Aurora R3, Flight Simulator

Question

Hi. I am posting in response to an e-mail I received from Dell. I bought My aurora R3 strictly for the use with Microsoft Flight Simulator X. To this date I have spent hours on the phone with tech support , tried to swap out video cards, the mother board, and power supply. On top of that hours talking to numerous techs who had me uninstall and reinstall Windows 7 (which I hate )at least 4 times after spending hours installing the program and the add-on aircraft. I had it updated to SP2 with acceleration. I was so desperate I recently bought a new program disk. It ran ok. I should have explained this first. The program starts every time. On average it will run for 1 hour. It has nothing to do with flight distance as I can run flights with time acceleration and occasionally make it. Once that hour mark arrives it freezes. The sound continues to run but I cannot interact with the computer in any way until I activate the task manager. I have to end the flight and that gets frustrating after the 20th time especially considering what I have tried and how much time I have spent on it. Back to my earlier point I bought a new DVD and it ran without any service packs installed. However without those service packs it runs fairly slow and is incompatible with most if not all add ons. One of the new Windows installations was done with a tech support person on the line with me so I would expect that to be ok. I emailed one of the companies that makes add on aircraft for flight sim and he said its the computer itself. I can forward the e mail to you but would prefer not to post it as Im not sure he is allowed to make statements like that. He also said I should demand my money back. He has obviously never owned a Dell as I would get money from a stranger  faster and with less fuss. In any case I am open to suggestions however I cannot think of anything  that I haven't tried. Video card drivers are current. There are 2 service packs for FSX and they are both installed.

Tesla1856 · Answer

First, install something like CPUID-HW-Monitor and see if main Intel processor or video card is over-heating.

Install and run Unigine Heaven benchmark for a couple of hours straight and see if it is stable.

If you have been re-installing Win-7 a lot, be sure it was done properly last time (see my Favorite threads).

DELL-Chris M · Answer

What specific video card and driver version are you running? Gaming for an hour straight, as Tesla said, we need to see some temperatures. If not overheating, your just running out of system resources after an hour. Is the tower in a enclosed part of the desk? If yes, move it out into the open to promote airflow.

simflyer69 · Answer

I have two radeon 6850 hd 1gb. The drivers have been changed several times by tech support. The temperatures were tested by tech support also. German(tech support) brought this to the engineers attention but they felt it was within acceptable levels. I actually spent  a few hours on the phone running the tests posted above with tech support. I don't know if you can gain access to the tech log for my machine but the results are there. Many of the tests were run with the machine panel opened and in the middle of the room as I had to switch out the video cards. They all ran about the same. One always hotter than the other. I don't think this was normal but the engineers got the final word.

DELL-Chris M · Answer

A simple thing Dell support could do is dispatch two replacement Radeon HD6850 video cards and the AMD CFX (CrossFireX) bridge. Then you could install them and test them out. Another thing I would do is test each video card alone (no CFX) in the primary slot and see if the issue changes or not.

Tesla1856 · Answer

... but the engineers got the final word.

Right. So, if you want Dell to magically take care of all your problems (attempt to anyway) ... keep doing what you are doing.

If you want my help, you will have to read my posts, try what I say ... and report back your findings. Work the problem.

Driver versions (and clean-installing them) are important. Like Chris-M recommended ... testing each card separately ... all good trouble-shooting.

Some things we would try:

http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/p/19359816/19801896.aspx#19801896

of course, updated for your new machine/cards ... but the basic ideas are the same.

DELL-Chris M · Answer

simflyer69,

This is confusing. You wrote, I have two Radeon HD6850. Yet I see that we originally shipped you two Radeon HD6870?

I see that we have so far replaced the following on the Parts Only Service -
Two GH3N9 AMD Radeon HD6870, one PJG49 AMD CFX bridge

Then we setup an Onsite service to replace -
PJG49 AMD CFX bridge, W299G 875w power supply, CWKT4 motherboard

Is all of that correct?

Also, the internal notes state the game runs better and longer with only one video card installed? Is that correct?

simflyer69 · Answer

The cards were both replaced already. The test was done with each card one at a time. The tests you suggested were done with a dell tech by telephone. That was when the dell engineers decided the readings were acceptable. The tests were done on each of the four video cards tht are here. The driver installation was done with Dell tech on the phone during the fourth installation of Windows 7. That was done with no change. The tests were done with tech support on the phone. Since this has been ongoing for 6 months I dont recall the results but they did send 2 cards to replace the ones in the machine. there was no improvement. Honestly Im not sure which is in the machine however since the driver is the same it probably doesn't matter. The driver is 12.2. I believe they are up to 12.4 but since this is the third or fourth driver installed already I don't think thats the problem. The above repairs are correct although that doesn't cover the hours on the phone with tech support doing re installs. Its my opinion that no one has the slightest idea why this won't work with FSX and we are all guessing.

DELL-Chris M · Answer

I think our hardware is fine. As a test, is there any other game you load and test?

simflyer69 · Answer

2 Train simulators and Microsoft Flight. They have all frozen however as I don't play them as often Im not sure exactly how long they take to freeze up. I don't think it was as long as the hour FSX runs.

DELL-Chris M · Answer

It is interesting that all of the games you are testing are in the same vein and all from Microsoft. Do you play any non-Microsoft games? Like Doom 3, Left 4 Dead, World of Warcraft?

simflyer69 · Answer

Not really. Except for flight sim and some train sim I don't really play any games on my computer. I do have a ship sim but I guess that falls into the same category. Actually that did freeze up once too but honestly even I get bored with it before it has time to lock up usually. Ships move suprisingly slow compared to 747's.

simflyer69 · Answer

My phone displayed your reply even though Dell apparently and wisely doesn't allow what you typed. That being said I'm sure they would spend more money than any of us have to defend their ability to do nothing for customers.

Tesla1856 · Answer

My phone displayed your reply even though Dell apparently and wisely doesn't allow what you typed. That being said I'm sure they would spend more money than any of us have to defend their ability to do nothing for customers.

You have a fairly simple game compatibility problem here. Just so you know, I have yet to find a game that doesn't run properly on Windows-7 (however, some do take some effort).

Until you change your attitude ... and accept responsibility for troubleshooting your own system ... it will likely stay "broken" . I use that term loosely because I really doubt any hardware is actually defective. At the very least, you have 4 companies at work here (Dell, AMD, Microsoft, and Game Developers) ... blaming Dell for all your problems is un-founded.

DELL-Chris M · Answer

I am stumped. Email the team (support@alienware.com) with all of the troubleshooting. Maybe they can find the cause. I do not think it is our hardware. I think this is a game/driver issue.

calwolfsandiego · Answer

Simflyer,

We have tried working with the Gaming department, but they simply dropped us - after they could not solve our problem. No more follow up - nothing. What a way to run a company. Due to this truly awful service I have decided to purchase an Apple for my daughter. If you know of anyone starting a class action suit against Alienware, please let me know. I want in!

Locked Topics – Alienware General

Aurora R3, Flight Simulator

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