter what I was doing: It would happen during Youtube videos, listening to radio programs, and it would also happen when I listened to audiobooks and watched movies on different streaming sites, it would even happen during movies I had downloaded to the laptop. I spent 4 days exchanging emails with technical support sending me instructions of things to try and also during this time there were multiple times I was on the phone with technical support allowing them to takeover remote access of the laptop and they tried things from their end. After all this the issue persisted and Dell said they would send me a replacement since I had only had the laptop less than 30 days.

My 2nd Alienware m18: I got my replacement and sent the original back to Dell. And the replacement did the EXACT same thing as the original, except with this one I also noticed that when I unplugged and plugged the charger in to the back of the laptop it would make some odd crackle and staticky sounds but much more intensely than if I was just gaming or listening to something. So once again I hours over multiple days speaking with technical support, emailing back and forth with them and allowing them to take over remote access to try things on their end. Just like the original laptop the issue persisted and AGAIN Dell said they would send me a new laptop.

My 3rd Alienware m18: I just got this one yesterday and from the get go I had to call Technical Support because the power button was flashing 3 reds and 1 blue, this issue was able to be taken care of via Technical Support. Also during this session they took over remote access and had to change some things and uninstall and reinstall SupportAssist because it was not working properly and having issues. I didn't do much on the laptop yesterday since my evening consisted of setting it up and speaking with support. So now it is today and AGAIN this thing is having the EXACT same issues as my previous m18s. This has the intermittent sound issues and it does the same thing when I unplug and plug back in the charger in the back of the laptop.

My 4th Alienware m18 (I am currently using this right now): This one is even more of a mess. It constantly Blue Screens. It does it on idle with nothing open, it does it downloading games, it does it in the middle of games, and it will do it when I am closing a game. So basically I have a gaming system that crashes when I play games. The stutter and static sound issue is still present on this 4th one, the only thing I can say about this one is that the issue when I unplug and plug in the charger isn't present like the other m18s. Tech Support is having someone come out and change the motherboard but that can't be done for 5-6 weeks due to the part being on backorder. So basically I am stuck with an expensive paper weight. This is all just ridiculous.

It makes me curious if anyone else that has recently purchased the Alienware m18 R1 AMD is experiencing the same things I am. This is the craziest thing. I previously had an Alienware m15 Ryzen Edition R5 that I used for 2 years and it was great, it was just very small and that was the only reason why I upgraded to the m18. The specs on all 4 of the m18s have been the same:

Operating System: Windows 11 Home

Processor: AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU

Memory: 32GB

Storage: 2TB SSD

mattyb3 · Answer

@alw1981 Are you able to completely uninstall Support Assist and see if anything changes? I haven't heard of SA causing sound issues on this model laptop but it has done a few strange things to other systems. It caused audio stuttering in my Aurora R15 and only uninstalling SA fixed the problem.

There is more than one SA program to uninstall though so go through the list in 'Uninstall a Program' and remove them all. Usually 3 to remove.

GunmetalJR47 · Answer

Yeah I have the same problem as well I had just gotten my laptop on 11/24/23 and it’s having the same problem that you presented . A constant stutter that affect my laptops audio and gameplay if I’m gaming or just watching videos on YouTube or shows on Netflix. I have tried updating my drivers and updating windows but to no avail. Hopefully a solution is found because it’s really annoying and I would hate to go through what you had which was having 3 laptops replaced for them all to not be fixed. :/

managelrn · Answer

I'm pretty angry at the poor design and poor technical support. My M-18 was barely used and less than 2 months old when it started stuttering/lagging in game, then started randomly rebooting, and then I noticed the battery was stuck at 42% while plugged in. Ran bios and Alienware diagnostics and no problems were found, so I called them, they spent 1 1/2 days working the issue on the phone with me and I sent it back. They put in a new main board and battery, said that all the diagnostics were fine but...I start trying to load my programs and play my game and it started shutting down randomly again. Critical kernel issues were popping up left and right, my fans weren't working properly, and I ended up calling again. I'm a dope on a rope at this point and I feel like I just spent $3K on a paperweight. With the problems you're having I'm not feeling that there is a likelihood that they are going to fix my defective computer.

(edited)

Hoops333 · Answer

YOU ARE NOT ALONE!!!

I am currently awaiting my third service visit this time to replace the motherboard. How long have I had this nearly $3000 laptop you ask…… Two weeks!

1. Service 1:

the first problem showed up when I was bold enough to actually unplug the laptop and set it in my kitchen. Mind you nothing was running. It was literally just unplugged and sitting on its desktop with no apps open. The computer died within 16 minutes. I thought that was odd so I fully charged it and tried that again… Same thing I have a laptop that works fine… At least I thought at the time… But you just can’t unplug it. Yeah a laptop that I cannot unplug. service came out after hours on the phone and determined it just needed a new battery. However, when they left, the problem was not resolved and now they decided what I needed was a new adapter for the battery inside the laptop. So they set up a second service order.

2. Service 2:

the guy replaced the adapter inside. Spent a couple hours at my house talking about really weird stuff and said the battery still would not hold the charge. He told me it’s a high-performance laptop. I said yes but it’s gone down 4% in the one minute you and I have been talking. He didn’t seem to know about this. So he left and set up service appointment for a new motherboard!

3. service 3

the third service appointment worked exactly as the other two. They set up the appointment I took the day off of work since they gave me an eight hour window and then the morning of they told me the parts weren’t in after I already received previous email saying the parts were in and then the appointment was set?!?! that’s happened with every service call. Dell has absolutely zero respect for the customers time. I have taken off two full days now in which they did not show up. You don’t know this until you’ve already taken the day off and you’re waiting and then they message you. Zero respect for a persons time zero! so on this appointment they did the same thing. They set it up for the next day. I called and took the day off. Mind you this is the third day now in the two weeks I’ve owned the laptop… Surprise the next morning I got a text, saying the parts were not in and that they would be in touch. That was five days ago. I finally called today because I had not heard anything. I also had to call today because now I can’t get the computer to turn on and it sits on a black screen. Every time it goes into sleep mode it goes black, and then, when it reboots it wants to restore windows again The issues are endless!

I have no idea how this is going to end. I’m not able to return it within the 30 days to Amazon because if I do they want me to pay the difference since I bought this on Black Friday! So they sent me a product that does not work and when I want to exchange it they tell me I have to go through all these service calls because if I exchange it, I have to pay $700 on top because that’s how much more it is now! Again, I bought it two weeks ago.
they make it so hard. I have done a lot of research on this system. I’ve been having these issues. Let me be clear. These are known issues. Just google it. That’s how I found this guys message! I was reading several peoples issues where they have had their motherboards replaced three times! I don’t even know if swapping it out is going to work at this point. It’s unfortunate because I hear that it works really well for VR gaming etc. but it’s just so full of issues. This system was not ready to be put out. In fact right now they can’t even get the motherboard so I’m just waiting and waiting and waiting.

TheNielEneye · Answer

My M18 R1 is experiencing constant stuttering like for 3 seconds every 30 minutes, did anyone find a way to fix it?

mattyb3 · Answer

@GunmetalJR47​ and @TheNielEneye Have you tried completely removing Support Assist? You need to get rid of every program that mentions Support Assist in 'Uninstall a Program'.

alw1981 · Answer

@managelrn​ WOW! I am so so sorry. I 100% know how irritating this whole thing is. I wish I could say I have had my issue taken care of but I am now on my 3rd replacement and it is also doing the same thing

alw1981 · Answer

@Hoops333​ My issue got referred to the engineering team and a tech support guy got some info from my laptop for them. When I heard back I was told I would need a new charging port and a new motherboard. The parts were not going to be available until the end of December so I opted for another replacement. Guess what....it still has those issues.

alw1981 · Answer

@Hoops333​ Holy cow that sounds like a circus! They told me my charging port and motherboard needed replaced but the parts couldn't be sent out until the end of December so I opted for yet another replacement. Yeah it has the SAME issues. So I am on my 4th m18 and it's a train wreck.

alw1981 · Answer

@mattyb3​ I watched a video on Youtube put out by CreatorsTable about the m18. I commented on the video about the issues I was having and they commented back suggesting I check out the video for the m16. Watching the video it also suggested removing SupportAssist and hopefully that would make the stutter issue stop. I am curious though (apologies for the question, I know enough about computers to be dangerous): If I remove it what's the best way to make sure my drivers stay up to date? That's the one plus to SupportAssist, when you run it, it will tell you what needs updated and it take care of it.

mattyb3 · Answer

@alw1981​ Windows will keep most drivers up to date (just do a Check for Updates once a week or so) and you can manually check the Dell Support site for any additional drivers using your Service Tag. Support Assist is a little too invasive for me and it has too much control of your system all the time. The amount of issues it causes people is not worth the minor task of keeping drivers up to date.

alw1981 · Answer

@mattyb3​ I got it all figured out. Support Assist is gone but of course the issues continue and then some. I am on replacement m18 #3 and it has more issues than all the others. Constant Blue Screens and crashes. It likes to do it mostly when I try to install a game or when I close a game. I don't really know what to do with this thing. Technical Support is having the motherboard replaced and that won't be for another 5-6 weeks because of the part on backorder. Everything is up to date, I've done 3 clean reinstalls of Windows using a USB, all the scans I can run says everything is fine but obviously it's not. It's all just very very frustrating.

Halfandhalf8 · Answer

Yea right there with you, i was able to fix that stutter/lag problem by uninstalling all the alienware programs on the laptop. But i have problems with screen randomly going black then all static, somtimes the keyboard will just stop working until i restart the laptop, ive had to reinstall windows so many times because it always ends up breaking somehow?? Just constant problems...

phuddydhuddy · Answer

I am having the staticky sound issues on occasion. I also have issues with blue screens that occur while lid closed. When I open the lid, it is almost always a black screen requiring powering the system off and on.

Operating System: Windows 11 Home

Processor: AMD Ryzen 9 7845HX

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Laptop GPU

Memory: 32GB

Storage: 1TB SSD, 2 TB SSD

Dimi83 · Answer

Guys I' having exactly the same issue and that's pissing me off badly. I paid 4000£ for my M18 I9 RTX4090 12GB. I think I will try to return the laptop and switch to Asus ROG or another gaming laptop...

Alienware

m18 R1, constant issues

Was this post helpful?