Overheating Problem

Hey--

I have the Area51m 766, with the Nvidiafx-go 5600, and my machine had *terrible* overheating problems last year when i would do anything that would put a big load on the video card, such as playing WoW or SWG. I've heard some stuff that suggests the video card is the culprit-- that card just runs way too hot or something.

I tried just about everything to troubleshoot the problem, but what finally helped was to clean everything *very thoroughly* with compressed air, inside (around the video card and fans) and out (especially the air vents). I did a sort of cursory cleaning at one time, and I think that helped temporarily, but the really thorough cleaning seems to have done the trick-- I can now play for 6 hrs straight, and no overheating-- the whole machine is *noticeably* cooler-- before I cleaned it, the upper-right had corner would get hot enough to fry an egg within 10 minutes-- now it's nice and cool. It's pretty amazing, because it's not like any huge pieces of dust came flying out during cleaning, but obviously it made the difference. I think the design of those notebooks (and the super-hot vid cards) made those models really suceptible to overheating, unfortunately.

If your machine is still under warranty, you might even ask them to replace your video card with a cooler-running model.

Hope this helps you out, and good luck.

cleaning and a lapcool2.

Yeah just make sure you are leaving enough ventilation at the bottom for your fans...also, you should think about getting getthermal....you can find it in the download section...check it out it doesn't hurt

Be Very Careful Alienware laptop 7700 Caught Fire twice Now

Hi:

I have the same issues twice, with lots of smoke and fire the last time.

It been back ones for repair, that was a major issues, and another story. still got, maybe the video card is the cause.

My laptop started out getting hot and today started smoking and etc out port opening near the video card.

Since this the second time went I talk to Alienware support it was nothing.

I don't know if I can trust Alienware laptops

Cheers
Be very careful, my laptop did the same.

DLWasler

haha. seems like these machines are starting to die now. maybe 2 years (the time i´ve had mine) is the average lifespan of an alienware 766.

i had a shitload of problems with mine before, but about exactly one year ago (when my warranty ended) i sent mine back for repair and got a new gpu and a new motherboard. since then it´s been running fine until yesterday when it started shutting itself off due to overheating. will get some compressed air today, might solve it.

i´ve never been able to really trust this laptop, sadly enough. seems like having to be constantly afraid it might crash was not what i dreamed about when ordering it 2 years ago.

Nooooooooo! Looks like my one will die next . . . . . . After next month i would've had mine for 2 years.

Haha! I remember you from back in the good old days. How has your machine worked since then? Not had any trouble yet?

my machine is perfectly fine.

Although:

The fans/temperature sensor seem faulty. I would play a game/watch DVD/do anything that requires intensive processor , then it will overheat and shut down (before I discovered a method on how to make them come on, read on). if I play a game/watch DVD/do anything that requires intensive processor use for a while, and I know the fans aren't running full speed (they ain't loud enough like the usual level), I will unplug my laptop from the power supply, then quickly plug it back in. The fans will speed up/additional fans come on as soon as i unplugged it. This is the only way for me to play games like normal. Not really a big problem, just unplug and plug it back in, the fans come on. No idea why.

Also experienced a funny noise this morning. Hasn't happened since. Check the other topic I posted in the same forum. =)

Other than my screen flickering at times when I close/open the lid, my laptop is running perfectly.

oh, and a funny little "light" mark on my screen, seems to be burned on. Dunno what it is, but it's hardly noticable.

good to hear your machine is still alive and kicking. makes me feel safer with my 7700.

robo-kai, you can download the new keyboard bios from aw site *make sure you on phone with a tech rep and you can use the "Fn" key in addition with the F2 key to turn your fans on VGA and CPU 100%.

Huh??? Interesting. Is this a reported bug or something? Please, I'd like to know more because I have honestly never heard of it. A list of "fixes" as well or what it addresses would be nice too. I'm actually to starting to feel unsafe due to that odd noise, but apart from the normal wear and tear of the case, and my CD drive "lid" coming off (just nearly). Just incase, I've ordered a hard drive to back up on. And I also begun looking around incase I need to buy one . . .

I just looked in the downloads area, I see no keyboard BIOS, except a BIOS 1.19 and 1.21. My warranty has also expired (I went for the free 1 year one only) ... so if I need to update the BIOS, surely I can do it myself (go wrong or not I doubt it'll make a difference)? But still, I'm interested in this BIOS you speak of, because this error didn't really happen and I only started noticing after a long period, and discovered my "own" fix one day when I accidently unplugged it and the fans came on.

oh, by the way, my laptop is the "Area-51m/MJ-12m 5500" right? lol. I looked into that section and couldn't find the keyboard thing, but I found a keyboard driver in the 7700 section.

Looked around more on the alienware (UK) site, and found the errors I encountered:

http://4help.alienware.com/cgi-bin/a...i=&p_topview=1

I don't get it though, it tells me to set it to 4x instead of 8x. Surely 8x is a lot faster? Sorry, I'm not really good with these kinda things, so I'm not sure about them.

Glad to hear yours is working fine.

Read that other thread of yours regarding the "funny noise". I believe (i´m not actually quite sure, due to the fact that my machine makes lots of noises all the time) that I´ve had something like that happen before. It´s sort of like a "drone-ish" sound, like if a shitload of very muted cars are travelling past you at low speed one after another (haha!). Guess you´ll not have to worry, as it seems to me funny noises can´t kill you. With the Area-51m2 (the one we´ve got) it´s the heat that is the major issue, and as long as you are keeping that monster at bay everything is ok.

You need not fear turning the AGP down to 4x as it will not in any way slow your machine down. 8x was for making teenage boys wet their pants only, thus not of any major use.

let me find the link.

robo-kai here is the link to the keyboard controller bios that adds Fn+F2 100% fan quick keys. this has also been a fix for some noisy machines, at least what i heard in a previous thread.

http://www.alienware.com/ftp_downloa...BC_1.00.07.zip

Drone like noise? That's a very good way to describe it. That's exactly what it is. It's happening now as I type this, I just woke up and turned on my laptop. Just like yesterday.

Tridge: Thanks for getting me the link. I noticed that it's for the 7700, and it's also a BIOS update. I think I'll not install it for now, as I can easily put the fans to 100% by simply unplugging it and plugging it back in as I had been doing for the last 5 months. Not that I don't trust you or anything, but it seems a pretty big step just for that.

UPDATE/EDIT: As of now, 1 hour ago, a friend of mine who has a toolbox of every tool you can imagine, helped me took my laptop apart. You won't believe how nervous I was lol . . . . . i seriously never done it before. So all the screws came off in the end, after a bit of a fight with it, they were real tight. (I'm confident taking desktops apart, but no way laptops, especially mine, which you know, cost a lot)

So, he took out the battery, CD drive (never knew how easy they were to take off), and then the hard drive bit (cover) and finally the main bit, where the GPU was. we opened it and I was like "SHIT!". I thought I kept my laptop clean, but this dust was a bit ridiculous. My friend then put the power cable in and turned on the laptop, and instantly the problem became apparent. The main fan where I assume the processor is, was fine, but still a bit dusty. The other fan, where my lovely ATI Radeon 9600 was, the fan was trying to spin, but was getting stopped. Gave it a minute or 2, and the problem was so easy to find out. It was the fan stopping/spinning.

But it was 10pm and no where was open. My friend said I needed compressed air, and I agreed with him. Although, I don't see how the dust is stopping the fan from spinning, but it was dusty in there. What does everyone think? In the event the compressed air doesn't work (but cleans out the insides), would I need to replace the graphics card? I mean, I seriously don't see how it is being affected, dust isn't that "hard", is it??

robo-kai ,
"The other fan, where my lovely ATI Radeon 9600 was, the fan was trying to spin, but was getting stopped. Gave it a minute or 2, and the problem was so easy to find out. It was the fan stopping/spinning."
Nice i had the same issue, a piece of like pillow insulation was lodged in there. size of a rice crispy. WTF.. some powerful fans sucking up from the bottom.
When you blow air try not to over spin your fans. Heard this is not good, but sounds really cool. Like my WRX turbo.
re: flicker when you open close the lid.
Sounds like you may have a sticky lid sensor.
Right above your hibernate key, try blowing some compressed air in there, and make sure its not offcenter rubbing side or something blocking it.

mainframe26, did StudioOnions suggestion with canned air work?
I had some fluff in my video card fan, had to actually take off the plate to access and freak out how that piece of duff could have been sucked in there.
Once air'd my fans it became nice an cool again.

Also, i'm now using a lapcool2 to keep it further from the surface of table ~ Area-51m 3.4g 2gig to