Alienware X51 R3 Freezing - repeatable

Question

New (4 days old) X51 R3, overclocked / liquid cooling, core i7, win10.

Freeze in this situation is full lockup. No blue screen, both monitors still displaying desktop, no mouse movement, no capslock response, no hdd activity, unable to ping system from another system. No eventvwr log entry errors after reboot.

Able to get system to freeze reliably right when the browser-based diagnostic reaches the "Obtaining selected diagnostics" state in the progress bar. Repeatable, did it four times in a row from clean boot, with nothing else running but the browser.

Ran bios ePSA test, which passed - though didn't run the 6hr memory test that was suggested.

Misc notes:

happens in any windows power mode
if in balanced mode, cpu frequency jumps to 4ghz (as shown in alienware OCControls, and/or Intel XTU) right before the freeze
LC fan also spins up a bit before the freeze.

Googled and hit Alienware support docs already, waiting on phone support as I write this.

Anyone else experiencing this?

Thom3 · Accepted Answer

Beware: Drive Booster 3 will load Advanced System Care if you don't Un-Check it on the load page. Advanced system Care is freezing a lot of X51-R3 computers so you will have to reinstall Windows 10. Drive Booster 3 loads and runs without problems.

Also have an X51 R3 since Dec 2015. I had this problem lots and lots of times. I can't run any antivirus program except windows defender or my computer starts locking up. Running these 3 programs helped me.

You can download all three from Majorgeeks.com for free. (1) Iobit drive booster 3 will update all your drivers. (2) SFC Fix.exe is the same as running SFC /scannow from CMD as Admin. but easier. (3) and the best program you will ever download is Tweaking.com-windows-repair. It repairs everything. Be sure to run it from safe mode. There is a button that asked if you what to boot from safe mode .Also run Option 2 "Pre Scan". .

My computer would lockup when I tried loading Support Assist but I could go to AW Command Center and press Support Assist button and it would run. Never found any errors on the test.

I believe all my problems have been Software and Not Hardware. Hope this helps.

Alienware - Rodrigo · Answer

Hi, Has it also happened when your are using one monitor or have you always used dual monitors?

flowerdealer · Answer

Can you try disabling 'Dynamic Ticks': bcdedit /set disabledynamictick yesIn a command prompt with admin priviliges (gotta right click cmd.exe and run as admin) I was getting system freezes when the system was doing hardware changes scans, so it might be related.

Grenyx · Answer

The Alienware tech and I didn't try dual vs single. The NVidia driver was current, but we did a clean and re-install, which seems to have resolved the random freezes.

We're still looking at an issue where the system freezes right when both monitors are powered off. WIll post on that as we find out more.

henry5264 · Answer

My freezing problem is caused by the latest Nvidia driver. After reinstalling the previous version, the problem is gone.

aj casey · Answer

Yes I am experiencing the same thing.Everything ok until i install graphics amp software.Random freezes the same as you repeatable when changing power options.I did a fresh install and tested power options at each stage.When graphics amplifier is connected and software is installed the freezing occurs.Unfortunately this is preventing me using the amplifier at the moment.If you haven got the graphics amp try uninstalling the software see if that helpst

luke.medina · Answer

Have you fixed this issue?

flowerdealer · Answer

I'm also having this issue with constant freezing.

aj casey · Answer

I did a complete reinstall of windows 10 and all drivers from dell site installed in the order it recommended and that seems to have cured the freezing for me.

luke.medina · Answer

I have done the same thing 3 times but had no luck of curing it.

magog777 · Answer

I am having random lockups as well on a X51 R3. It does not matter what the PC is doing , I have had it happen at idle, using Chrome, and playing a game. Tech support has had me reset bios settings and email them back if it happens again. This does not help and adds to the customers frustration. It would be nice to have a collective response from Alienware Tech Support here, if nothing else , please just acknowledge that there is an issue with many R3 systems out of the box, and suggest steps to correct it.

VinnySOB · Answer

I received my X51 R3, i7, liquid cooling, 16 gigs of ram, gtx 960 in December 2015 and I have had the same issues. I have spent countless hours on the phone with tech support and the PC is still randomly freezing up. I have performed a clean install of win 10, reinstalled all the drivers, etc. The only thing I was able to correct was the freeze up at boot. I looked up the error code on Microsoft site and there was a fix that changed the way windows shut down. The comp is still locking up when attempting to use support app and whenever else it feels like it. I asked for a replacement or refund, but they said I had it too long. Now they sent me a box to ship it back for refurbishment. I dread sending it because all the tests say this thing is working fine, so not sure what they can, or actually will do. This seems to be a common problem with the new R3s. Also, I upgraded from a X51 R2, which worked great. Not much of an upgrade.

Nekoto · Answer

Exactly same issue here,  have you solved this problem?

VinnySOB · Answer

The post above, which outines 3 free programs, seems to have done the trick. I have not had a single lockup since installing the programs and running them. However, I messed with the drive booster 3 startup opimizer and ended up checking some boxes, which I guess I shouldn't have, and the system would not get past the windows startup screen. I ended up having to do another clean install of windows. I currently only have the drive booster 3 program and everything is working well after running it. I will not mess with the startup portion of the program again though without reading what it will do thoroughly.

Thom3 · Answer

The program Drive Booster 3 startup page "NOW" load their program Advanced System Care by default.

You must uncheck Advanced System Care before loading Drive Booster 3. Advanced System Care will "LOCK UP YOUR SYSTEM EVERYTIME". No Way to get to safe mode and recovery.

Hope this help.

Locked Topics – Alienware General

Alienware X51 R3 Freezing - repeatable

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