M17x R3 crashing and bluescreening out of the box

Hi there,

I recently purchased an Alienware M17x R3 laptop, which I received yesterday. After setting it up, I've had trouble running games and a number of other problems.

The system's specifications are as follows:

Processor: Intel Core i7 2720QM (2.2Ghz)
Memory: 4 GB
Graphics Card: Nvidia Geforce GTX 460M
Hard drive: 320 GB, 7200 RPM
Operating System: Windows 7

The first issue I noticed is that it runs things very slowly or not at all. Even when the Task Manager is showing no CPU usage, things take forever to load, especially starting up and logging in. The Nvidia Control Panel has the most trouble, as it has gone to Not Responding repeatedly. Some games, like Resident Evil 5, run smoothly, while Dragon Age 2 and others have unplayable stuttering or just crash.

Secondly, I'm getting blue screens even when just surfing the web. The error message relayed is DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE. This first happened right after I set it up; I had barely used it for longer than fifteen minutes.

Third, it seems impossible to update the graphics drivers to try and solve any problems. This Optimus technology crap is forcing me to use the Intel GPU unless I'm playing games, and some of my games won't even load because it doesn't recognize the Intel GPU. My System Information shows the Intel chip as my graphics processor. Why can't I use the 460M as my primary? 

It's impossible to find updated drivers for Optimus, it seems. The pre-installed drivers on the system say they were updated last year, and there's no search option for Optimus drivers on Nvidia's website.

Please help me out based on the information given. Dell's technical support hung up on me twice now, and I'm not sure what else to do.

Thank you kindly.

Thanks for the reply.

I spent two hours on the phone with an Alienware tech support agent. He performed remote assistance and did some diagnostics to isolate the issue. We came to the conclusion that there's something wrong with the GPUs, as it bluescreened again when he was reinstalling the drivers and the performance of the GPUs are incredibly lacking. Sure, I could have done all of this myself, but it's good to know they're willing to help you out.

After reinstalling everything and running tests, he said I should test the system out, and if it continues being problematic I can send it back for either a replacement system or a refund.

Ten minutes after I got off the phone, it bluescreened again. I guess my only option is to send it back. How did they not run into this issue during building and testing?