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Help Please

post #1 of 21
2/8/04 at 6:56pm
Thread Starter 
Hello all.
What should i do i have had my laptop less than a week and all i have had is problems.My laptop crashes frequently usually with the blue screen of death and also when i try to run the direct draw and direct 3d test in the direct x diagnostic tool.I contacted support and followed thier advise, re instal different drivers which i done made no differance at all also reinstalled dx9 as was told to do so still no change. I have voiced my anger at Alienware and told them i want a new machine or a full refund.The trouble is i dont realy want to have to buy a differant brand of computer as i realy like the Area 51m so i will see what they say tomorrow.I was also wondering if i format the hard disk and reinstall windows from the recovery cd if that might sort me out.Trouble is iam not sure how to do it prehaps someone can tell me how its done.
Thanks Rob.
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post #2 of 21
2/8/04 at 7:12pm
reformat
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post #3 of 21
2/8/04 at 7:12pm
Rob,

Reinstall XP. It's such an easy process and should clear up all of your woes. I think 90% of us here have done it and been very happy.

It would be a shame for you to turn in what is such an awesome machine over a bad OS install. It happens man.

Basically you put the XP recover disc in the drive and restart the machine...the rest is easy. Just be sure to head to the Alienware website and download all of the latest drivers and burn them on a CD before hand so you have everything you need to reinstall hardware.

-Craig
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post #4 of 21
2/8/04 at 7:34pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for your reply Craig.I did reinstall xp and half way through i got the blue screen of death.It carried on with the install after i restarted the computer but it made no difference.Do you think i should format the hard drive first to get rid of all the crap and then try to install xp and then all the drivers that are on the utility cd.
Rob.
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post #5 of 21
2/8/04 at 7:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by rob280165
Thanks for your reply Craig.I did reinstall xp and half way through i got the blue screen of death.It carried on with the install after i restarted the computer but it made no difference.Do you think i should format the hard drive first to get rid of all the crap and then try to install xp and then all the drivers that are on the utility cd.
Rob.
What BIOS version are you running? I got endless BSODs (couldn't even get into Windows) until I installed BIOS 1.09 and reinstalled Windows.

XP can reformat your HD during install if you wish. I didn't do that though as I had tons of stuff on the machine already and no way to back it up. In the end I reinstalled twice - the first reinstall put files in untidy places (C:\WINDOWS.000 and similarly for user directories), so I renamed the original directories and reinstalled again.

When I get around to buying a decent-sized USB hard disk I'll probably dump everything onto that and do a complete, clean reinstall.
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post #6 of 21
2/8/04 at 8:11pm
Thread Starter 
Scampi as my machine is less than a week old i would have thought it would have the latest version of the bios which i presume is 1.09.
Rob.
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post #7 of 21
2/8/04 at 8:14pm
I wouldn't bet on it - my machine is only a couple of weeks old too. Reboot and enter BIOS (by hitting Del repeatedly when the AW logo comes up) to check.
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post #8 of 21
2/8/04 at 8:26pm
Getting BSODs during install almost sounds like a bad harddrive. Do a complete format and reinstall...if you still get it, id ask for a replacement harddrive.
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post #9 of 21
2/8/04 at 8:26pm
you need to reformat the HD then install windows... put in the windows disc restart then follow the steps.. its easy, call AW if you have to takes about 1 hour but fixes everything
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post #10 of 21
2/8/04 at 8:33pm
Thread Starter 
Just had a look and it is 1.09.So do i format the disk and then reinstall everything?Also if i do will it affect my warranty.
Rob.
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post #11 of 21
2/8/04 at 8:35pm
Thread Starter 
Or should i say b***ocks to it all and send it back and insist on a new one.
Rob.
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post #12 of 21
2/8/04 at 8:39pm
Have you noted down what's showing up on the blue screens yet? If it's in ACPI.sys then it's a power management problem and may be solved by booting on battery and/or removing the battery and reinserting it while powered down and unplugged. (AW tech support may have suggested this already but if not, it's worth a try).
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post #13 of 21
2/8/04 at 8:46pm
Thread Starter 
Yes the one i get most is PFN_LIST_CORRUPT plus PAGE FAULT IN NONPAGED AREA plus others i havent noted.The ones above were given to tech support and i have done as they said all to no avail.
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post #14 of 21
2/8/04 at 8:56pm
Rob,

Don't mess around with taking notes on Microsoft's issues...

Format, reinstall OS, Drivers.

Again, I'll stress Reformat. The issue is obviously imbedded in Windows. A format will wipe your slate clean so to speak.

Let us know how it goes.

-Craig
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post #15 of 21
2/8/04 at 9:03pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks craig i will give it a go tomorrow.Alienware should ring me around 10 am in the morning so i will see if they will swap mine for a new one.By the way if i do reformat and re install will it affect my warranty.
Rob
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post #16 of 21
2/8/04 at 9:32pm
Your warranty will remain intact if you reformat and re-install the Operating System.
Hopefully you can take care of this without sending it back to Alienware. It does seem like Windows is having a problem with Windows. Once you get it all fixed up we can sit around and make fun of Microsoft. Good Luck!
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post #17 of 21
2/8/04 at 9:36pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by rob280165
Yes the one i get most is PFN_LIST_CORRUPT plus PAGE FAULT IN NONPAGED AREA plus others i havent noted.The ones above were given to tech support and i have done as they said all to no avail.
That is a page frame database corruption issue. I have ran across that in several instances while programming and doing some not so perfect things with the virtual memory manager. The page frame database houses pointers to memory addresses, which in turn are ran by the vmm driver. I would write this error off as a os freak-out and do what Craig said and format, then re-install. If you need any other help installing, please feel free to come back to this thread and we can guide you.
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post #18 of 21
2/8/04 at 9:42pm
Rob,
Take our advice and at least try a format...That is all Alienware will do when you send it back to them anyway. They do not replace a system, only faulty hardware within it.

Your warranty will be fully honored with a reformat. In fact, I format about every 3 months just to keep my system running at top notch. And as Charlie said, we're all here to help you man.

-Craig
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post #19 of 21
2/8/04 at 9:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by CharlieBox
That is a page frame database corruption issue. I have ran across that in several instances while programming and doing some not so perfect things with the virtual memory manager. The page frame database houses pointers to memory addresses, which in turn are ran by the vmm driver. I would write this error off as a os freak-out and do what Craig said and format, then re-install. If you need any other help installing, please feel free to come back to this thread and we can guide you.
I have seen those BSOD errors before on another machine - caused in my case by poorly seated memory modules. Run memtest86 (http://www.memtest86.com) to confirm.
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post #20 of 21
2/8/04 at 10:15pm
It wouldn't hurt to check the ram to be sure it is seated. But the program that Scampi offered might be too confusing right now. It might be best to keep it simple and get a fresh OS installation. The memtest program wouldn't be too good to use with an unstable operating system. Thanks for the link Scampi.
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