Please can some one help me <3

[FraserPike]

Hey all!!
I have such a problem with my laptop, and no one can figure it out (including manufacturer). If any one has any idea, i beg you please help.

I have had my laptop for a while. Quite expensive. I mainly use it for gaming. Recently i have run into a issue. Every time i stick on a game, the game will crash within 2 minuets. Not the computer, just the game. (This is ALL games).

I thought it may be a heating issue, as my laptop kept throttling, and getting to 90-95c. (even on idle), however i spoke to Dell (alienware), who made me reinstall windows 10, and lots of weird things. Still didnt help. So i took it to a repair shop. They did tests on every thing (all fine), they updated a few things (Bios and stuff), opened up the computer and cleaned fans, and heat sink and put thermal stuff on every thing.

Still, the games crash within 2 minuets. Temps seem to hold at 70c now.
Sent the laptop to Dell, they ran a tone of tests, (the same as the computer store pretty much), and still laptop is being poop.

A month or so before ALL games crashed within 2 minuets, i had a bad screen tearing problem with ALL my games. I had never seen it before. I had to turn V-sync on, on every game in order to get rid of this weird tearing. And now a month later games just wont run.

(SIDE NOTE) - My laptop battery is dead. My laptop will instantly turn off if i unplug it. The battery died roughly 6 months ago. Both the store and Dell have told me that would not affect games. And the battery is not the problem.

If i turn on steam, and go into any game, my laptop does sound like it is about to take off. The fans speed up insanely.

Laptop specs.

System Model - Alienware 17 R2
System Type - x64-based PC
System SKU - Alienware 15
Processor - Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4980HQ CPU @ 2.80GHz, 2801 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Pr
Installed Physical Memory - (RAM) 8.00 GB
Total Physical Memory - 7.89 GB
Also have a Nvidia gforce 980M
And the power adapter thing is 180W (?)

(Side question) - I know the dead battery cant cause the problem. But could having a dead battery with a bad PSU cause this problem? I read some where that i should have a 240W PSU, not a 180W.

Please, if any one might have a idea, i beg you help me. 2 months without gaming is killing me. I mean, what do people do when they are not gaming?
Thank you for reading!! <3

 

[FraserPike]

Thank you for the replies so quick!!!

wouldnt Dell and the laptop repair shop see if the Drivers or GPU were faulty? I mean they did tests on them. And they both were apparently fine.
I doubt the repair shop will have a 240w battery for the laptop, but i will give them a call and ask them.
However both Dell and the repair shop seem to think that power would not be a issue. But i dunno. All of this is driving me crazy.

 

[FraserPike]

Drivers.

How can Drivers affect games crashing within a minuet or two? Is there any thing i can do to sort it?
So sorry for the stupid questions, i am just a idiot with computers.

 

[FraserPike]

Thanks Diddums,

Well the temps have gone down drastically. They have done some thing. Because it does feel and seem cooler. And i can see the temps are about 70c, appose to the 90c.
But i will take it back to them on monday. However no one seems to know what the problem is.

 

[FraserPike]

No I meant a more powerful 240w power supply so that you can rule out power drain being the issue. I agree they are unlikely to have a spare battery. But they will probably have a generic power supply to test it on.

ahhh i see.
On monday i will take the laptop back into them and ask them to test it out. And hope for the best. I do apologise, i actually made this post in two different area's, and the other thread also seems to suggest PSU supply. Thank you for the help!! <3

 

[FraserPike]

Tbh the first thing I'd be doing at this point is testing all the fans thoroughly. As in disconnect them and connect them to a standalone PSU and run them for a while. It's very possible that one of your fans is just giving up after a few mins and causing the shutdowns.

This was my first diagnostic. And this was my explanation to Dell and the independent repair company. This was the first thing they looked at. And the fans are fine. I am sure Dell would love to drain more money out of me. So i am sure they looked, and if they think the fans are ok, then i am sure they must be fine.

 

[FraserPike]

Also do you still get crashes if you disable Speedstep in the BIOS? Disabling it will prevent the laptop automatically over locking. It will run games more slowly but it would be interesting to see whether it helps.

Has anyone run memtest or other stress tools to see if there are any failing components?

I have never disabled any thing on the laptop. I am a idiot, and i would have no clue where to start
Though i will google now how to disable speedstep.
Yes, Dell, independent repair store, and my self have all run stress tests, and apparently all of them have been fine.

 

[FraserPike]

Have you removed the battery completely?

Faulty batteries can cause all sorts of issues, I've had to remove them to get laptops to power up before so it wouldn't surprise me if it causes crashes.

Also as said I wouldn't trust the PC shop has refreshed the thermal paste either.

Cant remove the battery. Its like fixed in the computer. Will need some one more intelligent than i am to remove it.

Are the games online or just playing locally on the machine?

They are games from steam. All my games are on steam. However not all the steam games are online games. For example, Frostpunk, not online, and i have the same issue with any online game like Dayz.

 

[FraserPike]

Just run constant memtwst and something like a Pi calculator or something that stresses th CPU, this should at least rule out overheating on those components.

Then seperately loop 3d markor something for testing the GPU?

The above if it works fine should at least rule out temp issues, which could point to driver issues I guess.

You've tried windows 10, do you have windows 8 to handle even 7 to test?

Sorry, I'm confused?

 

[FraserPike]

Thanks guys.
I have ran a tone of benchmarks / stress tests, and they are all coming back fine. I have a few frames drop now and then, however still fine. My GPU does go to 90-100% when in a game.
However i just got the Mrs to install origin and Sims 4. She was playing it for over a hour with no crashes or problems what so ever. However sims is not really a taxing game.
Its just weird that all other games decided to crash within 2 minuets of play, and it just started a month ago.

Computer repair guys did say the heats sink was fine. Same with GPU
The laptop did come with windows 10, and i have already clean wiped it and reinstalled. Infact i wipe the entire computer clean. I just dont know if i should bother with getting a new GPU or save for a new computer.

 

[FraserPike]

You can't replace the GPU in a laptop. Also, download some free games and run them for a while. Fortnite is free, start there.

was just playing a FPS game, not very taxing in comparison to many other games. It feels slightly clunky, but no crashing. It is on steam as well.

Not read the whole thread so this may have been mentioned. Might it be worth checking the system log through the event viewer tool to see if it has recorded an error and a reason as to why the laptop is crashing?

Its not the laptop crashing, its the games. And they dont give errors. I will have a look any way. I dont think i have actually done that. Thank you.

 

[FraserPike]

Lad's. Wow. I have no clue why i didnt look at the event viewer from the start. So, i have discovered there is a problem.
When, for example Dayz will crash, i get -

Error 12/05/2018 16:14:26 nvlddmkm 13 None
(I get this times 4)

Further inspection on all 4 of them, it says -

The description for Event ID 13 from source nvlddmkm cannot be found. Either the component that raises this event is not installed on your local computer or the installation is corrupted. You can install or repair the component on the local computer.

If the event originated on another computer, the display information had to be saved with the event.

The following information was included with the event:

\Device\UVMLiteController0x1
Graphics Exception: ESR 0x404490=0x80000002

The message resource is present but the message was not found in the message table

There seems to be allot of information about this online. Suggesting trying allot of things. Most i have tried. However i read that PSU/power supply can be the cause of the problem. (Not forgetting my battery is dead, and PSU isnt that good. Its 180W when i was meant to have 240W). So perhaps it is the power?

I have just tried (Underclocking) the Core Clock (Mhz) by 50Mhz, though that had no affect. (Did this with MSI Afterburner). Did not adjust Memory Clock, should i?
MSI Afterburner is not allowing me to touch Core voltage or Power limit though.

 

[FraserPike]

Thank you for the replies guys.
I physically updated the graphics drivers when i did a fresh install of windows. And the computer repair people also uninstalled them and reinstalled them. And Dell also did the same thing. So the drivers have been done 3 times

So far, between Dell and independent computer repair guys, ive spent about £300. For not much to get done. Honestly contemplating not buying a new PSU or battery. As that will cost an additional £200+. Just thinking about saving for a new computer for the end of the year. So not sure if i should spend £200 on the battery and charger, to find that still doesnt fix the issue.

Laptop has A10 BIOS. Repair shop guys were able to force the BIOS even though the battery was dead.

Thank you TheVoice, will give it a read now.

 

[FraserPike]

Did you use a driver cleaner piece of software prior to reinstall of Nvidia drivers?

As you have recently wiped / re-installed to a clean laptop this may not be an issue but with some Dell's it appears you have to have the intel onboard gpu drivers installed as well as the Nvidia ones. Do you have all the correct chipset / intel drivers installed?

You mentioned you ran a whole load of bench tests / stress tests. Did you run memtest yet? Ram can cause all kind of crazy things to happen if it fails. If you have two sticks of ram try running on one stick and see what happens. If it crashes swap the sticks and try again. Unlikely both have died as the system still runs.

I had a dell work laptop that kept having issues due to something to do with graphics several years ago. Probably not the same issue you're having. I don't recall exactly what it was but the crux of it was something was timing out to do with the GPU drivers and then the Nvidia drivers would reset themselves. The fix was a tweak in the registry to give the system longer to think before it reset. I did a quick google it was TDR delay. As said probably not your issue but that was what solved my problem.

As for driver cleaner, i personally didnt. My presumption is Dell and repair shop guys did?
As for the chip set, i do. I checked several times, and was the first thing i looked at. I have not ran memtest my self. But the repair shop guys did.
The TDR issue you are refer to, i have read allot about it. It sounds likely it could be a TDR issue. On monday, i will be taking my laptop back the repair shop, and will be mentioning that to them.
Thank you Gixer for the long reply. Means allot and allows me to look at allot of avenues.

sounds like a gpu issue , have you tried re-formating and installing teh driver fresh?

I think it has been done several times. But i will do it again just to make sure. Thank you RushFX!

 

[FraserPike]

My laptop will be in the repair shop as of tomorrow for another week.
Just wanted to say thank you to every one that has taken the time to comment and give advice.
This community has been more helpful than Dell, and i was paying them!! And in general a very helpful and friendly bunch!!
If the problem gets resolved, i will update to have a solution on record!

Thank you all!