Alienware aurora r3 issues

master ninja there has been a known problem with Kingston Memory being bad and causing lockups.....I would also download speed fan and see what it is showing temps wise.....I gather you are either A having a memory problem or B having an overheating problem....with as long as you are getting to play games though it sounds more like overheating....

Agree wih Damien2213. If you can, check the brand of memory and see if there is any Kingston in there or if there are two different brands in there. I have seen others having problems with two different brands of memory. Also check this website to set your fans up to ensure cooling.

alienwareusersupport.weebly.com/desktops2.html

I checked and I think its my memory becuose after my game froze the temp was fine

You can call Dell and have someone walk you through it if you feel better but you need to unhook everything, be sure wherever you open the case at you are grounded (no socks, no carpet, I work on mine on my kitchen tile floor), Lay your alienware flat on the service and open it.  Look to see what types of memory you have and if you have identical brands or not.....If you don't feel comfortable or do not know the inside of the PC as well you can have a Dell tech walk you thorough this as well.   If you do look in and see two different brands of memory or Kingston memory I would send a private message to Chris-M on here and send him your service tag number and let him no what your problem is.

Order an Anti-static wrist band and a mat, both can be obtained for about $15-20 on ebay, and its well worth having in your toolbox :)

Hey guys, I have an alienware aurora r3, with an I7 9200K, 2 tera bits in raid 1+0, nvidia 560ti, 12gbs ram,sound blaster titanium sound card, and windows 7 64 bit. I bought it new from dell and hooked it up christmas day. It ran great for the first 5 days. After that I would play, skyrim, or dead island and it would lock up. Well it doesn't really matter which game. I get anywhere from 20 mintues in to 45 minutes in and the game freezes. I usually have to hard restart, which has led to the raid becoming degraded until it finally failed. I got on the phone with dell and they helped me restore the raid setup and reinstall windows. I figured maybe it was a fluke deal, however it is still doing it. I can only play my favorite games for around 30 minutes before it locks up and the speakers make a horrible noise. All the drivers and software on my computer are up to date. Every time the raid degraddes it is the first hard drive. I am very frustrated that I have spend this money on a gaming computer that cannot game. I am writing on here to see if anybody has any suggestions as to what the problem could be or to where I can start looking. Thanks alot and any help would be appreciated.

I suggest you see my post in this thread:

http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/t/19380746.aspx?PageIndex=11

This forum is filled with several long threads about Aurora R-3 lockups. Read them all, and check everything.

Just some things off the top of my head:

- What exact RAM modules are installed in all slots? Best if all 4 slots have the same exact DIMMs.

- Do all Dell Diagnostic and MemTest86.com (3 full passes) tests pass?

- Is the system Over-Clocked? Remove all processor and/or video card OCs.

- Is the system over-heating?

- Have you checked the system logs around crash time?

- Is it plugged into a good UPS Battery?

- Have you tried removing all USB and other misc hardware (get system as basic as possible).

- Try removing RAID. Software like Acronis makes it fairly painless.

- Re-seated video card and RAM modules.

- Use BIOS settings to slow down memory speed to 1333 or up RAM voltage a tiny bit (usually only required for after-market RAM). Re-install original Dell memory as a test.

- Try un-installing Dell DataSafeLocal (or Alien ReSpawn) and stopping associated Services.

- Be sure the proper Intel SandyBridge chipset (and SATA) drivers are installed.

- Adjust virtual memory settings. More is better than not enough. Even with lots of RAM, never set to none.

- Have you tried re-installing Windows and drivers from scratch (clean install).

Try to test your system with a benchmark like Heaven or 3DMark11 (to remove games from equation).

Test RAM with self-bootable Memtest86.com Some R-3 users can't even get through WEI test ... can you?

my appologies, I rechecked the ram and the dimm1 t is 4GB and dimm3 is 2GB then dimm2 is 4GB and dimm4 is 2GB. Why is this?

okay, guys here is where I am at. I have 4 slots with samsung memory 3gs each. I had my stepdad help me uninstall them and re-seat them. He has owned numerous dells, the latest being a 730X. The games one again get around the 30 minute mark and then freeze. When this happens all the sensor temps in alienware thermal read 27 Celsius to 28 Celsius. I have no re-seated the video card. My stepdad said it was in there tight, but we can uninstall if need be. All dell diagnostics pass and alien autopsy. I don' t know how to check system logs nor does my stepdad. I have a monster surge protector on my computer but I do not have a battery backup. Is this a must? Also when we did the preboot check before re-installing windows the dell technician had me do a memory check also. It seems that the first drive always degraded or is verifying when hard restarting? maybe it has a bad sector in it? Or do you think maybe the hard drives that dell install are not very good drives for raid? Also who is Chris M? Thanks Again.

Try running with only the (2) 4gb ram modules in the 2 slots that make up the first ram "bank" ... see PDF Owner's manual for pics and locations.

Or, try with only the (2) 2gb RAM modules in the first bank.

When they know these machines are sensitive to RAM configs, not sure why Dell continues to ship these machines with anything but EXACTLY matching  (make / size / speed / model #) RAM modules in all 4 slots. Could also explain why some people have no problems. They ordered with 8gb (2gb modules x4)

Yes, I concider a UPS battery as a must. With RAIDed drives it's mandatory. AW desktop machines only use "high-end desktop" drives (even in RAID configs) ... so no, they are not really rated for RAID configs (but should work ok). With an un-stable machine a RAIDed drive setup is bad ... running a RAID-0 ? ... very bad. 

You can't go by the temps in your Alienware FX as they only show Ambient temps.  You need to download Speed Fan and look at what it shows temp wise on there.  Most people haven't been able to play games as long as you have with the memory problems though Tesla is  110% correct on memory being very sensitive configuration wise.   That is most likely your problem but I would check the temps with speed fan just to make sure.  

okay, unistalled all memory and only installed 4GB in DIMM1 and DIMM2. so a total of 8GB. played skyrim on ultra settings for 2hrs straight with no problem (then it was bedtime). I will play more today and let you guys know. Also temps on the GPU showed 75 Celcius. Nvidia says that the card is rated for 99 Celcius. I am thinking that this is going to be the fix for it. I am however a little dissapointed that I payed for ram that I cannot use. What are my options with dell? make them send me memory of the same size? Or just ask for some money off. Anyhelp would be appreciated.

okay, unistalled all memory and only installed 4GB in DIMM1 and DIMM2. so a total of 8GB. played skyrim on ultra settings for 2hrs straight with no problem (then it was bedtime). I will play more today and let you guys know. Also temps on the GPU showed 75 Celcius. Nvidia says that the card is rated for 99 Celcius. I am thinking that this is going to be the fix for it. I am however a little dissapointed that I payed for ram that I cannot use. What are my options with dell? make them send me memory of the same size? Or just ask for some money off. Anyhelp would be appreciated.

Glad to hear you are making progress. Keep gaming and test it to the max.

Well, I'll take 8gb on a stable machine over 12gb on an un-stable machine any day. 8gb is fine for most anything. Those 2 RAM modules are running in Dual-Channel mode so it doesn't get any better than that (on that Chipset).

If they send more RAM, they need to match the others EXACTLY ... so you would end up with 16gb DDR3 dual-channel. The line-item part numbers from the invoice might help to insure you get matching ones.

You might try communicating with DELL-Chris_M . He is very technical and detail minded. Show him this thread and see what he says.

masterninja940 sent me a PM. I am replacing the two 2GB memory sticks.

Chris and Tesla strike again. Great job as usual Tesla and Chris, way to step up and help the kid out!

Its not brand issue, its the mobo. I took the mobo to local  shop, tried everything literally, and the freeze will occur whenever all 4 slots occupied. Dest matter which slots are left non occupied, as long as there is one slots free, my system will run smooth , 24 hrs prime95 no errors...